Chapter 4: Eddard AKA Discussions in the Crypts of Winterfel

This chapter opens with Ned greeting the King, his family and the rest of the royal entourage being welcomed to Winterfell by Lord Stark. Almost immediately upon arrival King Robert asks his longtime friend to take him down to the crypts to pay his respects to Lyanna Stark. Ned’s deceased sister and Roberts once betrothed. The Queen complains stating that everyone was weary from the road and paying respects can wait. Robert silences her with just a stare and he and Ned continue on down to the tombs. While this exchange is somewhat underplayed in the book it does subtly intone of the overall relationship between the King and Queen.

One thing of note is that the King has let himself go physically. He has gained a lot of weight and is not remotely even close to the fighting warrior he once was when he won the throne. Ned comments that his friend has always had enjoyed food, wine, and women. But he has never seen him in such a state. Ned notices he is breathing heavy from his climb down the stairs to the crypts below Winterfell.  

So the King went from this....

To this...

Here the author even describes the differences between Ned and Robert as well as giving the reader a clue as to the natures of the two men.

“Robert Baratheon had always been a man of huge appetites, a man who knew how to take his pleasures. That was not a charge anyone could lay at the door of Eddard Stark”.

So while the King may lust after women and drink in excess, Ned doesn't.

Wait… So if Ned doesn’t lust after other women then what's the story with Jon Snow his bastard son? OK lets for now just call that a one time indiscretion.

Regardless Ned and Robert enter the crypts and after passing the resting places of the former Kings of Winterfell they come to the tombs of Ned's father Rickard, his brother Brandon and his sister Lyanna. Robert laments her death and here we find that Ned was with Lysanna when she died.

“I was with her when she died.” Ned reminded the King. “She wanted to come home, to rest beside Brandon and Father.” He could hear her still at times. Promise me, she had cried, in a room that smelled of blood and roses, Promise me, Ned.” The fever had taken her strength and her voice had been faint as a whisper, but when he gave her his word, the fear had gone out of his sister’s eyes. Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. After that he remembered nothing. They had found him still holding her body, silent with grief. The little crannogman Howland Reed had taken her hand from his.

The above passage refers to Ned's final moments with his sister at the Tower of Joy at the end of Robert's Rebellion. Some things about this are extremely significant and help set the stage for the events currently unfolding in the story.

1. What was it that Ned promised his sister on her deathbed that was so important that once Ned gives his word she is able to die peacefully?
2. Aside from Howland Reed whom else was there and found Ned holding his sister? “They” had found  him still holding her body.

In addition this also begins the association of Lyanna with Roses. Here it’s rose petals in her hand. As I pointed out in my post “Backstory Pt 1”  Lyanna was also given a crown of flowers by Rhaegar Targaryen when she became the Queen of Love and Beauty at the tournament at Harrenhal.

Now I could go into a 10,000 word rant on some of the theories behind Ned's promise but I’ll go into more detail about that bit later on. For now lets keep things focused on the conversation between Ned and Robert.

After a moment the conversation turns to the death of the man who had both Ned and Robert as wards, Jon Arryn. Robert says a few interesting things on this matter:

Robert:I’ve never seen a man taken sicken so quickly.”

Robert: “The sickness was like a fire in his gut, it burned right through him.”

Also according to Robert this happens over the time of a fortnight. (1 Fortnight = 14 days)

When Ned asks how Catelyn’s sister Lysa Arryn is dealing with the death of her husband Robert says he thinks his death has driven the woman mad. He tells him she has fled back to the Eyrie back in the Veil. Ned suggests Lysa's maternal instincts may have made her overprotective and caused her to seek the safety of her home.

At this point we also learn that King Robert had planned on having the child of Lysa and Jon Arryn fostered at Casterly Rock by Tywin Lannister. Tywin had already agreed and stated that when Lysa fled King's Landing without so much as a goodbye it made his wife furious as it was an insult to her house and family.

Ned thinks that Lysa may simply thought the Lannisters not suitable and again the maternal instincts to protect her son most likely lead her to returning to her home. Ned offers to take the boy on as a ward but Robert won’t allow it as an agreement with Tywin Lannister is already in place and he doesn't wish to insult his father in law.

Now does this actually make any sense??

On the surface yes. It’s perfectly conceivable that a grief stricken Lysa, fearful that her only son would be stripped away from her abandoned her dead husband's body at the capital and fled back to the safety of the Eyrie.

Let's also keep in mind that Lysa and Catelyn are Tully’s from the Riverland and the words of House Tully are “Family, Duty, Honor”. So putting her family first does seem to make sense even over doing her duty to see funerary arrangements for her spouse.

The final things Robert and Ned discuss is for Ned to take Jon Arryn’s place as Hand of the King, and to wed Ned’s daughter Sansa Stark to Robert's son Prince Joffrey Baratheon. The chapter ends with Ned telling the King he needs a bit of time to consider the offers.

We will discuss the implications of this in future posts.