eddard stark cannot remember much of his childhood. he did not think he would have to. he remembers bits and pieces. he remembers his father teaching him how to hold a sword. he remembers his mother placing kisses on his forehead. he remembers sneaking over the walls of winterfell with lyanna and benjen only to get caught by brandon and dragged back kicking and laughing. he had been a child once, not so stoic as he turned out to be. as he grew up, the burden of being a stark began to set in, and he became the stoic stark he was always meant to be. eventually he started discouraging his sister from her wildness, something she never seemed to get over. then again, she was only a girl. and when he was old enough, he went to the eyrie, and he met lord robert baratheon, a man who would become his best friend. though, he never forgot his siblings in the north and often wrote to them, lyanna especially.

at the tourney at harrenhal, he met howland reed and ashara dayne, the latter being the first woman he ever loved. he even told brandon he would marry her one day, which resulted in brandon laughing at him. but then, a year after being crowned the queen of love and beauty, lyanna was “taken”. ned’s father, rickard, and brandon went to demand her return, only to be rewarded with wildfire. their ashes were all that remained. then, the rebellion began, and robert took the helm under jon arryn’s leadership. after the battle of the trident and the death of rhaegar targaryen, ned went in search for his sister. he found her. and he found her dying with a babe swaddled in her arms. promise me… promise me, ned. he took the babe and claimed him as his own, much to his new wife’s ire. 

with catelyn, though, he was happy. together, they had robb, sansa, arya, bran, and rickon. he was happy in the north, as happy as a man who’d lost his entire family could be. his father, brother, sister, and mother were all gone, and ned couldn’t even keep benjen, watching him do his duty to the north at the wall. little did ned know, he would be there soon. it all began when robert baratheon traveled north to ask him to be the hand of the king. his wife had convinced him: the cup has passed, and you must drink from it, like it or not. and so ned went south. he went south, and he discovered more than he wanted to. joffrey baratheon was not a baratheon at all but a lannister.