True friendship is hard to come by in Game of Thrones. Even those who seem like they share a close bond might not be as friendly as they seem. A good example of this is the relationship between Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon. These two have a long history together. They have fought together, lost together, and felt loyalty towards each other.
But throughout that first season of Game of Thrones, it becomes clear that the years have wrenched these two friends apart, and they may not be the good pals they seem to believe themselves to be. Here are some of the reasons Ned and Robert are not really friends.
The War
Ned and Robert grew up together as wards of Jon Arryn, but they became adults together when they led a rebellion against the Mad King Aerys Targaryen. They both proved to be skilled warriors and commanders, but Robert’s Rebellion was the first hint that these two men were very different.
While they both agreed that the war was necessary, they look back on it very differently. Robert sees those times as his glory days and wishes he was still fighting a war. Meanwhile, Ned is haunted by those memories and is content to live quietly in the North.
Hand Of The King
In the very first episode of the series, Ned and Robert are reunited following the death of Jon Arryn. With Robert making the long journey to Winterfell, Ned immediately knows the king will ask him to serve as Hand of the King.
Robert acts like it is an obvious choice and an honor to bestow on Ned. This just confirms Robert is a selfish man who doesn’t really know Ned at all. If he did care about his friend, he would know that leaving his family and becoming a part of the political game in King’s Landing was the last thing that Ned wanted.
The Sack Of King’s Landing
Ned knew that the Mad King’s reign had to end, but he was appalled by the way the war came to its conclusion. After Rhaegar Targaryen was defeated on the battlefield by Robert, Ned rode to King’s Landing to take the city. However, Tywin Lannister beat him there and sacked the city to show his loyalty to Robert.
Using Aerys’ trust against him, the Lannisters murdered and pillaged their way through the city, killing Rhaegar’s young children and wife in the process. While Ned expected Tywin to be punished for the barbaric act, Robert rewarded him — much to Ned’s disgust.
The Direwolves
Though the direwolves were a disappointing aspect of the show, the books focus much more on the importance of these animals to House Stark and Ned’s children who adopted them. However, after the altercation between Arya and Joffrey on the road to King’s Landing, it becomes clear that Robert does not care about such things.
When Arya’s direwolf is blamed for attacking Joffrey but then goes missing, Robert orders Sansa’s direwolf to be killed instead. He makes the decision so dismissively that he obviously doesn’t care how it affects Ned’s family or what kind of significance that holds for his friend.
Honor
There is perhaps no one in Westeros more honorable than Ned Stark. He has paid the price for his honor many times before, and one could argue he is honorable to a fault. Yet he sticks to his principles even when no one around him does.
It is these qualities in Ned that make him all the more disappointed in Robert when he learns what kind of a king he really is. With the realm falling into horrific debt, Robert spends his time drinking, whoring, and refusing to attend Small Council meetings. It becomes clear that any respect Ned had for Robert is gone.
Family
There is perhaps only one thing Ned holds more valuable than his honor, and that is his family. He is willing to confess to falsely being charged as a traitor, betraying his own beliefs because he thinks it will keep his family safe.
In further disappointment to Ned, family is another thing that Robert doesn’t hold dear. He admits to hating his brothers, he actively despises his wife, and he says he never wanted to be a father. Such sentiments are foreign to Ned and cause an even bigger divide between him and Robert.
Daenerys Targaryen
If there is one person in the world who Robert truly loved, it was Lyanna Stark. Even after all these years, he still hates the Targaryens for taking her away from him. So when he learns that Daenerys was married Khal Drogo and is pregnant with his child, Robert orders her to be assassinated.
This causes the biggest rift in Ned and Robert’s relationship that we see. Ned is horrified that Robert would consider murdering a young pregnant girl, but Robert’s bloodlust cannot be controlled. In the end, Robert might have had good reason to fear Daenerys, but it again showed that these men hold very different beliefs.
Jon Snow
For much of the show, it was assumed that Ned Stark’s only moment of dishonor was sleeping with another woman and having a bastard: Jon Snow. However, when we learn the truth about Jon, it becomes one of Ned’s most honorable acts.
Knowing it would be a stain on his honor and would cause a rift with his wife, Ned agrees to raise Jon as his own to protect him. Meanwhile, Robert has countless bastards all around Westeros with a variety of different women and does little to nothing to care for them.
Lyanna Stark
The truth about Jon Snow also reveals a secret about Lyanna Stark that Ned took to his grave. While everyone thought Lyanna was kidnapped by Rhaegar Targaryen, the truth is that they were in love.
Robert waged a war to get Lyanna back, and some believe he used that as an excuse to take the throne from Aerys. While Robert sees it as revenge, Ned is left with the truth that Lyanna might have been happy and lived a long life if they hadn’t gone to war.
The Lannisters
When Ned Stark arrives in King’s Landing, he is horrified to find that Robert has virtually surrounded himself with Lannisters. Though he sits on the Iron Throne, Tywin Lannister is the one who holds all the real power. This is especially upsetting to Ned because he understands what the Lannisters truly are.
After seeing Tywin sack King’s Landing and Jaime Lannister murder the Mad King, Ned sees them as villainous and corrupt. The fact that Robert would give so much power to these people shows that he care less for the people of Westeros than Ned does.
