Why Does Ned Stark Die?

This video is about the rules of “Game of Thrones”. The video explains why Ned Stark and other characters die.

To understand why characters survive or die, for example, Ned Stark, you need to watch a TV series not as a movie, but as a game, for example, a football match. All characters are players. If you know the rules of the game, then, as when watching a football match, it becomes clear who is playing well and who is breaking the rules. Ned Stark breaks the rules. In the TV series, characters receive warnings when they violate the rules of the game, in the same way as football players receive yellow cards. A red card for a football player is removal from the field, and the death of a character is removal from the TV series. The death of Ned Stark is a removal from the game for violating the rules. Some of the basic rules of «Game of Thrones» are given in this video.

The text of the video about Ned Stark and the rules of “Game of Thrones”

The TV series is called «Game of Thrones». The key word is game. The whole TV series is a game: the game of faces, a game of theatre, a word game, the game of authors with viewers, a game of characters. And as any game – board, sports or computer, the TV series also has rules, set by the authors but not obvious to the viewers and to the characters. The rules of the game are hidden under the guise of ordinary phrases spoken by the characters during the plot. For example,

“Family comes first”

“There’s only one place we can go. Home.”

“Traditions are important”

“The climb is all there is”

“There’s only one war. Life against death.”

“Each man has a role to play”

“Valar dohaeris. All men must serve.”

“An oath is an oath”

“Treason is treason”

“Lying is a great offense”

“Meanness comes around”

Each character has to play his role and pass tests, he is given a few chances to make a right choice: “Our choices are the same. We choose light or we choose darkness. We choose good or we choose evil. We choose the true god or the false” – this is the rule of the game.

In the TV series, the principle of justice applies: “Here a man gets what he earns, when he earns it” – this is the rule of the game. The payback for mistakes is inevitable, may seem excessively cruel, but this is also explained: Jon Snow: “You could have gone easier on him” – Locke: “He wouldn’t have learned anything that way”. Jaime: “There are always lessons in failures”. Arya: “Every hurt is a lesson and every lesson makes you better” – this is the rule of the game. The authors give lessons to the characters. Arya: “I was training”. Sansa: “I’m a slow learner, it’s true. But I learn”.

Characters who break the rules, as Ned Stark does, die, that is, leave the game. Varys about Ned Stark and Jon Arryn: “They disdained the game and those who played”. Tyrion: “I‘m not Ned Stark. I understand the way this game is played.” Cersei: “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground” – this is the rule of the game.

To understand why a character dies, it is necessary to find the rules that he broke. Theon: “It’s all just a game”.

Also in the TV series there are symbols, which show a viewer facts: whether a character is moving towards losing or winning the game. To see these facts the rules are suggested:

“Open your eyes”,

“Open your ears”,

“I believe what my eyes and ears report” – these are the rules of the game.

The truth is what is shown and what is said.

Symbols’ Logic. That’s Interesting: Why Did Daenerys Go Mad and Wear a Black Dress?