When ned stark dies?

As in the source novel, Ned is beheaded in the ninth episode of season 1, "Baelor".

The Execution of Eddard Stark is a pivotal event in the nascent conflict caused by the death of Robert Baratheon, paving the way for its transformation into a full-fledged civil war.

During his tenure as Hand of the King to King Robert Baratheon, Eddard Stark discovers that Jaime is the father of Cersei's children. While Robert is hunting, Ned confronts Cersei, unwisely revealing that he knows her secret, and giving her a chance to flee King's Landing with her children before he tells Robert the truth. Cersei is unfazed, since she has already arranged Robert's death, by instructing her cousin Lancel to give him too much wine during his hunt.

Robert is seriously gored by a boar during the hunt and names Joffrey as his successor right before he dies. Ned does not reveal the truth to Robert, but instead contacts Robert's younger brother and true heir, Stannis Baratheon, to inform him. Meanwhile, Cersei and Joffrey seize the throne. Securing help from Janos Slynt and Littlefinger, Ned challenges Cersei and orders her and her children arrested, but Slynt and Littlefinger have already been bribed by the Lannisters and they turn on Ned, resulting in his men being massacred and Ned imprisoned.[1]

While in the dungeons, Ned is visited by Varys, who informs him that his son, Robb Stark, has called all of House Stark's banners to march on King's Landing and free him, and though Arya has escaped, Sansa is still the Lannisters' hostage. However, Varys also claims that Cersei has promised that if Ned confesses to his "treason" and orders Robb to stand down, he will be spared and sent to the Night's Watch; Ned initially refuses to sully his honor by making such false confession, but reluctantly changes his mind after Varys points out that Sansa's life is at stake.[2][3]

After agreeing to Cersei's terms, Ned is taken to the yard before the Great Sept of Baelor to publicly confess his treason. Present for the confession are Joffrey, Cersei, Sansa, Littlefinger, Varys, Pycelle, the High Septon, several Kingsguard and the King's Justice, Ser Ilyn Payne. Unbeknownst to all of them, save Ned, Arya is also present, standing on the pedestal of the statue of Baelor the Blessed. Passing Yoren in the crowd, Ned is able to say a single word to him, "Baelor", prompting Yoren to seize Arya a few minutes later and keep her from seeing her father's execution.

Ned is taken by two Gold Cloaks before the King and his entourage, while the people of the city gathered yell insults at him. Aware of his daughter's pleas, he relents and gives the false confession the Queen demanded: confessing his plot to murder Joffrey and seize the throne for himself.

Pycelle intervenes and after speaking of the justice and mercy of the gods, he asks the King what will be done with the traitor. The people yell out in anger, until Joffrey holds out his hand to speak. He mentions that his mother wishes to let Eddard join the Night's Watch and live the remainder of his days at the Wall, stripped of lands and titles, while his betrothed, Sansa, has begged mercy for her father. However, Joffrey dismisses the two as soft-hearted and promises that, for as long as he's King, treason will never go unpunished. Then he turns to Ser Ilyn and demands Ned's head.

The crowd calls out for Ned's death. Sansa desperately begs for her father's life, only to be restrained by a Kingsguard. Cersei also asks her son to reconsider his sentence. Varys also runs to the King, who remains adamant in his decision. Eddard is pushed to his knees by two Kingsguard, and Ser Ilyn puts on a black hood to conceal his face. He then swings Ice, the greatsword of House Stark itself, and beheads Eddard.[3] The Hound holds Eddard's head up to the adulation of the baying crowd.[4]

The execution of Ned Stark, similarly to the execution of his father and brother, has not discouraged people from defying the Crown, on the contrary: it has extremely infuriated House Stark and the people of the North, inciting them to wage war on House Lannisters.

The execution is largely condemned by many major houses throughout the Seven Kingdoms on both sides of the war. Tywin refers to the action as "madness and stupidity", as it shattered the plans of House Lannister to make peace with House Stark and House Tully, allowing them to deal with both Renly and Stannis.[4] Tyrion laments that the execution "will haunt our family for a generation."[5]

When the news of Ned's death reach the Northern and River lords, they choose not to support either of Robert's brothers. Declaring independence from the Iron Throne, they proclaimed Robb as the King in the North.[4]

After receiving Ned's letter, Stannis notifies all of Westeros about Joffrey's parentage, declares himself King of the Seven Kingdoms and resolves to take the Iron Throne and rule over the same kingdom that Robert once did, and destroy any who stand in his way.[5]

Long afterwards, in Braavos, Ned's execution is portrayed in the play The Bloody Hand in a ridiculous manner. The crowd is amused, but Arya is deeply saddened.[6]

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the execution occurs in an almost identical fashion to the TV series. There are only small differences, such as the fact that the High Septon is the one who speaks of the justice and mercy of the gods, and he and Varys protest Joffrey's decision to execute Ned. The book also gives no indication that Ned spotted Arya in the crowd or instructed Yoren to protect her; Yoren seems to find her by chance.

Slynt has more active part in the books at Ned's execution: he gives the command to the Gold Cloaks to fling Ned to the marble, to be beheaded (this is the scene from Arya's POV; Sansa recalls that Slynt did it himself). In the fifth novel, while Cersei performs the walk of atonement, it is revealed in her flashback that Slynt lifted Ned's severed head after the execution; this detail is not mentioned from Arya's and Sansa's POV.

Ser Barristan Selmy is present at the execution in the guise of Arstan Whitebeard, though this is not revealed until A Dance With Dragons, after he has joined the service of Daenerys Targaryen. Barristan notes that afterwards he went into the Sept and thanked the Seven that Joffrey has stripped him of his cloak. When Daenerys angrily denounces Eddard as a traitor who rebelled against his rightful king, Barristan tells her that Eddard was against the murder of her family and the assassination attempt on her and her son, but she still considers him equally responsible and labels him as one of the "Usurper's dogs". Ser Barristan is annoyed by this and doesn't agree with his queen, but remains silent as it is not his place to speak.

It is also mentioned in the books that the High Septon and the Faith of the Seven are outraged that the execution was performed on the steps of the Sept, profaning the holy site with blood in their eyes, as well as irreparably damaging the Crown's relations with the Faith (as Cersei had assured the High Septon beforehand that Eddard would be allowed to live after he confessed his treason, only to then appear a liar in the High Septon's eyes). Even several years after Eddard's death, members of the Faith (such as the High Sparrow) would continue to berate Cersei for allowing Joffrey to commit such a wanton act of sacrilege on a holy site.

While Cersei performs the walk of atonement, she muses that Joffrey made a terrible mistake by commanding to execute Eddard; had he lived and joined the Watch, the North would have not gone to war, and Tywin would have dealt with Robert's brothers.

Game of Thrones set the stakes high early on by killing off Ned Stark, the ostensible main character, in the show’s first season. Since then, more than 100 characters have died over the show’s brutal seven seasons. (If your memory is fuzzy, here’s a comprehensive list of every single character who wound up on the wrong end of a sword or a dragon.) A few fan favorites didn’t survive the bloody Battle of Winterfell in the third episode of the final season, and a major ally of Daenerys didn’t survive episode four, “The Last of the Starks.” Cersei and Jamie went down in episode five “The Bells” too.

But dozens of beloved characters have survived — or been resurrected — long enough to join Jon and Daenerys as they face Cersei in the final episodes of Game of Thrones . Given the show’s history of violence, it’s likely that few will survive the final fight.

But plenty of other characters have proven themselves to be survivors and could play surprising roles in the fight, like Jon Snow or Arya Stark. Here are all the people who are still breathing headed as the final season winds down.

Jon Snow (Kit Harington) survived yet another encounter with the Night King during the Battle of Winterfell. But he and his lover-slash-aunt Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) need to decide who is the true heir to the Iron Throne before they take on Cersei (Lena Headey).

Daenerys may have lost her faithful advisors, Jorah (Iain Glen) in the fight against the wights, but she survived the Battle of Winterfell thanks to his heroism. She is likely to pursue Cersei and King’s Landing next. But she will have to settle her beef with Jon over which Targaryen should be on the throne and with Sansa over who should rule Winterfell before the season is over.

Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) had a touching moment in the crypts during the Battle of Winterfell, but they still stand on opposing sides when it comes to their loyalty to Daenerys as the Queen of Westeros. Tyrion will have to decide who he believes in as a ruler in the final episodes. Perhaps his chat with Bran by the fireside in the second episode of the eighth season gave him crucial information he’ll need before the end of the series.

Sansa Stark will have to rebuild much of Winterfell after the devastating Battle of Winterfell. Part of that process will be continuing to insist on the North’s independence from Daenerys, a dangerous stance to take against the Dragon Queen.

Arya (Maisie Williams) saved the world. Now what? Likely, she will play an important role in uniting her surviving siblings, Sansa, Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and — honorarily speaking — Jon together.

Thanks to Arya, the Three-Eyed Raven survives. Given that he can see the past — and at least parts of the future — he’ll likely have some important role to play in verifying Jon’s Targaryen lineage to a doubtful Daenerys.

Disgusted with Cersei’s covert plan to attack Daenerys and Jon Snow when the fate of the entire realm is at stake, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) walked out of King’s Landing. Now that he’s survived the Battle of Winterfell, he’ll have to confront his sister.

Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) fulfilled her life-long dream of becoming a knight and survived the Battle of Winterfell to boot. She will likely stay loyal to the Stark girls, whatever they decide to do now.

Sam (John Bradley) managed to survive the fight with the dead. We know he would prefer to see Jon on the Iron Throne over Daenerys. It’s unclear what role he’ll play in their possible rift.

Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) and Tyrion discussed Jon and Daenerys possibly marrying and ruling together. It’s unclear if revelations about Jon’s parentage will change those plans.

Cersei tasked Bronn (Jerome Flynn) with killing her two brothers if they survived the Battle of Winterfell. Bronn has always prioritized money over loyalty, so this will be a test of his values.

Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) will likely pursue Brienne now that they’ve both survived the Battle of Winterfell.

Gendry (Joe Dempsie) and Arya are now an item. Could an alliance between Robert Baratheon’s bastard son and Ned Stark’s daughter be politically advantageous in the struggles to come? After the Battle of Winterfell, Daenerys declares that he is now the Lord of Storm’s End. After the pronouncement, he proposes to Arya, only to be rejected.

Theon freed his sister, Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan) before heading back to Winterfell to fight the Night King. Yara is still allied with Daenerys and will likely provide naval forces in the battle against Cersei. In “The Last of the Starks” we learn that she has retaken the Iron Islands.

After leading the Unsullied in the battle against the Night King, Grey Worm deserves a vacation — especially after watching his girlfriend, Missandei, lose her head in “The Last of the Starks.” But he’ll have to help Daenerys fight Cersei first.

Daenerys asks Daario (Michiel Huisman) and the Second Sons to stay in Meereen to keep the peace while a democratic government is established.

Arya trapped Jaqen (Tom Wlaschiha) and pointed her sword at him in the House of Black and White. He allowed her to leave while also taking back her identity as Arya Stark.

After bringing Bran to Winterfell, Meera (Ellie Kendrick) tells Bran that she has to return to her family home, Greywater Watch, before the White Walkers arrive. She observes that the real Bran died in the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven and then leaves.

Podrick (Daniel Portman) survived the Battle of Winterfell, fighting beside Brienne.

Gilly (Hannah Murray) survived in the crypts during the Battle of Winterfell. During “The Last of the Starks,” she and Sam reveal that she is pregnant, and that if the baby is a boy, they’ll name him Jon.

After Euron captures Ellaria (Indira Varma), Cersei imprisons Ellaria with her daughter, Tyene (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers). Cersei poisons Tyene and tells Ellaria that she will be kept alive to watch her daughter die and decompose. In theory, Ellaria is still in the dungeons in King’s Landing. Could she play a role in the fight to come?

Robin (Lino Facioli), following the advice of Littlefinger, sends the Vale armies to help his cousin Sansa fight the Boltons. It’s unclear who is counseling Robin now that Littlefinger is dead.

In the run-up to the final season of Game of Thrones, we're revisiting some of the main moments and plotlines from the epic series to date. Here, Sean Bean, who played Ned Stark, revisits arguably the first REALLY shocking death on Game of Thrones...

It’s not exactly a spoiler alert to say that A LOT of characters have died in Game of Thrones over the years, but most fans will admit that the first one to cause genuine shock was the death of Ned Stark at the end of the first season.

Wrongly accused of treason, which he confesses to in order to save the life of his daughter Sansa, Ned expects to be pardoned by Joffrey, who instead indulges his bloodlust and decides to have him slaughtered in front of a crowd that includes his two daughters.

Ned’s death set the ball rolling on a war that has barely ceased since and as we wait for the show’s eighth and final season to hit our screens, the man who played him, Sean Bean, has revealed what he was whispering to himself before he had his head cut off.

Various theories have suggested that Ned was saying “Valar Morghulis” (“All men must die”) or referencing the truth about Jon Snow (which we’re not going to go into here for fear of spoiling things to the latecomers) but the truth, as it turns out, is much simpler.

In an interview with HuffPost, Bean revealed that Ned was “just saying a prayer”.

“It appears that way (as if he was praying) doesn’t it?” Bean said.

“I couldn’t be too specific, because I don’t know if religion (like that) was around in those days, whatever they were. I just thought, ‘What would you do if this were really gonna happen?’

“You probably would pray. You probably would murmur some words and you’d keep it quiet. You’d keep it to yourself.”

Clip via OwlWhite87

“It’s quite subtle in that many people wouldn’t pick it up,” Bean added.

“It was an interesting thing to do for me at that point. There’s not much you can do really, you’ve got your head on a block. That’s about the only thing you can do is murmur.”

As for rumours that he will be brought back to the show – it wouldn’t be the first resurrection – Bean doesn’t think it would be a runner and hasn’t heard from HBO about a potential return.

“No, they’ve (HBO) never said that,” Bean said.

“And yeah, I’ve heard rumours, but not from very good sources that I might be back. But I think I’ve done my time there, and I created a good character. It’d be rather strange to see him resurrected.”

You can read the interview in full on HuffPost here.