Eddard "Ned" Stark is a fictional character in the first book of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels and the first season of its television adaptation. Introduced in 1996's A Game of Thrones, Ned is the honorable lord of Winterfell, an ancient fortress in the North of the fictional kingdom of Westeros. Though the character is established as a primary character in the novel, Martin's plot twist at the end involving Ned shocked both readers of the book and viewers of the TV series.