[Eddard Stark — Characters]
Centuries later, Lady Lyanna Stark was taken by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen , and when her father and brother demanded justice, King Aerys II Targaryen had them both viciously executed. Eddard Stark claimed his father's titles and participated in Robert's Rebellion . At the end of the rebellion, Eddard found his sister in the Tower of Joy, where she perished in a bed of blood.
The civil war known as Robert's Rebellion began when Lyanna Stark was kidnapped by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen . Lord Rickard Stark and his son and heir Brandon both demanded her return from King Aerys II Targaryen and were executed by the Mad King for their presumption. Eddard Stark, now the head of the family, called the banners of the North to war, supported by House Baratheon , House Tully and House Arryn . It was decided that Robert Baratheon would claim the throne due to his strong claim as the grand-nephew of a previous Targaryen king. During the civil war Stark troops were instrumental in several engagements, including the Battle of the Bells and the Battle of the Trident , and it was Eddard Stark's forces which reached King's Landing just after the Lannisters had sacked it, ensuring the city was turned over to Robert's army when it arrived. The Starks also proved instrumental in the later Greyjoy Rebellion , lending troops used by Robert to storm the castle of Pyke and crush the uprising.
In the novels, four of Lord Eddard Stark's six children inherit the Tully look from their mother Catelyn, possessing the auburn hair and blue eyes distinctive of House Tully. However, Arya inherits the Stark look of dark hair, grey eyes, and a long face alongside her half-brother Jon who, as Eddard's illegitimate son with an unidentified woman, does not possess Tully blood. While this has resulted in Arya being mockingly called "Horseface", Ned assures her that she bears a striking resemblance to his beautiful deceased sister Lyanna when Lyanna was a girl. Jon's own inheritance of the traditional Stark look and resemblance to Ned is a plot point illustrating he is of Stark blood and used by characters in-universe to identify Jon as a son of Eddard Stark. As a little girl, Arya once feared that she might be a bastard child because she and Jon are the only two among the Stark children to inherit the Stark look, but Jon assured her that she is a trueborn daughter.
Robert Baratheon travels to Winterfell to ask his old friend Eddard Stark to serve as the new Hand of the King . Robert also seeks to unite Houses Baratheon and Stark once and for all by marrying Sansa to his eldest "son" and heir Joffrey .
Eventually, the Boltons were defeated and bent the knee to House Stark, giving up their practice of flaying their prisoners as sign of their submission. Nevertheless, they remained the second most powerful house of the North. However, the practice of flaying was not officially outlawed until the lordship of Eddard Stark.
The Boltons are considered a sinister and ill-omened house, but Lord Roose Bolton is noted as a capable battle commander. Roose Bolton fought alongside Eddard Stark during Robert's Rebellion . After the Battle of the Trident , Roose suggested executing the defeated Barristan Selmy , but Eddard and Robert Baratheon refused.