Lord Eddard Stark, aka Ned, is an admired character from HBO’s Game of Thrones series, where he is the King of Winterfell and father to Rob, Arya, Sansa, Bran and Rickon Stark. Stark is iconically played by Sean Bean in Game of Thrones Season 1. Bean gave the character a respectable and righteous aura that made fans root for him to be the next king of Westeros after the death of King Baratheon. He is the king’s hand now, but Queen Cersei goes against him when he finds out that her children are illegitimate.
This confrontation leads to the battle of the five Kings between Baratheon’s son, Jeffrey, Robbie Stark, Stannis Baratheon, and Renly Baratheon. Even before the war begins, Cersei and Joffrey have Ned Stark executed for treason in the Game of Thrones Season 1 finale. In Season 6, fans glimpse into the past, seeing a young Eddard Stark in a flashback scene. In Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 3, Oathbreaker, a young Ned Stark, played by Robert Aramayo, appears with Lord Howland Reed to rescue his sister from the Tower of Joy.
Robert Aramayo’s Appearance in Game of Thrones
Although Aramayo only made a few appearances in The Game of Thrones, his scenes were essential to the storylines of significant characters, like Jon Snow—Ned’s supposed bastard child. In Game of Thrones Season 6, Bran has visions about Ned Stark and his aunt. In this vision, he returns to the Tower of Joy. Here, he sees Ned enter the tower into a room where Lyanna has just given birth. Lyanna hands her son to Ned and tells him to take care of her son. She whispers that her son’s name is Aegon Targaryen.
This infant boy is Jon Snow, whom Ned takes in because he knows if Robert discovers his parentage, he will have him killed. Lyanna passes away, and Ned returns to Winterfell. This scene shows Ned’s honor and loyalty to his family, no matter the consequences. This scene is essential because it reveals Snow as the rightful heir to the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms. However, with the disappointing ending of Game of Thrones Season 8, this scene didn’t have as much impact as expected.
Aramayo’s performance as an adolescent Ned Stark perfectly resembles Bean’s portrayal in the first season of Game of Thrones. It’s in how they carry themselves and express their emotions through their eyes. During an interview with Variety, Aramayo says recreating a younger version of Ned from what fans had already seen was challenging, but that was the job. Considering the big secret he had to keep about what his character finds out, this role was more complicated than he expected. But he still managed to do a great job.
Robert Aramayo Acting Career
English actor Aramayo was born in 1992 and is most famous for playing the role of young Ned Stark in Game of Thrones from 2016 to 2017. But this isn’t his first acting role. Aramayo has acted since he was seven, when he participated in a primary school production. He would later join the Hull Truck Youth Theatre three years later. In 2011, Aramayo gained a place at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City, where he performed in A Clockwork Orange as Alex. He was so good in this Anthony Burgess production that the right people noticed, and he landed his first leading role in Lost in Florence.
After his appearance in Game of Thrones, Aramayo played the Harley Davidson founder, William S. Harley, in the miniseries Harley and the Davidsons on Discovery. He also appeared in Nocturnal Animals in 2016, The Empty Man, The Incident at Sparrow Creek Lumber, The Kings Man, Antebellum, Suicide, Eternal Beauty, and 2023’s Dance First. In 2019, Aramayo was cast in the Netflix psychological thriller series Behind Her Eyes. This thriller is the perfect watch that will get you hooked right from the beginning to the end. With Aramayo’s love for fantasy series, it was not surprising when news broke that he was cast in Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power as Elrond. Elrond appeared in six episodes of the series, and while critics didn’t like the show’s direction and theme, his acting was impeccable. In the Lord of the Rings, Elrond is a half-elven character who appears in other Lord of the Rings films played by the talented Hugo Weaving.
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