What is your opinion on Lord Eddard Stark?

Uh...what? Ned was a fool. He was a fool who loved his family and that's admirable, but a fool nonetheless. He wasn't privy to the game at all. I just don't see the comparison. 

The only thing they may have in common is their sense of justice/honor, but even then, they're quite different. Stannis was able to separate a person's good acts from the bad (as if completely different acts). i.e. He punished Davos for smuggling by taking his fingers, but rewarded him for his courage in saving Baratheon men at Storm's End. As Stannis said, "A good act does not wash out the bad, nor the bad the good." On the other hand, Ned is never able to distinguish between the two once he had "marked a man" as beneath him. i.e. Right at the end of Robert's rebellion when Ned enters the throne room to find Jaime sitting there. All he could do is call Jaime, "Kingslayer." He never listened to what Jaime had to say about it. Stannis would have listened, just like he allowed Davos the opportunity to explain why he snuck Gendry away from Dragstone.

Stannis never lies in the series. Never. Even when Brienne comes to him at the end, he doesn't dispute that he killed Renly. Ned is willing to forgo honor/honesty, when it comes to the safety of his family. i.e. Lying to secure the safety of Jon, lying for Sansa's life, lying that Cat took Tyrion prisoner on his orders, etc. 

Ned was a believer in the Old Gods. Stannis was a skeptic at best and denied the Old Gods. Ned was close with his family. Stannis was a cold man and could never bond with anyone. i.e. the Cressen chapter from the books. Ned was showered with praise from the other characters. i.e. Warden of the North, Hand of the King, Lord of Winterfell, etc. Stannis wasn't ever given any recognition for his courage or lineage from anyone (especially not from Robert) because no one loved or liked him. Ned wasn't willing to do what was necessary (like striking King's Landing while the castle slept to get rid of the Lannisters), while Stannis used blood magic to eradicate a usurper who would have gotten a lot of men killed for a false cause.

I just don't see the comparison between Stannis and Ned at all. They even grew up different in parts of Westeros, with Ned in the North at Winterfell and Stannis in the South at Storm's End. I suppose it can be said that they're both tested men in battle, but so were a lot of characters in the series. I wouldn't say that makes them extremes of each other.

Jaime's impression of Ned is faulty. He believes he was being judged for killing the king but when they met again in the throne room in S1E03, Ned said "you just stood there and watched" then "you served him well when serving was safe", which can be understood the opposite way: as a reproach for not having betrayed the mad man earlier. Jaime appears to be nurturing his own fears of what others might be thinking of him. His father will later tell him he cares too much about what others say.


What Jaime says Ned thought is just what Jaime feels about how Ned might have felt. It tells about Jaime, not about Ned.

You said:
And I've asked for an explanation as to how, multiple times now.  Still waiting.    

"He will put his family first."  It would've been easier (and safer for his family) to have Cersei and her children killed, but he decides not to.  Are they related?

Thanks, but that's the point I was making.  Ned has a sense of morality that goes beyond familial ties or even royal decree.  He doesn't just take action to protect his own family as the other poster was suggesting.  He also argued with Robert over the potential assassination of Dany, and Ned had no stake in her life whatsoever.