Linkin Park: "Breaking The Habit" – Ned: finally telling Cat and Jon about Lyanna

Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume
I'm safe here in my room
Unless I try to start again

I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused

I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I know it's not alright
So I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight

Clutching my cure
I tightly lock the door
I try to catch my breath again
I hurt much more
Than anytime before
I had no options left again

I don't want to be the one …
I don't know what's worth fighting for …

I'll paint it on the walls
'Cause I'm the one at fault
I'll never lie again
And this is how it ends

I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
But now I have some clarity
To show you what I mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight

I'm telling you the truth, tonight.

.

.

.

Three simple words. Why Ned? It was just three simple words and it would have saved a lot of headache.

Three words Ned, that's all it would have taken. Not the cliché three words. She knew that, he knew that. Three words Ned. That's all she ever needed to hear, all he ever needed. Three words that would have made everybody's lives a lot easier. Three words that would have put an end to all the suffering and the uncertainty. Three words Ned. Why? Three words, Ned, that's all you had to say. "Jon is Lyanna's"

I don' t mean to create a debate here. People who have read some of my stories know how I feel about the whole R+L=J. Simply put, I don't like it. No, let me expand: I hate it! Apart from turning a mature saga about politics and strategy into a teenage fairy tale fantasy, it completely tarnishes the figure of Ned, one of my most beloved characters. It makes me terribly angry at Ned, it makes me hate Ned. It does not make him an honorable hero, it makes him a dishonorable bastard (no pun intended) and one of the most despicable villains in the saga. Yes, brining Jon home and saving him was heroic and honorable. But that was the easy part. Not telling Jon and Cat was dishonorable and coward. He ruined both Jon's and Cat's lives! Many other characters have done bad things, but they always had a reason for it (lust for power, revenge, mental issues) and they never hurt the ones they loved. Ned ruined the lives of two people he claimed to love for no reason whatsoever.

Give me a minute please, I need to talk to Ned now:

How could you? How could you claim to love Jon when you never gave him a place? Yes, he had a bed and a plate on the table, but he didn't have a home. He was always ostracized by people wherever he went, usually by your own insecure wife. And it was all your fault. How could you claim to love him and then send him to the Wall, knowing full well what kind of place it was? If he were truly a bastard, unfortunately in your society the Night Watch is probably as high as he could ever get, but he wasn't. He wasn't a bastard! And you denied him the chance to grow into his own person. Shame on you Ned!

How could you sleep next to a woman you claimed you loved and see her struggle to go to sleep every night and have nightmares about you loving another woman and not even once try to reassure her? How could you, the one time she had the galls to ask, snap at her so violently and threaten her the way you did? How could you let her live that hell? You are lucky she was a woman of honor. She knew you loved Jon and her love for you was stronger than her fears. She forsook her honor and did her duty for the good of the family. Family Duty Honor, indeed! Jon was lucky Catelyn was your wife. She knew Jon meant a lot to you and dropped the subject. Oh, but did she suffer inside! And you never saw that! She never hurt your boy. Oh, but she could have! Any other woman would have! Cold stares and indifference, that was all she ever did to vent her feelings. She just tried to convince herself he was not there, but how could she? Could she love him? No! How could she? Not when he was a constant reminder of the fact that there was another woman who might one day come and take her place, who might one day claim for her bastard son what belonged to her children. How can you claim to love this woman when you let her suffer for fifteen years?

Why did you lie? I understand at the beginning you didn't know your wife. You didn't trust her, that's understandable. Plus you had just lost your father and brother to horrendous circumstances, had just lost your sister in a tragic way and had just returned from a savage war. But later? Did your wife never fully earn your trust? What prompted you not to tell the truth? Did you want to protect them? Did you really think a lie would protect them? If Robert ever found out, he would come knocking and most likely take your head for treason. But he would also take Jon's and Cat's. Do you really think he would believe them when they claimed they didn't know anything? You would have doomed them all by keeping them in the dark.

Had Catelyn known Jon posed no threat to her children, she would have welcome him with open arms. She loved children (hey, she even cried at the sight of two dead Lannister boys and the Lannisters had just killed you!). Jon's life in Winterfell would have been a lot better. Perhaps he would have not gone to the Wall and joined Robb in the war and talked some sense into him. Maybe they would all still be alive. But you didn't tell them. They had to endure nightmares, humiliation and fear, all because you refused to utter those three words … Shame on you Ned!

Ok, I'm back. I'm done talking to Ned … No need to reply to this rambling, I know many people do not agree with my views on these issues and I respect that. I just needed to get it off my chest. RLJ really makes me hate Ned, that's one of the main reasons I don't like it. I truly wish Jon were just Ned's bastard. A meaningless one night stand fifteen ago in the midst of war can be forgiven. A lie that lasts a lifetime cannot, especially one as big as this one and with such dire consequences for the two victims.

So, back to the song .. in my head this is when NED TOLD CAT AND JON THE TRUTH! YEAH!