1. Ned was not following King Robert's wishes. Robert didn't know that Joffrey was not his son. But from the point of view of Joffrey and his family Ned was a traitor because he was trying to depose the rightful king. Their story is that Ned wanted to seize power for himself and tried to overthrow Joffrey.

2. Yeah, Barristan Selmy was pissed that Joffrey kicked him to the curb and so decided to go find Danaerys

3. Yes. Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark led a rebellion which defeat the "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen

4. I'm not sure which war you're referring to. Robert's Rebellion, which brought Robert to the throne, began when Aerys killed Ned's father Rickard and brother Brandon. The War of the Five Kings, the war which takes up the first three seasons of the show, has a bit of a rolling start. The Lannisters moved against the Tully forces because Catelyn Stark, who was born a Tully, kidnapped Tyrion Lannister. But the war really swings into high gear when Ned is arrested. Robb Stark, Ned's son, calls the Northern lords to arms and leads them south first to rescue, and then to avenge, his father.

5. Varys ultimate agenda, and loyalties, are still unclear at this point on the show. But it's a good idea not to trust anyone on this show

1 - He was acting on Robert's wishes but Cersei had already taken power and declared Joffery king so they accused him of treason for declaring Stannis king. It all really came down to who the city watch sided with.

2 - In part, Ser Barristan had been in the King's guard the longest of any of the current knights and he and Jaime were the only ones to serve under the Mad king and then serve Robert after the war. He took his oath for life and wasn't happy with Joffery dismissing him so he decided to serve the heir of the Mad king instead.

3 - He didn't kill the Mad king himself (Jaime Lannister did) but he lead the rebellion against him. Of the rebels he was also the one who was most closely related to the Targeryens which was useful for appeasing the lords who had remained loyal to the Targeryens through the war.

4 - Not exactly, the war started before that when Catelyn took Tyrion prisoner and Tywin invaded the Riverlands in retaliation. When Ned died though it basically made a peaceful end to the war impossible.

5 - Not sure how many spoilers you want, he's certainly someone who has no problem betraying people who think he's their friend so if you were a character in the show it wouldn't serve you well to trust him. He has his own plans and is working towards them in secret.

1. After discovering that all of King's Robert and Cersei's children were actually her brother Jaimie's, Ned confronted Cersei and mercifully gave her time to flee with the children (Robert would have killed them in a fury). That gave her time to get control of the City Watch, Kingsguard, and her own family's knights/men. She ripped apart Robert's will (that declared Ned regent while Joffrey is underage) and nobody did anything since she has them all in her (and her family's) pocket. They delcared him a traitor after he refused to keep silent. Everything he did was for his friend King Robert's sake, but he was killed anyway.

2. Ser Barristan is an honorable and incredibly loyal knight. All he wants to do is serve and die for a king who is just and fair (he's served three; a fat drunk, a madman, and a little brat). So, he did feel disrespected/angry, but I think he was also fed up with serving crappy kings. That's why he went to find Daenerys; he honestly believes she'll make a great queen.

3. Yep. The Mad King's son, Prince Rhaegar, kidnapped/ran away with Robert's betrothed, so he started a rebellion and ultimately won.

4. Basically, yeah. Ned's death causes his eldest son Robb to lead the northmen down south to avenge his father. And after Ned sent letters to the King's brothers telling them that Robert's children were not actually his, they both declared themselves king and began raising armies. His death begins the War of Five Kings.

5. Varys is Master of Whispers on the King's council. He has thousands of spies around the world and everyone is aware of this. His intentions are very unclear and most people don't trust him.

http://awoiaf.westeros.org...

Holy crap....some people have alot of time lol.

Anyway, yeah, tons of things to follow. Love the site above when I have a question or just need a reference while I read [or watch].

I just started watching the games of thrones about a week ago. I watched all 3 seasons including the first episode for the fourth season. Maybe because I crammed in all the episodes at once and never got the full understanding of the game of thrones, but I have a couple questions that i would like to be answered about some of the characters and the situations if you don't mind answering.

1. How did Edward(ned) stark commit treason exactly? he was doing the kings wishes

2. Did ser barristan selmy join daenerys targaryen because he was mad/felt disrespected because king joffery wanted to get rid of him?

3. King Robert became king because he ultimately defeated the mad king right?

4. Did the battle/war begin because of edward(ned) death

5.Varys in someone not to be trusted right?

Those are basically the questions that i really want to know. Anyone who has read the books are watched the show is welcomed to answer.

please and thank you, I really appreciate it