Inspired by this question (Is there any proof that Jaime Lannister is actually a good swordsman?), the OP mentions Ned in a way that he thinks Ned is a great swordsman. I don't recall anything from the books or show that indicate anything at all about his swordsmanship, he's usually talked about it terms of his honor, or skill as a commander. Aside from vague "we were great once, Ned" comments from Robert (and weren't we all great in our youth? :) ), what evidence do we have that Ned was notable as a swordsman?
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1Relevant: Is Eddard Stark as puissant a warrior as Jaime Lannister? – Aegon Aug 03 '17 at 15:05
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3He did have a sword of Valarian Steel, which would at least have given him an edge (no pun intended) on his opponents. – corsiKa Aug 03 '17 at 15:30
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@corsiKa Ice was ceremonial sword, it was too large to wield in battle effectively. – Skooba Aug 03 '17 at 15:56
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@Skooba I don't think that's true. It was a Great idea, so he would not have wielded it on horseback, but there are plenty of cases in history of swords that large being effectively used by infantry – Paul Aug 03 '17 at 16:25
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7@Paul "Asked if Ned ever used Ice in battle. George points out it was a greatsword, very large and cumbersome, a ceremonial sword for beheading people more than a fighting sword, so he suggests that it was "probably too heavy and clumsy" to use unless you're the Mountain." – Skooba Aug 03 '17 at 16:37
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We have footage of young Ned fighting in the show at the Tower of Joy. I don't recall too clearly to make any judgements about that scene and Ned's skills to turn that into an answer. – JAD Aug 03 '17 at 21:03
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George RR actually talks about this in an interview. I forget which one but Ned was more known as a commander than a swordsman. The show hollywoodtised that scene. Jamie would beat him – Dom Aug 03 '17 at 22:00
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8@Skooba That disappoints me greatly, if he actually said that. Greatswords were very much usable—and it’s kind of preposterous to suggest that someone would make a ceremonial sword out of Valyrian steel. – KRyan Aug 03 '17 at 22:13
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3It's clear that Ned survived many dangerous battles (by the lights of either books or the show) and is not regarded by people who saw him as one who shrank from his fights or was in any way shirking his duty or choosing weak opponents, so he must be quite good. There's nothing to suggest he would beat the few most legendary fighters in the land - e.g. it seems like Jamie was reasonably confident he would be able to beat him one on one for example - but unless he had been somehow supernaturally lucky, he couldn't be just an average fighter either, or he'd never have survived the rebellion. – Glen_b Aug 03 '17 at 23:54
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Now someone needs to ask, "Was Bran Stark actually a good swordsman?" – Adam Davis Aug 04 '17 at 03:09
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Bran was just a boy when he got crippled, @AdamDavis, I doubt he had enough time to get good. ;) – Paul Aug 04 '17 at 04:14
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@Paul cough_wargintohuman_cough ;) – Adam Davis Aug 04 '17 at 04:20
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3@AdamDavis That whole time manipulation thing is Show malarkey. In the books, 3 eyed Raven clearly explains to Bran that while they can learn from the past and watch it, they can't change it. So Bran isn't gonna go back in time and slip into his father or someone else. In Code of Skingchangers, taking hold of a human is considered abomination anyways (But Bran doesn't know that and experiments with Hodor) – Aegon Aug 04 '17 at 06:51
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1@Aegon I'm just making a poor attempt at a joke, no need to derail this post. – Adam Davis Aug 04 '17 at 10:58
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@Aegon that's actually one of the many things I'm really looking forward to in the books; finding out if the TER was simply wrong in that statement (perhaps he'd never tried a simultaneous warg into a human while going back in time) or intentionally misleading because of the dangers or something. Because despite it being Show Malarkey, I actually thought it was a pretty cool arc for what happened to Hodor. – Paul Aug 04 '17 at 11:32
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@Paul It would be interesting to see if Bran turns out to be even better than 3ER. Can't say I am much of a fan of "HOLD the DOOR" thing which was a fandom joke, but I can see why you find it interesting. – Aegon Aug 04 '17 at 12:33
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Oh looks like GRRM is gonna have the same thing. He told Michael Ventrella that he was very close the truth when the former made a connection between Hodor and Hold the Door jokingly – Aegon Aug 04 '17 at 12:42
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1The largest piece of evidence that Ned was a very skilled swordsman was the Tower of Joy raid, where three very capable swordsmen were defeated including the legendary Arthur Dane. However, the fight was also 7 on 3, and hasn't been described in the books yet. In the show the reality turned out to be less flattering to Ned. So this further supports the other answers that Ned was likely quite capable, but far from the best. – IronSean Aug 04 '17 at 12:42
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Books Answer
No there is no such proof or indication about Ned's talents.
He was an aristocrat so obviously he received martial training but never quite shone like many other big names of Westeros.
As you noted, he is known for his honesty and honor, not for his skills as a fighter.
He must have been good enough however as he fought directly in many battles including the raid at Tower of Joy but there is no evidence suggesting that he was a great warrior.
Others like Jaime, Arthur Dayne, Barristan Selmy, Loras Tyrell, Garlan Tyrell, Oberyn Martell, Lyn Corbray, Qhorin Halfhand etc are all described as exceptionally gifted. Even Robert was counted as a great warrior once. The same has never been said about Ned.
And he is not alone in it, the same has never been said about Tywin Lannister, Jon Arryn or Hoster Tully either. Mace Tyrell is explicitly called out as an incompetent Commander. I am actually glad that ASOIAF doesn't follow the silly tropes that the Good Guy (there are no good guys in the series but that's how some people view Ned) is supposed to be a great warrior, oh and warning, TV Tropes link. Ned has other redeeming talents, he was great at administration and laws.
So in conclusion, there is neither any evidence, nor a claim in the first place that Eddard was among the biggest fighting stars of Westeros.
And I have found a Citadel entry on this same question. This is what GRRM is reported to have said himself:
GRRM has previously stated that Eddard was a competent swordsman. However, Brandon was the real swordsman in the family (SSC).
If George says he was a competent (and therefore not an exceptional one) swordsman, I guess that settles it. Good enough but not Excellent.
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6IIRC, Ned was able to at least briefly hold his own against Jaime Lannister. That suggests he was more than competent as a swordsman, although he might not have been on a level with Jaime and other famous fighters. – Royal Canadian Bandit Aug 03 '17 at 10:33
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6@RoyalCanadianBandit When did that happen? Jaime and Eddard never fought except in the show heresy. Jaime simply walked away when he cornered eddard in streets of KL, at least in the books – Aegon Aug 03 '17 at 10:36
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4I think this answer is more authoritative, though I like both responses. The conversation with Barristan in the show could easily have been polite flattery. – Paul Aug 03 '17 at 22:28
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1Remember that Ned was part of the team of 7 that KILLED Arthur Dayne (and 2 other Kingsguard), so he must have been at least competent. – GreySage Aug 03 '17 at 22:57
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3@GreySage Right, so 7 on 3. He wasn't a chump, but he also wasn't a total rockstar. – Paul Aug 04 '17 at 00:58
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Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – Null Aug 04 '17 at 13:28
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He's regarded as being well accomplished on the field of battle which, according to the Stark sensibilities, would involve him at the forefront, directly commanding troops and making good use of Ice. This includes the Battle of the Trident, the culminating battle of King Robert's Rebellion. IIRC King Robert Baratheon made reference to his skill on the field of battle as a swordsman while en route on the Kingsroad heading south, perhaps in attempting to get him to compete in the melee meant to be in his honor as Hand. – Eric McCormick Aug 05 '17 at 00:31
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@EricMcCormick Hard to tell. For one, a commander would most likely be on a horse - otherwise it'd be very hard to keep track of what's happening on the battlefield (if they're fighting in decent terrain). Two, fighting well in a group isn't exactly the same as fighting well in duels. It might very well be that Jamie would beat Ned in a duel easily, but wouldn't defeat him host-against-host. There's many different skills involved, and they don't entirely overlap for the two challenges. Ned seemed to take fighting seriously, not as a fun past-time activity. – Luaan Aug 05 '17 at 20:15
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@EricMcCormick No I just had a re-read of AGOT yesterday, Robert made no references to Ned's Prowess. And Ned never used Ice in Battle IIRC. As Skooba said: "Asked if Ned ever used Ice in battle. George points out it was a greatsword, very large and cumbersome, a ceremonial sword for beheading people more than a fighting sword, so he suggests that it was "probably too heavy and clumsy" to use unless you're the Mountain." This is merely more or less repetition of the now removed comments. Please take a look into them following the link by Null. – Aegon Aug 07 '17 at 06:28
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1@Luaan Jaime is always described as an excellent field Commander, his only weakness is that he is rash. Make him frustrated and bored and he will walk right into your trap. Which is exactly what Robb did against Jaime. – Aegon Aug 07 '17 at 06:29
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In the episode, The Wolf and the Lion, following conversation took place:
BARRISTAN: Life is strange. Not so many years ago we fought as enemies at the Trident.
NED: I'm glad we never met on the field, Ser Barristan ... as is my wife. I don't think the widow's life would suit her.
BARRISTAN: (chuckles) You're too modest. I've seen you cut down a dozen great knights.
NED: My father once told me you were the best he'd ever seen. I never knew the man to be wrong about matters of combat.
I think this speaks to Ned's skill as a swordsman. Also, dozens, perhaps hundreds of Knights and thousands of soldiers died during Robert's rebellion - the definitely were not all great, as evidenced by their deaths and Ned Stark's survival.
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27+1 Worth noting, this conversation never happened in the books. This is a Show-only answer. I have also taken the liberty of adding source to your answer. You might also wanna note what RoyalCanadianBandit suggested earlier in comments. Despite age taking its toll, in the show, Ned was able to hold his own against Jaime Lannister and at one point seemed to have the upper hand which should be a testimony to his sword skills in showverse – Aegon Aug 03 '17 at 14:25
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to add on to this, the one moment we actually see him fight (in the show, it takes place after the show outpaced the books) he actually won against the two targareans due to a backstab by a mortally wounded ally. Both the raven and Bran agree that the his targarean opponent is better than he is. We see this through a flashback and it seems he had lied about this to (at least) his sons, as bran seemed shocked by the fact that his father didn't win the fight honourably. So at minimum, we can assume his skill is self-inflated – Seventhsage Aug 05 '17 at 14:01
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@Seventhsage "Bran seemed shocked by the fact that his father didn't win the fight honourably". This doesn't suggest a lie in my mind - only that Eddard Stark had a reputation as an honourable man. – Mark Aug 07 '17 at 09:18
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1@Seventhsage This wasn't "some targaryen". This was the legendary Ser Arthur Dayne, the best fighter ever. – madmada Sep 13 '17 at 14:32
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In a roundabout way we know that Ned was not as good a swordsman as his brother Brandon was. From George himself:
[Correspondent] I was wondering if you would comment on Benjen Stark's fighting ability. Is he on a level with Brandon, or is he more like Ned?
[GRRM] Depends on the kind of fight you had in mind.
[GRRM] Brandon was the best of the Starks with sword in hand, and the best jouster as well. But Benjen has other skills that serve him well as a ranger... and Ned was likely the best battle commander.
So Spake Martin, About Benjen Stark, December 15, 2000
Now George was comparing the three brothers, and just because Brandon was better doesn't mean Ned was a slouch, Brandon could have been second to none, but I think that if Ned wasn't even the best in family, he would not have been considered an elite swordsman in Westeros. As shown, Ned's talents lay elsewhere, in command.
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If you've actually gone into combat, actually faced and crossed men with your sword, and have come out of it with all your limbs intact - you're a pretty good swordsman. Better than most probably.
This is AFAIK the case for Eddard Stark in the books as well (Battle of the Bells at least, right?), and that's ignoring the initial advantage of being trained in sword-fighting, which is a privilege few people have - and itself makes you pretty decent in relative terms (unless you totally bungle it up like Robin Arryn in the show).
einpoklum
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This doesn't follow. It's possible he never fought anyone even halfway competent – Valorum Feb 06 '20 at 21:27
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@Valorum: He fought multiple people who were trying to hack and slash him, and didn't get hack-and-slashed, at all. That's far above average. I'm saying that people have unrealistic standards. – einpoklum Feb 06 '20 at 22:17
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In the books, Ned's only a competent swordsman, maybe somewhat above average since he survived many important battles. His brother Brandon was a really good swordsman, though Ned was rumored to have killed Ser Arthur Dayne by himself. (The show clarifies that this isn't quite how it went down.)
In the show, Brandon's skills were never mentioned and Ned was shown to be a highly skilled swordsman who killed Ser Gerold Hightower pretty much by himself and lasted quite some time even against the fabled Ser Arthur Dayne. Even later, when he was past his prime, he was able to duel Ser Jaime Lannister fairly evenly for a while.
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