Most of the characters in Game of Thrones are horrible people. Power turns reasonable people into monsters with a near-100% success rate. The few heroic characters tend to lose their innocence or die horrible deaths as someone with fewer moral scruples seizes control. The execution of Eddard Stark, a flawed man who stands above most of the cast when it comes to purity, sends Westeros into a massive war. Before he passed, the death of Ser Arthur Dayne stood as one of his darkest moments.