AGOT does this a lot better than the show, but during the book, Ned gets more and more disgusted with Robert as a person and as a king. This comes to a headway when he quits the Handship when Robert wants to kill Viserys and Dany. Robert rejects this after Ned gets injured by Jamie and the rest of the book goes on after that. But what if it didn’t? What if Ned succeeded in all of his goals and Robert never died? Do you guys think Ned would’ve stayed or would Robert have found som other way to disgust Ned?
Ned was gone the second the Lannister problem had been dealt with.
Eventually I think Ned would grow more and more disappointed in Robert as King until he eventually would resign, and also because he would rather spend time with his family than the viper's nest of Kings landing.
Eddard didn't want to think about the age of the girl they'd brought to Robert's bed. I don't know. It's entirely possible another girl would have been too young. Or another of the king's sprees, or another reckless spending spree. Anything.
He was already making preparations to leave King's Landing with the girls before news of Robert's injury.
So yes.
Robert was a degenerate swine and his "son" was even worse
A break between the two was inevitable even without the incest being discovered
Ned would stay around to mop up the ABSOLUTE MESS that would happen after what happens. Tywin already raises his banners, except now every Great House declares war against him, Lysa as an easy way to get "revenge" for Jon Arryn, the Martells for revenge on Gregor and the Tyrells after they marry Margaery to Robert. The Lannisters would stand alone and get absolutely crushed by the rest of the realm, and House Lannister would go extinct or only exist through an inferior female line, or a VERY distant cousin.
Robert may get Margaery pregnant with a boy heir in this timeline, which removes the need for Stannis to be King, keeping most Lords happy except the Florents. After this, I would not be surprised if Robert, after Ned says his job is all done, abdicates and flees to the Free Cities, becoming a sellsword after his line is finally secured. Sadly for Ned, this means he has to stay in Kings Landing as Regent for the new King, though I am certain he will delegate as much as possible to men he knows to be loyal to the Crown, like Stannis. Stannis in this timeline is basically Viserys II, the guy doing all the actual work whilst his relatives ride off it. All this brings us to Renly and what he would do.
Renly imo is too power-hungry to let Stannis basically rule the realm, so they break out into a feud over who is the rightful claimant to Storms End etc. This feud forces Ned back into the fold, and so Ned is once again involved far more in Kings Landing than he would ever like.
TLDR: Ned is too involved in this mess to ever get out of it
The only gripe I have with that is that I don’t think the Lannisters would be wiped out. There are tons of “little Lannisters” in the books
Exactly, I said that the House would survive through one distant relative or a inferior female line.
Hell they might even put a Lannister of Lannisport at Casterly Rock
Ned only went after Catelyn guilt tripped him about him being honor bound to find the truth of Jon Arryn's murder and fear mongered that Robert would punish the North if he refused somehow. He would have left once he figured out who killed Arryn and resolved the succession issue, he never wanted to be in the South
Imagine winter comes and Ned's trying to import grain to feed his people, but Robert stops this because he's still mad at Ned for rejecting his offer. An angry king has many ways to punish those who angered him and Catelyn's concerns were entirely rational.
get it from Essos, it's closer than the Reach anyway. And the North could simply separate from the Iron Throne(and probably should have as soon as the dragons were dead), Robert's kingdom would collapse without the North and Riverland support, and the majority of the Vale wouldn't attack Ned either
The fact that the solution to this problem is so utterly ridiculous is a good indication why the problem is serious.