Yes, Ned would have.Ned’s whole character was a stickler for the rules. Remember the very start when Ned beheaded poor Wil from the Night’s Watch because he broke oath? (Gared in the books) It was in a time of peace and Wil was terrified, confused and desperate, but rules are rules and Ned was bound by code. This scene’s purpose was to show that Ned was a rules man, to his detriment later on. So he would indeed have executed Theon had Balon misbehaved, because “doing his duty” was a big part of his character.
Ignoring this not only ignores a big fault in Ned’s character, but also ignores a big part of why the hostage system is fucked up and how it damages children, which lies at the very core of Theon’s story. It’s not about vilifying Ned because this reader/watcher need to vilify goes against everything GRRM is doing with this series. Rather it’s about the psychological damage done to hostage children in a world that punishes kids for the father’s sins. A child growing up without any love in a foreign place that doesn’t trust him because of who fathered him, knowing that this man (who cannot show him affection because of what he might have to do) will execute him if daddy does wrong…
That child is going to need a lot of therapy.
And this a world without even the first inkling of psychology, a world that blames the victims. Ned didn’t set out to contribute to mentally damaging a child (emphasis on contribute, because Theon was already damaged goods), he doesn’t live in a world that takes that into account. But he’s a stickler for the rules and despite doing his best to make Theon’s imprisonment as kind as possible, it was never going to work because you can’t apply a bandaid to a gaping wound.
It’s not even about feeling sorry for Theon - it’s about GRRM examining this system through Theon and how complicated and utterly fascinating it is. Refusing to believe that Ned would have “done his duty” is completely discounting an important facet of GRRM’s incredibly intimate examination of a practice that is just shrugged off and accepted, with children labeled as ‘bad’ when they understandably don’t grow up functioning like a normal person.
And finally, why do people want to make Ned (and Robb) so bloody faultless? IT’S BORING! Blameless, lily-white, never-do-wrong characters are unchallenging and fucking TEDIOUS. Why would you want that???
(Source: thekrakensonions, via plays-with-squirrels)
