What if Sauron was inside the body of Ned Stark?

[Mosshadow95]

What if Sauron's mind is placed inside the body of Eddard Stark shortly before Jon Arryn's death. He has all of Ned's memory but does not have any of Sauron's magical powers so he cannot make rings and will die like a normal human but he has the sliver of the Stark's latent warg powers.

How would this change the story?

Jon Arryn would still die so Robert will likely ask Ned to become his hand again and he would probably accept since that means he has the ear of a king. Alternatively he might decide to stay put and build up his powerbase in Winterfell if he discover's his children's powers . I'm not sure how well he would be as a father though which might tip Catelyn off.

 

[Spartan Altego]

Can't speak to long term consequences but Sauron is very, very experienced at manipulation and treachery on a level so far beyond anyone in ASOIAF that it's not even funny. Discovery won't be an issue as far as family goes - if he has Ned's memories then he can act perfectly as he needs to, Sauron is very experienced at appearing as an agent of light when required.

He'd quickly begin researching local magic to regain shards of his lost power, spreading spies and loyalists where he needs to, and all the while whispering in Robert's ear to direct as he likes. He'd expose Cersei and Jamie's affair to remove the Lannisters from kingly politics, cementing himself further within the Baratheon regime, and then probably marry off Sansa to Robert to get the Starks as part of the royal family.

Westeros is no Middle-Earth. It'll be pathetically easy for Sauron to conquer it, as long as the Others don't breach the Wall too quickly.

 

[Shane_357]

Can't speak to long term consequences but Sauron is very, very experienced at manipulation and treachery on a level so far beyond anyone in ASOIAF that it's not even funny. Discovery won't be an issue as far as family goes - if he has Ned's memories then he can act perfectly as he needs to, Sauron is very experienced at appearing as an agent of light when required.

He'd quickly begin researching local magic to regain shards of his lost power, spreading spies and loyalists where he needs to, and all the while whispering in Robert's ear to direct as he likes. He'd expose Cersei and Jamie's affair to remove the Lannisters from kingly politics, cementing himself further within the Baratheon regime, and then probably marry off Sansa to Robert to get the Starks as part of the royal family.

Westeros is no Middle-Earth. It'll be pathetically easy for Sauron to conquer it, as long as the Others don't breach the Wall too quickly.

Click to shrink...

That's assuming that the local divinities don't exist. ASOIAF is really iffy and unclear on this, but there are implications that the Seven exist in some manner, the Old Gods are possibly one of three separate entities - the 'silent' gods of river, tree and stone, the greater gods that are mentioned in the tale of Durran Godsgrief and the weird gestalt the Children seem to be making, (or maybe all of them) there are (possibly) multiple gods in the vein of 'eldritch horrors' like the Drowned God. There's also many of references to the Cthulhu Mythos scattered through Martin's world, and Sauron is only second fiddle to a greater evil in Tolkien's, so I don't think it's gonna go so easily for him.

 

[Drascin]

Wait, you want to let loose a guy who managed to manipulate an entire nation of divinely gifted and quite explicitly superhumanly insightful men into a total clusterfuck of human sacrifice and demented obeisance by talking at them, in Westeros?

That seems... like it would end up real bad.

 

[Kodiak]

No time or necessity to build up powebase at Winterfell. "Hand of the King" is supposed to be what Tywin did with it - Prime Minister who for all intents and purposes has the king's authority. Even moreso with Robert of course as he explicitly doesn't want to do his job and does want to whore and drink.

And it's not hard to consolidate power from Ned's original position. Destroy Littlefinger (this hardly needs supernatural competence) and push through Joffery-Sansa, then run them with an iron fist like Tywin did with his grandson.

 

[Xexilf]

The only question (apart from some maybe-existing greater powers interfering), is wether he can find a solution to his mortality before neds lifespan runs out.

Otherwise, he manipulates and steamrolls over everything, and likely rules the world within a few centuries at most.

At least if were talking second age Sauron. Third age, near the end, seemed to be losing it a bit.

 

[Lord Invictus]

Second age Sauron is the best bet for ruling Planetos-as third age Sauron seems to have lost some of his skill at court intrigue, and first age Sauron was basically a glorified lieutenant whose foremost feats included shape shifting.