If you ' re trying to persuade someone start off by not insulting them . Dumbass <| sep |> The difference between someone like Ned and someone like Randyll is that Ned ' s only seen doing things like that when it ' s in response to a clear legal precedent . He might take someone ' s head , but it will be because they ' re convicted of a crime that the whole realm sees as a crime . Randyll is a lot more absolutist , and is to an extent applying his own harsh version of morality and appropriate conduct in a much wider sphere than Ned ever has or ever would . His version of proper behaviour is what leads to him being so brutal to Sam he starves him , he puts him on a choke chain in the dungeons . Randyll hates the idea of a weak , feminine son so much that he ' s willing to kill the boy for it , in a society that regards kinslaying as the ultimate Big Bad . He hates the idea of loose , promicuous women so much that he ' s willing to inflict awful burns and the potential of possiblydeadly infection to teach not just her but the whole town a lesson about what happens to them . A lot of what we see from Randyll is punishment for things that only Randyll sees as worthy of punishment . There ' s no law against gentle , feminine sons . There ' s evidently no law against prostitution , nor even against spreading venereal disease she got it from someone else before passing it on , and nothing happens to them . Ned does it in accordance with the law . Randyll does it in accordance with his own unusually harsh even for Westeros private rules . The way feudalism works , Randyll doesn ' t even have the right to make new rules like that he can enforce existing laws as he sees fit , but he ' s too low down the pecking order to have new authority anywhere but his own lands at Horn Hill , and even there it ' s limited to an extent by the points where it contradicts with the laws and norms of the wider kingdom . Strictly speaking , he ' s kind of overstepping his bounds , and he gets away with it because Westerosi society is basically all on fire so no one with any power over him is policing him .