Yeah no one saw it coming that Sean Bean would dieI'd say that's a bit different. All the events that led up to Ned Stark's death, whether you're a book reader or a series watcher - served the purpose of adding to the shock when he finally died. I think it's safe to say that we were all very naive in that sense, expecting him to live or something, simply because there hasn't really been a story out there where the good guys are almost systematically killed. However, that having shocked us, another story where the (relatively) good guy is slowly getting killed over an entire season, in the same series... well, it simply wouldn't be shocking. It would be boring. Boring and annoying.