Ned Haverford Starling is an Ekaterina and one of the Starling triplets. He and his sister, Sinead Starling, and brother, Ted Starling made up one team of the race for the 39 Clues. According to Dan, the three of them look like "part of a cloned Ivy League lacrosse team." He was one of the suspects for Vesper Four. He suffers from serious migraines which affect his thinking ability.
Appearances[]
The Maze of Bones[]
Ned and his siblings were first seen at Grace Cahill's funeral where they had accepted the clue hunt sacrificing three million dollars. However, after they taunted Amy and Dan in the Franklin Institute, the three were caught in an explosion set by the Holt family. Hospitalized, the Starlings were in "bad shape." When they got out, they were grounded by their parents, "eliminating" them from the contest.
Into the Gauntlet[]
It was revealed that Ned and Ted suffered serious injuries in the explosion. Ted's eyes were damaged so that he is only able to see light and dark and Ned has migraines frequently, interrupting his ability to think. Probably set the Ekaterina bug in Amy and Dan's hotel room with his brother and sister.
The Medusa Plot[]
In Tel Aviv, Israel at 3:42 P.M. in the Israel Standard Time Zone, Ned is in a hospital elevator with Alistair Oh and Ted Starling hoping to cure what happened to them at the Franklin Institute. Suddenly, the elevator dropped to the bottom level where some Vespers attack them. Alistair buys time for Ned to escape and get help, but Ted tripped as got kidnapped too. At that same moment, other Cahills in different time zones were kidnapped. He and the Cahill siblings (Amy and Dan) are the only other ones to escape the Vesper kidnapping attempts. He later tells the Cahill family (more specifically Eisenhower Holt), that the kidnappings were happening in every branch. His call to William McIntyre made them realize that the other Cahills got kidnapped instead of just going missing. He was later successfully being a patient of Dr. Shalit in the hospital despite what happened.
Day of Doom[]
He appears at the end of the book talking with Sinead and Ted after the Machina Fini Mundi was destroyed.
Debrief:[]
We don't ever see much of Ned, however we do know that he and Ted are very reliant on one another for mental and physical support. He is clearly the more daring out of the two, seen as he snuck away in Into the Gauntlet to go follow Isabel.
Appearance[]
He, like his triplet siblings, has auburn hair and freckles. Ned also wears preppy clothes like his siblings: khakis, button-downs, and loafers.
Trivia[]
- He is left-handed, although his triplet brother, Ted, is right-handed.
- He had birthday parties at the planetarium every year growing up.
- He began going on Ekat missions with his siblings when they were only 11.
- He was a suspect for being Vesper 4, though was proven not to be.
- The watcher saw him as an potential vesper.
- The short story Rapid Fire #2 states he is 16 at the time of Grace's funeral.