0:02 What is Wulder's master plan in A Song
0:05 of Ice and Fire? Yes, there was the Red
0:07 Wedding, but what else has he been
0:09 planning? Let's take a look. Hi
0:10 everyone, this is Robert. Welcome to In
0:12 Deepge Geek. If you like theories,
0:14 background, history, and lore about A
0:15 Song of Ice and Fire, The Lord of the
0:17 Rings, and The Witcher, this is the
0:20 place for you. Welcome. And this is
0:21 another collaboration with the excellent
0:24 History of Westeros. Please do check out
0:25 their podcast and YouTube channel.
0:28 There's a link in the description.
0:30 In a previous video, we looked at how
0:32 Lord Walder Freay's ambitious,
0:34 opportunistic approach to the Game of
0:36 Thrones is largely a continuation of his
0:38 family's way of doing business for 600
0:41 years or so. Most notably, we saw that
0:43 his ancestors joined a number of
0:45 rebellions very early on, aiming to
0:47 benefit from the immense rewards a new
0:49 king could potentially offer, perhaps
0:50 even including marriage to the would-be
0:53 new royal house. This rarely worked
0:56 exactly to plan, but still the phrase
0:58 grew and prospered, waiting for their
1:00 next big break. The Freys have not been
1:03 shy about aiming high, and why not?
1:05 They've never been truly accepted by
1:07 their fellow riverlords as a whole, most
1:09 of whom can rather snootily traced their
1:11 lineage back thousands of years. House
1:14 Frey is now only six centuries old, and
1:15 are still seen as upstart toll
1:17 collectors by the ruling classes, and
1:20 thus do not fit neatly into their club.
1:22 In response, the phrase have mostly
1:25 unsuccessfully tried to rise above those
1:27 who looked down on them. Yet, despite
1:29 being on the losing side so many times,
1:31 they've never suffered much for it. They
1:33 are very rich, capable of paying
1:35 enormous amounts in restitution, and as
1:37 is often required, they can also give
1:40 hostages. There are lots of phrase going
1:42 spare. Either way, as long as they have
1:44 the twins, their coffers will refill
1:47 with toll revenue, and new phrase will
1:50 be born. Lord Walder is the extreme
1:52 version of all these fray qualities.
1:54 With his enormous number of descendants,
1:56 he can spend them however he chooses for
1:58 marriage alliances, high offices,
2:00 military commands, whatever brings advantage.
2:01 advantage.
2:03 But there's another option when you're
2:05 losing, though it's far less honorable.
2:08 Switching sides. Lord Walder was
2:09 responsible for the Red Wedding, of
2:11 course, so there's an obvious and
2:13 infamous example there. However, he was
2:15 not the first Frey to switch sides. He
2:17 wasn't even the first Frey to switch
2:20 sides at a wedding, but he was a witness
2:22 to that first time when he was a child,
2:23 and the event appears to have left an
2:26 impression. When he was only 4 years
2:28 old, Walder caught his 15-year-old
2:30 sister with a skullion and tattled to
2:33 their father. To minimize the scandal,
2:34 Lord Frey quickly arranged for his
2:36 daughter to be married to the very
2:39 wealthy Lord Ambrose Butterwell, a man
2:42 50 years old. As another house that owed
2:43 much of its success to mercantile
2:45 pursuits, they were also looked down on
2:47 by the riverlords at large, not unlike
2:50 House Frey. Lord Frey brought his son
2:52 with him to White Walls for the event.
2:55 Dunc observed that the child was
2:57 extremely annoying and was tempted to
2:59 toss him into a well. Too bad for Rob
3:01 and Catelyn and the rest that Dunc
3:03 restrained himself. But as it turned
3:06 out, the wedding and Tony, as detailed
3:07 in the mystery night, the third Duncan
3:10 egg novela was actually a cover to
3:12 launch the second Blackfire rebellion.
3:14 When the plan began to unravel, Lord
3:17 Frey tried to flee, but he was caught by
3:18 Blood Raven's men and brought back to
3:21 White Walls. The castle was raised to
3:23 the ground, and Lord Butterwell was
3:26 stripped of 90% of his wealth. Yet, like
3:28 so many Freys before him, this Lord Frey
3:31 seemed to face no obvious punishment.
3:33 Given Blood Raven's complete lack of
3:35 mercy towards Blackfire supporters in
3:36 every other case, including Lord
3:38 Butterwell himself, this is a notable
3:41 and suggestive exception. The reasonable
3:43 conclusion is that Lord Frey turned on
3:45 his fellow conspirators and cut a deal
3:47 with Blood Raven to gain a pardon and
3:50 escape punishment. Despite participating
3:52 in so many rebellions, this appears to
3:54 be the first time a Lord Frey betrayed
3:56 their allies. But as we know, it's not
3:58 the last.
4:00 Many years later, Walder took his
4:02 father's place as Lord Frey, but he
4:04 didn't forget that experience, and
4:06 surely over the years he would have
4:08 learned of his family's ambitions prior
4:10 to his father's. Trying to move up in
4:12 the world was a family tradition he
4:14 clearly became well reared in. This, of
4:16 course, means he also learned that none
4:18 of those attempts to climb the ladder
4:20 succeeded. The phrase had gained little
4:22 favor, let alone marriage alliances with
4:25 either royals or riverlords.
4:27 In the ensuing decades, Lord Walder
4:29 sired many children, grandchildren,
4:32 great-grandchildren, and made a dizzying
4:34 array of marriage alliances. He famously
4:37 married eight times, but only his
4:39 fourth, to Lady Alyssa Blackwood, was to
4:42 a fellow Riverlord's house. Walder's son
4:44 and heir, Sir Stevron, married thrice
4:47 himself, all outside of the Riverlands.
4:49 Stevron's daughter, Miguel, did marry
4:51 into House Vance of the Riverlands,
4:53 however, and of course, they named their
4:56 eldest son Walder. But overall in the
4:59 vast Frey family tree under Lord Walder,
5:01 there are few marriages to other houses
5:03 in the Riverlands. Most of the wives and
5:05 thus mothers are from the Veil, the
5:08 Crownlands or the West, especially the
5:11 Westerlands. And this is revealing. Lord
5:14 Walder has long had his eye on the West,
5:17 particularly on Castly Rock. Eventually,
5:19 he got what he wanted from the amiable
5:22 Lord Tittos. That's Tywin's father. and
5:24 his second son, Emmen, married Jenna
5:27 Lannister, Tywin's sister. Tywin was
5:29 only 10 at the time, but he spoke out
5:30 against the marriage at a feast with
5:33 half the Westland's nobility present.
5:36 Though Lord Walder is proud and prickly,
5:38 this did not deter him from seeking
5:39 further connection to House Lannister,
5:42 and he also continued to aim as high as
5:44 possible, though not very subtly,
5:47 because he began naming his descendants
5:49 after Targaryenss.
5:52 His third son he named Anise after the
5:54 second Targaryen king. Anise Frey went
5:56 on to have two sons of his own who were
5:59 named Aegon and Rhaegar. This is the
6:01 same Rhaegar Frey who wound up as Mandly
6:04 Py filling while Aegon has never been on
6:06 page as he is apparently an outlaw of
6:09 some sort called Aegon Bloodborne. And
6:11 there was also a second Aegon Frey, son
6:14 of Walder's first son, Sir Stevron. This
6:17 Aegon was better known as Jinglebell,
6:19 the court fool, and was slain by Catelyn
6:21 during the Red Wedding. In addition,
6:23 Lord Walder's eldest bastard son had a
6:26 son of his own named Aean. Another of
6:28 the Freys who wound up in a pie was
6:30 Jared, and his firstborn son is named
6:33 Tittos, most likely after Tywin's
6:34 father, who was Lord of Castly Rock at
6:37 the time of his name. These repeated
6:40 examples indicate a clear strategy. Name
6:42 phrase after members of the royal family
6:45 and House Lannister. the second most
6:47 powerful house in the realm at the time.
6:49 This is something Lord Walder likely
6:51 encouraged, if not commanded his
6:52 children and grandchildren to do
6:54 whenever they weren't naming their
6:56 children Walder. That is, given that
6:58 Tywin was willing to insult House Frey
7:00 as a 10-year-old, Lord Walder likely
7:02 didn't expect much from House Lannister
7:04 when Tywin ascended to his father's
7:06 seat. But he wouldn't have failed to
7:08 notice that over the years, Tywin was
7:10 highly successful in pretty much all of
7:13 his endeavors. Even before his lordship,
7:15 he brutally and ruthlessly ended house
7:17 reign in what became remembered as the
7:19 reigns of Castmir. Rather than harming
7:21 his reputation, it only seemed to
7:23 enhance it. He became friends with the
7:26 then prince Eris Targaryen and was then
7:28 named Hand of the King when Eris
7:30 ascended to the Iron Throne, a position
7:32 Tywin held for 20 years. By the time
7:35 Robert's rebellion began, Lord Tywin and
7:37 King Eris had fallen out. However, Tywin
7:39 was back at Castly Rock, no longer in
7:42 office. Tywin led his host into the
7:44 field, but did not declare for either
7:48 side. Lord Walder did the same. Lord
7:50 Tywin waited to see who gained the upper
7:52 hand in the war. And again, so did Lord
7:55 Walder. It seems that while Lord Tywin
7:56 was waiting to see who he would join,
7:59 Lord Walder was waiting to see who Lord
8:01 Tywin would join. To him, Lord Tywin's
8:03 side and the winning side was probably
8:05 the same thing. But when the Battle of
8:07 the Trident was fought, their strategies
8:10 diverged. Lord Walder rushed to the
8:11 battlefield with his host, declaring
8:13 they had been allies all along. This
8:15 earned him the nickname the late Lord
8:17 Frey and placed another stain on the
8:19 honor of his house. But they also didn't
8:21 receive any punishments nor make any new
8:24 enemies. Tywin infamously rushed to
8:26 King's Landing and sacked it. Instead of
8:28 merely bending the knee to the new king,
8:30 he had Princess Ellia, Prince Aegon, and
8:33 Princess Rainees killed, forever
8:35 repudiating House Targaryen. Never again
8:38 could the two houses ally.
8:40 Tywin had no hand in Rhaegar's death,
8:42 but he might have saved it had he shown
8:44 up at the Battle of the Trident to fight
8:46 for his lege against Robert. Had he done
8:48 so, surely Lord Walder would have been
8:50 quick to join as well. The phrase with
8:52 Targaryen names might have preferred
8:54 that outcome. As with the reigns of
8:57 Castmir, Tywin's extreme actions didn't
8:59 seem to stop House Lannister's rise.
9:01 They received many rewards. The biggest
9:02 of which was the marriage of the new
9:04 King Robert to Cersei. The Lannisters
9:07 were now part of the royal house. Lord
9:10 Walder had observed Tywin's entire
9:12 career, and he now had a blueprint, a
9:15 very bloody blueprint. But he also
9:17 returned to his old tricks. Robert's
9:20 rebellion ended in 283. And later that
9:22 year, Lord Walder's 11th son, Raymond,
9:24 had his firstborn son, who was named,
9:27 predictably enough, Robert. Their fourth
9:29 child was named Cersei. And during the
9:30 events of A Song of Ice and Fire, there
9:33 were twin boys named Jaime and Tywin.
9:35 This came just after Tywin became hand
9:37 of the king again and Jaime made Lord
9:40 Commander of the king's card. Perhaps
9:42 it's unsurprising given the sheer size
9:44 of House Frey. But there is more. A few
9:46 years after Robert Baratheon took the
9:48 throne, Lord Ward's grandson, Cleos, the
9:50 same Cleos who traveled with Jaime and
9:52 Brienne in the main story, the same
9:54 Cleos who 10-year-old Tywin didn't want
9:56 his sister to marry, had a son with
9:59 Jenna, whom they named Tywin. Putting
10:02 this all together, it helps explain why
10:04 Lord Walder was unwilling to go against
10:06 House Lannister in a Game of Thrones. He
10:08 was not eager to make an enemy of the
10:10 man whose success he most wanted to
10:12 emulate. A house he had tried to tie to
10:14 his own many times and had tied to
10:17 through his son and Tywin's sister. But
10:20 then an opportunity presented itself.
10:22 Rob Stark was desperate to cross the
10:24 river and Walder knew that he could
10:27 exact a very high price. The Lannisters
10:29 and Starks may be at war, but at his
10:31 age, when else would he get an
10:33 opportunity like this? a marriage to the
10:35 heir of House Stark is extremely
10:38 prestigious. He also probably expected,
10:41 as many other lords did, a short war,
10:42 perhaps an exchange of Jaime Lannister
10:44 for Ned Stark, followed by a peace
10:47 arrangement. Though he had long wanted
10:49 Lannister marriages, and tying himself
10:50 to the Starks when they were at war with
10:53 the Lannisters was risky, the Starks are
10:55 a great house. The deal was hardruck,
10:57 and Lord Walder knew it was a rare opportunity.
10:59 opportunity.
11:01 He couldn't have foreseen Ned Stark's
11:03 execution, which led to Rob's
11:05 coronation. So instead of the short
11:07 inconvenience of a war followed by the
11:09 long-term advantages of his descendant
11:11 being a Lord Stark, House Frey found
11:13 themselves in an allout war for
11:14 independence with the North and the
11:17 Riverlands against the Lannisters. It
11:19 was far more dangerous, but the rewards
11:21 were also potentially greater. If they
11:24 succeeded, A Frey would be the queen of
11:26 the North. The next king in the north
11:28 would be Lord Walder's descendant. This
11:30 is why we can be reasonably confident
11:33 that Lord Walder's initial support for
11:35 Rob Stark was sincere, not out of
11:37 loyalty to House Stark or in keeping
11:39 their word, but because it was a chance
11:41 to win what his family had sought for
11:45 centuries, royal status. Thus, we can in
11:47 turn be reasonably sure that he didn't
11:49 enter the arrangement with plans to
11:51 betray it. But like his father taught
11:54 him, switching sides was a completely
11:55 valid option if the right opportunities
11:58 came along. When the war started going
12:00 badly for the North, when his son and
12:02 heir, Sir Stevron, died on campaign and
12:05 Rob broke his promise to marry a Frey,
12:07 everything changed. Rob offered the
12:10 Freys a marriage to House Tully instead.
12:12 While prestigious, he had aimed for a
12:14 royal status, not a marriage to his
12:17 feudal overlords. This is seemingly when
12:19 Lord Walder pivoted plans, and the
12:22 result was the Red Wedding. Through his
12:24 new plan, not only did he have Rob and
12:26 most of his hosts slain, his third
12:28 wife's side of the family married the
12:30 new rulers of the north, House Bolton.
12:32 So, he still got that northern ruling
12:35 connection. On top of that, and perhaps
12:37 more importantly to him personally, he
12:38 acquired further links to House
12:40 Lannister, who had become, for all
12:42 intents and purposes, the new royal
12:44 house on the Iron Throne. And on top of
12:46 that, as part of the arrangement, Lord
12:49 Edmure Tully still married Lady Roslin
12:51 Frey, but was stripped of his lands.
12:53 Lord Walder's second son, Emmen, along
12:56 with Jenna Lannister, received Riverrun
12:58 as their seat. So Lord Walder got
13:00 everything Rob was offering, plus quite
13:02 a lot more. Influence with the ruling
13:04 family in King's Landing, a marriage to
13:06 the ruling family in the north, his son
13:08 getting Riverrun, the Tullies stripped
13:10 of their lands. Yes, it will have seemed
13:13 like a very profitable venture by Walder
13:15 Fray. However, little has gone according
13:18 to plan for Lord Walder since. Instead
13:19 of the respect he expected to gain for
13:21 his house, they've become associated
13:24 with disloyalty and the violation of
13:26 guestright, an especially huge taboo in
13:29 the north. Lord Walder probably didn't
13:31 see it coming. Tywin's ruthless violence
13:33 helped his family advance and made
13:35 everyone fear him, but House Frey
13:38 instead won contempt. The phrase had
13:40 been opportunistic and inmperate many
13:43 times, but this kind of brutality was
13:45 new, and it's changed their place in
13:48 history forever. What Lord Walder also
13:50 failed to notice is that even Lord
13:52 Tywin, with all his power and wealth,
13:55 could not escape his past. Prince Doran
13:57 Martell was not the only one playing a
13:58 very long game to get revenge on Lord
14:01 Tywin. Daenerys knows it was Lord Tywin,
14:03 father of the King Slayer, who killed
14:05 her family. This as well is the house of
14:07 Joffrey and Cersei. Their list of
14:09 enemies is lengthy, but those powerful
14:11 enemies never got their chance because
14:14 Tywin's death came from within, from his
14:16 own family. Lannister turned on
14:19 Lannister. That might ironically be what
14:22 Lord Walder is facing now as well. He
14:24 taught his son to protect the family, to
14:26 be loyal to House Frey. But even Lord
14:28 Walder is only somewhat loyal to his own
14:31 and has little regard for women.
14:34 Regardless, Sirvron is dead now, and no
14:36 one bothered to teach those same lessons
14:38 to Sevron's heirs, not even Lord Walder
14:40 himself. And vengeance is starting to
14:43 close in on the phrase. The Brotherhood
14:46 Without Banners hanged Peter Frey, aka
14:48 Peter Pimple. Then, when Meritt Frey was
14:50 sent out with money to ransom him, they
14:52 hanged him as well. This is, of course,
14:55 under the leadership of Lady Stoneheart.
14:57 The Brotherhood Without Banners next
14:58 hanged Ryman Frey during a feast for
15:01 crows, making his son Edwin Frey the
15:04 heir with his brother Black Walder next.
15:06 But Edwin didn't blame the outlaws. He
15:08 believes Black Walder killed their
15:11 father, Ryman. Edwin has long hated his
15:12 brother, and the feeling appears to be
15:14 mutual. Amongst the rest of the phrase,
15:16 however, Black Walder is feared and
15:19 ambitious. Edwin is not. Even though
15:21 Edwin is wrong about who killed their
15:23 father, he's not wrong to think Black
15:26 Walder might kill him. We're told and
15:28 have seen evidence that Black Walder is
15:29 perhaps the most dangerous of the Freys
15:32 left alive and he might be willing to do
15:34 anything to claim the lordship. Black
15:36 Walder has been rumored credibly to have
15:39 slept with many of his kin wives and may
15:40 have even slept with Lord Walder's
15:43 seventh wife, Anara Faring. If so, the
15:45 complicated Frey family tree would
15:47 become even more tangled by incest, a
15:49 disturbing way to further emulate houses
15:52 Targaryen and Lannister. This every man
15:54 for himself attitude amongst the Freys
15:56 is the opposite of what Lord Walder
15:58 intended. It runs so deep that even the
16:00 children are participating. For example,
16:02 the most likely killer of Little Walder
16:04 in the north is his own cousin, Big
16:07 Walder. This calls to mind the legend
16:09 and song of the rat cook who was cursed
16:11 to eat his own young for the crime of
16:14 violating guest right. House Frey is
16:16 eating itself. Not that Walder is going
16:18 down without a fight. Thanks in large
16:22 part to bribery. His fifth son Lucon was
16:24 almost chosen as the new High Septton
16:26 only for the High Sparrow to swoop in
16:28 seemingly from nowhere with his flock to
16:30 claim the title instead. Lission may not
16:32 be long for this world, but more
16:34 importantly, House Lannister's time on
16:36 the Iron Throne may also come to a quick
16:38 end, and the enemies of House Bolton are
16:40 massing and plotting in the north. House
16:42 Freys protectors are starting to look a
16:45 little more precarious. All in all,
16:47 Walder Freys master plan appears to be
16:49 in the process of complete collapse. The
16:51 next step was surely to cement their
16:53 position in the Riverlands with
16:55 Lannister support and eliminate any
16:56 resistance in the north with the
16:59 Boltons. But more Freys have died since
17:01 the Red Wedding than before it, and the
17:03 count will surely continue to rise as
17:05 their many enemies close in. The
17:06 Manderlyes, the Brotherhood Without
17:08 Banners, even Nimria's super pack of
17:11 wolves seem to be targeting Freys these
17:13 days. There are still a lot of them, but
17:16 they are dropping fast. Which also
17:18 brings us to perhaps the most dangerous
17:20 potential enemy of all, Arya. She
17:22 doesn't have any specific names, but she
17:24 thinks to herself that the phrase as a
17:27 whole belong on her kill list. She was
17:29 at the Red Wedding with Sandor Clegane
17:31 after all. And though it's still a
17:33 subplot at the moment, there is a good
17:35 chance we will get another Frey wedding
17:36 in the Riverlands in the Winds of
17:38 Winter. What chance a reverse red
17:41 wedding? Quite high, I suspect, but
17:44 that's a subject for another video. Wery
17:46 is very old, but perhaps he will live
17:48 long enough to see the downfall of his
17:50 house and the ultimate failure of his
17:52 plotting and planning and betrayals
17:55 before his death. Many fans will cheer
17:58 it when it happens. If you'd like to see
17:59 more A Song of Ice and Fire videos like
18:01 this, there's a link to my playlist on
18:03 the left of your screen now. Or to
18:05 support this channel, thank you. There's
18:06 a link to my Patreon page on the right
18:08 of your screen. Thanks for watching.
18:11 That's all for this time. I'll see you
