House Frey

Template:Noble house

"The Freys have held the Crossing for 600 years, and for 600 years they have never failed to exact their toll."

―Catelyn Stark

House Frey of the Twins is a noble house from the Riverlands. They are currently the Great House of the Riverlands, having gained their position for their treachery against their former liege lords, House Tully, who were stripped of all their lands and titles for their rebellion against the Iron Throne; House Tully had supported the independence movement for the Kingdom of the North. The current head of the house is unknown following the assassinations of Lord Walder Frey and two of his sons, Lothar Frey and Walder Rivers, by the vengeful Arya Stark.

Their ancestral seat is known as the Twins for its two identical keeps on both sides of a river linked by a bridge, sometimes called the Stone Bridge. The Twins is one of the primary crossings over the Green Fork of the Trident River, and tolls from bridge crossings have made the Freys quite wealthy fairly quickly, elevating them from obscurity six centuries ago to being one of the most powerful noble houses in the Riverlands - though they are looked down upon by older aristocratic families.

The heraldry of House Frey represents their castle-seat of the Twins: it consists of two grey towers linked by a bridge, on a darker grey background, over an escutcheon of blue water. Their words are (apparently) "We Stand Together", ironic considering the Freys' frequent infighting between family members.

History

Background

House Frey was a noble house in the Riverlands that had emerged about six hundred years before the War of the Five Kings. Their seat is at The Twins, a castle consisting of two identical towers and a bridge intersecting the Green Fork of The Trident river. The Freys grew rich from exacting tolls on travelers crossing the Green Fork. For most of their history, the Freys have been vassals of House Tully, the paramount lords of the Trident since the Targaryen conquest. During Robert's Rebellion, Lord Walder Frey was late in marshalling forces to assist the forces of his liege lord Hoster Tully during the Battle of the Trident. For this insolence, Lord Hoster mockingly referred to Lord Frey as the "Late Walder Frey"; much to Walder's chagrin.

Season 1

Catelyn Stark encounters several Frey men at arms at the Inn at the Crossroads. She learns that Lord Walder Frey is turning ninety and is planning to marry an eighth wife. The Freys do not assist her when she arrests Tyrion Lannister. When the North rises in rebellion against the Iron Throne, Lady Stark travels to The Twins to an alliance with the Freys and safe passage across the Crossing. In return, her son the King in the North Robb Stark has to marry a Frey bride and he must take another Frey, Olyvar as his squire. Additionally, Catelyn's younger daughter Arya Stark, once recovered, has to marry Waldron Frey. Despite some misgivings, Robb consents to the agreement and gains the support of the Freys.

Season 2

Against his mother Catelyn's advice, King Robb spurns his oath to marry one of Lord Walder Frey's daughters in order to marry a battlefield medic named Talisa. Catelyn warns that Lord Frey will be displeased but Robb loves Talisa and marries her in secret.

Season 3

After losing the support of the Karstarks, King Robb appeals to Lord Walder Frey for help in taking the Lannister seat of Casterly Rock. Lord Frey sends his sons Lothar and Black Walder to negotiate with the Starks and Tullys. Seeking to mend the strained relationship with his Frey allies, King Robb assents to granting Lord Frey control of Harrenhal and his uncle Edmure Tully marrying Walder's daughter Roslin Frey.

The Freys host King Robb, Lady Stark, Lord Edmure, and the Stark and Tully hosts at The Twins for the wedding of Edmure and Roslin. After the wedding and bedding ceremony, Lord Frey turns on his Stark and Tully hosts and murders Robb, Talisa, and Catelyn. Most of the Stark and Tully forces with the exception of the Boltons are slaughtered during the "Red Wedding"; bringing an end to the Northern rebellion. The Freys also desecrate King Robb's corpse by fixing the head of its direwolf Grey Wind on top of his body and parading it around on a horse. Frey casualties are minimal with Walder's young wife Joyeuse Frey being killed at the hands of Catelyn. While the Freys capture Edmure, Catelyn's uncle Brynden Tully manages to escape.

To reward his role in defeating King Robb, Lord Tywin Lannister, acting on behalf of the Iron Throne, appoints Lord Walder Frey as Lord of Riverrun. The Freys are also given paramountcy over the Trident and become the Crown's main vassals in the Riverlands. Later, Arya and her protector Sandor Clegane kill several Frey men-at-arms who are making jokes about the Red Wedding.

Season 4

To seal the new alliance between Lord Walder Frey and the turncoat Boltons, Lord Roose Bolton marries Fat Walda, one of Walder's grand-daughters. She travels north to the Bolton seat of the Dreadfort. The Freys' actions during the Red Wedding earns them the enmity and disdain of the Riverlands and the North. Since the Freys were granted paramountcy over the Riverlands, the region has disintegrated into a state of lawlessness. None of House Tully's former vassals accept the authority of the Freys. One Riverland farmer opines that Lord Walder Frey has committed sacrilege by breaking guest right.

Season 6

After learning that Walda has given birth to a baby boy, Roose Bolton's bastard Ramsay Bolton murders his father, Walda, and their child; feeding the latter to his dogs.

House Frey's position in the Riverlands is weakened when Lord Brynden Tully (the Blackfish) retakes Riverrun, the seat of House Tully from the Freys. In addition, the Freys face opposition from House Blackwood, House Mallister, and the Brotherhood Without Banners; the latter of whom are raiding the Freys' supply trains and rallying the smallfolk against them. By this time, Lord Walder Frey has taken a ninth wife. Humiliated by these setbacks and unnerved by the widespread mockery and derision which the other houses hold the Freys, Lord Frey demands that his sons Lame Lothar and Black Walder retake Riverrun from the Blackfish. In an attempt to force the Blackfish's capitulation, Walder instructs his sons to present the captive Lord Edmure.

Frey forces under the command of Lame Lothar and Black Walder lay siege to Riverrun. The Freys forced Lord Edmure to wear a noose all day and threaten to kill him if the Blackfish does not surrender. Lord Brynden is not intimidated by their threats, knowing that the Freys do not keep their word. A large Lannister host under Ser Jaime Lannister, the late Lord Twyin's son and a former Kingsguard, arrive to reinforce the Frey forces on behalf of the Iron Throne. Jaime and Bronn are unimpressed by the disorganized state of the Frey forces and order the Freys to dig a trench and position catapults and trebuchets. Jaime also orders Black Walder to bathe and feed Edmure. When Black Walder refuses, Jaime punches him in the head and reminds the Freys that he is in charge of the siege.

Lothar Frey is initially dismissive about Jaime's plan to send Edmure to convince the Tully garrison to lay down their arms. Despite Lothar's skepticism, Edmure succeeds in ordering the Tully forces to surrender and to lower the gates. The Freys and Lannisters then proceed to march into Riverrun and occupy the castle.

During the feast at The Twins and following the defeat of House Tully, Walder Frey argues with Jaime Lannister over House Frey's capability of taking control of the Riverlands. Shortly after the Lannister Forces' departure, Lord Frey gets his food served by a young lady while he keeps complaining about the absence of Lothar and Black Walder at dinner. She points out that his missing sons are present in the hall, inside the very pie he was eating. The young lady then reveals her true identity, and turns out to be Arya Stark wearing a mask she stole from the Hall of Faces. Frightened, Walder Frey attempts to escape but Arya slits his throat open, the same way her mother Catelyn was killed.

Military

Frey soldiers during the Second Siege of Riverrun.

House Frey commands a sizable, but relatively weak and inexperienced army. It is over 4,000 strong, but they appear to have only infantry. The Frey army seems to be poorly funded, as their armor is little more than rags and cheap leather. It also appears the Frey army has a hard time in controlling the Riverlands. Frey soldiers occupying Riverrun were easily overthrown by 400 Tully rebels, and even after that, Frey soldiers had a hard time besieging the castle, as their supply trains were constantly raided by small folk rebels. The Freys laid a poorly prepared siege to the castle, shown as when Jaime Lannister arrived with Lannister reinforcements, the Freys were unaware of their arrival due to having no guards check the perimeter. Jaime chastises them on this, and takes control of the siege. Only with help from the Lannisters, the Freys could recapture the castle. With their Lord Walder Frey dead, it is unknown the current status of the Frey army.

Current Status

Arya Stark killed Lord Walder Frey in the Season 6 finale, along with his two most prominent sons, Lame Lothar Frey and Black Walder Rivers. Lord Walder has several dozen descendants, about a dozen of whom are prominent recurring characters in the novels, but their actions were understandably condensed into just these two in the TV version. Lame Lothar is the Steward of the Twins and his father's right hand, coordinating the day to day activities of the castle; Black Walder Frey and Walder Rivers are two of their prominent army commanders (condensed in the TV version into just one character, "Black Walder Rivers").

In the novels, several characters express their fear that when old Lord Walder eventually dies, it will lead to a fratricidal bloodbath within House Frey, as different internal rivalries play out for who will rule. Similarly, in the TV version House Frey continues to exist in some fashion. In contrast with House Bolton, which only had two blood members (Roose and Ramsay) and which was rendered extinct by the Season 6 finale, Walder Frey had numerous descendants and Arya didn't kill them all. Many of these minor Freys have even briefly appeared on-screen in the TV version. So far at least, Arya's revenge focused on those most directly responsible for planning and carrying out the Red Wedding in the TV version, and decapitated House Frey's central leadership. With the loss of not only Lord Walder but also his two most trusted sons, the TV version of the Freys may dissolve into infighting as well.

With the deaths of Lord Walder Frey, Lame Lothar Frey, and Black Walder Rivers, however, it is unclear who exactly is the current head of House Frey. Walder's eldest son and heir Stevron Frey was introduced with speaking lines in Season 1; Stevron later died in the second novel, however, at the Battle of Oxcross. Stevron didn't reappear after Season 1 so it was never established if he actually died "off-screen" in Season 2 at Oxcross as he did in the books. After Stevron's death in the novels the Frey line of succession becomes increasingly muddled as more of them die and younger ones want to usurp the older ones; the TV show has condensed this even further. No other named legitimate Frey sons or grandsons have been formally introduced on-screen.

Even in the books, readers have pointed out that it may be morally complicated to kill all members of House Frey, given that many of them are women and children who had nothing to do with the Red Wedding, and particularly, Arya's own uncle Edmure recently fathered a child with Roslin Frey (he hasn't been born yet in the books but enough time passed in the TV version that he has). Thus Arya can't truly kill every single Frey, cannot completely wipe out Walder Frey's bloodline, without murdering her own first cousin and making herself a kinslayer.

Members

Several members of House Frey.

• {Walder Frey}, called "the Late Lord Frey," Lord of the Crossing. Throat sliced open by Arya Stark.
  • Lady {Joyeuse Erenford}, Walder's eighth wife. Killed by Catelyn Stark at the Red Wedding.
  • Lady Kitty Frey

Lord Walder's descendants

During Robert's Rebellion, the jest was made that Lord Walder arrived late to the Battle of the Trident because he was waiting for his army to come of age...given that he had produced most of his soldiers from within his own britches (directly or indirectly through his previous children). Walder devoted the next seventeen years to making this claim a reality.

Lord Walder Frey's important legitimate descendants:

• Ser Stevron Frey, Walder's eldest son and heir.
• {Lothar Frey}, called "Lame Lothar," Walder's twelfth son. Steward of the Twins, running the day-to-day operations of his father's castle. Killed and carved into a pie.
• Roslin Frey, Walder's fifth daughter. Married to Lord Edmure Tully.
• {Walda Frey}, called "Fat Walda," Lord Walder's granddaughter. Married to Lord Roose Bolton. She and her newborn son were murdered by Ramsay Bolton.

Other trueborn descendants of Lord Walder Frey:

• Olyvar Frey, Walder's eighteenth son.
• Waldron Frey, Walder's twenty-second son.
• Derwa Frey - daughter
• Waldra Frey - daughter
• Shirei Frey - youngest trueborn daughter
• Janeya Frey - granddaughter
• Neyela Frey - granddaughter
• Serra Frey - granddaughter
• Sarra Frey - granddaughter
• Marianne Frey - granddaughter
• Freya Frey - granddaughter
• Merry Frey - granddaughter
• Walda, Lord Walder's grandniece.
• Numerous unidentified sons, daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, numbering at least over eight score altogether.

Lord Walder Frey's bastard descendants, by various women:

• {Walder Rivers}, called "Black Walder," Lord Walder's bastard son. The most prominent of Lord Walder's bastards, Black Walder Rivers has risen to a position of prominence within House Frey and is one of his father's chief enforcers. Killed and carved into a pie.
• Ser Ryger Rivers, Walder's bastard son by a milkmaid.
• Numerous unidentified bastard sons, daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the exact number unknown even to Lord Walder himself.

Freys of unspecified relationship to the main branch:

• Willem Frey, unspecified relationship to the main branch.

Image gallery

Frey banner

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Frey soldiers at the Second Siege of Riverrun

Family tree

Template:House Frey family tree

Quotes

"'More Pride than Honor'; those should be the words of House Frey."

―Catelyn Stark

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, House Frey controls the Twins, two castles that hold the Crossing, the only bridge over the Green Fork of the Trident for hundreds of miles in either direction. House Frey is the northern-most house of the Riverlands, not far south of the loose border with the North, and has a history of enmity with House Reed, who control the marshes of the Neck to the north of the Twins.

House Frey was a minor house of no notability until they bridged the Green Fork six centuries ago and defending the bridge with two wooden castles. Charging wayfarers for the use of the Crossing, they grew rich and influential, replacing the castles with strong stone keeps. Their growing wealth and influence saw them gain several vassal houses of their own: House Erenford, House Haigh, and House Charlton. Given the relatively recent rise of their House, the Freys are looked down upon by other noble Houses of the Riverlands as uncouth and honorless.

Their military strength is formidable, allowing them to raise four thousand troops by themselves - almost 10% of the total strength of the Riverlands. The current Lord Frey's father was involved in the scandal of the Whitewalls Tourney, when the Second Blackfyre Rebellion was halted in its tracks, roughly ninety years ago, leading to the current Lord Walder Frey being a cautious man, extremely reluctant to commit himself to any cause until the outcome is certain. During Robert's Rebellion he delayed the arrival of his army at the Battle of the Trident until Robert Baratheon had secured victory. For this, Lord Frey's liege, Hoster Tully, dubbed him "The Late Lord Frey", a nickname which has stuck, to Walder Frey's fury.

Little has been revealed about members of House Frey who are not descendants of Lord Walder himself. It is probable that due to his advanced age of ninety years, Walder may have simply outlived any siblings or cousins he may have had. The one minor reference to Walder's family is in the Tales of Dunk and Egg prequel novellas, which take place almost ninety years before the beginning of A Game of Thrones. Walder himself actually makes a brief appearance in the prequels as a misbehaving toddler - making him one of the only characters who are present in both the main series and the prequel novellas; Maester Aemon is about a decade older than Walder, thus he is also alive during the early prequel novellas, though he does not prominently appear (instead, his younger brother Aegon "Egg" Targaryen is a major character). Walder's father appears in the prequel but is referred to simply as "Lord Frey" without revealing what his name was. However, the prequels also reveal that Walder actually had a sister, who was about a dozen years older than him, who marries Lord Ambrose of House Butterwell, a noble House from the Crownlands. Given that the Butterwells are disgraced during the events of the prequels, it isn't clear if they died out between the prequels and the main series - no current Butterwells have been mentioned in the main series. Given the limited information, it isn't clear if Lord Walder has any surviving nieces, nephews, grand-nephews, or distant cousins from cadet branches of the main Frey line.

Despite their prominence in the storyline, the motto of House Frey has not yet been revealed, even in the first five novels.

The Heraldry of House Frey is somewhat different in the books than it is in the TV series. In the books, it is the two towers and bridge of the Twins colored blue, on a silver-grey background. The TV series made the towers stone grey, and over the same dark grey field as in the books, but now above a blue escutcheon which is drawn to resemble the waves of the Green Fork of the Trident River. The color change may be because after the blue river was added as an escutcheon at the bottom, it would have been visually confusing to have the castle be the same color as the water. Unfortunately, reversing the colors like this makes it vaguely resemble the reversed colors used in heraldry by bastard children (though in such cases, without the ecsutcheon, the entire background field is blue, not just the escutcheon).

Image Gallery

House Frey icon from the HBO viewer's guide.

House Frey banner from a promotional image released by HBO.

Frey-small.png

Small sigil of House Frey from the HBO viewer's guide.

A map-marker used to represent House Frey forces.

See also

• House Frey on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (MAJOR spoilers from the books)

References

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