After the War of the Five Kings House Frey has emerged as the dominant house
of the Riverlands. They control the Twins, Riverrun and Darry and they may even
have a shot of picking up some other seat. But they also have some serious
weaknesses. Weaknesses that may lead to an all-out civil war. You see, although
the house patriarch Walder Frey may seem like an ass, he's actually pretty good to
his family, allowing all Freys to live at the Twins. However, not all Freys are
so open-handed and there's a lot of mistrust out there. Merritt Frey
specifically says that a big reason why the Freys were so willing to follow
along with the Red Wedding was they were fearful the future Lord Ryman Frey would
kick them out of the Twins. That is, unless they prove themselves useful.
Merritt also says that only full-blooded siblings can really be trusted and them
not even very much. And although the Freys have achieved more holdings after
the Red Wedding, they also have quite a few more problems. Let's start out by
talking about the Twins. Walder Frey's first wife was Perra Royce giving him his
first son, Steveron, who, by all accounts was a pretty good guy.
But he dies fighting for Robb at Oxcross leaving his son Ryman by Corenna
Swann as the heir to the Twins. We will call Ryman and his brood the "Alpha Freys"
Now Ryman has three sons: Edwyn, Black Walder and Petyr Pimple.
Now Ryman and Petyr are killed by Lady Stoneheart leaving Edwyn and Black Walder
and it just so happens that Edwyn and Black Walder hate each other.
Edwyn even specifically says that he fears Black Walder will kill him. However
this conflict pales in comparison to what would happen if Edwyn and black
Walder end up killing each other. If these two men both die, we can
essentially look forward to a Vale invasion. Now, right now you may be saying
"what?" Let me explain. Now, this is the current state of the Alpha Freys. Let's
assume for a moment that Walder Frey dies of old age and Edwyn and Black
Walder kill each other. This would leave Edwyn's daughter Walda as Lady of the
Twins and after her Petyr Pimple'ss daughter, Perra. Except,
Big Walder, who is obsessed with succession, doesn't think these girls are
in the line. Perhaps it's because they're female or perhaps it's because Black
Walder was banging Edwyn and Peter'ss wives and it's common knowledge that
Walda and Perra are actually bastards This would mean the line of the Alpha Freys,
that is the line of Stevron Frey and Corenna Swann would be exhausted.
Succession would then pass to the children of Steveron's second wife Jeyne
Lydden. Well, maybe. Things get complicated. According to Big Walder, the line of
succession goes Ryman, Edwyn, Black Walder, Petyr and then Aegon. Good old Jinglebell.
Except Cat killed him. Now after Jinglebell, Big Walder says that his
sons come next in the line of succession. Now, I don't know how to reconcile this
line. Jinglebell was mentally challenged and hidden away by the Freys. I couldn't
imagine anyone agreeing to marry him and have children with him and we don't see
or hear of any children of Twins. I guess we have to chalk this one up to author
error. Now, after Aegon, there's his sister
Maegelle, but she's dead as well. Now, Maegella has children, but this is where
succession gets messy. Who comes next in line? The son of the daughter by the
second wife? That is, Walder Vance. Or the son by the third wife? That is, Walton
Frey. There is of course no answer. Succession is messy, but it will say
Walton Frey has better support as his mother is a Waynwood and he's married to
a Hardyng. The Waynewoods and the Hardyng's are, of course, close with Harry
the Heir being half Waynewood and fostered with the Waynewoods. Walton
Frey and his Vale allies have every reason to swoop in and claim the Twins.
And why not? His only resistance would be to bastard girls and House Vance, who is
largely destroyed by war. But this isn't the only place that the Vale forces
would enter the fray. Let's talk about Walder Frey's second son, Emmon Frey
over at Riverrun. Emmon Frey was, of course, awarded Riverrun after the War of
the Five Kings largely because he was married to Genna Lannister. That's Tywin
Lannister's sister. Now, Emmon and Genna produced a number of descendants: the
"Lannister Freys" and a couple have died. Now, the Lannister Freys have some
issues that put them at odds with the Vale Lords and a couple other
stray branches to boot. First of all, Emmon clearly has it in his
head that he'll be ruling the Riverlands from Riverrun and not Littlefinger from
Harrenhal. Second, Genna says that she is fearful that the Tully's are seen as the
legitimate rulers of Riverrun. She's worried that the Blackfish will declare
Riverrun the property of himself or that of Sweetrobin, a half-Tully. The
Blackfish, of course, spent many years serving Lady Lysa and Sweetrobin likely
has some affection for his mother's uncle. With Vale forces already swooping
in for the Twins, we have an incentive for the Vale forces to secure Riverrun
as well in the name of the Vale. After all, Riverrun could be seen as Sweetrobin's
family castle with a Frey in it that's trying to usurp Littlefinger's
power. In addition to Riverrun creating issues with the Vale, it also creates a
rift between the Lannister Freys and the Rosby Freys. The Rosby Freys are
descendants of Walder Frey's 6th wife Bethany Rosby and include Roslin Frey,
who is pregnant with Edmure Tully's child as well as Perwyn Frey, Robb's
chosen protector and Olyver Frey, Robb's squire.
Neither Perwyn or Olyvar were at the Red Wedding because the other Freys didn't
trust them. In a dispute between the Lannister Freys and resurgent Tullys,
it seems likely that they would fall on the Tully side, especially if it meant
Roslin's child would be the heir to Riverrun. It's worth noting that
Willamen Frey is a maester in the Vale with House Hunter. That's the same house
that the possible heir to the Twins, Walda Frey's mother is from, and he may
be upset if Walda is passed over. But the disputes don't end there. It's important
to note that Genna Lannister fully saw the problems with Riverrun and wanted
Castle Darry instead, but it was given to Lancel. In truth, her grandson Tywin Frey
could have been seen as the heir to Darry as he is the eldest known living
true born male in the line of Darry. Her son Cleos, who died travelling with
Jaime and Brienne in the Riverlands, married Jeyne dairy and they had two
children Tywin and Willem. Genna specifically goes on and on about these
Darry roots in a Feast for Crows. Even if Tywin Frey is the heir to Riverrun,
that still leaves Willem Frey as a possible heir to Darry. With Lancel
giving up those lands, there's a very strong
argument for making Willem the Lord of Darry. After all, the Lannisters were
supposed to have Darry for winning the war and Willem is half-Darry. However, we have
a big problem in that Darry lands seem to have been claimed by the "Crakehall Freys"
The Crakehall Freys are descendants of Walder Frey and his third wife,
Amarei Crakehall. She's, of course, dead as are her sons,
Symond, Merritt and Geremy. Now, it's the late Merritt Frey who's important here. He
married into the Darry household and produced Gatehouse Ami but Ami really
became the Datehouse to the Darry lands when Lancel married her
It's now a bit of a precedent that she is the heir to Darry over, say, Tywin and
Willem Frey. And, certainly, the Crakehall Freys are trying to stake a claim to
Darry. Let's look at who Gatehouse Ami surrounds herself with when Jaime visits
her in a Feast for Crows. Jaime tells us that Ami has with her 20 Freys,
including a sister, an uncle, a half-uncle, various cousins and her mother. Now, we
know the sister is Marissa Frey and we know the uncle is Danwell Frey and we
know at least one of the cousins is Arwood Frey. So gatehouse Ami has
surrounded herself with Crakehall Freys. Counting the wives and kids plus Ami's
mom, that accounts for 10 of the 20 Freys that Jaime saw. The half-uncle
that Jamie sees makes 11. We're not told who this happens to be, but we can
kind of figure it out. Stevronn is dead, Emmon is at Riverrun,
Aenys is dead, Jared is dead, Luceon is in King's Landing, Perwyn is at Riverrun,
Benfrey is dead. Willamen is in the Vale. Wendel is at Seaguard and the rest of the
half-uncle's are pretty darn young. That leaves four possible candidates.
It could be Lame Lothar, but he's gainfully employed as steward of the
Twins and Ami's dad, Merritt, never trusted him plus the entire point of
participating in the Red Wedding was to prove oneself useful to maintain one's
place at the Twins. Lother orchestrated the whole Red Wedding and definitely won
himself a spot. He wouldn't need to be camping out at Darry. It's also possible
that it could be either one of Lame Luther's brothers Jammos and Whalen, but
being Lame Luther's full-blooded brothers, they would feel more welcome
as the Twins because of Lothor's stewardship and his deep participation
in the Red Wedding. That really leaves us with one last half uncle: Olyver,
Robb's ex squire and a Rosby Frey. And his presence really makes the most sense.
He was excluded from the Red Wedding because of this loyalty to Robb and would
be an outcast at the Twins. He actually legitimately needs a place to crash.
Incidentally, an Alesander Frey was also excluded from the red wedding for
some reason and he happens to be a Crakehall Frey as well. I imagine that he's
one of the cousins with Gatehouse Ami. So, a bunch of Crakehall and maybe a Rosby
Freys are holding up at Darry. So what? Well, this is where it gets more
interesting. Ami's cousin Arwood Frey is married to Ryella Royce of the Vale
and Ami's late uncle Geremy was married to Carolei Waynwood of the Vale and, as I
mentioned before, Olyvar's brother is a maester with House Hunter of the Vale.
But perhaps most significantly, both of Ami's cousins Sandor and Cynthea by her
uncle Geremy are currently warded with House Waynwood in the Vale. Sandor is the
squire of Donnel Waynewood and growing up at Ironoaks means that Sandor and
Cynthea grew up with Harry the Heir and are likely friends with him. The point
being, if the Vale Lords come into the Riverlands for any reason, say to defend
the rights of little Walda Frey who is half-Hunter, or to install Walton Frey
who is half-Waynewood and married to a Hardyng, or to claim Riverrun for Sweetrobin,
or to install Sweetrobin's great-uncle Blackfish as the Lord of
Riverrun, or to install Sweetrobin's uncle Edmure as Lord or his cousin
Roslin Frey's child as Lord, or to simply deal with the power usurping Emmon Frey,
or to simply put Littlefinger or his daughter Alayne at their seat at
Harrenhal. If they come in for any reason, they will have with them Sandor Frey, a
Crakehall Frey and likely friend of Harry the Heir. It's pretty clear who the Crakehall
Freys would side with, especially against anyone that's trying to take
darry from them. But the larger point is this: there's a potential coalition of
Freys with Vale connections and intermarriages that stand in fundamental
opposition with the other Frey branches, namely the Lydden phrase and Lannisters Freys.
The Waynewood Freys likely want the Twins, and the Rosby Freys
likely want Riverrun, and the Crakehall Freys clearly want Darry. And all of
them have Vale connections. All of this also points to the idea that the end of
the Sansa's story in a Feast for Crows is a fake out. Littlefinger claims that
the Vale Lords will be going to war in the North to win Winterfell for Sansa.
Of course, if there's one thing I know about George R.R. Martin's writing style, it's
that an announced or contemplated plan almost never comes to fruition. There are
exceptions, but generally he establishes an expectation and then subverts it. Now
I think everyone agrees that the story demands that the Vale Lords enter the
fight, but Littlefinger announcing a plan for them in the North means they
probably won't go North. The Frey problems show where they're
really going: into the Riverlands. And that's the Frey Civil War. Once
again, I'm probably wrong about half of this. But while we're on the topic of
Freys, I wanted to talk about Frey pies for a second. As many of you know, while
in the North Jared, Rhaegar and Symond Frey ole manned
Manderley later Manderley shows up to Fick arias wedding with three really big
pies and everyone eats them this implies that the phrase were cannibalized in
some sort of sick revenge for one and Manderley son dying the scene was even
somewhat brought into the show now I don't doubt that for a Pie's probably
happened but I just think it was really really stupid on manderlys part Jared
Rhaegar and Symon weren't the major planners of the red wedding and we
aren't even sure if Rhaegar was even there plus Jared was already punished
when he lost his son at the wedding the pies get fed to people but we aren't
even sure if hosteen or amy Sivan ate the pies and even if they did Amy's died
before finding out what he ate and hosteen will likely die before finding
out at the end of the day three pies with a really really dumb form of
revenge especially when three Frey hostages would have been much much more
useful to Manderley so who knows maybe Jared Rhaegar and Simons will turn up
alive it would be the smarter move though I'm not holding my breath anyway
that's all for now thanks for watching next time we'll be talking about some
murder history's see you then
you