Walder Frey

Lord Walder Frey is a minor character in the first and third seasons of Game of Thrones. He is the head of House Frey, Lord of the Crossing, and following the Red Wedding, he is granted the titles Lord of Riverrun and Lord Paramount of the Trident, taking them from House Tully.

Background
Walder Frey is the Lord of the Crossing and the head of House Frey, a vassal family of House Tully of the Riverlands. His house is noted for its overwhelming fertility and he has over one hundred descendants. He rules the Twins and its surrounding lands, controlling the strategically important crossing of the Green Fork. Over the years, this great stone bridge and the castles that control it have made House Frey a fortune in crossing fees. Lord Walder been married seven times and is almost ninety years old when the series begins.

He is referred to by his liege lord, Hoster Tully, as the "Late Lord Frey" after delaying his arrival to assist Robert's Rebellion until the outcome had already been determined.

Season 1
Catelyn Stark meets a knight with a group of men at arms of House Frey at the Crossroads Inn and asks after Lord Walder's health. The knight replies that Lord Walder is well and is planning to celebrate his 90th birthday by taking a new wife. Tyrion Lannister laughs derisively at the news, making enemies of this group.

When Robb Stark's army arrives at the Twins on its march south, Robb needs to cross the river to gain a tactical advantage over the Lannister forces. As a Tully bannerman, Walder Frey had been called up, but he had delayed going until he saw which side had the advantage. Now that Riverrun is besieged by the Lannisters, Frey wonders why he should risk their fury. Catelyn tells Robb that Walder Frey is slippery and not to be trusted, despite his allegiance to her father. Fearing that Walder would attempt to imprison Robb and sell him to the Lannisters, Catelyn volunteers to negotiate with him, despite the warnings of Robb, Rodrik Cassel, Greatjon Umber and Theon Greyjoy, stating that she has known Walder since childhood.

Upon entering the Twins, Catelyn finds Walder and his vast brood of sons, grandsons and bastards. Although two of his sons, Stevron and Ryger, respectfully remind their father to remember his courtesies to Catelyn, her being the daughter of their liege lord, Walder agrees to Catelyn's request to dismiss them - including his new fifteen-year-old wife, Joyeuse Erenford- while they negotiate. An alliance is formed; in return for permission to cross and the service of Walder's troops, Robb will marry one of Walder's daughters or granddaughters, whichever he likes. Additionally Arya, when recovered, will marry Walder's son Waldron. Robb must also take another son, Olyvar Frey, as a squire. Robb consents to the match, even after his mother indicates that Walder's daughters are not particularly attractive.

Season 3
In response to Robb's plea for men to help him capture Casterly Rock, Lord Walder sends his sons Lothar and Black Walder to Riverrun to discuss the terms of a new alliance with him. Lord Walder demands Harrenhal, as well as the marriage between Edmure Tully and his daughter Roslin. When the King in the North and his entourage arrive, Lord Walder offers them his hospitality, but cannot keep himself from mocking Robb over his broken oath, insulting Queen Talisa and leering over her. Later, he oversees the wedding of Edmure and Roslin, and the following feast.

Once the newlyweds retire for the bedding, he has the halls sealed and gives the cue for his men to slaughter the Starks. He watches in rapture and takes sips from his cup as Talisa (along with her unborn child) is stabbed to death by Lothar, whilst Robb's bannermen are killed by crossbowmen. In a desperate bid to save her son, Catelyn Stark takes Lady Joyeuse hostage and begs Walder to spare his life, swearing they will take no vengeance. However, Walder hypocritically faults Catelyn for allowing her son to break the oath she swore to him the last time they spoke right there in his castle, even though he had then openly expressed his indifference towards the oath he swore to her father and had now just broken his promised protection of guest right.

When Catelyn threatens to cut his wife's throat if he does not comply, Walder shrugs and coldly retorts that he will find another. Robb is then killed by Roose Bolton, who had sealed an alliance with Walder by marrying his granddaughter Walda, Lady Joyeuse is killed by Catelyn, and finally Catelyn is killed by Black Walder. For his part in the Red Wedding, Lord Walder is granted Riverrun and protection from vengeful Northerners by Tywin Lannister. The next morning, he and Roose Bolton gloat over their victory, though Bolton appears concerned when it is discovered that Robb's great-uncle, Brynden Tully, escaped the massacre, while Frey is undisturbed. Frey voices his contempt for Robb, referring to him as a "stupid boy" and mockingly drinking a toast to him, while Bolton claims that it was precisely Robb's political inexperience that led him to betray him.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Walder Frey, the Lord of the Crossing, is an ancient (over 90), irascible and cranky old lord who rules over a vast brood of children, grandchildren, bastards, nieces and nephews. Walder Frey is said to be the only lord who could "field an army from his breeches". Descendants of his include numerous Walders (surnamed Frey or Rivers depending on their legitimacy), Waldas (notably Fat Walda, who is betrothed to Roose Bolton), and at least one Waltyr. He spends much of his time managing his huge family, making advantageous marriages with many of the great houses, this helps maintain the semi-neutrality of House Frey throughout the series. His house has grown rich by building and maintaining the Twins, two castles that control the only crossing over the Green Fork of the River Trident for hundreds of miles. He is proud and haughty, but also crafty. He is also bald and too gouty to move by himself. The fact that he controls such a strategic castle, and that most of the Great Houses have connections to the Freys through marriage, gives him free reign to switch allegiances numerous times, as all sides need him and his castle, and all sides have family connections to his family through his multitude of descendants.

Hoster Tully disparagingly nicknamed him "the Late Walder Frey" when he arrived with his Frey soldiers at the site of the Battle of the Trident after the battle was already over. Walder almost certainly did this on purpose, because he saw no reason to endanger Frey soldiers for the sake of anyone but himself, despite the fact that he had sworn oaths of fealty to the Tullys and it was his duty to aid them in the battle. Nonetheless, Walder maintained a hypocritical grudge against Hoster for years afterwards - because Hoster made the entirely valid and accuratecriticism that Walder was disloyal and had failed to uphold his own vows. This is part of the overall pattern of Walder's selfish character: throughout the narrative, Walder seems to be unable to conceptually understand that others will fault him for breaking oaths he has made. In turn, when those he has broken promises to become angered at him, he seems to honestly believe that they are harassing him for no justifiable reason. Similarly, when the War of the Five Kings broke out, Walder Frey should have allowed Robb Stark's army to pass through the Twins, and added his own Frey soldiers to his army, because he was a vassal of House Tully. Other Tully bannermen such as the Blackwoods or Mallisters sent their armies to join Robb at Riverrun simply for the asking, because it was their sworn duty. In contrast, Walder extorted his overlords into promising a marriage-alliance, ignoring all previous oaths he had made to them. Walder later became enraged when Robb Stark broke this promise of a marriage-alliance - but his anger was entirely hypocritical, given that Walder himself is the one who broke his promise of unconditional support for the Tullys, by demanding a marriage-alliance which he had no right to ask for in the first place.

Walder Frey is notable for appearing - as a toddler - in The Mystery Knight, the third of George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg short stories set almost ninety years before the events of the main series, making him the only character to appear in both the prequels and the main saga, though Aemon is also mentioned.

In the books, Lord Walder isn't named the new Lord of Riverrun after the Red Wedding. Instead, Riverrun is granted to Emmon Frey, Walder's second son; the Lannisters' grant of Riverrun to the Freys has been nominal, till Jaime persuaded Edmure Tully to surrender.

Though his allegiance with House Bolton has been solidified, one of Walder's grandsons is killed in Winterfell, possibly by Mance Rayder and the spearwives, though they deny it. Other descendants of his have been murdered by the Brotherhood without Banners, at the orders of the vengeful Lady Stoneheart (the reanimated Catelyn Stark); three of them are heavily implied to have been killed by the Lord Wyman Manderly.

Walder Frey is still alive by the point the books reached.