To summarize this theory, Big Walder Frey has a plan (though it might not be entirely his own) to become the future Lord Frey. This plan is not entirely stupid or unrealistic and encapsulated in one word -marriage. The many Freys who are further ahead in line of inheritance are not his competition, only one of them truly is (or rather was) -Little Walder Frey.
Big Walder Freys great ambition:
“We’re cousins, not brothers” added Big Walder, the little one. “I’m Walder, son of Jammos. My father was Lord Walder’s son by his fourth wife. He’s Walder son of Merrett. His grandmother was Lord Walder’s third wife, the Crakehall. He’s ahead of me in line of succession even though I`m older”.
“Only by fifty-two days”, Little Walder objected.” And neither of us will ever hold the twins, stupid”.
“I will”, Big Walder declared. “And we’re not the only Walders either. Ser Stevron has a grandson Black Walder, he’s fourth in line of succession, and there is Red Walder, Ser Emmon’s son, and Bastard Walder, who isn’t in the line at all. He’s called Walder Rivers, not Walder Frey. Plus, there’s girls named Walda.”
-Bran I ACOK
This sure seems like a big ambition for one small boy, though young boys in general are not known for realism.
When considering most of what we have observed of him, he seems to be the more intelligent of the young Frey boys. He’s also not as overtly brutish as Little Walder, or at the very least much better at concealing this aspect of his personality and befriending other people. His reactions to the death of his relatives and other people seem cold and apathic, to be sure. It seems strange that He’s the one proclaiming his determined intent to be the next Lord Frey, when childlike and socially inappropriate boasts like this seem to align more with Little Walder’s character.
Is there any chance he could murder his way to lordship?
Killing so many Freys, most of which are older and more experienced, may either require extraordinary skill, superpowers or an army. Or at the very least, the vast amount of money necessary to hire an assassin of some skill. For a family this large an army of assassins might be more appropriate.
Big Walder cannot expect to have any of these. And even if he had the means to murder all his relatives, he’d run into a logistical problem, the same problem that UnCat or Arya would run into if they were to try some Frey mass murder the way ShowArya did.
Simply put, House Frey is extremely large and far spread and it is almost impossible to get them all to be in the same place at any point in time. First there’s Emmon Frey and his progeny who have moved in with House Lannister in the Westerlands. Still, they might visit occasionally. We also know of an outlaw named Aegon Frey -good luck tracking that one down. The children of Garemy Frey are fostered in the vale. It is of course common practice to send one’s son to be fostered with another house, so we must assume that several young Frey boys are out of the house at any point in time. Then there’re boys in training to become septons or maesters that might not yet have sworn their vows. There are at least two Freys in Bravos. And where the hell is Alesander the singer. Has anybody seen him?
(I actually have a guilty pleasure theory that Alesander Frey was actually Symon Silvertongue. It is very common for singers to choose an artist name. And as House Frey was allied with Robb when he first appeared in King’s Landing, it would have been important to hide his identity. Then there is the fact that Alesanders father was named Symond and that character is associated with silver coins. In this case, Tyrion would have unknowingly started the beloved tradition of turning Freys into supper. Off topic -sorry)
And all the aforementioned are ahead of Big Walder in line of inheritance. If he plans to kill them one by one when they claim their inheritance, he’s going to be busy for a long while.
If Frey-mass murder isn’t an option, what else could he do?
There is a strange oversight in Big Walders count of Freys – and that is all the women in line of inheritance. Now to be fair, GRRM himself has stated that the rules of inheritance in Westeros are often unclear, and therefore the cause of much conflict.
“Well, the short answer is that the laws of inheritance in the Seven Kingdoms are modeled on those in real medieval history… which is to say, they were vague, uncodified, subject to varying interpretations, and often contradictory.”
A man’s eldest son was his heir. After that the next eldest son. Then the next, etc. Daughters were not considered while there was a living son, except in Dorne, where females had equal right of inheritance according to age.
After the sons, most would say that the eldest daughter is next in line. But there might be an argument from the dead man’s brothers, say. Does a male sibling or a female child take precedence? Each side has a “claim.”
What if there are no children, only grandchildren and great grandchildren? Is precedence or proximity the more important principle? Do bastards have any rights? What about bastards who have been legitimized, do they go in at the end after the trueborn kids, or according to birth order? What about widows? And what about the will of the deceased? Can a lord disinherit one son, and name a younger son as heir? Or even a bastard?
There are no clear cut answers, either in Westeros or in real medieval history. Things were often decided on a case by case basis. A case might set a precedent for later cases… but as often as not, the precedents conflicted as much as the claims.
GRRM, SSM 1999
And this:
“A daughter comes before an uncle too. If her brother is dead Karhold belongs to Lady Alys.”
-Jon X ADWD
We are shown repeatedly that daughters can inherit according to Andal traditions, as we meet a number of Lady’s ruling in their own right such as Anya Waynwood and Arwyn Oakheart, both of whom have adult sons. When you consider the fact that women, or descendants of the female line may be able to inherit, the top ten list of potential claimants to the twins by the end of ADWD could look like this:
1. Edwyn Frey – son of Ryman the hanged
2. Walda Frey -Edwyn‘s daughter -a girl of nine or ten
3. Black Walder Frey -Edwyn’s notorious younger brother
4. Perra Frey -daughter of the deceased Petyr Pimple –a girl of four or five
5. Walton Frey – third son of Stevron Frey
6. Steffon Frey -Walton’s son
7. Bryan Frey -Walton’s son
8. Fair Walda Frey -Walton’s daughter
9. Patrek Vance -son of Maegelle, Stevron’s daughter
10.Walder Vance -son of Maegelle, Stevrons daughter
Edwyn, the heir has exactly one daughter, but no son. We do not know why this is the case, maybe there are fertility issues, maybe his wife doesn’t want to look at his constipated face anymore, and maybe some of his kin secretly give them some contraceptive medication (I wouldn’t put it past them). But as nine years is larger than the usual age difference between siblings, some of his relatives might bet on Walda remaining an only child.
Based on all that we know it is conceivable for Walda Frey to inherit before Black Walder Frey. For the rest of the text I’ll refer to this girl as Walda the heiress (though technically she’s the heir’s heiress but that’s a tad too long) to differentiate her from all the other Waldas.
There are a several reasons why Big Walder might have made this big oversight:
1. The rules of inheritance are complicated, and he is a young boy with an incomplete education, so he simply does not know. Considering the very misogynistic society that he was raised in; it might seem logical to him that women do not inherit. Then again, someone as obsessed with the line of inheritance as this boy would probably figure it out.
2. He knows, but thinks that Black Walder will just kill Walda alongside her father as she is a weak young girl. Or he believes that the Frey’s will ignore the claim of any girl heiress anyway, because misogyny. This is another assumption that some would make, but it also carries an inherent oversight -Black Walder may have a formidable reputation, but he is only one guy and the Frey’s are many. Plus, there are household guards -I assume.
If you were a random member of house Frey, that is not completely braindead, who would you want to rule–the notoriously violent and unpleasant Black Walder Frey or a young girl who might feel indebted to you for your assistance. If Edwyn Frey dies Black Walder will probably be the prime suspect and he is not well liked by his kin.
3. He knows that Walda Frey will probably inherit the twins someday, but he does not want Little Walder Frey to catch on to this. Because it would give his plan away …and also because Little Walder might be his biggest competition.
Which heir would the old Lord prefer?
Another factor we must consider is the intra-house politics of house Frey. The line of inheritance is a big concern for most Freys, especially the old Lord Frey himself. He might not like to think about his demise, but he invested a lot of time in instructing his former heir Stevron on the value of family.
His father was querulous and stubborn, with an iron will and a wasp’s tongue, but he did believe in taking care of his own. All of his own, even the ones who had disappointed and displeased him. Even the ones whose names he couldn’t remember. Once he was gone, though …
When Ser Stevron had been heir, that was one thing. The old man had been grooming Stevron for sixty years, and had pounded it into his head that blood was blood. -ASOS, Merrett
It seems therefore likely that the old man himself has a marked interest in who Walda the heiress’s future husband might be, as they have a good chance at being his eventual successor. And arranging advantageous marriages for his progeny always was something of a hobby for him, anyway. If so, what factors would old Walder Frey consider when he is looking at his young great-great-granddaughter’s potential suitors:
– The creation of lasting political bonds is usually the primary concern when Westerosi nobles marry. Alliances with their neighboring Lords or Liege Lords are important, but marriages that create unity within their own houses also occur regularly. And Old Walder Frey must contend with a great deal of intra-house rivalry due to the sheer number of his offspring. It should really be his priority to end or at least limit this conflict. So, arranging a marriage between some branches of house Frey could be a really good idea.
– What age should they be? I have very little doubt that Walder Frey would marry any of his progeny to a 200-hundred-year-old soul-sucking Lich if he thought this would be helpful to his lineage, but he doesn’t have to do so here. There is no lack of young Frey boys, so he can afford to pick one of the appropriate age. That means that all boys between the age of eight and twelve are prime candidates.
– The schmooze factor. Old Lord Walder could be little bit vain. So, all the Frey’s who name their sons Walder might know what they’re doing. The idea that both the future Lord and Lady Frey are of his blood (and named Walder and Walda) might also appeal to him. Considering the old man’s opinion of Hoster Tully, the poor boy named Hoster Frey might no longer be a candidate for the same reason, though.
– Personal merit, skills and connections. As the most appropriate suitors are very young, it is probably too soon to say much about their talents. Connections are usually built by fostering children with powerful houses, though. The old Lord Frey tried to foster the two Walder Freys with Lord Arryn before fostering them with house Stark. And at that point he was still honest about the alliance. This means that he very much wanted Big Walder and Little Walder to have powerful friends. While it could be said that he is an ambitious and family-oriented man who will try to get the best deal for all of his offspring, it could also mean that he has a marked interest in the upbringing of these two.
We are told that the members of house Frey mostly only trust their full brothers and maybe their full nephews. Old Walder must pay attention to these allegiances if he truly wants to create unity within his house via marriage. So, we can divide house Frey into factions based on which of Walder Freys marriages they were born to, and we may be able to guess which of these factions would be the most useful to the future Lady Frey:
The Royce-Frey faction would include all of Old Walder Freys numerous descendants by his first wife Perra Royce. While this faction is large, it is also the most divided as Emmon and his sons live at Casterly Rock and Edwyn and Black Walder want each other dead. Even though this is Walda the heiress’s own faction it might not be an entirely bad idea to create some unifying bonds within this group.
The Swann-Frey faction. The second Lady Frey only bore two sons, a septon and a pie. Jared the pie didn’t have a lot of children and some of his progeny got axed at the red wedding. This branch is likely too small and unlucky to make good allies.
The Crakehall-Frey branch is the largest, with seven children being born, and all of them having their own kids too. Their Crakehall blood makes them notoriously tough and strong. Hosteen the best Frey warrior is likely the leader of this group. They’d probably be one of the most useful Frey factions. Little Walder Frey is from this branch.
The Blackwood-Freys are likely led by Lame Lothar Frey, castellan of the twins and by most accounts the most ruthless and cunning of this family. He arranged and planned the Red Wedding. Strangely enough, none of the beneficial marriages that take place after the defeat of the Young Wolf include members of his group, though we must assume that Lame Lothar would be able to demand some reward of his father. Big Walder Frey, son of Jammos, is of this branch. If he has any allies or co-conspirators in his plan to become Lord Frey, they’d be found here.
The Rosby-Freys are mostly young adults and therefore a relatively small faction (that includes Roslin). None of them is close in age to Walda the Heiress. This faction includes some of the nicest Frey’s, some of whom are shown to have sympathies towards house Stark. Not something old Walder would consider to be ideal.
The Farring-Freys are children and therefore likely need support themselves. Furthermore, there are rumors that they may have been fathered by Black Walder and one of them is his squire. It is very possible that they would support Black Walder and not Walda the Heiress.
So Big Walder and Little Walder may very well have been the finalists of the Bachelorette, essentially. They tick more boxes than any other candidate.
Considering Big Walders youth it is entirely possible that he didn’t come up with this plan by himself, and if anybody helped him, it would have been Lame Lothar, his uncle. It just so happens Lame Lothar has four daughters, but no son who could marry the heiress. If he wanted to secure control of the twins for himself or his next of kin, helping Big Walder become the husband of Walda the heiress and therefor the next Lord of the twins would be in his best interest. He is also a notorious schemer who may very well be encouraging the rivalry between Edwyn and Black Walder. Should one of them die, the other could feasibly be tried for murder, and he could then rule through his young, indebted nephew and his bride. As castellan of the twins, he is in a very powerful position, too. He will be amongst the first to hear of the old Lord’s death and may therefore able to put his preferred successor into place.
And that might be Big Walder’s plan on how to become the next Lord Frey. It might also be his motive for killing Little Walder.
As a smart boy, he may have realized how suspicious Lord Manderly is acting. Most people present, did. And if that fat Lord turns out to be a traitor, the betrothal between Little Walder and Wylla Manderly is likely to be broken, making him the clueless chief competitor for Big Walder, once more.
Put alas, Little Walder was conveniently murdered, and now Big Walder (who is totally not the prime suspect) has to do only one thing: get the hell out of the north.