Psssst…that was Jon…otherwise, nice summary!
(emphasis added)
This needs to be an animated series.
So it occurs to me that Frey got revenge for the slight, and got in good with the Lannisters (well, “good” might be overstating it - they’ve at least reluctantly allied with him). BUT, what was Frey’s whole giant butthurt deal all along? People look down on his family and no one will marry his kids. Can you imagine any noble house respecting him now? And NO ONE is ever going to betroth their child to a Frey because they wouldn’t dream of attending a wedding at the Twins! Hell, people won’t even visit, since they can’t rely on the hospitality tradition to protect them.
I agree that Rob was a bore, but I’m really upset by his death because it means that the Starks have lost. Even if any of the surviving Starks come back to rebuild their clan, it’ll be years and years down the line.
Who said Gendry is a potential claimant? I don’t think there’s any chance of that.
Bastard children like Jon do not have a claim period unless the father during his lifetime tries to legitimize him. And even that’s not necessarily going to work if there are any other possible heirs to contest it.
Robb’s is dead
Jon’s is alive
Sansa’s is dead
Arya’s hasn’t been seen in a long time
Bran’s is alive
Rickon’s is alive
Jon was acknowledged but not legitimized–which is a thing occasionally done in Westeros. He’s still a bastard. Also, he gave up any family rights when he joined the Crows–like the Maester who was a Targaryan.
On top of those reasons, he’d want to be damn sure both the younger Stark brothers and both the sisters were dead before he even thought about claiming any “rights.”
I don’t think Gendry is seen as a potential heir, as an unacknowledged bastard with a tavern girl mother. He’s a source of royal blood.
Direwolf status: Robb’s & Sansa’s are dead. Jon’s & the younger brothers’ two are alive. Arya’s has been missing for a very long time…
I just rewatched 1.09 (“Baelor”, the one where Ned is killed and where Rob and Walder make their deal) and I really, really like Walder Frey. I mean I don’t /like/ him, I just think he’s really well done. He’s very shrewd and reminds me a lot of Tywin Lannister.
Rewatching 1.09 the deal was: Walder Frey lets Rob cross and sends with him a few thousand (!) troops, keeping only a few hundred to defend his castle. So he was officially throwing his lot in with Rob and sending a few thousand of his men to fight and die for his war. In exchange he wanted one of his boys to become part of Rob’s entourage and be knighted, he wanted Arya to marry one of his sons, and he wanted Rob to marry one of his daughters. That was the price for his alliance. Frey is an evil cunt but really, Rob paid the price for his breaking of his oath. Frey could have thrown his lot in with the Lannisters for a wagon of gold at any time I’m assuming (he controls the only major river crossing, right? That’s important) but only did when Rob broke their deal.
In the episode where Cat finds out about Rob’s new squeeze she warns him that if he goes back on his word so easily his men will do the same. She was right.
Seems like Walder Frey doesn’t really like having visitors anyway.
But mostly he wants to be treated like he’s a big deal and maybe he thinks a reputation as a ruthless bastard will get him respect.
Besides if he ends up rich and powerful, won’t that go a long way towards people doing what he wants them to?
The Red God seems to think there’s kingly power in his blood and the Lanisters seemed to think a true-born son of Robert’s was a threat. (yes it was Joffrey’s plan to kill all the bastards but didn’t Tyrion think it was just bad PR not an unnecessary thing to do)
[QUOTE=AClockworkMelon]
Rewatching 1.09 the deal was: Walder Frey lets Rob cross and sends with him a few thousand (!) troops, keeping only a few hundred to defend his castle. So he was officially throwing his lot in with Rob and sending a few thousand of his men to fight and die for his war. In exchange he wanted one of his boys to become part of Rob’s entourage and be knighted, he wanted Arya to marry one of his sons, and he wanted Rob to marry one of his daughters. That was the price for his alliance. Frey is an evil cunt but really, Rob paid the price for his breaking of his oath. .
[/QUOTE]
What’s so pointed about Robb’s betrayal of this particular oath is that it was so unnecessary. In the story do many people are faced with very difficult choices. And when they choose wrong you can still see why they were compelled to make the decisions they did.
In Robb’s case there was absolutely no reason for him to get married when he did. It was the one thing Robb did that was completely immature and childish.
This brings to mind a wondeful line in Iain Banks’ book “Surface Detail.” A woman has been legally enslaved because of her father’s debts, becoming the property of a powerful enemy. This is an advanced technological society, they have spaceflight, and there are many legal protections for people sold into debt bondage. But the enemy of course pays no attention to these rules. Which leads to the line:
All to true. I hear that nowadays, if you are a sufficiently rich and powerful banker, you can get away with laundering money for drug cartels and Al Qaeda, for example.
I continue to look for the funny in this episode. Bran’s “Hodor, stop hodering!” Also, the rolled back eyes are freaking creepy. Just saying.
To the extent that there’s as theme or point to GoT it’s that laws and claims and legalities are irrelevant if you don’t have the force to back them up.
If he ends up with an army of 30,000 hardened troops and rides up to Winterfell and points out that he was Ned’s bastard, well, gosh, I bet lots of people nearby will agree that that’s very important. But aside from that, what does any legality matter? It’s not like there’s a supreme court of Westeros that we’ve ever heard of, and if there was, it would be pretty clearly under the thumb of one Tywin Lannister.
I don’t know about unnecessary, since it’s got a big Important Mystic Quest signpost on it… but it would have been nice of him and Rickon to find a way to let Mummy and Big Brother know they were still alive, at some point.
I suppose it don’t matter now, though.
Not to mention, he can control his “wheelchair” with his mind, too 
Yeah, for all the painful heartbreak of Jorah (which was pretty predictable at this point, with his being the ultimate Dogged Nice Guy of the show), I actually feel worse for Ygritte. To the bitter end she was ready to defend her beau, and he shoves her to the ground, leaves her to fend for herself and just legs it ? Not cool, pretty boy. Not cool at all.
You know she’s going to spend the rest of her life tracking him down, and then she’ll cut off his bôhne. And by gum, he’ll have deserved it.
Yup.
Shoving her to the ground was for her sake, Jon had no idea the Direwolves would save his ass and didn’t want to get her killed too.
I don’t think any of that come anywhere close to implying that Gendry could be a claimant to be the heir to the throne. If you’re saying that some people think that Gendry could have the power to usurp the king that’s different.
I have a question for the other non-book-readers like me (book-readers, I assume, got it literally spelled out for them).
When Sgt Nutter’s Medieval Hearts Club Band and Archery Society started playing that menacing tune, Cat freaked out and that’s when she realised they were in a trap. It didn’t occur to me till afterwards that the reason the tune made Cat freak out was that it was the Rains of Castamere, obviously a poor choice of tune in the circumstances unless it is, duh, a signal that the Starks are about to get massacred.
Given that, to me, the only two songs in Westeros are tuneless dirges, did anyone else hear that tune and recognise it? I mean actually recognise the tune itself, not realise (as I did) that it must be the Rains of Castamere from the context?
I did, but only because the title of the episode title kind of led me to it. Otherwise I doubt I would have known.
I certainly didn’t recognize it. Had it even been played before?
Yeah, constantly this season and last and Cersei explained the meaning behind it last episode.
It also played during the credits at the end of the season 2 episode where Tywin and the Tyrells arrive to save King’s Landing.