Ed är ord, Ord är vind
Catelyn Stark svarade på din fråga när Robb undrade detsamma. Om Freys är bannermen till Tullys, borde de låta Starks passera.
Walder Frey, Lord of the Crossing, had assembled a force of near four
thousand men at his castles on the Green Fork.
“Late again,” Catelyn murmured when she heard. It was the Trident all
over, damn the man. Her brother Edmure had called the banners; by
rights, Lord Frey should have gone to join the Tully host at Riverrun,
yet here he sat.
“Four thousand men,” Robb repeated, more perplexed than angry. “Lord
Frey cannot hope to fight the Lannisters by himself. Surely he means
to join his power to ours.”
“Does he?” Catelyn asked. She had ridden forward to join Robb and
Robett Glover, his companion of the day. The vanguard spread out
behind them, a slow-moving forest of lances and banners and spears. “I
wonder. Expect nothing of Walder Frey, and you will never be
surprised.”
"He's your father's bannerman."
"Some men take their oaths more seriously than others, Robb. And Lord
Walder was always friendlier with Casterly Rock than my father would
have liked. One of his sons is wed to Tywin Lannister's sister. That
means little of itself, to be sure. Lord Walder has sired a great many
children over the years, and they must needs marry someone. Still
…"
AGOT - Catelyn IX
Inne i det mörka hörnet kallas Walder's mind
I samma kapitel förklarade hon också hur Lord Walder sinnen fungerar:
"Do you think he means to betray us to the Lannisters, my lady?"
Robett Glover asked gravely.
Catelyn sighed. "If truth be told, I doubt even Lord Frey knows what
Lord Frey intends to do. He has an old man's caution and a young man's
ambition, and has never lacked for cunning."
Precedent för vassaler som vänder mot överlords till förmån för kronan
Tidigare undrade Catelyn var hennes faders banners lojalitet ligger:
Her father was the staunchest man who'd ever lived, and she had no
doubt that he would call his banners … but would the banners come? The
Darrys and Rygers and Mootons had sworn oaths to Riverrun as well, yet
they had fought with Rhaegar Targaryen on the Trident, while Lord Frey
had arrived with his levies well after the battle was over, leaving
some doubt as to which army he had planned to join (theirs, he had
assured the victors solemnly in the aftermath, but ever after her
father had called him the Late Lord Frey).
AGOT - Catelyn
V
Lord Walder s position
Lord Frey sa dock att han ville gå till Riverrun men han väntade på att hans fulla avgifter skulle samlas och Edmure förlorade förut. När det gäller hans löften påpekar han rätt att han också lovade löften till kronan.
“Now that I have observed the courtesies, my lady, perhaps my sons
will do me the honor of shutting their mouths. Why are you here?”
“To ask you to open your gates, my lord,” Catelyn replied politely.
“My son and his lords bannermen are most anxious to cross the river
and be on their way.”
“To Riverrun?” He sniggered. “Oh, no need to tell me, no need. I’m not
blind yet. The old man can still read a map.”
“To Riverrun,” Catelyn confirmed. She saw no reason to deny it. “Where
I might have expected to find you, my lord. You are still my father’s
bannerman, are you not?”
“Heh, “ said Lord Walder, a noise halfway between a laugh and a grunt.
“I called my swords, yes I did, here they are, you saw them on the
walls. It was my intent to march as soon as all my strength was
assembled. Well, to send my sons. I am well past marching myself, Lady
Catelyn.” He looked around for likely confirmation and pointed to a
tall, stooped man of fifty years. “Tell her, Jared. Tell her that was
my intent.”
“It was, my lady,” said Ser Jared Frey, one of his sons by his second
wife. “On my honor.”
“Is it my fault that your fool brother lost his battle before we could
march?” He leaned back against his cushions and scowled at her, as if
challenging her to dispute his version of events. “I am told the
Kingslayer went through him like an axe through ripe cheese. Why
should my boys hurry south to die? All those who did go south are
running north again.”
AGOT - Catelyn IX
och
“We want to cross,” Catelyn told him.
“Oh, do you? That’s blunt. Why should I let you?”
For a moment her anger flared. “If you were strong enough to climb
your own battlements, Lord Frey, you would see that my son has twenty thousand men outside
your walls.”
“They’ll be twenty thousand fresh corpses when Lord Tywin gets here,”
the old man shot back. “Don’t you try and frighten me, my lady. Your
husband’s in some traitor’s cell under the Red Keep, your father’s
sick, might be dying, and Jaime Lannister’s got your brother in
chains. What do you have that I should fear? That son of yours? I’ll
match you son for son, and I’ll still have eighteen when yours are all
dead.”
“You swore an oath to my father,” Catelyn reminded him.
He bobbed his head side to side, smiling. “Oh, yes, I said some words,
but I swore oaths to the crown too, it seems to me. Joffrey’s the king
now, and that makes you and your boy and all those fools out there no
better than rebels. If I had the sense the gods gave a fish, I’d help
the Lannisters boil you all.”
AGOT - Catelyn IX
Lord Walder kommer ihåg
Sedan uttryckte han sin vrede mot olika förolämpningar av House Tully:
Your lord father did not come to the wedding. An insult, as I see it.
Even if he is dying. He never came to my last wedding either. He calls
me the Late Lord Frey, you know. Does he think I’m dead? I’m not dead,
and I promise you, I’ll outlive him as I outlived his father. Your
family has always pissed on me, don’t deny it, don’t lie, you know
it’s true. Years ago, I went to your father and suggested a match
between his son and my daughter. Why not? I had a daughter in mind,
sweet girl, only a few years older than Edmure, but if your brother
didn’t warm to her, I had others he might have had, young ones, old
ones, virgins, widows, whatever he wanted. No, Lord Hoster would not
hear of it. Sweet words he gave me, excuses, but what I wanted was to
get rid of a daughter.
“And your sister, that one, she’s full as bad.
[...]
I proposed that Lord and Lady Arryn foster two of my grandsons at
court, and offered to take their own son to ward here at the Twins.
Are my grandsons unworthy to be seen at the king’s court?
[...]
Lord Arryn wouldn’t have him, or the other one, and I blame your lady
sister for that. She frosted up as if I’d suggested selling her boy to
a mummer’s show or making a eunuch out of him
AGOT - Catelyn IX
Slutsats
Så slutsatsen:
Lord Walder är en försiktig man som inte tar några onödiga risker. Varför ska han ta fält för en sida som förlorade?
Lord Walder är juridiskt bunden att följa sin lordherre, men han är också juridiskt bunden att vara trogen mot kronan. Självklart betyder löften lite för en man som han, han har aldrig varit alltför medveten om dem. Men det förekommer föregångare, i tidigare krig mot kronan, förlorade många herrar sina lokala överherrar och kämpade för kungen.
Han har släktskap med Lord Tywin. Lord Tywins älskade syster Genna Lannister är hans svärson. Han kan vara säker på att även om Tywin Lannister förstör alla andra, kommer House Frey att vara säker och låta honom lite oroa sig för.
Walder Frey kunde bara känna förstörelse i Tully camp, varför skulle han gå med i den? Vilken Tully Power som kan exakt vedergällning är krossad av Jaime. Självklart är han inte blind, Starks var här och förr eller senare förväntades Arryns också vara här. Tillsammans gav de Tullys en vinnande chans men att komma in i Riverlands utan att riskera en strid med Tywin Lannister på Ruby Ford, de behövde Crossing Cross som gav honom enorm hävstång, något han inte var villig att ge upp för ingenting. Nu var det dags att få något i gengäld.
Lord Walder är inte alltför förtjust i Tullys, Starks, Arryns eller Lannister. Han hatar att de alla ser ner på honom. Han hatar att Lord Hoster Tully inte tog sin dotter som svärfar. Han hatar att Arryns vägrade att fostra sina barnbarn.
Så TLDR, Tullys kunde beställa Freys men skulle Freys lyssna? Osannolikt.