You Win Or You Die: Ranking the 99 Game of Thrones Deaths

Image credit: HBO/Helen Sloan

Walder Frey, Lothar Frey, and Walder Rivers

I would call the Freys’ murders “delightfully Titus Andronicus,” but there’s really nothing delightful about that play. However, their deaths are certainly suitable in regards to their crimes against the Starks. So we’ll stick with that.

In Season 3, Walder Frey violates guest right when he allows the Starks to be slaughtered in his home. Indeed, this one infraction renders guest right meaningless across Westeros. There is no sense of trust among houses now. If one noble family was willing break such a sacred vow, there’s no telling who would follow suit if they so chose.

While Arya had killed before she made for the Twins, it was Walder Frey who sent her down such a dark path to begin with. He brutalized her family, and she would see to it that justice was gained. She sneaks into the scene of the crime, and makes Walder Frey feel as helpless and unsafe in his home as he’d made Catelyn and Robb. In this way, Arya manages to turn the entire event on its head to avenge the Red Wedding.

There was no one better equipped to end the Freys than Arya. Jon and Sansa were busy driving the Boltons from Winterfell, and even if Bran were on the right side of the Wall, he’s no killer. At the end of the day, Arya was the final and best choice for the job. She had been so close to reuniting with her family. Instead, she saw Stark men murdered and Grey Wind die in a pen, and she was powerless to help it. Her last chance at family died at Walder Frey’s behest, and so he would die at hers.