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- The Breaking of Robb Stark’s Vow With House Frey
- The Betrayal Of Theon Greyjoy
- The Sacking Of Winterfell
- The Execution of Rickard Karstark
During the beginning of Robb Stark’s rebellion in Game of Thrones, he appeared unstoppable. What started as a rescue mission for his father, Ned Stark, turned into a war when King Joffrey Baratheon had Ned executed for treason.
As King in the North, Robb was marching his bannermen south to King’s Landing, fighting several battles along the way. Whether it was luck or tactics and strategy, Robb was on a winning streak. But then he came across an obstacle: Robb needed to lead his men across a river and Walder Frey controlled the bridge that quickly connected the North to the Riverlands. Without being able to use this bridge, it would take Robb and his army significantly longer to march south.
Long story short, Robb sent his mother, Catelyn Stark, to negotiate with the Freys in Game of Thrones. Catelyn was able to strike a bargain with the Freys that allowed Robb access to the bridge. The conditions of the alliance were that Robb must take Frey’s son, Olyvar, as a squire; Arya will marry Walder’s son Waldron when they are both of age; and Robb must marry one of Frey’s daughters or granddaughters.
The Breaking of Robb Stark’s Vow With House Frey
All was well until Robb fell in love with Talisa, a healer from Volantis whom he met on the battlefields of the Westerlands. Despite knowing he made an oath to Walder Frey, Robb moved forward with marrying Talisa, breaking his vow to marry one of Frey’s daughters or granddaughters.
Some would argue that this event alone caused Robb to lose the war. Had he kept his oath, then Walder Frey would have never aligned himself with the Lannisters and the Red Wedding would not have happened. But that’s blind optimism. This was but one of Robb’s many mistakes that led to his ruin.
The Red Wedding, they’re calling it. Walder Frey committed sacrilege that day. He shared bread and salt with the Starks. He offered them guest right…The gods will have their vengeance. Frey will burn in the seventh hell for what he did.
Walder Frey wasn’t known to be loyal. He took whatever opportunities benefited him the most, so chances are he would have betrayed the Starks either way. And, although, Robb had been on a winning streak, he had made several poor decisions that would have ultimately led to his downfall, even if he kept his vow to the Freys.
The Betrayal Of Theon Greyjoy
One of Robb’s first extremely costly mistakes was sending Theon Greyjoy to the Iron Islands.
Robb sent Theon to the Iron Islands to deliver a letter to Balon Geryjoy, Theon’s father. Having grown up together in Winterfell as practically brothers, Robb trusted Theon with his life, which turned out to be a huge mistake. In the letter, Robb offered Balon and the Iron Islands independence in exchange for becoming allies during the War of Five Kings. Insulted by the proposal, Balon rejects it, crowning himself King of the Iron Islands. Almost immediately afterward, Theon betrays Robb’s brotherly trust and joins with his father and sister to invade the North while it’s left defenseless.
The Ironborn will reave and pillage as was in the old days all along the Northern coast. We’ll spread our dominion across the green lands, securing the Neck and everything above. Every stronghold will yield to us one by one.
The Sacking Of Winterfell
Consequently an effect of trusting Theon to sway Balon Greyjoy to join their cause, Winterfell was taken, essentially leaving Robb a king without a kingdom.
When Theon joined with his father, he was tasked with taking a small group of men to attack the Stony Shore. This was embarrassing for Theon, especially since his sister was sent with thirty ships to seize Deepwood Motte. Instead, he chose to do something much bigger by seizing Winterfell while it was defenseless.
Word traveled to Robb about Theon’s betrayal and the taking of Winterfell. By this point, there were bannermen losing faith in Robb, even if they don’t show it, because he had now lost control of Winterfell. Even if he had kept his vow to the Freys, it wouldn’t have prevented his soldiers from feeling like Robb was making all the wrong choices. After all, what is the King in the North without Winterfell?
But Bran and Rickon were Robb’s top priorities, which led him to again put his trust in someone who would betray him. Robb listens to Roose Bolton, who has been nothing but a trusted ally so far, and sends Bolton’s son, Ramsay Snow, to retake Winterfell and ensure Bran and Rickon are safe. This proves to be another costly decision on Robb’s part because Ramsay ends up sacking Winterfell and blaming it on the Ironborn.
It also begs the question: was Roose Bolton already in league with the Lannisters when he suggested to Robb to send Ramsay to reclaim Winterfell? If so, that was an extremely calculated move, which he knew would have serious consequences for Robb. Even if he hadn’t made an alliance with the Lannisters yet, he was paving the way for the Boltons to take over the North, crippling Robb’s war efforts and sending him on his way to defeat.
The Execution of Rickard Karstark
The third costly mistake that would have led to Robb losing the war regardless of his oath with the Freys is the execution of Rickard Karstark, one of his bannermen and leader of the Karstarks.
Jaime Lannister was a captive of Robb Stark along with two other young Lannister captives. When Catelyn released Jaime without telling anyone (in hopes of freeing Sansa and Arya from King’s Landing), this infuriated everyone, especially Rickard Karstark. Jaime had previously killed two of Rickard’s three sons, and Rickard wanted vengeance for this.
I lost one son, fighting by your son’s side. I lost another to the Kingslayer, strangled with a chain. And you commit treason because your children are prisoners? I would carve out my heart and offer it to the Father if he would let my sons wake from their graves and step into a prison cell.
Now that Jaime was no longer a captive of the Stark’s, it made it nearly impossible for him to have justice. Between this and the other misjudged decisions Robb has made, Rickard and his men were losing faith in Robb’s war efforts.
Whether it’s his loss of faith, anger that he can no longer have justice brought upon Jaime Lannister, or a combination, Rickard kills the other two Lannister captives. This is treason and Robb is faced with yet another difficult decision: imprison Karstark and send him to the Night’s Watch or execute him. Robb chose the latter, losing all of the Karstark soldiers when he executed Rickard.
Without the Karstark soldiers, Robb’s army was significantly smaller. Unfortunately, even if Robb had chosen to send Karstark to the Night’s Watch, one thing Game of Thrones doesn’t show that the books highlight is that Karstark and his men were already on the path of desertion long before Karstark made the decision to kill the two Lannister prisoners. And without the Karstarks at his side, Robb’s chances of winning the war were slim to none.
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