History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireHouseFreyOfRiverrun

!!!This is a listing of members of House Frey that appear in the {{Fantasy}} series ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Visit [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFire here]] for the main character index.
!!!For the main Riverlands entry, [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireRiverlandsHouses see here]].

!House Frey of Riverrun

A cadet branch of House Frey established in Riverrun during the War of the Five Kings. From the start of the war, this cadet branch fought for House Lannister and was awarded with Riverrun following the Red Wedding.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Lord Emmon Frey]]
!!Lord Emmon Frey

Second son of Lord Walder Frey and his first wife, Lady Perra Royce. He's married to Genna Lannister and has four sons (Cleos, Lyonel, Tion and "Red" Walder) who are allegedly his. He is now head of House Frey of Riverrun and Lord of Riverrun.
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* ArrangedMarriage: He and Genna were married when he was fourteen and she was seven. The marriage created an uproar in the Westerlands, since Emmon was a second son of second-tier house from another region.
* AuthorityInNameOnly: He is the Lord of Riverrun and he fully expected that the Lord Paramount of the Trident title would come to him, only that they were already promised to Littlefinger; worse even is the fact that his wife is the one who will be the authority in all but name ''because she is a Lannister''.
* ButtMonkey: Everybody is contemptuous of him, including his wife, and disregards all his opinions. [[spoiler: It's also implied that Tywin Lannister, who never hid his disapproval of Emmon's marriage to his sister, made every day of his life hell from the moment he wed Genna]]. His own nephew essentially {{Facepalm}}s when he has to explain to Emmon he's ''only'' the Lord of Riverrun.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Particularly after learning that despite [[spoiler:becoming Lord of Riverrun he won't become Lord Paramount of the Riverlands]].
* HenpeckedHusband: His wife controls everything he does.
* IdiotBall: This is his wife's constant complaint about him -- to the point it comes across as possibly being hyperbole. [[spoiler: Then he then goes quite some way to prove her right at the Siege of Riverrun in his spectacularly ineffectual fashion.]] So far, he has been saved from being TooDumbToLive thanks to having her and his son to try keeping his idiocy in check.
* InsistentTerminology: [[spoiler: During the Siege of Riverrun he constantly reminds the rest of the commanders that he's the new Lord of Riverrun. Given that the Blackfish is in physical possession of Riverrun, everyone mocks or ignores him.]]
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Not him. But, perhaps some of his children -- the only relatively safe bet for him is Cleos who has the Freys' traditional weasel look. That is, if both Tyrion's and Jaime's musings about his wife are correct.
* SpannerInTheWorks: The Riverlander lords are already fed up with having to bow to the Freys, but Emmon is the particular Frey that seems to be making everything worse for everyone because he just won't shut up. If something were to happen in the Riverlands, it would be certainly partly his fault.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: During the [[spoiler: Siege of Riverrun]] with the Riverlords that bent the knee to the Iron Throne following the Red Wedding.
* TinyGuyHugeGirl: He's a typical Frey weasel. She's an imposing Lannister lioness in both looks and personality. It must look a bit ridiculous when they stand next to each other.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Well [[IWasQuiteTheLooker Genna used to be quite attractive]] - now she's LargeAndInCharge.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Lady Genna Frey]]
!!Lady Genna Frey (née Lannister)
-->''"Men are such thundering great fools. Even the sort who come along once in a thousand years."''

Third child and only daughter of Tytos Lannister and Jeyne Marbrand. Married to Emmon Frey, with whom she has four sons (Cleos, Lyonel, Tion and "Red" Walder). Genna had a close relationships with each of her brothers, and has a personality to match each of them. She was betrothed and wed to Emmon Frey by her father when she was only seven years old, a match ten-year old Tywin objected to. Nevertheless, she has grown into a strong representative of House Lannister whose counsel many respect. [[spoiler: As of ADWD, she is the last of Tytos Lannister's offspring who is still living]].

For the House Lannister entry, [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireHouseLannister see here]].
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* AmazonianBeauty: In her younger days. She is now heavier set. Still, her strong presence has not diminished.
* BattleOfWits: Her husband is not even in the contest, by contast. However, she's single-handedly keeping her corner of House Freys' heads above water level by every manipulative tool she's got, despite some losses and his bungles.
* BigBeautifulWoman: And proud of it. When we first meet her in ''A Feast for Crows'' she refers to herself as Jaime's "fat aunt".
* BigBrotherWorship: Despite their falling out later in life, she still has fond memories of ten year-old Tywin publicly speaking out against her ArrangedMarriage. "Every girl needs a big brother to protect her. Tywin was big even when he was little."
* BrutalHonesty: Whether it's toward the husband she insults, or the nephew she adores, Genna always speaks harsh truths.
* CoolAunt: Both Tyrion and Jaime think so, at least. Cersei's opinion is unknown.
* DeadpanSnarker: You'd feel particularly sorry for her husband. If he didn't go out to prove her points about him quite so much.
* {{Foil}}:
** She is the polar opposite of Lysa Arryn, though one generation removed: betrothed into a loveless marriage full of failures in the offspring department (though Genna's kids lived -- disappointments or not), overshadowed by a more noticeable older sibling who was basically a parent to them and their brothers (Tywin and Catelyn respectively), both married to men who weren't their first choice [[spoiler:and on whom they are cheating.]] Of the two, of course Genna is remarkably more balanced and has a grip on her marriage and kids and manages to be a force to be reckoned with regarding her nephews; let's not get started with Lysa and her niece Sansa, because it's ''not'' pretty.
** She is everything a Lady of Lannister should ever be; grounded, proud, politically active and authoritative... much unlike her niece Cersei, who is neither grounded nor authoritative -- and whose actions are generally bad moves. Many of the things Cersei has accomplished by just being a Lannister, Genna has done better at... ''in spite of being a Frey'' as a handicap.
** On a more negative note, she seemingly lacks the MamaBear tendencies seen in other strong, maternal characters such as Catelyn Stark and Olenna Tyrell. From all shown evidence, she treats her kids with the same disregard that she treats her husband with, and she didn't particularly mourn the deaths of Cleos and Tion.
* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: Lord Roger Reyne of Castamere wasn't very happy at Genna's betrothed to Emmon Frey. Since some years later Tywin utterly destroyed the Reynes, there is no way to know what drove the Red Lion away.
** By his reaction, he was possibly expecting to further expand family ties with the Lannisters and the betrothal spoiled his plans.
* HappilyArrangedMarriage: Subverted, her father weakly submitted her hand to Walder Frey's son Emmon despite the fact that he was not a worthy match for her. She always loved her brother Tywin for CallingTheOldManOut for this. The marriage still happened, and she still didn't end up happy, although they seem to tolerate each other.
* HenpeckedHusband: Her stupid, egotistical, old fool of a husband Emmon Frey, who she lords over and rules through to hilarious effect.
* IronLady: Annoying her is not recommended. Even her brothers worked that one out, and none of them were ever the shrinking types.
* ParentalSubstitute: She just might have been a mother to Jaime and Tyrion when their mother died (not quite so to Cersei, since it's not mentioned). She loves her nephews and actually took interest in their well-being and intelligence, even arguing to Tywin that Tyrion was the son that took after him the most. Tywin being Tywin didn't like this in the very least and spent half a year ignoring Genna for the "slight".
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: She may have done this to her husband, if both Tyrion and Jaime are right in their suspicions.
* NeverSayThatAgain: She once told Tywin that Tyrion is a lot like him, far more so than Jaime. [[DisproportionateRetribution Tywin refused to speak to her for six months.]]
* NotSoAboveItAll: Even though she's more grounded than Tywin (which is stating the obvious), she is still very much a Lannister and is as stuffy and proud as her name warrants.
* WomenAreWiser: Is more grounded in reality than even Lord Tywin (the byword for PragmaticVillainy) when she notes the potential of Tyrion when he constantly refuses to.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Ser Cleos Frey]]
!!Ser Cleos Frey
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cleos_frey_ffg_9960.jpg]]
-->''"Ser Cleos looked like a weasel, fought like a goose, and had the courage of an especially brave ewe."''
--->--'''Jaime Lannister'''

The eldest of Emmon Frey and Genna Lannister's four sons. Married to Jeyne Darry, with whom he has two sons, Tywin and Willem. He's fighting for House Lannister at the start of the War of the Five Kings. His personal coat-of-arms is the twin towers of House Frey and the golden lion of House Lannister, quartered.
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* ButtMonkey: He is captured early in the war, and used as a go-between for the Starks and Lannisters to negotiate, even though neither side ever expects the other to accept the offer they give, essentially making him walk back-and-forth across Westeros for nothing. Then he gets tossed in Riverrun's prison due to a plot he never knew about, and is forced to go along with Brienne and Jaime when they sneak out of Riverrun. [[spoiler:He is killed shortly after the journey begins in a very painful manner, his corpse is looted by the Brave Companions, and is left to rot in the middle of the woods unburied. To top it all off, his cousin Jaime isn't very bothered by his death, and neither are his parents]].
* TheChick: Very much. He's able to hold his own enough to avoid being TheLoad and isn't ''as'' hatefully egocentric as most members of his family, so can have a stab at this trope. He does try being this openly with Jaime and Brienne. It... goes iffily. Not for lack of trying, though.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler:Shot with arrows, then his horse spooks and drags him across the ground, killing him.]]
* LovableCoward: Surprisingly, for a Frey. He's actually quite affable, in a bumbling sort of way. Still would rather waffle his way out of a problem than actually fight. Or just not be there, by preference.
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: It's possible. He may still technically be a Frey, though maybe not from the one he thinks he's from. Genna is not dumb enough to make the mistake of letting a first pregnancy through if there was ''too'' much of a chance of the baby not looking about right.
* NonActionGuy: A big part of his image problem. In Westeros, a guy who's a lot better with words than he is with swords isn't seen in a positive light. Yet, he was used as a go-between precisely ''because'' of his being a supremely unthreatening guy. How he became a knight is anybody's guess, as he really doesn't exhibit any of the martial skills of one, beyond riding a horse really well and being OK-ish with a bow or crossbow.
* SmarterThanYouLook: He's very much a watered-down Lannister to look at, suffering from some of the Frey weak points, but comes out quite a bit sharper than the average Frey as a result. And, look down on his cowardice and lack of graceful social arts all you like: he makes some good points about why the whole venture of stealing Jaime away to King's Landing the way they were doing was a great mistake. Also note a small tendency: he tries to talk himself ''out'' of problems as a first resort. He just has none of the Lannister prestige or gold to back his words up with.
* ThickerThanWater: Toyed with. Despite being a Frey, he fights on the side of the Lannisters because his mother is a Lannister.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Say what you want about him being a cowardly weasel, but he doesn't seem to be that bad a guy for a Frey. He may complain about his journey with Brienne and Jaime, but never abandonds them even if it would be safer to do so. He also dislikes when Jaime insults Brienne and asks him to stop; which is especially notable because the amount of people in Westeros who show poor Brienne any kind of respect is very low.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tion Frey]]
!!Tion Frey

Third son of Emmon Frey and Genna Lannister. Like his older brother Cleos, he's fighting for House Lannister at the start of the War of the Five Kings. He's part of the host commanded by Jaime Lannister.
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* ChildSoldier: And, not a bad one, judging from his actions. Just a totally surprised, outnumbered and overpowered one.
* DefiantToTheEnd: Tion fought for his life when the Karstarks came to kill him.
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Like his brother, for the same reasons. It's only a possibility, though.
* RevengeByProxy: Rickard Karstark kills him and his cousin Willem Lannister in their prison cell after Catelyn releases the Kingslayer for being the only Lannister nearby.
* TheSquire: Yup. For all the good it does him.
* IHaveYourWife: His son is captured in the Whispering Wood and taken hostage to Riverrun along with his cousin Willem Lannister.
[[/folder]]

* OutnumberedSibling: She was the only girl out of Tytos' five children. Considering that for the most part, they're overachievers, Genna is not too far behind. [[spoiler:And now she is the last living one]].

* DeadpanSnarker: You'd feel particularly sorry for her husband. If he didn't go out to prove her [[WhatAnIdiot points about him]] quite so much.

** She is everything a Lady of Lannister should ever be; grounded, proud, politically active and authoritative... much unlike her niece Cersei, who is neither grounded nor authoritative -- and, whose actions are generally bad moves. Much of the things Cersei has accomplished by just being a Lannister, Genna has done better at... ''in spite of being a Frey'' as a handicap.
** On a more negative note, she seemingly lacks the MamaBear tendencies seen in other strong, maternal characters such as Catelyn Stark and Olenna Tyrell. From all shown evidence, she treats her kids with the same disregard that she treats her husband with and she didn't particularly mourn the deaths of Cleos and Tion.

** By his reaction, he was possibly expecting to further expand family ties with the Lannisters and the betrothed spoiled his plans.

** She is the polar opposite of Lysa Arryn, though one generation removed: betrothed into a loveless marriage full of failures in the offspring department (though Genna's kids lived -- disappointments or not), overshadowed by a more noticeable older sibling who was basically a parent to them and their brothers (Tywin and Catelyn respectively), both married to men who weren't their first choice [[spoiler:and to whom they are cheating to.]] Of the two, of course Genna is remarkably more balanced and has a grip on her marriage and kids and manages to be a force to be reckoned with regarding her nephews; let's not get started with Lysa and her niece Sansa, because it's ''not'' pretty.

* ArrangedMarriage: He and Genna were married when he was fourteen and she was seven. The marriage created an outrage in the Westerlands since Emmon was a second son of second-tier house from another region.

** She is the polar opposite of Lysa Arryn, though one generation removed: betrothed into a loveless marriage full of children failures (though Genna's kids lived), overshadowed by a more noticeable older sibling who was basically a parent to them and their brothers (Tywin and Catelyn respectively), both married to men who weren't their first choice [[spoiler:and to whom they are cheating to.]] Of the two, of course Genna is remarkably more balanced and has a grip on her marriage and kids and manages to be a force to be reckoned with regarding her nephews; let's not get started with Lysa and her niece Sansa, because it's not pretty.
** She is everything a Lady of Lannister should ever be, grounded, proud and authoritative... much unlike her niece Cersei, who is neither grounded nor authoritative. Much of the things Cersei has accomplished by being a Lannister, Genna has done so ''in spite of being a Frey''.

* ParentalSubstitute: She just might have been a mother to Jaime and Tyrion when their mother died (not quite so to Cersei, since it's not mentioned). She loves her nephews and actually took interest in their well being and intelligence, even arguing to Tywin that Tyrion was the son that took after him the most. Tywin being Tywin didn't like this in the very least and spent half a year ignoring Genna for the "slight".

* ButtMonkey: Everybody is contemptuous of him, including his wife, and disregards all his opinions. [[spoiler: It's also implied that Tywin Lannister, who never hid his disapproval of Emmon's marriage to his sister, made every day of his life hell from the moment he wed Genna]]. His own nephew essentially FacePalms when he has to explain to Emmon he's ''only'' the Lord of Riverrun.