8 Game of Thrones characters who were secret villains

Walder Frey

Walder Frey is one of the clear villains of Game of Thrones. When we first meet him, it’s easy to dismiss him as a weird, creepy, cruel, and overly proud old man. We know he’s obsessed with furthering his line and gaining power and influence over the Riverlands and the Seven Kingdoms in general. Robb Stark is warned many times not to cross Walder Frey, but the young king can’t get out of his own way, which, along with other key mistakes, leads to the Freys and Boltons forming and alliance and killing most of Robb Stark’s forces during Edmure Tully’s wedding, also known as the Red Wedding.

If you ask any Game of Thrones fan, especially those who haven’t read A Song of Ice and Fire books, the Red Wedding is one of the the most surprising and devastating moments of the early seasons. It’s an incredible plot twist brought to fruition by Roose Bolton and Walder Frey.

Pulling off the Red Wedding earns Walder a spot on this list of secret villains of Game of Thrones. There are many betrayals in the series, but none hit as hard as the moment Roose Bolton walks up to Robb Stark and stabs him in the get. And that’s just a fraction of Walder Frey’s cruelty.

We know that the Lords of Westeros don’t often care much about their children. Walder Frey might care the least, though. He uses them purely for his own gain, and that’s a whole different level of villainy, to me.