A Song of Ice and Fire: A Frey in the Snow Part 1 

"Had he lived he would have grown up to be a Frey" One of the best lines of the series

There are 1,770,000 words in A Song of Ice and Fire. "Had he lived, he would have grown up to be a Frey" are the best 12 words in the series.

"though MAYHAPS this was a blessing. Had he lived, he would have grown up to be a FREY." Lord of the crossing game where you try to slip in the word MAYHAPS into a sentence.

Did Wyman Manderly just win the Lord of the Crossing? He did manage to sneak in "mayhaps" in a sentence...

Little Walder - "Neither of us will be Lord of the Crossing, stupid" Big Walder "I will." Little Walder (but that would mean I'd have to be ...)

I always loved how my boy Fat Wyman slid a 'mayhaps' into that quote on Growing Up Frey. Wyman is known for choosing his words wisely and I assume he amused the shit out of himself with this one.

Excitement for TWOW: Because it's a new book in this incredible series - 51%. Because it'll give Preston scope for 100 new theory videos - 49%.

tl;dr hypothesis: Ramsay killed Little Walder because he wants to use the tension between the Freys and Manderlys to cover up the upcoming murder of Roose's wife, a Frey carrying a child that would, when born, be ahead of him in succession (since Ramsay is still a bastard-born child, even if legitimate). As someone lower in succession himself, Big Walder would know this and probably conspired with Ramsay, hoping to use his brute force and higher position in some way to propel himself (or more likely his family) into power and rule over the Twins.

Manderly said 'mayhaps' just before Hosteen jumps at him. Do you think it's a nod to lord of the crossing?

This sounds like CSI: Winterfell.

The Theon chapters in ADWD are the best written chapters. I' m so glad Theon will be in Winds!

Y'know what really bakes my noodle; why do the spearwives hold Lord Eddard and his words in such high esteem?! "You have no right to mouth Lord Eddard's words. Not you. Not ever. After what you did-"

FUN FACT from a Dany chapter in AGOT: When Drogo returns from his hunt with the body of the big white lion he says to her, “I shall make you a cloak of its skin.” No idea what that means, but George and his parallels are always interesting.

Big Walder will sit the iron throne, just you wait.

4:31 he calls little Walder big Walder after saying how we should be very careful not to confuse them I love this video

Lady Dustin is clearly the most mysterious character we know of in Winterfell, She actually gives the Freys Horses, Grey Colts, and then goes onto out and out threaten aenys Frey in regards to the Red wedding. So why the Horses, she clearly dislikes all Freys, To gain favour with the boys or the Boltons? unlikely, she doesn't seem a woman to concern herself with empty courtesies, she knows where she stands in the politics of the north, she's in the Bolton Camp but unhappy about the fact, feeling she was forced to by the dishonour Ned did her and her family. She is also seen calming the Manderlys during her time in Winterfell and not outwardly trying to increase tension, but could the Horses be a misdirect?. One thing we do hear about Lady Dustin is that she is a a woman who knows how to nurse a grievance, such as kin being slain at a certain wedding perhaps, With Freys present in the north, anyone of the northern houses could be to blame.

>Need to wake up in 5 hours >New Preston Jacobs video >Who needs sleep.

Praying for the rogue prince to have something so with this

Yo these intro's are so unnecessary, but I love every second of them.

I thought Manderly's explanation about what happened to the three Frey's was some of the author's most clever writing.

ROFL the editing is hilarious, for example at !5:25 with the shaking pics representing Little Walder dancing with Spearwives...

The most confounding part of the video(btw, spoiler alert) Ramsay has a plan

15:18 Little Walder's dance with the spearwives is truly majestic.

That fighting and dancing animation, it's joyous. Chad Summerchild cameo 20:41

Preston Dance-For-Me, the dancing animation was greatly appreciated. As always the video is intriguing and well thought out. Waiting with the patience of Super Sleuth Ned confronting Cersei for part 2.

"Preston Jacobs has uploaded a new video" the only words better than that are "Sweetrobin is getting his own spinoff show"

*CHAD* is in the service of white harbor!??

what about lady dustin? she disappears by the same time of the murder

great vid, lot's of details, and I recall being effectively thrown off the trail in the first read of this plot until Ramsay "silenced" his own man, that's pretty straight forward - haven't a clue why he did it though, look forward to part 2

I was guessing Roose. I never gave Ramsay that much credit although he is definitely capable of it. I also suspected it was Lady Dustin in an attempt to draw out Bolton or Frey forces to face Stannis at a battlefield of his choosing instead of letting them wait out Stannis. If anyone is helping Stannis, the biggest thing they can do for him is draw people out of Winterfell because Stannis doesn't stand a chance trying to take Winterfell by force. Manderly would also be aware of this fact which is why he openly antagonized Frey knowing Roose would have to act in order to keep the peace.

I swear you and I are linked telepathically Preston. the last 5 videos you have posted, I have woken up and thought "a new Preston video would be awesome", and bamm! there is a new video

Hey Preston. I've been asking this for a long time. are you planing to make a video about Patchface?!

I think Roose is the killer, it gave him a perfect reason to send out the Frey and White Harbour troops to either kill each other or weaken Stannis' army while being destroyed in the process, either way it ends with Roose benefiting. Wyman Manderly is the closest thing to a rival for control of the North that Roose has after the Red Wedding (the Ironborn could have qualified for this also except they're on fighting in the Reach and Slaver's Bay) so the destruction of their forces helps secure House Bolton's position as the rulers of the North and the Freys are Rivermen, their loss impacts Roose very little even if they border the North because of their hostility with the Crannogmen and their inability to pass the Neck as a result (add to this Lord Walder's reputation as "the late Lord Frey" probably affecting the reputations of most Freys) makes them worthless allies north of the Neck. Now consider the food situation in Winterfell and the defensive advantages it confers upon Roose's army that make it unlikely the Stannis would be able to win by assaulting the castle and is it any wonder why Roose would consider aleviating his food shortage by sacrificing part of his army would be beneficial especially if he can choose which parts of his army are sacrificed. That last point brings up an important question if Roose's army has too many mouths to feed for the season (and who else would consider the seasonal conditions more than Northmen) why did he call so many bannermen? He needed to show the other Northern lords that he called the shots and prevent them from changing their minds and switching over to side with Stannis, that's less likely to happen if they are in the assembled army and control only a small minority of forces in that army. If they decide to rebel their army (as well as the lord most likely) will be slaughtered and their power will be broken, which is a high cost to pay for a change of heart. Roose couldn't decide to reduce the number of his own personal troops he would send as well because he needed to maintain that he was the strongest force in the castle to maintain control, especially with the anger over the Red Wedding a moment of weakness on his part with so many potential enemies around could cost him everything,

Please keep making these types of intros, they're brilliant! (as is the rest of the videos)

I liked the animation of Little Walder and the spearwives dancing, very nice.

Cat saying "It would seem they are both named Walder" made me cackle too much

Love that Chad Summerchild cameo

I just saw that painting of the dice players in the national gallery in Dublin- beautiful piece!

I have no idea why Roose; who is not a fool or sentimental hasn't had Ramsey put down.

This is pretty irrelevant to the video, but I just read that eunuchs (according to older sources, we don't make them anymore) don't go bald. If their already bald then they'll stay that way but they'll never go bald after castration. Does anyone else think that this might point to Varys shaving his head to cover up some sort of hidden identity? Sorry if this is all stuff y'all knew already.

You know the saying, a Frey in the snow is worth two at a wedding.

Just a sidenote: On my first reading when Robb arrives at the Twins for the Red Wedding, Lord Frey threw in the word mayhaps when first addressing him. I immediately knew something was up when he said that.

Great video Preston! Got me so hype for Part 2 and rethinking about a scene I had written off years ago.

Preston is in his prime right now, pumping out videos left and right. Enjoy it people

That's a great cliff hanger. Damn Preston, you're getting savage.

Can I just say how much I love that intro? That's clever and just awesome.

Been rewatching your videos again and again and I must say, I miss the musical openings.

I’ve always wondered if those deaths in winterfell could be orchestrated by someone seeking retribution for those taken from her. It’s clear she has very little love for the Starks and has some negative dispositions towards many a house in the north. Lady Dustin has lost so much and dealt with enough crap to choke a maggot, her disapproval of Ramsey and hatred for Ned Stark is a dangerous balance because “The North Remembers”, and and dead men tell no secret. She wouldn’t be the one to get caught of course, that’s what lowborn commoners are for. After all... Chaos is a Ladder

A great start to my Saturday; to wake and find a Preston analysis waiting for me! Pour my coffee, get some cereal and watch.

The best I had was that Roose has motive and had a catspaw do the murder to accelerate Frey/Manderley tension to give him an excuse to boot them

Tonight, a comedian died in Winterfell

When Ramsey dies in the books, I'm taking a shot for who ever does it.

As is often, you've blown me away, I'm just rereading these chapters right now, hopefully I'll be more prepared for your part 2.

Preston you really open my eyes to how amazing Game of thrones is, If only the show was this interesting.

Dude.... dropping tin foil like that and leaving it as a cliffhanger is just mean.

The watchmen intro is priceless

Good old fashioned theory vids. The best of Preston.

I'm really digging the openings to the new videos.

I'm only halfway through the video but I want to just say two things. 1) Big Walder is clearly Petyr Baelish warging into a child because god damn he's a sneaky little bastard. 2) Aegon Bloodborn IS THE HYPEST NAME IN THE HISTORY OF WESTEROS. MAKE THIS MAN THE KING.

I was not suspecting a cliffhanger! How have I not learned! You are the best Preston, Gracias Señor!

Your work deconstructing and untangling the Freys is top notch. Reminds me of what The Meereenese Blot did for Dany's storyline.

A brilliant "Who Dunnit" left on a CLIFFHANGER!

A new Preston video? 'Tis a good day indeed.

I don't get how Walder Frey could have outlived seven of his eight wives. Unless they all died in childbirth, accident or illness, were only left with foul play on the part of Walder Frey, his motive seems to be family ambition to marry in to as many houses as possible. House Frey is seen as upstarts by houses that go back thousands of years, where as House Frey only goes back Six-Hundred and Walder seems determined to remove this stigma set on him. It's hard to judge if this ambition was always in the family based on the Mystery Knight, where were only introduced to Walder Frey as a young kid, his older sister and his father and his main detractor Hoster Tully had not been born yet.

Rereading and rethinking has never been so rewarding! Thank you for all your hard work!

Preston love the in depth of the videos, have you ever thought about doing other in depth on like Lord of the Rings, star wars, etc.?

Love the watchmen intro. Really like how you've developed your style over the last year or so. It just lifts your content over so much.

Yea!! Thank you for doing this murder mystery. It wasn't until you mentioned Luton that I remembered being a little confused about why he had been injured in that fight. Great video 😊

Always thought it was odd that he was found by the ruins of the old Keep, which is of course just above where the Stark Crypts are.

Now this is some good work. Everything backed up by facts without any wild assumptions. Can't wait for part 2.

I love these Frey videos.

Preston as ever delivering the best original GOT content on the web.

Love that Bob Dylan cover. Guess I'm gonna check them out 👌

One thing Preston forgot to mention is that Manderly snuck in the word "Mayhaps".

i enjoy watching your videos, i put them on to sleep and ive watched a few multiple times, keep up the good work

Anybody else think that the fan art at the beginning is pretty cool. That is a lot of detail.

4:31 Preston you fell for it. You conflated Big and Little Walder.

you are 10x better than any analyst on youtube. Don't let anyone steal your glory.

People criticize Preston saying: "You think there's a conspiracy behind everything in A Song of Ice and Fire?" I say to them: "Have you read any of GRRM's work? Because that's pretty much how it is.

Your videos always brings me joy..

I look forward to each of these SOIAF commentaries, Preston. I enjoy your analyses very much. Keep em coming.

Thank you Preston. Your videos are always a a great part of the day

The intro is so good

looool such a plotwist I'm so hyped for part 2!

Got really excited when I saw the title of this video for some reason

OMG i just noticed that when little Walder's body was brought in Wyman Manderly says mayhaps like the game little and big Walder would play idk if it is a subtle cue that Manderly knows more about the Walder boys or that was a GRRM doing some "it comes full circle" story telling

As the story currently stands, Big Walder is 22nd in line to rule the Twins.

I love these murder mysteries!

Great video Preston! Though it’s worth pointing out that, while I agree with your findings for this video series - we shouldn’t attribute too much cunning to Big Walder. He IS only 8 after all. I wouldn’t expect an 8 year old to pull off a perfect murder, as much as I wouldn’t expect one to commit a murder at all. Maybe that’s the bit. We don’t expect Big Walder to commit the murder because kids aren’t generally murderous and the gain is so minuscule for him from an adult’s standpoint. Not that I think Big Walder is actually responsible here but I think it bears mentioning!

Ramsay probably did it or made Big Walder do it in front of him.

For once, I believe I can see where this is going. Fantastic work as always.

Best intro ever

Lady Wylla... there's that name again. Wylla. I wonder if she was named in honor of Wyman, or as a subtle nod to Jon Snow's 'mother'. Also, the intro song is very apt for this moment in time...

I really need you to come out with the second part to this theory please. It's so interesting!

Left it on a cliffhanger... cannot wait to see part 2!

15:18 dem dancing skillz

20:47 what is Chad Summerchild, Queen in the North, doing in Winterfell fighting for the Manderlys?

8:45 maybe big W thinks his uncle already rules the twins as he seems to be making most of the important decisions and intense to take over as from him

mind blowing and yet all seems obvious in hindsight. thank you based preston.

Jus great. Your theory videos are getting better and better with every series. I was getting worried with the forsaken, wich has way too many speculation. But this is top notch Deeper-Dorne-dragon-books frey-civil-war honneyed-locust theory building.