Red Wedding

The Red Wedding was the infamous massacre of Robb Stark, King in the North, his mother Catelyn, and the greater part of his army, carried out under the guise of a wedding feast at the Twins during the War of the Five Kings. It was an act of treachery so foul -- a violation of the sacred laws of guest right -- that it became a byword for betrayal throughout Westeros, and it effectively destroyed the Stark cause in the war.

The massacre was the work of Walder Frey, Lord of the Crossing, in conspiracy with Roose Bolton of the Dreadfort and with the knowledge and blessing of Tywin Lannister, who afterward took credit for ending the war at the cost of a single feast.

Background

The treachery had its origin in a broken vow. To win passage across the Green Fork for his army, Robb Stark had pledged to wed one of Lord Walder's daughters. When Robb instead married another for love, the slighted old lord nursed his grievance and conspired with the king's enemies. To mend the breach and renew the alliance, a new marriage was arranged -- Robb's uncle Edmure Tully to one of Walder's daughters, Roslin Frey -- and the Stark host came to the Twins as guests for the wedding.

The Massacre

The Starks and their men were welcomed into the castle, given bread and salt, and feasted -- the ancient rite of guest right, by which host and guest are bound not to harm one another under the gods. Once the company was within the walls and at table, the Freys betrayed the rite utterly. As the music changed to the song "The Rains of Castamere," the slaughter began. Robb Stark was killed, his mother Catelyn cut down, his men butchered in the hall and in the camp outside, and his direwolf Grey Wind slain. Roose Bolton dealt Robb a personal death-blow, reportedly saying that the Lannisters sent their regards.

Aftermath

The Red Wedding shattered the army of the North and ended Robb Stark's war at a stroke. For their treachery, Roose Bolton was named Warden of the North by the crown, and the Freys were granted Riverrun and Lannister favor. But the act earned the conspirators the lasting hatred and horror of the realm, for the breaking of guest right is among the blackest of crimes in the eyes of gods and men.

Significance

The Red Wedding is the central catastrophe of the Stark cause and one of the defining atrocities of the War of the Five Kings. It removed the North as a contender, handed dominance to the Lannisters, and scattered the surviving Stark children far across the world -- while leaving a wound of vengeance that would not soon be forgotten.