How was the Red Wedding possible?

[odvesims]

Hey There!!

I'm recently rewatching all Seasons, currently about to watch S3, episode 8 (prior to Rains of Castamere) and it's got me thinking... How was the Red Wedding possible? I mean, are all Frey soldiers SO horrible that NOT A SINGLE ONE of them could have leaked the plan to anyone from the Stark's camp? How was this horrible event that involved such a LARGE group of people go by unnoticed until it happened?

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

[QueenofThrones]

From the perspective of A Frey soldier what they did wasn't "horrible" per se - it was a direct order from their boss, and an act of war. If they broke ranks then they'd be subject to hanging... at best.

I'm sure Walder also promised them that tRW would be a start of an age of prosperity and peace, and a quick end to war, so they could soon go home if they killed their enemies swiftly enough. Of course they ended up having to besiege RR for months since BF got away...

[Joel Needs a Car]

Don't forget the Red Wedding was inspired by real events such as the 'Black Dinner' and The Glencoe Massacre. Both of these occurred because the soldiers kept the plan secret and were fully complicit.

[Needle]

Soldiers do not question their leader's commands, they just do what they're told, it doesn't matter if they're fighting for the 'good guys' or the 'bad guys'. Also, killing Robb would earn them support from the Lannisters, and every soldier would want the house they're fighting for to be rich and strong, because that means they get more power.
Even if someone did feel bad about that plan, they'd probably be too scared to rebel against it, because for every one soldier that doesn't support it, there are 20 soldiers that do. It'd be too risky.

[Dee Stark]

Soldiers do not question their leader's commands, they just do what they're told, it doesn't matter if they're fighting for the 'good guys' or the 'bad guys'. Also, killing Robb would earn them support from the Lannisters, and every soldier would want the house they're fighting for to be rich and strong, because that means they get more power.
Even if someone did feel bad about that plan, they'd probably be too scared to rebel against it, because for every one soldier that doesn't support it, there are 20 soldiers that do. It'd be too risky.

Super true

Also, I don't know why, but when I read your comments, I picture Arya as in the photo you have as your avatar. lol

[Needle]

Soldiers do not question their leader's commands, they just do what they're told, it doesn't matter if they're fighting for the 'good guys' or the 'bad guys'. Also, killing Robb would earn them support from the Lannisters, and every soldier would want the house they're fighting for to be rich and strong, because that means they get more power.
Even if someone did feel bad about that plan, they'd probably be too scared to rebel against it, because for every one soldier that doesn't support it, there are 20 soldiers that do. It'd be too risky.

Super true

Also, I don't know why, but when I read your comments, I picture Arya as in the photo you have as your avatar. lol

Sassy Arya is best Arya

[Wimsey]

Even if someone did feel bad about that plan, they'd probably be too scared to rebel against it, because for every one soldier that doesn't support it, there are 20 soldiers that do. It'd be too risky.

Given that the Freys seem to be the "White Trash" of Westeros, it probably was very easy to whip up a pseudo-nationalistic indignancy among them, too.

Something that came up in the books but that did not get done on TV (was Catelyn noticing that Freys who had personal relationships with the Starks were all absent. Doing that on TV would have involved adding at least one additional character (a sort of Olly to Robb's Jon) and developing something between them, and then drawing attention to the fact that he was absent. Quite frankly, that made it a bit too obvious that something was about to happen in the books: it would have become just blatant on TV.