Hosteen Frey
Hosteen Frey is a knight of House Frey, the eldest son of Lord Walder Frey by his third wife, Lady Amarei Crakehall. A bull of a man, slow to anger but implacable once roused, he is by repute the fiercest fighter of Lord Walder's get. He serves as a commander in the Bolton-Frey alliance during the northern campaign, leading the Frey vanguard into Moat Cailin and later marching to Winterfell, where his hot-headedness and grief over the murder of his nephew drive him into open conflict with Lord Wyman Manderly, nearly sparking a bloodbath within the castle walls.
Identity and Background
Hosteen Frey is one of the many sons of Lord Walder Frey, the Lord of the Crossing. He is the eldest son of Walder's third wife, Lady Amarei Crakehall. Described as a bull, slow to anger but implacable once roused, he is by repute the fiercest fighter of all of Lord Walder's get. He is a seasoned soldier, a commander rather than merely a swordsman, and is noted for his massive jut of jaw and arms thick with muscle.
Role in the Northern Campaign
Hosteen Frey leads the Frey vanguard as Roose Bolton's host threads its way through the ruins of Moat Cailin. He is one of the two sons of old Lord Walder who lead the four hundred mounted Freys, clad in blue and grey, their spearpoints glittering whenever the sun breaks through the clouds. His brother Aenys Frey, older, crueler, and more clever, rides beside him. Hosteen is present when Ramsay Bolton's Reek delivers the surrender of the ironborn garrison at Moat Cailin, and he later marches with the combined Bolton-Frey host to Winterfell.
Conflict at Winterfell
At Winterfell, Hosteen Frey is at the center of the escalating tensions between the Freys and the northern lords. When the body of his nephew, Little Walder Frey, is found butchered and shoved beneath a snowbank, Hosteen carries the frozen corpse into the Great Hall and lays it before the dais. He immediately accuses Lord Wyman Manderly of the murder, declaring, "We know the man who did this. Killed this boy and all the rest. Not by his own hand, no. He is too fat and craven to do his own killing. But by his word." When Wyman Manderly responds with a taunt, Hosteen slams his foot into the tabletop, knocking it back into the fat lord's belly, then draws his longsword and slashes through three of Manderly's four chins in a spray of bright red blood. The ensuing melee leaves six White Harbor men and two Freys dead before Dreadfort spearmen part the combatants. Hosteen's sword is red almost to the hilt. He vows to finish hacking off Lord Lard's head after he delivers the head of Stannis Baratheon.
Later Actions and Fate
Despite the bloodshed, Roose Bolton commands Hosteen to assemble his knights and men-at-arms by the main gates to strike the first blow against Stannis Baratheon's approaching host. Hosteen obeys, but his rage remains barely contained. He is last seen as part of the force preparing to march out into the snow to confront Stannis, his personal vendetta against Manderly unresolved and the alliance within Winterfell's walls hanging by a thread.
