THE MURDER

As we will see, the text provides many clues concerning little Walder's murder. Those clues seem to converge to designate the murderer. However, I remain disappointed by my investigation, for several reasons:

In other words, I am disappointed because I could not find anything beyond a murder mystery.

The announce of the murder constitutes the last scene in the Winterfell Great Hall, and practically all characters are present in that scene. It ends the Winterfell Huis Clos, since it led Roose to command the opening of the gates so that the Frey and Manderly men leave to fight Stannis.

Since the wedding, the events in Winterfell were the following: a blizzard had been falling on Winterfell, scouts reported that Stannis' host is snowbound, Lady Dustin visited the crypts with Theon. Three days and two days before the escape three murders were reported: a Ryswell man-at-arm (on the battlements), Aenys Frey's squire (in the lichyard), a Flint crossbowman (in the stable) have been found dead. The Freys and Manderly have threatened each other in the Great Hall.

Here is a little summary of the day before the escape:

• The stables are found collapsed in the morning
• Yellow Dick is found dead
• Horses are moved to the Great Hall
• Horse meat is on the dinner's menu
• Theon comes across the hooded man
• Theon wanders in the castle, comes back to his room where he is summoned to Roose's solar
• Theon resumes wandering the castle
• At the hour of the Wolf, a horn is blown
• Theon meets Holly, Rowan and Myrtle in the godswood
• Theon meets Mance and learns the plan of escape

Next we turn to the final scene in the Great Hall.

Theon is in the Great Hall for breakfast with Abel, Squirrel, and Rowan.
Aenys Frey, Whoresbane, Roger Ryswell, Manderly, Locke, Stout, Maester Medrick, Maester Rhodry, Walton Steelshanks are already present.
Roose and Walda, and then Ramsay join them.

Hosteen arrives with other Freys, the corpse of Little Walder, Big Walder.
A fight erupts in the Great Hall, Luton killed with a few Freys and Manderly men. Manderly wounded.
Manderly men and Frey prepare for battle, Mance is last seen singing.

Then we turn to the escape.

Rowan and Theon go to the godswood.

• They meet Holly, Myrtle, Squirrel, Willow and Frenya equipped for the escape.
• They go to the kitchen to take water for "Arya"'s bath.
• They go to the Great Keep, come across Sour Alyn and Grunt.
• They take "Arya" from her bedroom, leave Squirrel in Ramsay's clothes there.
• Mance does not show up, Rowan, Myrtle, Willow return to the Great Hall.
• Frenya, Holly, Theon, Jeyne try to reach the Battlement Gate.
• Holly and Frenya kill two guards there. Jeyne screams.
• Holly, Theon, and Jeyne hurry to climb the outer wall.
• Frenya fights guards. Holly is shot by two quarrels.
• Theon and Jeyne jump.

Here is the beginning of the day.

That night the new stable collapsed beneath the weight of the snow that had buried it. Twenty-six horses and two grooms died, crushed beneath the falling roof or smothered under the snows. It took the best part of the morning to dig out the bodies. Lord Bolton appeared briefly in the outer ward to inspect the scene, then ordered the remaining horses brought inside, along with the mounts still tethered in the outer ward. And no sooner had the men finished digging out the dead men and butchering the horses than another corpse was found.
This one could not be waved away as some drunken tumble or the kick of a horse. The dead man was one of Ramsay’s favorites, the squat, scrofulous, ill-favored man-at-arms called Yellow Dick. Whether his dick had actually been yellow was hard to determine, as someone had sliced it off and stuffed it into his mouth so forcefully they had broken three of his teeth. When the cooks found him outside the kitchens, buried up to his neck in a snowdrift, both dick and man were blue from cold. “Burn the body,” Roose Bolton ordered, “and see that you do not speak of this. I’ll not have this tale spread.”
The tale spread nonetheless. By midday most of Winterfell had heard, many from the lips of Ramsay Bolton, whose “boy” Yellow Dick had been. “When we find the man who did this,” Lord Ramsay promised, “I will flay the skin off him, cook it crisp as crackling, and make him eat it, every bite.” Word went out that the killer’s name would be worth a golden dragon.

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

Ramsay disobeyed his father, something that Roose wouldn't allow. It remains to be seen whether Ramsay fulfilled his promise eventually. That the last time we see Ramsay until the morning of the next day.

Since the collapse of the stables follow the murder of a Flint crossbowman in the stables, and since the washerwomen are likely to be responsible for the murder, it is tempting to suspect that the crossbowman has been killed by people who were sabotaging the recently built stables. Hence, the collapse of the stables is the work of Abel and the washerwomen. 

It had the consequence of making the Great Hall barely livable.

The reek within the Great Hall was palpable by eventide. With hundreds of horses, dogs, and men squeezed underneath one roof, the floors slimy with mud and melting snow, horseshit, dog turds,
and even human feces, the air redolent with the smells of wet dog, wet wool, and sodden horse blankets, there was no comfort to be found amongst the crowded benches, but there was food. The cooks served up great slabs of fresh horsemeat, charred outside and bloody red within, with roast onions and neeps ... and for once, the common soldiers ate as well as the lords and knights.
The horsemeat was too tough for the ruins of Theon’s teeth. His attempts to chew gave him excruciating pain. So he mashed the neeps and onions up together with the flat of his dagger and made a meal of that, then cut the horse up very small, sucked on each piece, and spat it out. That way at least he had the taste, and some nourishment from the grease and blood. The bone was beyond him, though, so he tossed it to the dogs and watched Grey Jeyne make off with it whilst Sara and Willow snapped at her heels.

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

The night before the escape, at dinner we have: Abel playing many songs, Lady Dustin and Roose Bolton asking for music. The Freys, the bastard's boys except Yellow Dick (dead), Ben Bones and Sour Alyn. It's possible that other lords were present (the Ryswells, Manderly, Locke, Stout, the maesters), but it seems that Ramsay was not. Indeed, the bastard boys are in the Great Hall and speak in Ramsay's name.

Lord Bolton commanded Abel to play for them as they ate. The bard sang “Iron Lances,” then “The Winter Maid.” When Barbrey Dustin asked for something more cheerful, he gave them “The Queen Took Off Her Sandal, the King Took Off His Crown,” and “The Bear and the Maiden Fair.” The Freys joined the singing, and even a few northmen slammed their fists on the table to the chorus, bellowing, “A bear! A bear!” But the noise frightened the horses, so the singers soon let off and the music died away.
The Bastard’s Boys gathered beneath a wall sconce where a torch was flaming smokily. Luton and Skinner were throwing dice. Grunt had a woman in his lap, a breast in his hand. Damon Dance-for-Me sat greasing up his whip. “Reek,” he called. He tapped the whip against his calf as a man might do to summon his dog. “You are starting to stink again, Reek.”
Theon had no reply for that beyond a soft “Yes.”
“Lord Ramsay means to cut your lips off when all this is done,” said Damon, stroking his whip with a greasy rag.
My lips have been between his lady’s legs. That insolence cannot go un-punished. “As you say.” Luton guffawed. “I think he wants it.”
“Go away, Reek,” Skinner said. “The smell of you turns my stomach.” The others laughed.

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

We have the symbolism of Ramsay's bitches eating the horse meat – the Ryswells. Note that Luton and Skinner were throwing dice. It might not be meaningful, but neither Little Walder nor Big Walder is present.

Then Theon meets the hooded man, before wandering for hours in the blizzard.

Theon trudged through the storm until his arms and legs were caked with snow and his hands and feet had gone numb from cold, then climbed to the battlements of the inner wall again. Up here, a hundred feet high, a little wind was blowing, stirring the snow. All the crenels had filled up. Theon had to punch through a wall of snow to make a hole ... only to find that he could not see beyond the moat. Of the outer wall, nothing remained but a vague shadow and a few dim lights floating in the dark.
The world is gone. King’s Landing, Riverrun, Pyke, and the Iron Islands, all the Seven Kingdoms, every place that he had ever known, every place that he had ever read about or dreamed of, all gone. Only Winterfell remained.
He was trapped here, with the ghosts. The old ghosts from the crypts and the younger ones that he had made himself, Mikken and Farlen, Gynir Rednose, Aggar, Gelmarr the Grim, the miller’s wife from Acorn Water and her two young sons, and all the rest. My work. My ghosts. They are all here, and they are angry. He thought of the crypts and those missing swords.

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

I have wondered already, and I wonder again what are a few dim lights floating in the dark. It seems to me that the sentinels do not patrol the inner wall, otherwise Theon shouldn't have to punch the snow to observe the outer wall.

When Roose summons Theon in the Lord's solar in the Great Keep, he is with Aenys Frey, Roger Ryswell and Barbrey Dustin.

He had no clean dry clothes, so he wriggled back into the same damp rags and followed. Steelshanks led him back to the Great Keep and the solar that had once been Eddard Stark’s. Lord Bolton was not alone. Lady Dustin sat with him, pale-faced and severe; an iron horsehead brooch clasped Roger Ryswell’s cloak; Aenys Frey stood near the fire, pinched cheeks flushed with cold.
“I am told you have been wandering the castle,” Lord Bolton began. “Men have reported seeing you in the stables, in the kitchens, in the barracks, on the battlements. You have been observed near the ruins of collapsed keeps, outside Lady Catelyn’s old sept, coming and going from the godswood. Do you deny it?”

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

Everyone of the places mentioned are watched by Roose's men. Missing are Whoresbane and Ramsay, despite the fact that Ramsay's own man is a notable victim. Are Whoresbane and Ramsay busy somewhere else? Or are they considered untrustworthy?

Since Aenys Frey is pinched cheeks flushed with cold, it seems that he just arrived in the solar, while Lady Dustin and Roger Ryswell might have held the council with Roose for longer. It's the last time we see Lady Dustin. She is pale-faced and severe. At dinner time, a few hours earlier, she asked for cheerful songs. Observe how she comes to dominate the scene:

“No, m’lord.” Theon made sure to muddy up the word. He knew that pleased Lord Bolton. “I cannot sleep, m’lord. I walk.” He kept his head down, fixed upon the old stale rushes scattered on the floor. It was not wise to look his lordship in the face.
“I was a boy here before the war. A ward of Eddard Stark.”
“You were a hostage,” Bolton said. “Yes, m’lord. A hostage.” It was my home, though. Not a true home, but the best I ever knew.
“Someone has been killing my men.”
“Yes, m’lord.”
“Not you, I trust?” Bolton’s voice grew even softer. “You would not repay all my kindnesses with such treachery.”
“No, m’lord, not me. I wouldn’t. I ... only walk, is all.” Lady Dustin spoke up. “Take off your gloves.”
Theon glanced up sharply. “Please, no. I ... I ...”
“Do as she says,” Ser Aenys said. “Show us your hands.”
Theon peeled his gloves off and held his hands up for them to see. It is not as if I stand before them naked. It is not so bad as that. His left hand had three fingers, his right four. Ramsay had taken only the pinky off the one, the ring finger and forefingers from the other.
“The Bastard did this to you,” Lady Dustin said. “If it please m’lady, I ... I asked it of him.” Ramsay always made him ask. Ramsay always makes me beg.
“Why would you do that?”
“I ... I did not need so many fingers.”
“Four is enough.” Ser Aenys Frey fingered the wispy brown beard that sprouted from his weak chin like a rat’s tail. “Four on his right hand. He could still hold a sword. A dagger.”
Lady Dustin laughed. “Are all Freys such fools? Look at him. Hold a dagger? He hardly has the strength to hold a spoon. Do you truly think he could have overcome the Bastard’s disgusting creature and shoved his manhood down his throat?”
“These dead were all strong men,” said Roger Ryswell, “and none of them were stabbed. The turncloak’s not our killer.”
Roose Bolton’s pale eyes were fixed on Theon, as sharp as Skinner’s flaying knife. “I am inclined to agree. Strength aside, he does not have it in him to betray my son.”
Roger Ryswell grunted. “If not him, who? Stannis has some man inside the castle, that’s plain.”
Reek is no man. Not Reek. Not me. He wondered if Lady Dustin had told them about the crypts, the missing swords.
“We must look at Manderly,” muttered Ser Aenys Frey. “Lord Wyman loves us not.”
Ryswell was not convinced. “He loves his steaks and chops and meat pies, though. Prowling the castle by dark would require him to leave the table. The only time he does that is when he seeks the privy for one of his hourlong squats.”
“I do not claim Lord Wyman does the deeds himself. He brought three hundred men with him. A hundred knights. Any of them might have—”
“Night work is not knight’s work,” Lady Dustin said. “And Lord Wyman is not the only man who lost kin at your Red Wedding, Frey. Do you imagine Whoresbane loves you any better? If you did not hold the Greatjon, he would pull out your entrails and make you eat them, as Lady Hornwood ate her fingers. Flints, Cerwyns, Tallharts, Slates ... they all had men with the Young Wolf.”
“House Ryswell too,” said Roger Ryswell. “Even Dustins out of Barrowton.” Lady Dustin parted her lips in a thin, feral smile. “The north remembers, Frey.”
Aenys Frey’s mouth quivered with outrage. “Stark dishonored us. That is what you northmen had best remember.”
Roose Bolton rubbed at his chapped lips. “This squabbling will not serve.” He flicked his fingers at Theon. “You are free to go. Take care where you wander. Else it might be you we find upon the morrow, smiling a red smile.”
“As you say, m’lord.” Theon drew his gloves on over his maimed hands and took his leave, limping on his maimed foot.

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

Then Theon wanders on the battlements, until he hears the horn and ends in the godswood.

We need to pay attention to who is present in the Great Hall, and, just as important, who is absent. Here is the text, after leaving aside Theon's internal commentary.

He sat in the back of the Great Hall, not far from the horses, watching Abel, Rowan, and a mousy brown-haired washerwoman called Squirrel attack slabs of stale brown bread fried in bacon grease. Theon broke his own fast with a tankard of dark ale, cloudy with yeast and thick enough to chew on. A few more tankards, and perhaps Abel’s plan might not seem quite so mad.

So, Myrtle, Holly, Willow and Frenya are not in the Great Hall. I suppose they sleep, since they have had a busy night.

Roose Bolton entered, pale-eyed and yawning, accompanied by his plump and pregnant wife, Fat Walda. Several lords and captains had preceded him, amongst them Whoresbane Umber, Aenys Frey, and Roger Ryswell. Farther down the table Wyman Manderly sat wolfing down sausages and boiled eggs, whilst old Lord Locke beside him spooned gruel into his toothless mouth.

Aenys Frey and Roger Ryswell were in Roose's solar the night before. It's interesting that Whoresbane is now in their company, and that Manderly and Locke are apart. Roose seems to be coming out of his bedroom. The news of the pregnancy of Walda is extremely important for the relations between Ramsay and the Freys.

Lord Ramsay soon appeared as well, buckling on his sword belt as he made his way to the front of the hall. His mood is foul this morning. Theon could tell. The drums kept him awake all night, he guessed, or someone has displeased him. One wrong word, an ill-considered look, an ill-timed laugh, any of them could provoke his lordship’s wroth and cost a man a strip of skin. Please, m’lord, don’t look this way. One glance would be all it would take for Ramsay to know everything. He’ll see it written on my face. He’ll know. He always knows.

Recall that Ramsay was not present at dinner the night before, and not present in Roose's solar. The latter absence can be explained by the general mistrust towards Ramsay. We will return to Ramsay's bedroom.

That completes the set of arrivals at that point. The only missing major characters are "Arya", Hosteen Frey, both Walders and, especially, Barbrey Dustin. The only one completely unaccounted for is Barbrey Dustin.

We will see later that other minor characters are present: Maester Rhodry, Maester Medrick, Walton Steelshanks, Luton.

Up on the dais, Ramsay was arguing with his father. They were too far away for Theon to make out any of the words, but the fear on Fat Walda’s round pink face spoke volumes. He did hear Wyman Manderly calling for more sausages and Roger Ryswell’s laughter at some jape from one-armed Harwood Stout.

It seems Ramsay brought a news to his father. We will return to them. I don't think Ramsay just discovered Walda's pregnancy. Roger Ryswell's laughter indicates that he is not worried for his sister Barbrey at this moment. Similarly, Harwood Stout is Barbrey Dustin's liege man.

The doors of the Great Hall opened with a crash.
A cold wind came swirling through, and a cloud of ice crystals sparkled blue-white in the air. Through it strode Ser Hosteen Frey, caked with snow to the waist, a body in his arms. All along the benches men put down their cups and spoons to turn and gape at the grisly spectacle. The hall grew quiet.
Another murder.
Snow slid from Ser Hosteen’s cloaks as he stalked toward the high table, his steps ringing against the floor. A dozen Frey knights and men-at-arms entered behind him. One was a boy Theon knew—Big Walder, the little one, fox-faced and skinny as a stick. His chest and arms and cloak were spattered with blood.
The scent of it set the horses to screaming. Dogs slid out from under the tables, sniffing. Men rose from the benches. The body in Ser Hosteen’s arms sparkled in the torchlight, armored in pink frost. The cold outside had frozen his blood.
“My brother Merrett’s son.” Hosteen Frey lowered the body to the floor before the dais. “Butchered like a hog and shoved beneath a snowbank. A boy.”
Little Walder, thought Theon. The big one. He glanced at Rowan. There are six of them, he remembered. Any of them could have done this. But the washerwoman felt his eyes. “This was no work of ours,” she said.
“Be quiet,” Abel warned her.
Lord Ramsay descended from the dais to the dead boy. His father rose more slowly, pale-eyed, still-faced, solemn. “This was foul work.” For once Roose Bolton’s voice was loud enough to carry. “Where was the body found?”
“Under that ruined keep, my lord,” replied Big Walder. “The one with the old gargoyles.” The boy’s gloves were caked with his cousin’s blood. “I told him not to go out alone, but he said he had to find a man who owed him silver.”
“What man?” Ramsay demanded. “Give me his name. Point him out to me, boy, and I will make you a cloak of his skin.”
“He never said, my lord. Only that he won the coin at dice.” The Frey boy hesitated. “It was some White Harbor men who taught dice. I couldn’t say which ones, but it was them.”
“My lord,” boomed Hosteen Frey. “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.” He turned to Wyman Manderly. “Do you deny it?”
The Lord of White Harbor bit a sausage in half. “I confess ...” He wiped the grease from his lips with his sleeve. “... I confess that I know little of this poor boy. Lord Ramsay’s squire, was he not? How old was the lad?”
“Nine, on his last nameday.”
“So young,” said Wyman Manderly. “Though mayhaps this was a blessing. Had he lived, he would have grown up to be a Frey.”
Ser Hosteen slammed his foot into the tabletop, knocking it off its trestles, back into Lord Wyman’s swollen belly. Cups and platters flew, sausages scattered everywhere, and a dozen Manderly men came cursing to their feet. Some grabbed up knives, platters, flagons, anything that might serve as a weapon.
Ser Hosteen Frey ripped his longsword from its scabbard and leapt toward Wyman Manderly. The Lord of White Harbor tried to jerk away, but the tabletop pinned him to his chair. The blade slashed through three of his four chins in a spray of bright red blood. Lady Walda gave a shriek and clutched at her lord husband’s arm. “Stop,” Roose Bolton shouted. “Stop this madness.” His own men rushed forward as the Manderlys vaulted over the benches to get at the Freys. One lunged at Ser Hosteen with a dagger, but the big knight pivoted and took his arm off at the shoulder. Lord Wyman pushed to his feet, only to collapse. Old Lord Locke was shouting for a maester as Manderly flopped on the floor like a clubbed walrus in a spreading pool of blood. Around him dogs fought over sausages.
It took two score Dreadfort spearmen to part the combatants and put an end to the carnage. By that time six White Harbor men and two Freys lay dead upon the floor. A dozen more were wounded and one of the Bastard’s Boys, Luton, was dying noisily, crying for his mother as he tried to shove a fistful of slimy entrails back through a gaping belly wound. Lord Ramsay silenced him, yanking a spear from one of Steelshanks’s men and driving it down through Luton’s chest. Even then the rafters still rang with shouts and prayers and curses, the shrieks of terrified horses and the growls of Ramsay’s bitches. Steelshanks Walton had to slam the butt of his spear against the floor a dozen times before the hall quieted enough for Roose Bolton to be heard.
“I see you all want blood,” the Lord of the Dreadfort said. Maester Rhodry stood beside him, a raven on his arm. The bird’s black plumage shone like coal oil in the torchlight. Wet, Theon realized. And in his lordship’s hand, a parchment. That will be wet as well. Dark wings, dark words. “Rather than use our swords upon each other, you might try them on Lord Stannis.” Lord Bolton unrolled the parchment. “His host lies not three days’ ride from here, snowbound and starving, and I for one am tired of waiting on his pleasure. Ser Hosteen, assemble your knights and men-at-arms by the main gates. As you are so eager for battle, you shall strike our first blow. Lord Wyman, gather your White Harbor men by the east gate. They shall go forth as well.”
Hosteen Frey’s sword was red almost to the hilt. Blood spatters speckled his cheeks like freckles. He lowered his blade and said, “As my lord commands. But after I deliver you the head of Stannis Baratheon, I mean to finish hacking off Lord Lard’s.”
Four White Harbor knights had formed a ring around Lord Wyman, as Maester Medrick labored over him to staunch his bleeding. “First you must needs come through us, ser,” said the eldest of them, a hard-faced greybeard whose bloodstained surcoat showed three silvery mermaids upon a violet field.
“Gladly. One at a time or all at once, it makes no matter.”
“Enough,” roared Lord Ramsay, brandishing his bloody spear. “Another threat, and I’ll gut you all myself. My lord father has spoken! Save your wroth for the pretender Stannis.”
Roose Bolton gave an approving nod. “As he says. There will be time enough to fight each other once we are done with Stannis.” He turned his head, his pale cold eyes searching the hall until they found the bard Abel beside Theon. “Singer,” he called, “come sing us something soothing.”
Abel bowed. “If it please your lordship.” Lute in hand, he sauntered to the dais, hopping nimbly over a corpse or two, and seated himself cross-legged on the high table. As he began to play—a sad, soft song that Theon Greyjoy did not recognize—Ser Hosteen, Ser Aenys, and their fellow Freys turned away to lead their horses from the hall.

(Theon, ADwD)

Let's try to say what we can about the murder. First, the washerwomen are innocent in my opinion. Indeed, we have first the denegations of Rowan.

He glanced at Rowan. There are six of them, he remembered. Any of them could have done this. But the washerwoman felt his eyes. “This was no work of ours,” she said.
“Be quiet,” Abel warned her.

(Theon, ADwD)

And later in the godswood.

“You killed a boy as well.”
“That was not us. I told you.”
“Words are wind.” They are no better than me. We’re just the same. “You killed the others, why not him? Yellow Dick—”
“—stank as bad as you. A pig of a man.”
“And Little Walder was a piglet. Killing him brought the Freys and Manderlys to dagger points, that was cunning, you—”
“Not us.”

(Theon, ADwD)

The washerwomen are staunch believers in the Old Gods, so Rowan wouldn't lie in the godswood. Moreover she avows the other murders. Hence, Little Walder's murder is not part of the serial killings in Winterfell.

Abel's injunction “Be quiet,”  to silence Rowan is indicative of something. What have Mance and Rowan witnessed that they don't want Theon to know?

It's interesting to compare with Holly's death which happens in the same chapter, a few hours later.

Holly grabbed for the nearest merlon and fell. The snow that she’d knocked loose buried her with a soft thump.
Shouts rang out from their left. Jeyne Poole was staring down at Holly as the snowy blanket over her turned from white to red.

(Theon, ADwD)

It's not clear what that implies for Little Walder who was Butchered like a hog and shoved beneath a snowbank. We don't know if Little Walder was found because the snow had turned red over him. But Holly's death shows that a warm bleeding corpse can't be hidden easily under snow, unless the blood is already coagulated, of dry, or frozen or it is covered with a lot of snow. We are left to think either that the killer (or whoever tried to hide the corpse) did not realize that the blood would color the snow, or that the body was no longer bleeding when the corpse was put under the snowbank. In the former case, the killer is unlikely to be any northman with wits, in the latter case we conclude that Little Walder has been transported from another place to be buried there under the snow. The blood has dried up or coagulated or frozen in this other place before Little Walder had been buried beneath the snowbank, and had bled elsewhere.

So there must be a pool of blood somewhere in Winterfell. None has been reported yet. But I have an idea of where it might be.

Little Walder has been found Under that ruined keep, my lord, and Butchered like a hog and shoved beneath a snowbank. That recalls strongly of an earlier scene.

The entrance to the crypts was in the oldest section of the castle, near the foot of the First Keep, which had sat unused for hundreds of years. Ramsay had put it to the torch when he sacked Winterfell, and much of what had not burned had collapsed. Only a shell remained, one side open to the elements and filling up with snow. Rubble was strewn all about it: great chunks of shattered masonry, burned beams, broken gargoyles. The falling snow had covered almost all of it, but part of one gargoyle still poked above the drift, its grotesque face snarling sightless at the sky.
This is where they found Bran when he fell. Theon had been out hunting that day, riding with Lord Eddard and King Robert, with no hint of the dire news that awaited them back at the castle. He remembered Robb’s face when they told him. No one had expected the broken boy to live. The gods could not kill Bran, no more than I could. It was a strange thought, and stranger still to remember that Bran might still be alive.
“There.” Theon pointed to where a snowbank had crept up the wall of the keep. “Under there. Watch for broken stones.”

(The Turncloak, ADwD)

It would seem that Little Walder has been found in the snowbank that leads to the entrance of the crypts. Moreover, both Walders knew where to find the crypts, since they have been guided there by Rickon. So I come to suspect that Little Walder has been killed in the crypts, that his murderer wouldn't let a Frey lie with the Starks and that the body has been hidden at the exit of the crypts. The notion that Freys are unwelcome in the Starks' tombs is expressed when Bran is outraged that Rickon has led the Frey in the crypts (That was our place, a Stark place!).

It is certain that the murder happened the night before the body was discovered.

Since it is possible that Mance, perhaps with the washerwomen, visited the crypts that night, that would make them the prime suspects. But Rowan's denegations are precisely there to lead us away from that inference.

However, the Walders couldn't have gone into the crypts by themselves. Indeed, the entrance door was frozen shut when Barbrey and Theon went there. A strong man with and an axe had been required to open the way.

That Ramsay killed Little Walder is counterintuitive, since Little Walder is Ramsay's Squire, and is perhaps the only human being who likes and admires Ramsay among all the guests in Winterfell.

There are several hints that point to Ramsay.

First there is the precedent of the three ironmen who went with Theon and "Reek" to the mill, apparently killed by Ramsay. Ramsay does not hesitate to put people to death to silence them, even his own men, as we saw with Luton.

Then there is the savagery of Little Walder's killing. Butchered like a hog. And we are told by Roose (Reek, ADwD)

Ramsay is ferocious, I will grant you, but he swings that sword like a butcher hacking meat.

(Reek III, ADwD)

Thirdly, Ramsay has a unusual weapon: the falchion. He used it in a single occasion.

The wedding guests gorged on cod cakes and winter squash, hills of neeps and great round wheels of cheese, on smoking slabs of mutton and beef ribs charred almost black, and lastly on three great wedding pies, as wide across as wagon wheels, their flaky crusts stuffed to bursting with carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips, mushrooms, and chunks of seasoned pork swimming in a savory brown gravy. Ramsay hacked off slices with his falchion and Wyman Manderly himself served, presenting the first steaming portions to Roose Bolton and his fat Frey wife, the next to Ser Hosteen and Ser Aenys, the sons of Walder Frey.

(The Prince of Winterfell, ADwD)

We all know what kind of meat was in the pies: the bodies of the three Freys. So it's tempting to see there a foreshadowing, but it is not proof of anything. It would be even a vivid depiction of Little Walder Frey's murder.

Another indication: Ramsay was not in the council that inquired after the other murders the night before. Of course, Lady Dustin and Roose do not suffer Ramsay, that is enough a reason to explain the absence. But it might very well be the moment of the death of Little Walder. In fact, we saw that Ramsay appears to not even having been at the dinner the night before. We don't see him until the next morning, when he appears in a bad mood at breakfast.

Finally, when the body is brought in the Great Hall, Ramsay reacts energetically when Big Walder mentions.

“I told him not to go out alone, but he said he had to find a man who owed him silver.”
“What man?” Ramsay demanded. “Give me his name. Point him out to me, boy, and I will make you a cloak of his skin.”
“He never said, my lord. Only that he won the coin at dice.” The Frey boy hesitated. “It was some White Harbor men who taught dice. I couldn’t say which ones, but it was them.”

(Theon, ADwD)

The answer of Big Walder comes in two parts separated by an hesitation. Since the first part is spontaneous, “He never said, my lord. Only that he won the coin at dice.” I take it as sincere. The second part “It was some White Harbor men who taught dice. I couldn’t say which ones, but it was them.” is an invention, I tend to believe, informed by the knowledge that the Manderlys and Freys are at each other's throat, by Big Walder's belief that Lord Wyman ordered the death of the three Freys on the way from White Harbor, and finally by the memory of having played dice with White Harbor men at the Harvest Feast.

We can easily read the passage as a attempt of intimidation of Big Walder by Ramsay, to prevent Big Walder to say who was the man that Little Walder was supposed to meet.

Indeed, the night before some people were playing dice after dinner.

The Bastard’s Boys gathered beneath a wall sconce where a torch was flaming smokily. Luton and Skinner were throwing dice. Grunt had a woman in his lap, a breast in his hand.

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

Poor Luton will not be able to offer any alibi indeed a few moments later.

A dozen more were wounded and one of the Bastard’s Boys, Luton, was dying noisily, crying for his mother as he tried to shove a fistful of slimy entrails back through a gaping belly wound. Lord Ramsay silenced him, yanking a spear from one of Steelshanks’s men and driving it down through Luton’s chest.

(Theon, ADwD)

Observe that Ramsay did not use his falchion to give mercy to Luton. However he had his weapon with him when he entered the great hall.

Lord Ramsay soon appeared as well, buckling on his sword belt as he made his way to the front of the hall.

(Theon, ADwD)

Why not use the falchion on Luton? Was the gift of mercy given to Luton a way to silence him as well? Surely Luton would have died soon, but Ramsay appeared unnecessarily cruel, especially since Manderly has been given the assistance of a maester. So Ramsay's move is hardly helpful to insure the loyalty of his men.

I think Ramsay did not want to show his falchion, for a reason we perceive in this very scene.

Hosteen Frey’s sword was red almost to the hilt.

(Theon, ADwD)

Note that Ramsay still does not use his falchion when he threatened the Freys and Manderlys.

“Enough,” roared Lord Ramsay, brandishing his bloody spear. “Another threat, and I’ll gut you all myself. My lord father has spoken! Save your wroth for the pretender Stannis.”

I would guess Ramsay's falchion is also red to the hilt from the blood of Little Walder.

Let's move forward to the point when Theon and the washerwomen come to the nuptial bedroom to fetch "Arya". During the final moment of the scene in the Great Hall, Rowan said that the escape should take place immediately. Theon and Rowan, waited in the godswood for the washerwomen to prepare for the escape, they have gone to the kitchen, waited for the bath water to warm up and went to the Great Keep.

No day had dawned inside this room. Shadows covered all. One last log crackled feebly amongst the dying embers in the hearth, and a candle flickered on the table beside a rumpled, empty bed. The girl is gone, Theon thought. She has thrown herself out a window in despair. But the windows here were shuttered against the storm, sealed up by crusts of blown snow and frost. “Where is she?” Holly asked. Her sisters emptied their pails into the big round wooden tub. Frenya shut the chamber door and put her back against it. “Where is she?” Holly said again. Outside a horn was blowing. A trumpet. The Freys, assembling for battle. Theon could feel an itching in his missing fingers.

(Theon, ADwD)

As it turns out, "Arya" is prostrate under a pile of wolfskins. It's interesting that a candle is burning and that the windows are shuttered. There is little need to keep the shutters closed since there was no wind during the night.

The night was windless, the snow drifting straight down out of a cold black sky, yet the leaves of the heart tree were rustling his name.

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

Moreover, Theon seemed to find odd that the shutters are closed. No day had dawned inside this room.

We know that Ramsay has arrived after dawn in the Great Hall, since the chapter begins by the sentences.

Day stole upon them just as Stannis had: unseen.
Winterfell had been awake for hours, its battlements and towers crammed with men in wool and mail and leather awaiting an attack that never came.

(Theon, ADwD)

But Ramsay arrived later in the Great Hall. So we have to conclude that Ramsay left his bedroom before the dawn. Since the candle is still burning, since the bed is rumpled and since "Arya" doesn't seem allowed to sleep in the bed, Ramsay spent at least part of the night in the bedroom.

Recall that the horn was heard at the hour of the wolf, that is shortly before dawn. It's likely that Ramsay left his bedroom when he has been woken by the horn and the drums, and didn't return there. (By contrast, since Roose arrived in the Great Hall accompanied by Walda, he is likely to come from his bedroom.)

The reaction of Roose to Little Walder's death is interesting as well.

His father rose more slowly, pale-eyed, still-faced, solemn. “This was foul work.” For once Roose Bolton’s voice was loud enough to carry. “Where was the body found?”

(Theon, ADwD)

So Roose forces his voice. Compare with Roose's perfectly calm reaction to Yellow Dick's death.

“Burn the body,” Roose Bolton ordered, “and see that you do not speak of this. I’ll not have this tale spread.”

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

In fact, the scene in the solar seems to indicate that Roose lowers his voice with anger.

“You were a hostage,” Bolton said. “Yes, m’lord. A hostage.” It was my home, though. Not a true home, but the best I ever knew.
“Someone has been killing my men.”
“Yes, m’lord.”
“Not you, I trust?” Bolton’s voice grew even softer. “You would not repay all my kindnesses with such treachery.”

(A Ghost in Winterfell, ADwD)

As we saw, Roose's emotions are rather expressed through his eyes. So it seems to me that Roose's behavior is factice. That will be confirmed by our next observation.

The most interesting reaction to Little Walder's murder comes perhaps from Walda. Recall that Little Walder is her brother. The following quote reports what Theon hears from her at that moment.

(Theon, ADwD)

Note that the hall was silent went Little Walder's body was brought into the hall, at least until the horses began to scream.

A cold wind came swirling through, and a cloud of ice crystals sparkled blue-white in the air. Through it strode Ser Hosteen Frey, caked with snow to the waist, a body in his arms. All along the benches men put down their cups and spoons to turn and gape at the grisly spectacle. The hall grew quiet.

But a moment later, a fight erupts in the Great Hall.

Ser Hosteen Frey ripped his longsword from its scabbard and leapt toward Wyman Manderly. The Lord of White Harbor tried to jerk away, but the tabletop pinned him to his chair. The blade slashed through three of his four chins in a spray of bright red blood. Lady Walda gave a shriek and clutched at her lord husband’s arm. “Stop,” Roose Bolton shouted. “Stop this madness.”

(Theon, ADwD)

Why didn't Walda shriek when the body of her brother was brought to the hall? Did she know already? Was the death of Little Walder part of the conversation of Roose and Ramsay that has been frightening her.

Up on the dais, Ramsay was arguing with his father. They were too far away for Theon to make out any of the words, but the fear on Fat Walda’s round pink face spoke volumes.

(Theon, ADwD)

Given that Ramsay was angry and Roose seemingly relaxed when they entered the Great Hall, it's likely that Ramsay came with the news that caused the disagreement. I presume that Walda is terrified or horrified by what Ramsay reports. Since Walda didn't express horror at the sight of her dead brother like she did when Hosteen Frey attacked Manderly, it seems that Ramsay had reported Little Walder's death to Roose shortly before Hosteen came to the Great Hall with the body.

What did Roose and Ramsay argue about? Probably the death of Little Walder, that will make the status quo intenable in the castle.

“I confess ...” He wiped the grease from his lips with his sleeve. “... I confess that I know little of this poor boy. Lord Ramsay’s squire, was he not? How old was the lad?”
“Nine, on his last nameday.”
“So young,” said Wyman Manderly. “Though mayhaps this was a blessing. Had he lived, he would have grown up to be a Frey.”

The discovery of the murder appears to have happened that way. Big Walder seems to have been the one who discovered the corpse and alerted Hosteen Frey, Little Walder's uncle. It is not believable that anyone else would have alerted Big Walder before reporting to the Boltons. Alternately, Big Walder went to Hosteen Frey to signal his cousin's disappearance, and said where Little Walder had met the man with the silver coin. Hosteen went there and found the body.

Roose had most of the castle watched by his men. Indeed consider his interrogation of Theon in the solar.

“I am told you have been wandering the castle,” Lord Bolton began. “Men have reported seeing you in the stables, in the kitchens, in the barracks, on the battlements. You have been observed near the ruins of collapsed keeps, outside Lady Catelyn’s old sept, coming and going from the godswood. Do you deny it?”

I could believe that Big Walder went to his kinsman Hosteen Frey before going to the Boltons. It would seem that Hosteen was the one who took the corpse from under the snowbank. Hosteen's cloak and arms do not seem tainted by Little Walder's blood.

The blood splattered on Big Walder's body would seem to accuse him. The precise description is: His chest and arms and cloak were spattered with blood and a little later The boy’s gloves were caked with his cousin’s blood. So there is much more blood on the gloves, as if Big Walder had put his hands in blood, and no blood on the legs, or lower body. The spread of blood is not consistent with the spattering a murderer would receive in the course of any of the assassinations I would imagine.

Except that a scene in Harrenhal provides a model of how Big Walder could have murdered his cousin.

“Silver, you say?” He did not believe her, but he wanted to; silver was silver, after all. “Give it over, then.”
Her fingers dug down beneath her tunic and came out clutching the coin Jaqen had given her. In the dark the iron could pass for tarnished silver. She held it out... and let it slip through her fingers.
Cursing her softly, the man went to a knee to grope for the coin in the dirt and there was his neck right in front of her. Arya slid her dagger out and drew it across his throat, as smooth as summer silk. His blood covered her hands in a hot gush and he tried to shout but there was blood in his mouth as well.
“Valar morghulis,” she whispered as he died.
When he stopped moving, she picked up the coin. Outside the walls of Harrenhal, a wolf howled long and loud. She lifted the bar, set it aside, and pulled open the heavy oak door. By the time Hot Pie and Gendry came up with the horses, the rain was falling hard. “You killed him!” Hot Pie gasped.
“What did you think I would do?” Her fingers were sticky with blood, and the smell was making her mare skittish. It’s no matter, she thought, swinging up into the saddle. The rain will wash them clean again.

There are several problems with this theory. If Big Walder had killed Little Walder in this way, there is no way for him to have prevented the body of bleeding and be covered with red snow. Here is Hosteen when he arrived in the Great Hall.

Through it strode Ser Hosteen Frey, caked with snow to the waist, a body in his arms.

Presumably Hosteen has been into the snowbank to fetch his nephew. There is mention of red or pink snow on him, just snow. Little Walder was larger than Big Walder, so it's unlikely that Big Walder could have carried him. Why shove the body under a snowbank and run to warn Hosteen Frey?

Of course, Big Walder might have been the killer. We saw that Little Walder is ahead of him in the line of succession, that Big Walder hopes to become Lord of the Twins and that he is strangely understanding of Manderly for having killed the other Freys. Despite what we saw Arya do, it is difficult to imagine a nine years old boy putting another to death, especially since the murder was gruesome, and Little Walder was bigger than Big Walder. Finally, we had seen no sign of animosity between the Walders, even if Big Walder behaved differently from Little Walder, and was not submitted to Ramsay's influence.

So I do not believe Big Walder murdered his cousin: no good motive, just children, unlikely material circumstances.

However I do believe Big Walder knows more than he says, and we need to explain the blood on his body. Here is Big Walder's testimony.

For once Roose Bolton’s voice was loud enough to carry. “Where was the body found?”
“Under that ruined keep, my lord,” replied Big Walder. “The one with the old gargoyles.” The boy’s gloves were caked with his cousin’s blood. “I told him not to go out alone, but he said he had to find a man who owed him silver.”
“What man?” Ramsay demanded. “Give me his name. Point him out to me, boy, and I will make you a cloak of his skin.”
“He never said, my lord. Only that he won the coin at dice.” The Frey boy hesitated. “It was some White Harbor men who taught dice. I couldn’t say which ones, but it was them.”

Big Walder  final statement comes in two parts separated by an hesitation. This is typically the mark of lie preceded by a truth. So I tend to believe that Little Walder indeed went out to get his silver. But I would argue that Big Walder has added the White Harbor men part. Indeed, we have seen that Big Walder has understood the enmity between the Freys and Manderly (see his suspicion of Manderly having murdered Rhaegar, Jared and Symond), and is well aware of the possible consequences of his accusation.

Concerning the dice. Indeed, the night before dice were being played in the Great Hall.

Big Walder's hands are caked, and not just splattered, with blood. It's as if he had manipulated a bleeding body.

Finally, the exchange between Ramsay and Big Walder can be understood as a threat by Ramsay. Ramsay might be challenging Big Walder to name him as the man that Little Walder went out to meet. It shows Big Walder as siding with Ramsay.

There are good candidates for the man who owed silver lost at dice. The night before after dinner in the Great Hall:

Luton and Skinner were throwing dice.

Luton is now dead. Skinner is Ramsay's favorite among the Bastard's boys.

So it's possible that Ramsay has instructed one of his men to attract Little Walder outside. However, Ramsay could simply have ordered his squire to meet him. But I suppose he preferred to cover his tracks.

15. Ramsay's motivations

We have seen that the mortal enmity between the Freys and Ramsay has been built up by Roose. We have heard Ramsay's claim to inheritance of the Dreadfort before the Winterfell heart tree. Now we learn that Walda is pregnant. And the Freys hope her child will inherit the Dreadfort.

Little Walder is Walda's brother, and Hosteen's nephew, while being Ramsay's favorite squire. The question of his loyalties arise is an acute way. There is all reason to believe that he will remain true to his family, even if he seems to emulate Ramsay. Indeed, his future would be secure as the brother of the Lady of the Dreadfort, or even Queen of the north, and the situation of being Ramsay's squire leads nowhere. If he has not understood that by himself, no doubt that the Freys in Winterfell explained all this to him.

It's even likely that the Freys use Little Walder to spy on Ramsay. Furthermore, Little Walder knows a few secrets about Ramsay. Along with Big Walder, he knows that Ramsay helped Theon in Winterfell to kill "Bran" and "Rickon". Little Walder alone knows that Ramsay and Theon found "Bran" and "Rickon" at the mill of the Acorn Water. Divulging such a secret would be very embarrassing for Ramsay if there were an inquiry on the events that preceded the Sack of Winterfell.

So Little Walder's situation is intenable, and Ramsay needs to get rid of him. The analysis with Big Walder is different. Indeed, Big Walder is distantly related to Walda – her half-cousin. Moreover, Big Walder is not part of the two large Frey clans (the Crakehall Freys and the Royce Freys), and is in fact rather marginal. Such an intelligent boy might have understood the situation better than his cousin. Moreover his ambitions to rule the Twins eventually makes of most other Freys his enemies. Hence, Big Walder should side with Ramsay in the dispute.

Given the situation, Ramsay has improved his position after the scene in the Great Hall. Manderly appears guilty of the murder. His troops have been sent out with the Freys to fight Stannis. So Little Walder's murder is all for his benefit. Of course, the escape of the bride would soon change the situation.

However, I don't believe that Little Walder's murder is simply a ploy of Ramsay to avenge the death of Yellow Dick and provoke hostilities between Manderlys and the Freys. We need a more precise explanation of what triggered the assassination that particular night.

It might be provided by the arrival of the hooded man in Winterfell. If we the follow the tracks from the kinslayer accusations of Theon, we reach someone who has inquired about the death of Bran and Rickon – probably Robett Glover. Were Little Walder to be questioned, the inquiry would lead to Ramsay. Both Walders know that Ramsay was in Winterfell. Little Walder is the only Walder that knew that Theon and Ramsay went to the mill to find Bran and Rickon. From there one can reach the conclusion that the miller's boys were assassinated. Of course, Ramsay might fear that Theon talked as well. But he believes Theon to be his slave. A sentiment reinforced by Roose's assertion in the solar: He doesn't have in him to betray my son. Big Walder might incriminate Ramsay for his presence in Winterfell. But he has no interest in doing so, and the exchange above seems to show that Big Walder is siding with Ramsay. So there might have been a pressing need for Ramsay to get rid of Little Walder.

16. Summary of the Investigation

• Walda's shriek and absence of shriek show that she knew that Little Walder had been murdered before the body was brought to the Great Hall by Hosteen. She probably learnt it from Ramsay as he argued with his father.
• Ramsay didn't come from his bedroom when he entered the Great Hall.
• Ramsay is shy of drawing his falchion in the Great Hall, possibly for fear being incriminated by the blood on the blade. He might have killed Luton to silence him.
• Little Walder has not been killed where his body has been found, because of the absence of blood in the snow under which he has been buried.
• Big Walder knows more than he says, and might be intimidated by Ramsay to stay quiet. Thus Big Walder would know that Ramsay is responsible for the death.
• The story of the dice player is true, but not that the player is a White Harbor man. It's likely to be Luton or Skinner.
• Ramsay and Big Walder have conspired to accuse Manderly.  Roose takes the opportunity to command Manderly and his enemies the Freys to leave the castle.

So Ramsay is the most likely suspect.

A few things haven't been explained:

Why is there blood on Big Walder?
What does Big Walder know he doesn't tell?
Why has Little Walder's body been transported at the entrance of the crypts?
Where was Little Walder killed?
Why did Abel silence Rowan when she denied being guilty?
Where is Barbrey Dustin?
Where is Maester Henly?

On the location of the murder, I have a very speculative guess: Little Walder has been murdered in the crypts. Somewhat later, Abel and the washerwomen found him during their own visit and buried him just outside (as he didn't belong to the Stark burial chambers).