One of the most interesting features of Feast and Dance is the behind-the-scenes movement of the Brotherhood without Banners, particularly under their new leadership. This is post is more aimed at people who might be reading these books for the first time. There’s a lot to miss when it comes to the Brotherhood, so I’m going to lay out some of their background movements. First I’m going to lay out some of their background movements and track their progress, pointing out that they seem to have several companies acting in different theaters of the Riverlands. This section is to help cover some of the bits of Feast and Dance that slip under the radar. Then, we’re going to look at what’s next for our favorite band of merry outlaws, and get into some wacky predictions.

Before we do any of that, though – what’s in a name? The Brotherhood is, in case you didn’t notice, Without Banners. They were created to be an independent political entity. But recently they have become politicized again, thanks to a certain vengeful fishwoman. More on that later, but keep this in mind as we talk about what banners the Brotherhood fights against.

Ryman Frey

You may (or may not) remember this asshole from Feast. He’s the incompetent boob in charge of the siege of Riverrun, and Jaime relieves him of command. Moreover, he’s the one who killed Dacey Mormont at the Red Wedding, and was in fact one of its chief architects, along with Roose and Walder. But Ryman, inadvertently, provides us with some key information on the Brotherhood.

The Singer

He has a singer in his employ, a singer whom Jaime borrows for a while. This singer is, at the end of the book, revealed to be Tom O’Sevens, one of the key leaders of the Brotherhood without Banners. Tom has knowledge of Ryman’s movements and, before the end of the siege, is left alone with Edmure for a time. After Tom and Edmure meet together, the siege is lifted but the Blackfish escapes. It seems pretty likely that Tom shared with Edmure the location of the Brotherhood, who in turn shared it with the Blackfish.

Fairmarket

But that’s not all Tom did. In Brienne’s last chapter, Lady Stoneheart returns to the hollow hill, bringing with her the crown of Robb Stark. According to Thoros, she’s returning from Fairmarket. In the next Jaime chapter, we hear that poor Ryman Frey has bee hanged near Fairmarket. But that’s not all. Remember the delightful whore in Ryman’s company? She who waggled her hips and told Jaime she’s the queen of whores? Jaime’s inner response is “No, my sweet sister holds that title too.” But the whore took herself for a queen because she had a crown – Robb’s crown. So what happened? Well, Tom probably fed the Brotherhood information about Ryman. The Brotherhood – some of them, at least – went to Fairmarket and attacked Ryman’s company, hanging them and taking back the crown.

There’s another theory, one that’s a little more out there. We know from Feast that Ser Lucius Vypren was tracking the bandits who hanged Merrett Frey – that’s the epilogue guy from the third book, the one who first beholds Lady Stoneheart. Vypren, curiously enough, loses track of the bandits around Fairmarket. There are a few options. The most mundane is that Vypren just sucks at tracking and the Brotherhood escaped. Another, less mundane option, is that the people of Fairmarket are sympathetic to the Brotherhood, and hid them well. But the most exciting option is: there is a secret network of caves in and around the Riverlands.

In Brienne’s last chapter, she’s in a cave – probably the Hollow Hill, where the Brotherhood made their base in ASOS. In this last chapter, Lady Stoneheart, as I said, is just returning from Fairmarket. But what if she’s returning via an underground route? What if the bandits are able to strike so effectively because they have found the caves of the Children – and what if that puts them in a perfect position to become a tool of the Last Greensinger?

Okay, I’m getting a little off track. Let’s talk about the Inn.

Inn-cognito

The Inn at the Crossroads appears in almost every book, and really embodies the idea that the setting is a character too. In book one, it is owned by Masha Heddle, but she is executed by Tywin Lannister – after all, she was there when Tyrion was captured by Cat, and must be culpable in some way. In book three, Arya and the Hound fight the Tickler and company in the inn. In book four, Brienne arrives at the inn to find that Heddle’s nieces and nephew have re-opened the place, and that it is now a refuge for orphans. But it’s more than that. Gendry is working as a smith at the inn; Gendry, who was knighted as Ser Gendry of the Hollow Hill by Beric Dondarrion. The Inn is now inn-extricable from the Brotherhood.

And with good reason. The inn is going to be a natural stopping point for anyone travelling through the Riverlands, particularly the perpetrators of the war crimes in the War of the Five Kings. Those responsible for the Sack of Saltpans are hanged near the Inn, inn-dubitably by the Brotherhood. When Rorge attacks, the brotherhood swoops in on his heels.

All this is to say that the Brotherhood is building a grass-roots network of resistance throughout the Riverlands. They might have turned away from justice, as Thoros says in Brienne’s last chapter, but they are in a perfect position to rise up and destroy the Freys once and for all.

O Brothers, Where Goest Thou?

So what’s next for our merry band of troublemakers? Well, there’s a few signs that things may be about to explode here.

Jaime’s Last Ride

In Dance, the grievously wounded Brienne shows up and tells Jaime that he has to come alone to save the Stark girl, or else the Hound will kill her. I don’t go around sniffing traps, but I know one when I smell it. I have no doubt that Lady Stoneheart will be intending to kill Jaime Lannister. As to what will actually happen…well, that’s a little more up-in-the-air. I think Jaime and Brienne might essentially end up starting a mutiny to throw out Cat, but in doing so may end up as the de facto leaders of the Brotherhood themselves. After all, there’s some dissent among the ranks; Thoros no longer believes in the cause, and Stoneheart does seem to be a genuine horror. This tentative mutiny theory could happen at any time – maybe Stoneheart plans on using Jaime at the Red Wedding 2.0 (more on that later), or maybe she just wants to snip his head right off, right now.

Forley Prester

At the end of Feast, Jaime orders Forley Prester to escort Jeyne Westerling and Edmure Tully (along with his Frey wife and unborn child) to Casterly Rock – and to kill the prisoners if they try to escape. As I mentioned before, Edmure and Tom O’Sevens had a chance to collude. We also know that Jeyne Westerling will appear in the prologue to The Winds of Winter. Therefore, I think we’re about to see a Blackfish-led Brotherhood raid on the prisoner escort, probably from Forley Prester’s perspective. Will it be awesome? Yes. Will Jeyne Westerling die? You fucking betcha. Wars and Politics has pointed this out before, so I’m not breaking new ground here, but the theme going into TWOW seems to be “innocent people get the worst of war.” And a good prologue is supposed to set the tone and theme for the rest of the book. So, take some innocents, mix in a little war…the Young Wolf’s queen might just be dead before page 15 of TWOW.

Howland Reed and the River Lords: In Which I Steal My Content

Again, I’m going to lean on the well-organized crutch that is BryndenBFish – in fact, hell with it, just go read his recent post on the Riverlands loyalties. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Done? Okay, good. As he points out, Black Walder hunted some of the Brotherhood north, but lost track of them when they disappeared into the Neck. It seems more than possible that Howland Reed is providing aid to the Brotherhood, which raises some interesting possibilities regarding a potential alliance.

But more than that, there are probably several River Lords backing the Brotherhood as well. As I pointed out above, Fairmarket just let them melt away…and so did Hag’s Mire, as Black Walder discovered. Hag’s Mire is held by House Neyland, who are nominally loyal to House Frey. But if the Brotherhood managed to slip through Hag’s Mire without a problem, then could House Neyland be aiding them? Absolutely. House Lychester also seems loyal to the Brotherhood; the BWB met with the Lychester maester in ASOS. Lychester’s keep is probably somewhere north of Riverrun, maybe as far as Oldstones. In other words, in the same area as Fairmarket. There’s a few other houses as well; Ravella Swann, the lady of House Smallwood of Acorn Hall, was a friend to the Brotherhood back in book 3. House Deddings lost a lord and lady to the Lannisters, and may be looking to join up with this new anti-Lannister Brotherhood. Most of the houses in the Riverlands bear at least some grudge against the Lannisters and the Freys. Beyond that, the Brotherhood uses whores and smallfolk as points of contact during ASOS, and you bet your buttery buns that they’re still maintaining that network now. Anytime you see a whore in the Riverlands, there’s a good chance she’s connected to the Brotherhood.

Daven’s Wedding

One more thing – Ser Daven Lannister is about to marry a Frey in Riverrun. Could you think of any groups of people who might want to use a wedding as an excuse to exact bloody vengeance?

The Brotherhood, especially with information from Tom and Jaime, will be uniquely positioned to declare open war against the Lannisters, sending the Riverlands back into a cacophany of blood. Moreover, the number of nightfires burning suggest that R’hllor is gaining some popularity in the Riverlands. We may, in fact, see a massive war coming, as the Riverlands, with Howland Reed, Wyman Manderly, and Stannis Baratheon face down Aegon VI Targaryen, the Reach, Dorne, and the Faith Militant. Once more, the Riverlands will suffer, burn, and bleed. And when the champion of R’hllor appears in the eastern sky on the wings of a black dragon, burning the world, who do you think the Westerosi devotees of R’hllor will turn to?

Conclusion

Yeah, I know – I just blew your nips off with that last part. And I clearly lied at the beginning when I said this was just going to be a little piece pulling together a few tidbits from book 4. But the Brotherhood without Banners, despite only appearing on a few dozen pages total, could play a pivotal role in tying together the loose ends in the series. Already, we have Jaime and Brienne coming together. Part of me – the same part of me that expected Robb to win the War of the Five Kings – wants to believe that they will end up being the leaders of the Brotherhood, and that they will eventually capture Casterly Rock, maybe taking Cersei with them in the process. And like I said, the potential link to Howland Reed opens up a world of possibilities with regards to a tie to the north. As the north unifies behind Stannis and Manderly, we might even see Petyr Baelish casting in the Vale with his undead crush, Catelyn herself. And that’s not even getting into the membership of the Brotherhood – Edric Dayne, Harwin, Lem “Lonmouth” Lemoncloak; a group of people whose combined knowledge of secret identities and plots could potentially shake Westeros. There’s a whole world of possibilities when it comes to the Brotherhood, and everyone should be excited to see what happens when TWOW does come out.