Edmure Tully

"I wouldn't let you wave your blunders around like a victory flag."

- Brynden Tully chastises Edmure Tully

Edmure Tully is a recurring character in the third season. He is played by Tobias Menzies. Edmure is the son and heir of the late Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun. He is the younger brother of Catelyn and Lysa.

Background
Edmure is the son and heir of Lord Hoster Tully. Edmure is the new head of House Tully and thus has recently become the Lord of Riverrun and Lord Paramount of the Riverlands. The Riverlands are one of the constituent regions of the Seven Kingdoms and House Tully is one of the Great Houses of the realm. Riverrun is the ancestral seat of House Tully.

Edmure's mother Minisa Tully died in childbirth during his early childhood. He has two elder sisters Catelyn and Lysa. He was also raised with his father's ward, Petyr Baelish. It was Edmure who first nicknamed him "Littlefinger."

Catelyn is the widow of the late Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Lord Paramount of the North and Lysa is the widow of Jon Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie and Lord Paramount of the Vale.

Season 3
Edmure presides over the funerals of his father, per the custom of House Tully, in which the departed is placed on a funeral boat and set on flames with a flaming arrow. Edmure fails at hitting the boat, causing his annoyed uncle to push him away and complete the deed himself. Later he's chided by King Robb and Ser Brynden for attacking Stone Mill, an attack in which more than two hundred men were lost only for Ser Gregor Clegane to flee south to Casterly Rock and only two unimportant nephews of Tywin Lannister to be taken hostage.

When emissaries from House Frey arrive at Riverrun to negotiate Walder Frey's terms of reconciliation with Robb Stark, Edmure is pressured by Robb, Brynden and Catelyn to take Robb's place in his previously arranged marriage to Roslin Frey as compensation for his military blunder at Stone Mill. Edmure reluctantly agrees.

En route to the Twins for Edmure's wedding, the Stark and Tully army is forced to make camp due to heavy rain. Catelyn and Brynden warn that Walder Frey is a prickly man and will take the delay as another slight.

Upon finally arriving at the Twins, Edmure nervously eyes Walder Frey's brood, trying to figure out which of the unattractive bunch is to be his wife. At the ceremony, Walder lifts Roslin's veil, revealing her to be a beauty, much to Edmure's relief, Robb's shock, and Catelyn, Blackfish and Walder's amusement. At the wedding feast, Edmure enjoys himself immensely, when Walder and Robb call for the bedding ceremony, eagerly allows himself to be led away by the other Frey girls. It is only after his departure that the Red Wedding begins.

Edmure is taken prisoner and remains a hostage of Lord Frey.

Behind the scenes
Edmure initially appeared in the first season HBO viewers guide family tree for House Tully. He remained part of the second season viewers guide but did not appear in the show. He was confirmed as a character for the third season in May 2012. Tobias Menzies was announced in the role in July 2012.

In the books
In A Song of Ice and Fire, Edmure appears at the very end of the first novel, but in the TV series his debut was pushed back to Season 3. Edmure has the auburn Tully hair and beard and blue eyes. He is enthusiastic, outgoing and confident, which all help his skill as a commander, but is also prone to rash actions motivated by desire of personal glory and single-minded thought, Edmure is considered kind, and is shown to care deeply for his subjects.

Edmure Tully is a middling knight and effective, but not outstanding, battle commander. He is unwed, while his father continued to chew over various offers for the best match. Since his father's descent into illness and infirmity, Edmure has ruled over Riverrun as de facto lord for some time. Walder Frey was also angry with him as he had repeatedly offered one daughter after another to Lord Hoster Tully for a marriage contract to Edmure.

Riverrun called up their bannermen and rose up when the Lannister forces started attacking their lands in retaliation for Catelyn Stark taking Tyrion prisoner. Edmure was captured when Jaime Lannister defeated his army at Golden Tooth, but he was subsequently freed when Robb Stark destroyed Jaime's army in the Battle of the Whispering Wood and lifted the siege of Riverrun.

After Eddard is executed and Robb's bannermen proclaimed him King in the North, Edmure and the Riverlands do as well, even though they were never part of the original northern kingdom. Robb Stark took most of his Northern army from Riverrun to invade the Lannister's home territory in the Westerlands, leaving Edmure behind to defend Riverrun and hold the line of the Red Fork of the Trident (using mostly the local forces of the Riverlords). Between their headquarters at Riverrun and Harrenhal, Edmure and Tywin Lannister's forces then engaged in numerous skirmishes which harried the Riverlands between the Red Fork and Gods Eye lake.

Ultimately Tywin attempted to force a crossing of the Red Fork to return to the Westerlands, but in heavy fighting was repulsed by Edmure's forces. Unfortunately, this ruined Robb's overall military strategy: Robb had invaded the Westerlands hoping to lure Tywin back into his home territory, and Edmure was supposed to let him cross back into the Westerlands, and offer only token resistance so Tywin wouldn't realize this was exactly what Robb wanted. Worse, when Tywin was repulsed he turned southeast, allowing him to follow the course of the Blackwater River and thus arrive at the Battle of the Blackwater just in time to decisively attack Stannis' army from behind. The combined error drastically weakened Robb's position in the war.