Roose Bolton
Roose Bolton | |
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A Song of Ice and Fire character Game of Thrones character | |
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Created by | House Bolton |
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Roose Bolton is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its HBO television adaptation Game of Thrones, where he is depicted by actor Michael McElhatton.[1][2][3]
Introduced in 1996's
Roose joins
Character
Description
At the beginning of A Game of Thrones, Roose is a bannerman of Lord
Roose is often described as an unassuming-looking man, ageless, clean-shaven with pallid skin, with an apathetic demeanor. His most prominent feature are his strangely pale and cold eyes, so light as to almost blend with the sclera. He is described as mild-mannered, but also remorseless and unforgiving. While his voice is small and soft, he does not need to raise it in order to inspire silence and attention; Ser Jaime Lannister and Robb Stark both remark that even just his silence is threatening. His personal motto is "A peaceful land, a quiet people". He often dresses in a pale pink fur cloak embroidered in blood red to symbolize his family's custom of flaying.[4]
Roose illicitly practices the ancient and banned tradition of the first night, in which a lord has the right to have sexual intercourse with female subjects on their wedding night. This practice resulted in the birth of his bastard son, Ramsay. He ordered his depraved servant Reek to help raise the child. Roose had only one trueborn son, Domeric, and Roose suspects that Ramsay poisoned Domeric to become his heir. Left without a trueborn heir, Roose brings Ramsay to the Dreadfort to serve as the castellan.[5]
Storylines
Novels
Roose is not a point of view character in the novels, so his actions are witnessed and interpreted through the eyes of other people, such as Catelyn Stark, Arya Stark and Theon Greyjoy.[6]
A Game of Thrones
Roose answers Robb Stark's call to arms in his campaign against the
A Clash of Kings
To form an alliance with House Frey, Roose is offered by Lord Walder Frey one of his female family members hand in marriage, as well as offering the prospective bride's weight in silver for her
A Storm of Swords
While at Harrenhal, Roose works to weaken Robb's position, sending the Northern army on suicidal missions. Vargo Hoat brings Jaime Lannister to Harrenhal, having cut off Jaime's hand in hope of blaming Roose and preventing the Boltons from allying with the Lannisters. Roose has Jaime sent back to
A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons
Roose returns to the North with his forces, joined by two thousand Frey men. Meeting with Ramsay (now legitimised as a Bolton) and a captive Theon Greyjoy, the Boltons travel to Barrowton for Ramsay's wedding to Jeyne Poole, forced to assume the identity of Arya Stark. After hearing that
Family tree of House Bolton
Bethany Ryswell[a] | Roose[b] | "Fat" Walda Frey[c] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domeric | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Notes
- ISBN 978-0553801477.
- ^ ISBN 978-0553801477.
- ISBN 978-0553801477.
- ISBN 0-553-10803-4.
- ISBN 978-0553801477.
- ^ Ramsay marries Sansa Stark in the television adaptation Game of Thrones.
TV adaptation
Roose Bolton is played by
Second season
Roose declares for King in the North Robb Stark and serves as a chief member of his war council. After the Battle of Oxcross, Robb admonishes Roose when he advocates flaying Lannister prisoners to obtain information. After Theon Greyjoy betrays the Starks and seizes Winterfell, Roose brings the news to Robb and offers to send his bastard son Ramsay Snow with a force of Dreadfort men to oust Theon and the Ironborn from Winterfell.
Third season
Following the Northern army's arrival at Harrenhal, Roose presents a letter from Ramsay claiming that the Ironborn sacked Winterfell before fleeing. Robb orders Roose and the Bolton forces to hold Harrenhal while the rest of his army rides to Riverunn. One of Roose's men-at-arms, Locke, captures the escaped Jaime Lannister and his escort Brienne of Tarth, cutting off Jaime's hand in the process, before bringing the two to Harrenhal.
Roose agrees to free Jaime, but keeps Brienne as a hostage; though Jaime later returns to secure her release. Roose travels to The Twins for the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey. However, it is revealed that Roose has conspired with Lord Walder Frey to betray the Starks, and at the wedding the Freys and Bolton slaughter the Stark forces, with Roose personally killing Robb. As part of the Bolton-Frey alliance, Roose agrees to marry Walder's daughter Walda - Walder offers him the bride's weight in silver as dowry, so Roose decides to marry the fattest of Walder's daughters. In the aftermath of the massacre, Roose reveals that Winterfell was actually sacked by his bastard Ramsay, who subsequently flayed the Ironborn garrison there and took Theon prisoner. As reward for his defection, Tywin Lannister names Roose the Warden of the North.
Fourth season
With the Ironborn holding Moat Cailin - the fortification barring passage between the North and the rest of Westeros - Roose is forced to smuggle himself back into the North. Upon his return to the Dreadfort, he chastises Ramsay for having gelded Theon and sending terms of surrender to the Greyjoys without his approval, while reminding Ramsay of his bastard parentage. Insulted, Ramsay demonstrates how effectively he has broken Theon (whom he has since renamed "Reek") by having Reek shave him, even after revealing Roose's murder of Robb, while also coaxing Reek into revealing he faked the deaths of Bran Stark and Rickon Stark. After Ramsay points out that the other Northerners will turn on the Boltons if it is revealed that there is a living male Stark, Roose tasks Locke with hunting down Bran and Rickon and to kill Jon Snow, Robb's bastard half-brother. Roose also sends Ramsay and Reek to lift the siege of Moat Cailin; when Ramsay is successful, Roose presents him with a royal decree of legitimization as a trueborn Bolton. Roose subsequently moves to rebuild and occupy Winterfell.
Fifth season
In the aftermath of Tywin Lannister's death and Ramsay's murder of a disobedient vassal and his family, Roose seeks to secure House Bolton's position by arranging to have Ramsay marry Sansa Stark. In doing so, Roose seemingly secures an alliance with the forces of The Vale and its Lord Protector Petyr Baelish. After Ramsay torments Sansa by having Reek serve them at dinner, Roose announces that he and Walda are expecting a son. However, later Roose privately reassures Ramsay of his position as his heir, and asks him to assist in defeating Stannis Baratheon's army. To this end, Roose permits Ramsay and his men to launch a sneak attack on Stannis' camp, destroying the army's supplies. With the supplies destroyed and most of Stannis' army subsequently deserting him, the Boltons easily defeat Stannis's army when they attempt to lay siege to Winterfell, but in the aftermath of the battle, Theon Greyjoy and Sansa manage to escape, severely jeopardizing House Bolton's rule in the North.
Sixth season
Despite their victory over Stannis, Roose warns Ramsay that the North will someday have to face the Lannisters, and chastises him for allowing Sansa and Theon to escape, as Sansa was crucial to unifying the North. He implies that if Sansa is not recovered, Ramsay's position as heir may be usurped by Walda's baby. Soon afterwards, it is announced that Walda has given birth to a boy; Ramsay immediately kills Roose by stabbing him in the stomach, before setting his dogs upon Walda and the baby, leaving Ramsay as the last remaining Bolton. Ramsay is ultimately killed when Jon Snow retakes Winterfell in the Battle of the Bastards, leaving House Bolton extinct.
References
- ^ "Game of Thrones Cast and Crew: Roose Bolton played by Michael McElhatton". HBO. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
- ^ "The Official Website for the HBO Series Game of Thrones - Season 4". HBO. Archived from the original on 2015-04-07. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
- ^ "From HBO". Archived from the original on 2016-03-07.
- Martin, George R.R.(2011). A Dance with Dragons.
- Martin, George R.R.(2011). A Dance with Dragons.
- ^ "Game of Thrones Viewer's Guide". HBO.
- ^ "'Game Of Thrones' Q&A: Michael McElhatton Talks Roose Bolton". Accesshollywood. 18 March 2014.
- ^ "SAG Awards Nominations: '12 Years A Slave' And 'Breaking Bad' Lead Way". Deadline Hollywood. December 11, 2013. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2017.