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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| NOTE: This page is a composite profile of his original novel and HBO show counterparts. |
| “ | If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention. | „ |
| ~ Ramsay to Theon, as well as his most iconic line in the show. |
| “ | Ramsay: You forgot to ask one question: you forgot to ask if I'm a liar!… (sticks his knife back into Theon's finger and begins to peel away the skin, making him scream in pain) I'm afraid, I am. (continues peeling, Theon screams again) Everything I told you is a lie. (Theon screams again) This isn't happening to you for a reason―(continues while Theon screams yet again) but well, one reason: I enjoy it! Theon: PLEASE, CUT IT OFF! CUT IT OFF! CUT IT OFF! (screams) Ramsay: I win! |
„ |
| ~ Ramsay while sadistically torturing Theon Greyjoy as part of a twisted game. |
| “ | Ramsay. Snow, my wife called me before she ate her fingers, but I say Bolton. | „ |
| ~ Ramsay reveals his identity to Theon Greyjoy. |
| “ | The Boltons have always been as cruel as they are cunning, but this one seems a beast in human skin. | „ |
| ~ Robett Glover about Ramsay Bolton. |
Lord Ramsay Bolton, formerly known as Ramsay Snow and sometimes called The Bastard of Bolton, is one of the main antagonists of the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and its television adaptation, Game of Thrones.
He is the bastard son of Roose Bolton, who would later be legitimized by his father by royal decree.
He was portrayed by Iwan Rheon.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- While it is true that Ramsay was born a bastard and a product of rape, his background does not excuse his depravity whatsoever, and while he's insecure about being a bastard, it's not played for sympathy, given that he commits acts deemed too vile rather than sympathetic.
- While he doesn't speak about his mother in a bad way, his relationship with her isn't hateful, and he praises her and exaggerates her attractiveness while speaking with others, there's no indication that he truly loves or cares about her.
- He openly admits to torturing people for his own amusement and is highly creative with his methods, remorselessly flaying enemies alive and feeding women who bore him to his hounds.
- While he does have dogs, there is no indication that he cares for them and likely sees them, along with his horse Blood, as no more than weapons that he is fond of. Also, in the TV series, he starves his dogs to keep them bloodthirsty, which eventually leads to his karmic death as they eat him alive.
- He razed Winterfell to the ground on his father's orders, despite supposedly being there to save it.
- He slaughters the entire Ironborn garrison holding the castle, even though they were supposedly on the same side.
- He tortured, flayed and castrated Theon Greyjoy, who began to go by the name of "Reek" from that point on due to being psychologically broken by Ramsay’s torture until he finally escaped Winterfell.
- The castration is implied in the novels and confirmed in the TV show.
- It is also implied that Ramsay sexually abused Theon in both the novels and the TV show.
- While he isn't responsible for the Red Wedding, he was nonetheless glad for the Starks' deaths, and even informed Theon of the death of his former best friend, Robb.
- He flayed the surrendering Ironborn warriors of Moat Cailin, even after he promised them mercy, and in the novels he does it in a cruel way, as after feasting with the grateful Ironmen and getting them drunk, he had them all seized and flayed them all alive to death at night.
- He turned Theon into his slave, and before sending him to negotiate from him with the Greyjoys' garrison at Moat Cailin, he reminded him that "Theon" is not really his name, as he will always be "Reek".
- He promoted Theon as a "dog", allowing him to live in the kennels of his new seat Winterfell, along with his hounds, the "Bastard's Girls".
Exclusive to the books[]
- According to his mother, he was already a cruel, psychopathic, and wrathful problem child, to the point that she had to ask her rapist, Roose Bolton, to help her raise him, resulting in Roose sending her Reek.
- Allegedly, Ramsay and Reek ended up corrupting each other worse, becoming more evil in the process. And while he avenged his death, most likely because he missed their mutual sadism and brutality and not because he truly cared for him.
- He allegedly murdered his older brother, Domeric, out of sheer envy for being Roose's trueborn son, as his vengeful mother encouraged Ramsay to become Lord of the Dreadfort after Roose will die.
- After killing Domeric, Roose was forced to acknowledge Ramsay as his natural son and take him to live at the Dreadfort.
- He hunted people for sport. When he caught any women he liked, mostly young girls, he raped them and flayed them alive.
- Even though he would name his dogs after the girls that would give him a good sport and he would kill some of them before flaying their bodies, it's too twisted to be considered honorable or respectful.
- After that, the skin of the victims is taken back to Dreadfort as a trophy, with the meat fed to his dogs. For every girl he killed, he would hand her corpse over to his necrophile servant Reek (Theon's predecessor) so the latter could have sex with their bodies.
- Even though he would name his dogs after the girls that would give him a good sport and he would kill some of them before flaying their bodies, it's too twisted to be considered honorable or respectful.
- Taking advantage of Lord Halys Hornwood and his son and heir Daryn perishing in war in the Riverlands, he forcibly married Halys' widow, Lady Donella Hornwood, to claim House Hornwood's lands and holdings. He raped her to consummate the marriage, forced them to sign a document of inheritance at swordpoint, and locked her in a tower to starve to death. Her corpse was found by Ser Rodrik with a bloody mouth and fingers chewed off.
- Afterwards, he attempted to steal the Hornwoods' wealth and lands, naming himself Lord of the Hornwood, provoking the wrath of Donella's cousin, Lord Wyman Manderly, and resulting in a long period of skirmishes in House Hornwood's lands as Ramsay's men attempted to claim Hornwood castle.
- After Roose Bolton became the new Warden of the North, the Boltons abused their power to have their overlord, King Tommen I Baratheon, legally acknowledge Ramsay as Lord of Hornwood, forcing the Manderlys to relinquish all resistance.
- Afterwards, he attempted to steal the Hornwoods' wealth and lands, naming himself Lord of the Hornwood, provoking the wrath of Donella's cousin, Lord Wyman Manderly, and resulting in a long period of skirmishes in House Hornwood's lands as Ramsay's men attempted to claim Hornwood castle.
- He set up Reek to be killed by Ser Rodrik Cassel by switching clothes with him.
- He killed two miller's boys and flayed their severed heads to present them as Bran and Rickon Stark. He also killed Gelmarr, Aggar and Gynir because they knew the truth about the bodies.
- While leading his father's garrison to join the siege of Winterfell, he betrayed and slaughtered most of Ser Rodrik Cassel’s Northern army. As revenge for Reek's death, he sliced off Rodrik’s arm and killed him after he offered to be Ramsay’s friend. During the battle, he killed Rodrik and caused the deaths of Lord Cley Cerwyn and Leobald Tallhart.
- After the Ironborn garrison acknowledged the Boltons as friends and let them through Winterfell's castle without objecting, Ramsay betrayed them all after demanding that Theon hand him over to his young mistress Kyra for one rape session.
- He broke Theon's jaw and then commanded his men to sack and burn the whole castle and the Winter Town outside, leading to the brutal deaths of all the grown male population, including Maester Luwin. His men burn Theon and Bran's horses, Smiler and Dancer, alive.
- He also took all the women and children as captives to the Dreadfort, with only Theon's 12-year-old squire, Wex Pyke, managing to escape from the massacre. The image of Smiler burning and its human-like screams still haunted Theon in his dreams.
- He had Catelyn Stark's Frey wards, Little Walder and Big Walder, write and sign a false report to Lord Walder Frey at the Twins for King Robb to receive, accusing Theon and his ironmen of Ser Rodrik's army's destruction and the sack of Winterfell.
- During Theon's early captivity, Ramsay set up a trap for him and Kyra by tricking Kyra into finding the keys to Theon's dungeon. After freeing Theon, Kyra escaped from the Dreadfort with him.
- Having ordered the castle's garrison to deliberately let the two run away in the Wolfswood and give them a headstart before commencing their game, Ramsay and his men pursued them with hounds, the "Bastard's Girls". After capturing the two again, Ramsay gave Kyra a slow and painful death at the age of 19 or 20. As Ramsay enjoyed hunting her, he named his newest bitch after her, although he did not grant her a quick death.
- As a result of Theon shouting terrible insults and curses at him, Ramsay repeatedly tortured him with worse brutality and anger until Theon learned to respect him. Ramsay knocked out half of Theon's teeth because he hated his smile, and mutilated him, removing several toes.
- After a period of torture, he grew bored of his "broken toy", Theon, and locked him in a dark dungeon beneath the Dreadfort with no light, and forgot him for a long time to starve there. He sent a piece of Theon's skin to his father, Roose, who presented it to Robb and Catelyn at the Twins, much to the two's horrors and an upset Robb complaining that he wanted Theon detained, not tortured.
- While forgotten in a dark dungeon for a long time and many weeks, Theon became extremely skeletal and bony and assumed an old man's appearance, his hair becoming frail and white. Only after becoming Lord of Winterfell, Ramsay released Theon from the dungeon cell to use him as an envoy for the ironborn at Moat Cailin, "promoting" him as a dog after the successful end of the siege.
- After a period of torture, he grew bored of his "broken toy", Theon, and locked him in a dark dungeon beneath the Dreadfort with no light, and forgot him for a long time to starve there. He sent a piece of Theon's skin to his father, Roose, who presented it to Robb and Catelyn at the Twins, much to the two's horrors and an upset Robb complaining that he wanted Theon detained, not tortured.
- He corrupted his squire, Little Walder Frey, Fat Walda's little brother, grooming him to become as cruel and psychopathic as he is, much to the horror and contempt of his other squire, Big Walder Frey, and his "dog", Theon.
- He killed an old peasant in a fit of rage for calling him "Lord Snow".
- When his father forced him to hand Theon over to Lady Barbrey Dustin, who in addition banished Ramsay from her castle, Ramsay, unable to retaliate, took his anger on Theon by telling him he'd have him back eventually and then he'd cut another finger from him, but he would "mercifully" let Theon choose which one.
- When Theon tearfully tried to tell him it's not his fault if Barbrey wants custody of him, Ramsay slapped him to stop the pleading.
- His father admitted that he expects Ramsay to kill any newborn son that will be birthed by Roose's third wife, Walda Frey.
- He sent a piece of Theon's flayed skin to Asha Greyjoy and Dagmer Cleftjaw, respectively, threatening them to leave the North with all their men, or else they would receive the same fate as Theon and Moat Cailin's garrison.
- He repeatedly abused and raped Jeyne Poole after marrying her, believing her to be Arya (who at the time was 11 years old, meaning Ramsay is technically a pedophile, although Jeyne believes he knows she's an impostor).
- Also, Jeyne is around 12, 13 or 14 years old, so he's a child rapist, either way. It’s also implied he forced her to have sex with his dogs as well.
- After a freerider serving House Bolton was heard speaking too loudly and mightly about the enemy Stannis Baratheon, and his alleged powers from Melisandre and the god R'hllor, three of the "bastard's boys" reported this to Ramsay, who later had his men seize and drag the freerider in the snow. He then told the freerider that since he seemed so fond of Stannis, he and his men would send him to the rebel king.
- Ramsay had the freerider whipped in the snow, while his men made bets on how fast his blood would freeze in the blizzard, and then he had the bleeding and protesting man dragged up to Winterfell's Battlements Gate and thrown from the castle's wall to the ground eighty feet below, where he sank in the snow.
- Later, some bowmen claimed to have glimpsed the wounded freerider dragging a broken leg through the snow, and one of them injured his rump with an arrow. Upon hearing this Ramsay promised the man would be dead within an hour, with other northern lords adding their jokes.
- Ramsay had the freerider whipped in the snow, while his men made bets on how fast his blood would freeze in the blizzard, and then he had the bleeding and protesting man dragged up to Winterfell's Battlements Gate and thrown from the castle's wall to the ground eighty feet below, where he sank in the snow.
- According to Damon-Dance-for-Me, Ramsay promised he was going to cut off Theon's lips after Stannis Baratheon's siege would be over, because Theon had oral sex with Ramsay's wife Jeyne Poole, and such insolence couldn't go unpunished, despite the fact it was Ramsay himself who commanded Theon to perform the act, under the threat of torture and mutilation.
- Ramsay would only settle with cutting off Theon's lips, because according to Theon he would never take his tongue, as Ramsay loved to hear Theon beg and say subservient things.
- After a brutal infighting scene between Freys and Manderlys, one of Ramsay's "bastard's boys" ends up mortally wounded, causing the man to call for his mother while holding his own guts.
- An irritated Ramsay remorselessly finished him off to stop his whining instead of comforting and thanking him for his loyal service.
- Forced Theon, now the second Reek, to rape his own bride, threatening to cut off his tongue if he doesn't do it.
- According to himself, he flayed all the corpses of a group of wildling spearwives sent by Melisandre, who helped Theon and Jeyne Poole escape from Winterfell.
- He made cloaks out of the women's flayed skins and forced his captive, Mance Rayder, to wear them while he was locked in a cage to starve.
- He wrote a fraudulent letter for Jon Snow, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, falsely claiming to have defeated Stannis Baratheon and his whole army after a seven-day battle, claiming to own Stannis's magic red sword, Lightbringer, now.
- He used this lie in the attempt to intimidate the Night's Watch to hand him over Shireen Baratheon, Selyse Florent, and "Stannis' red whore" (Melisandre), so Ramsay can actually use them as captives against Stannis and possibly torture them.
- He also demanded Jon hand him over Mance's infant son and his sister-in-law Val, as well as "Arya" (Jeyne) and "his Reek" (Theon), assuming that the two were at Castle Black, when they actually ended up at Stannis' war camp in a deserted crofter's village.
- He threatened to murder Jon if he failed to comply, despite the Watch's vow of neutrality. Ramsay's death threats also led to Bowen Marsh' group's mutiny at Castle Black against Jon.
- He also demanded Jon hand him over Mance's infant son and his sister-in-law Val, as well as "Arya" (Jeyne) and "his Reek" (Theon), assuming that the two were at Castle Black, when they actually ended up at Stannis' war camp in a deserted crofter's village.
- He used this lie in the attempt to intimidate the Night's Watch to hand him over Shireen Baratheon, Selyse Florent, and "Stannis' red whore" (Melisandre), so Ramsay can actually use them as captives against Stannis and possibly torture them.
- Unlike his television counterpart, he has zero comedic moments, and he is always taken seriously and even portrayed as a politically incompetent and chaotic person, unfit to be a lord.
- Due to the inconclusivity of the books, he doesn't have an end, thus he continues to get away with his heinous crimes without any form of punishment, making him a Karma Houdini at the present point of the story.
Exclusive to the TV show[]
- While he does have some comedic moments, they pretty much only show how sadistic he is.
- Whilst he seemingly displays standards in looking genuinely stunned when his father recounts raping his mother, or looking dismayed when Osha asks if he cannibalises his victims, he quickly gets over all of them, and his distaste for cannibalism is somewhat played for laughs.
- Even though he has a friendship with Locke, it is shown to come from mutual sadism, as the first time they meet onscreen, they laugh as Locke talks about how he cut Jaime Lannister's hand.
- He also doesn't ask about Locke after he was killed by Hodor/Bran on his mission and was nonchalant when his father, Roose, correctly assumed he was dead, showing how superficial their 'friendship' was.
- While he has a girlfriend, Myranda, he sees her as nothing but a minion and a sex object.
- Though he claims he'll avenge her death, he ultimately decides to feed her corpse to his dogs instead of giving her a proper funeral, and Rheon himself confirmed that he doesn't truly love her. In fact, he reminds her on several occasions what will happen to her if she bores him.
- He flayed all the Ironborn garrison of Winterfell to death, even though they surrendered and fulfilled his demands.
- He harms the captured Theon Greyjoy and tortures him severely, which goes against the orders of both King Robb Stark (who wanted Theon brought to him for execution) and his father, Roose (who wanted to use him as an important hostage for King Balon Greyjoy, and was shocked by what Ramsay did to Theon).
- He is also responsible for the torture of Theon by the Dreadfort's Master Torturer.
- He extracts information from him in the guise of his 'rescuer', playing mind games with him and giving him false hope while pretending to be his ally, until he cruelly returns him to the Dreadfort's dungeons.
- He wakes up Theon loudly with a trumpet, while the tortured prisoner is already suffering in his uncomfortable restrained position on a cross.
- When he hears him asking for water after Ramsay woke him up, he sarcastically told Theon that he had no water, while spilling a mug with it in front of him.
- He plays sadistic games with Theon by starting to flay the skin off his fingers for every wrong guess Theon makes. Finally, he reveals himself as a sadistic liar who simply enjoys causing Theon pain.
- He castrates Theon after pushing his mistresses Myranda and Violet to sexually arouse him, just so he could get his last erection, before having his penis removed, which he sends to his family at Pyke, as well as a threat to send them more of Theon's body parts if they don't withdraw their forces from the North.
- He mocks the castrated Theon while eating a sausage in his cell, and then slaps and punches him until he calls himself "Reek".
- He thereby causes severe Stockholm Syndrome in Theon that does not go away even after his escape and causes permanent damage to his personality, which also prevents his sister Yara from being able to save him.
- He demostrates to his father and Locke how much he broke Theon by having him shave his beard with a straight razor, and during this, he taunted Theon about Robb's death.
- He forces Theon to accompany him in the woods while he hunts girls, making him watch the girls getting brutally killed.
- He mocks Theon again when meeting with Sansa, and forces him to apologize to her for "murdering" his two "brothers" (even though he knew Theon did not kill them).
- He also forces Theon to watch Sansa being raped by him on their wedding night together.
- He urges him to find out about an old woman who tried to help Sansa escape.
- According to the Boltons, he would have removed another limb or perhaps killed Theon if he had discovered his part in Sansa's escape and the murder of Myranda.
- He goes on a hunting trip against his girlfriend, Tansy, just because she made Myranda envious, and lets Myranda shoot her, only to have her finished off by his hounds.
- He killed Violet after she became pregnant because he found it "boring".
- He flayed Lord Medger Cerwyn and his wife and brother alive for taking too long to pay their taxes.
- He raped Sansa, who was handed to him by Petyr Baelish, on their wedding night (even forcing Theon to watch), and continues to sexually and physically abuse her throughout the rest of the marriage.
- The injury to Sansa was so severe that she felt pain from it long after, and perhaps that's why she never recovered and may never have remarried.
- He also locked her in his room, prevented her from getting help, and killed the partners around her.
- He even informed her that she would join in bringing him an heir and that he would no longer need her afterwards, so he would probably kill her.
- He flayed an elderly woman to death for trying to release Sansa from Winterfell.
- To prove to Sansa and Jon Snow that he holds her brother Rickon captive, he throws the severed head of Rickon's direwolf, Shaggydog, which was unnecessary and simply done out of sadism.
- He kills his own minions twice: first when "saving" Theon from being raped in the woods, and second when they're engaging against the Wildlings and northern rebels during the Battle of the Bastards.
- After defeating Stannis Baratheon's weakened army, he kills one wounded warrior, who is unable to fight and surrenders, only for Ramsay mockingly accepting his surrender by brutally and gleefully stabbing him.
- When he thought that Sansa had escaped to the Wall to get Jon Snow protection, he considered the possibility of fighting against the Night's Watch, even though his father was appalled at the idea.
- He stabbed his father, Roose, in the heart and then fed his stepmother and newborn brother to his hounds in order to become the new Warden of the North, and then blamed his death on his enemies by saying he was poisoned by them.
- Although he felt a flicker of remorse for killing his father, and he seemed to briefly consider sparing Walda and the baby when she promised to leave, even guiltily looking away for a split second as the dogs ate them alive, Ramsay was ultimately far more concerned with securing his own power, and any potential feelings of mercy he has are quickly vanquished.
- As Rickon and Osha are handed over to him by Jon Umber, he imprisons Rickon while threatening Jon to surrender to him.
- According to Davos, he caused divisions between the families of the North, which could have sealed the fate of the North if the White Walkers' moves had scored the wall.
- He threatened to torture and murder everyone Jon Snow was protecting, including giving threats to have his men rape Sansa, flay all the people, including the women and children, and feed Jon to his hounds after taking his eyes. He also declared war on the wildlings and threatened to kill them after defeating Jon, despite the fact that the wildlings were settled in Night's Watch-ruled lands, not Ramsay's own domains.
- On that occasion, he admits that he starved his dogs for a week to see how quickly they would devour Jon and Rickon.
- He refuses a one-on-one duel with Jon to save his men.
- He shoots at Rickon with a bow as he runs to his half-brother, Jon (actually his cousin), finally killing him when they're mere feet away from each other.
- During the Battle of the Bastards, Ramsay orders his archers to shoot to the middle of the field, despite knowing doing so would be killing several of his men.
- He sends his army to trap Jon and his men in the middle of the battle, sending spearmen at them to kill them or to gather them too close together, causing many to be killed or crushed under their own men.
- After his men are defeated, he flees with his bows to the walls of Winterfell. When the giant Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun manages to open the walls, he shoots him in the eye, even though the giant is already dying.
- He 'agrees' to fight one-on-one against Jon in a desperate attempt to save himself and kill his opponent with arrows.
- Even while defeated, he continues to mock Sansa that she cannot kill him and that he lives in her now, and makes no apologies for his actions.
- Although his death was horrific, as he was devoured by his own dogs, it was portrayed as karmic in-universe given that he had his dogs brutally murder other people and even starve themselves.
- By killing the members of his family, he made sure to destroy the memory of House Bolton's legacy.
Exclusive to the video game[]
- He tried to take the young Talia away, asking her if she liked hunting. Given how Ramsay hunted women with his dogs in the TV show (which the game is soft-canon to), it can't mean anything good.
- He killed the child Lord Ethan Forrester, stabbing him in the neck.
- He kidnapped Ryon, a little boy, and handed him over to the Whitehills, ordering them to kill him if the Forresters give them any trouble.
- He tortured Arthur to death, repeatedly cutting and then disemboweling him while forcing Talia to watch.
- He started an all-out war between Houses Forrester and Whitehill, saying only one house can survive. Said war resulted in massive casualties on both sides, as well as Ironrath being torn to the ground.
Trivia[]
- In 2015, Ramsay was officially voted as "the worst person on television" of all time, even beating out Joffrey Baratheon by more than a thousand votes, and being considered the most evil Game of Thrones villain by far.
- Like Joffrey, Ramsay is so evil that even his own actor despised him and wanted him to die a horrible death.
- Iwan Rheon stated in an interview that HBO's Ramsay is partly based off another Pure Evil, that being Joker from The Dark Knight.
- Since that the novel continuity of "A Song of Ice and Fire" is still ongoing, there is a possibility, however small, that the novel version of Ramsay Bolton might showcase some mitigating qualities in "the Winds of Winter" or "A Dream of Spring". However, considering his absolute depravity, it is highly unlikely.
External Links[]
- Ramsay Bolton on the Villains Wiki.
- Ramsay Bolton on the Hate Sink Wiki.
- Ramsay Bolton on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
- Ramsay Bolton on the A Song of Ice and Fire Wiki.
- Ramsay Bolton on the Wiki of Westeros.
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 Pure Evils
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Video Games See Also | ||
 Pure Evils
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Novel Continuity Television Continuity | ||