Ramsay Bolton

"People talk about phantom limbs. An amputee might have an itch where his foot used to be, so I've always wondered, do eunuchs have a phantom cock? The next time you think about naked girls, will you feel an itch? Sorry. I shouldn't make jokes. My mother taught me not to throw stones at cripples... but my father taught me, 'aim for their head'!"

- Ramsay mocks Theon after castrating him.

Ramsay Bolton, formerly Ramsay Snow, is a character on HBO's Game of Thrones. He débuts in the second episode of the third season. He is portrayed by starring cast star Iwan Rheon.

Early Life
Ramsay Snow, better known as "The Bastard of Bolton", is Lord Roose Bolton's bastard son and the product of rape: years ago Roose discovered that a miller had wed without his permission. He had the miller hanged and raped his wife. Ramsay was born shortly afterwards, and his mother brought him to the Dreadfort, his father's castle, for Roose to acknowledge as his son. Roose very nearly killed both Ramsay and his mother, but relented upon realizing that the child was indeed his.

Ramsay is Roose's only living child following the death of Domeric Bolton, as well as the only possible heir to House Bolton until the birth of a child by Roose's new wife, Fat Walda Frey. He stayed behind as castellan of the Dreadfort when his father left for the south to fight in the War of the Five Kings.

Ramsay keeps a pack of dogs, which he employs for hunting. He is also in a relationship with the kennelmaster's daughter, Myranda, whom he supposedly planned to marry before his father ultimately had him legitimized.

Theon Grayjoy
After Winterfell is seized by Theon Greyjoy for the ironborn, Ramsay is dispatched by his father Roose Bolton to re-take it in the name of King Robb Stark. Ramsay's forces besiege the castle and he infuriates Theon by blowing a horn all through the night. The following morning, Theon rallies his men to defend the castle, but he is betrayed and knocked out cold by his men, who accept Robb Stark's offer of mercy for the ironborn garrison if they surrender and hand over Theon. However, the castle is sacked by Ramsay afterwards and instead of letting the ironborn walk free, he flays them alive.

Following the Sack of Winterfell, Ramsay and his men take Theon to the Dreadfort, where the ironborn prince is subjected to gruesome tortures. Embarking on a twisted campaign of psychological manipulation, Ramsay poses as an ironborn emissary of Theon's sister, Yara, and falsely claims to have been sent by her to liberate him. Ramsay Snow sends a false report to Harrenhal, where the main force of the Northern army has established, of the sacking of Winterfell by the ironborn, of the disappearance of Bran and Rickon Stark, and the unknown whereabouts of Theon Greyjoy.

Later that evening Ramsay returns, and releases Theon, provides him with a horse and tells him to ride east to Deepwood Motte, where his sister is waiting for him. Theon's captors, however, track him down and capture him again. As punishment, their leader attempts to rape Theon. Ramsay appears and swiftly dispatches the kidnappers with bow and arrow, deepening the bond of trust between them.

Afterward Ramsay promises Theon to take him to Deepwood Motte. Some time later the men reach a holdfast; Theon questions having to sneak inside since Yara's men are loyal to her. Ramsay warns Theon that some of the men belong to his father Balon. As the mysterious boy struggles to open a locked gate Theon confesses his jealousy of Robb's status, the murder of the two boys he passed off as Bran and Rickon, and acknowledges that Eddard Stark was his true father. After opening the gate Theon and Ramsay enter a darkened room. The young man lights a torch and Theon, much to his horror, notices he's back in the torture chamber. Armed men enter and Ramsay claims that Theon killed their comrades and escaped but he has brought their captive back. Kicking and screaming, Theon is refastened to the rack, as Ramsay drops his facade, grins sadistically and tells the men to put Theon "back where he belongs".

Ramsay awakens Theon with a horn to continue torturing him. He threatens to remove Theon's pinky finger if he cannot guess Ramsay's true identity and their current location. After several guesses, Ramsay tells Theon he is correct in guessing that Ramsay is the brother of Torrhen Karstark, and that they are in Karhold. However he then points out that Theon never asked if he was a liar. He admits that he was lying, and begins flaying Theon's finger while his victim screams for him to cut it off.

Theon is freed from his constraints by two young women, Myranda and Violet. They give him water and clean his wounds. Theon is apprehensive about their aid, until they disrobe and begin pleasuring him. The three are soon interrupted by Ramsay, who enters the chamber wielding a knife. After taunting Theon about his sexual prowess, he orders his men to restrain Theon and then removes Theon's genitals.

Ramsay admits that the rumors about Theon were true, and that he did have a "good-sized cock", motioning towards Theon's blood-stained, badly-sewn up britches before momentarily tricking him into believing that the pork sausage he is eating is his penis. Ramsay talks about amputees having phantom limbs and wonders if Theon will have a phantom penis, feeling an itch whenever he sees naked girls. When Theon begs to be killed, Ramsay states that he is no good to him dead. Ramsay decides to give Theon a new name, and beats him until he starts calling himself "Reek". Ramsay also sends a letter to Balon Greyjoy with a box containing Theon's penis. He threatens to send more of Theon's body parts and flay every ironborn in the North alive if they have not left by the full moon.

Ramsay frees Theon from his restraints, but forces him to work for him as a servant. Some time later, Ramsay hunts a girl named Tansy in the woods with his hounds, Myranda, and Theon, recently renamed "Reek". Some time later, Ramsay hunts a girl named Tansy in the woods with his hounds, Myranda and Reek. With bows in hand, he and Myranda gleefully pursue Tansy, firing arrows at her as they go. Ramsay explains that Tansy had made Myranda jealous, so she has to go because she causes too many problems otherwise. Myranda manages to strike Tansy with an arrow in the leg before Ramsay happily releases his dogs on her, killing her. Shortly afterward, Lord Roose Bolton arrives at the Dreadfort where Ramsay waits for him. Roose introduces Ramsay to his newly acquired wife, Walda Bolton, and asks to see his captive. Ramsay also greets Locke and congratulates him for his mutilation of Jaime Lannister. Locke assures him that the Kingslayer had screamed loudly enough that Ramsay would have enjoyed it. Ramsay brings "Reek" to his father, who quickly becomes furious with Ramsay for torturing and mutilating a valuable hostage. Roose explains that he wanted to use Theon as a bargaining chip to rid the North of Iron Islanders, and for that he needed him unharmed. Roose chastises Ramsay for his actions, and laments placing too much trust in him. Ramsay tries to prove that his torture had a purpose. He orders Reek to shave him with a razor, demonstrating that he will never betray them, and adds that his method revealed key information; that Theon did not kill Bran and Rickon Stark. Theon also tells them that their half-brother Jon Snow may be sheltering them at the Wall. Finding it enlightening, Roose sends Locke after the Stark boys, and Ramsay suggests that they kill Jon as well, since he is half-Stark and may pose a threat to their future hold on the North. Roose orders Ramsay to take Moat Cailin, a vital base in the North, from the Greyjoy forces, and promises that if he succeeds, he will reconsider Ramsay's position.

Ramsay engages in particularly violent sex with Myranda, forcing her to strangle him as they both climax. Meanwhile Yara Greyjoy, intent on rescuing her brother Theon from Ramsay's clutches, leads a force of fifty ironborn reavers in rowing boats up the Weeping Water towards the Dreadfort. They manage to enter the castle and find Theon in a kennel alongside the dogs, but he refuses to go, having become loyal to Ramsay. Ramsay soon arrives and drives the ironborn from the Dreadfort with his soldiers. When an ironborn asks if they are leaving without her brother, Yara declares her brother to be dead. Later, Ramsay rewards Reek with a bath for his loyalty. When Reek undresses, Ramsay smiles when he notices his victim's missing genitals. Ramsay gently washes Reek while asking his captive whether he loves him, which Reek confirms. He continues by instructing Reek that he has to pretend to be someone he is not: Theon Greyjoy.

Ramsay besieges Moat Cailin and sends Reek to treat with the ironborn garrison, posing as Theon Greyjoy. Theon vouches for Ramsay's promise of safe passage back to the Iron Islands if they surrender. The ironborn surrender, and Ramsay instead flays them all alive. Having taken Moat Cailin, Ramsay and his father meet on an open field. Roose hands him a document legitimizing his bastard son and granting him the right to call himself "Bolton". Ramsay is delighted, and they then make their way towards Winterfell.

Marriage
While eating with his father, Ramsay tells him that he managed to "persuade" House Cerwyn, one of House Stark's vassals, to pay their taxes by flaying Lord Medger Cerwyn, his wife and older brother alive, and coercing their son to pay in their stead. Finally out of patience with his son, Roose scolds Ramsay for his actions, because since Tywin Lannister is dead, the Lannisters will no longer support them and they will not be able to hold the North with terror alone, since the Northern Houses will eventually rise up against them at the slightest excuse. Roose then reveals that he has arranged for Ramsay to marry Sansa Stark to placate the Northerners. When Sansa arrives, Ramsay greets her with politeness. Later, Petyr Baelish speaks with Ramsay, who promises never to harm Sansa after Baelish subtly warns him against it. As Ramsay takes his leave, he expresses his gratitude to Baelish for finding him a suitable match.

Later, Myranda tells Ramsay of her jealousy for Sansa, since Ramsay had previously promised to marry her while he was still a bastard. Ramsay coldly admits his attraction to Sansa and openly states his opinion of her beauty, and becomes angry when Myranda threatens to marry someone else and leave him. Ramsay approaches Myranda and reminds her of what he does to people who bore him. He forces himself on Myranda, who bites his lip but reciprocates. Ramsay later confronts Reek about his encounter with Sansa, and warns him not to keep secrets from him again. Though he seems like he will punish Reek, he ultimately forgives him.

At dinner, Ramsay initially expresses delight at his wedding to Sansa, but things turn sour when he brings Reek into the room and coerces him into apologizing to Sansa for allegedly killing Bran and Rickon, and suggests that Reek should give Sansa away at their wedding. Roose puts a stop to his son's behavior by announcing that Walda is pregnant with a boy. Ramsay's expression turns angry, as he sees Roose and Walda's child as a potential threat to his position as his father's heir.

After dinner, Ramsay expresses his distress at the possibility of the unborn child jeopardizing his claim on the North to his father, who reprimands him for his behavior earlier but scoffs at his worry. He then regales Ramsay with the tale of how he met his mother, a miller's wife who had married without Roose's knowledge or consent. Roose had the miller hanged and raped his wife beneath his swaying corpse, even though she fought him the whole time. Sometime later, the miller's wife came to the Dreadfort and left the infant Ramsay with him. Roose had been prepared to throw Ramsay into the sea to drown, but stayed himself because he knew, deep down, that Ramsay was his son. Roose then states that Stannis Baratheon is at Castle Black and will likely attempt to take Winterfell from them during his journey to King's Landing, and Ramsay promises to help his father counter Stannis.

Later, when Theon comes to fetch Sansa for the wedding, she refuses to hold Theon’s arm, even after he pleads her to, saying that Ramsay will punish him if she doesn’t. Reek then gives Sansa away to Ramsay, and they wed in front of the Godswood. After retreating to the bedroom, Ramsay tells Sansa to take her clothes off. Reek is about to leave but Ramsay tells him he must stay. Ramsay quips to Reek:, "You grew up with her as a girl, now watch her become a woman." Annoyed by Sansa's hesitance, he angrily rips open the back of her dress and pushes her face-down over the side of the bed. As he unbuckles his clothes, Sansa obediently remains still but begins crying softly. Reek is visibly distraught and begins silently crying himself as Ramsay proceeds to roughly consummate their marriage, and though he is still too weak to intervene, a flash of anger briefly spreads across Reek's face as this is going on.

Over the next few days, Ramsay continues to rape and beat Sansa every night. He is informed by a reluctant Reek of Sansa's plan to escape by signalling Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne to come and rescue her, and retaliates by flaying Sansa's elderly maid who delivered Brienne's message to her. Ramsay forces Sansa to look at the corpse, and walks with her across Winterfell, boasting about how he will succeed his father as Warden of the North and she will be his Wardeness, but Sansa counters that Roose is expecting a boy with Walda, a boy who may be Ramsay's baby brother but may still become Roose's true heir, since Ramsay is still technically a bastard, who was even legitimized by Tommen Baratheon, who Sansa claims is also a bastard. Ramsay, visibly angered, counters that even bastards can rise, like her half-brother Jon Snow did when he became the new Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and taunts Sansa for not knowing the news about Jon's new title. He then orders Sansa taken back to her chambers and locked up again.

As Stannis approaches Winterfell, Ramsay is present at a council meeting on how to counter him. While Roose suggests that they wait out the siege inside Winterfell and allow Stannis and his army to die in the cold, or even for Stannis' men to mutiny against him, Ramsay advocates taking twenty of his best men to face Stannis in the open, on the basis that Stannis will not leave the North so easily, and they need to show the rest of the North how they will deal with Southern invaders.

Ramsay takes his men into Stannis's camp and they torch some of his tents, severely depleting Stannis' men and resources, and manage to flee back to Winterfell without being spotted.

However, Stannis remains undaunted. Though his numbers are greatly reduced, he leads a siege to Winterfell. Ramsay, however, leads the Bolton forces into battle and massacres Stannis' men, sustaining minor cuts to the face in the process. In the aftermath, Ramsay slays a half-dead man, despite his claims of surrender. Having defeated Stannis, he smugly heads back to Winterfell, saying "my wife must be lonely", unaware that Sansa and Theon have killed Myranda and escaped from the castle.

Having discovered Myranda's body and Sansa and Theon's escape, Ramsay mourns Myranda in his chamber, reminiscing with her corpse. Even when they met as children, Myranda showed him no fear, a singular attribute among those who knew him that he attributes to her tolerance of the even more fearsome dogs. Ramsay promises the deceased Myranda that her pain will be paid for, many times over, and seems sincere when he voices regret that she will not be there to witness his retribution for her. When Maester Wolkan interrupts, however, asking what to do with the body, Ramsay abruptly changes his mood, angrily stating that she's "good meat", and orders Wolkan to feed her to the hounds. Later, while speaking with his father, Ramsay is congratulated for his victory over Stannis but chastised for allowing Sansa and Theon to escape. Ramsay claims he has sent men and hounds to find them, but Roose counters that if Sansa does manage to escape from the North, he will disinherit Ramsay in favor of his unborn son with Walda, leaving Ramsay visibly shaken.

Taking Over
Harald Karstark later arrives at Winterfell to notify Ramsay and Roose that Theon and Sansa have disappeared. Ramsay suggests that they march on the Wall, kill Jon and retrieve them, a suggestion Roose immediately dismisses on the basis that Jon is a bastard. Roose argues against Ramsay's plan on the grounds that killing the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch would only further alienate the rest of the Northern houses, many of which are still angry with the Boltons for their part in the Red Wedding. Maester Wolkan announces that Walda has given birth to a baby boy. Roose calms him by promising him that he will always be his firstborn, but Ramsay stabs his father in the chest, killing him instantly. Ramsay orders Wolkan to announce that Roose was poisoned by their enemies, and to bring Walda and the baby to him. After glimpsing his new half-brother in the Winterfell courtyard, Ramsay leads Walda to the kennels and locks them inside, setting the hounds to maul them to death.

Later, Ramsay is approached by Lord Smalljon Umber, who asks for House Bolton's support in fighting Jon Snow and the Wildlings, as Last Hearth is the northernmost castle in the North. Ramsay agrees on the condition that Umber pledge fealty and kneel before him. The Smalljon refuses both times, instead bringing Ramsay a gift in the form of a captured Osha and Rickon Stark. Upon seeing Shaggydog's head as proof of Rickon's identity, Ramsay welcomes the youngest Stark home.

Ramsay later has Osha brought to him, and asks her about her involvement with House Stark. Osha pretends to have been a slave and says that she carried around Rickon to find a buyer for him. She also tries to seduce Ramsay, but it was only a ruse to get him distracted and kill him with the knife that was in the table next to him. As Osha lies on his lap, Ramsay reveals that Theon had told him how she helped the Stark boys escape. Osha rushes for the knife, but Ramsay takes another one out from his holster and stabs her in the neck. Osha falls to the floor and bleeds to death as Ramsay cleans the blade and watches in amusement, returning to peeling his apple with the same knife used to kill her. Ramsay sends a letter to Jon Snow at Castle Black, where he rightly assumes Sansa has headed. He demands that Jon returns Sansa to Winterfell, and threatens to kill every wildling who survived the Massacre at Hardhome, let his men rape Sansa, and maim and kill Jon and Rickon should he refuse. Tormund, de facto leader of the wildlings, claims his 2,000 fighters are not enough to face the 5,000 soldiers of House Bolton. Jon and Sansa decide to try to unite the houses of the North against the Boltons, as Jon is the son of a legitimate Warden of the North. Together with Tormund, they start planning to expell House Bolton from Winterfell and restore House Stark's hold in the North.

Ramsay and Smalljon Umber meet with Jon, Sansa, Tormund, Davos and Lyanna at the battlefield the day before the battle. Jon offers Ramsay a chance to settle their dispute in one on one combat but Ramsay refuses, citing that Jon would easily beat him but his army would easily smash Jon's. Ramsay offers surrender terms saying he will pardon Jon for breaking his Night's Watch vows if he will hand Sansa over, which is ignored. Sansa asks for proof of Rickon's capture, and he responds by throwing the decapitated head of his direwolf, Shaggydog, at her feet. Sansa refuses the terms of surrender and tells Ramsay he will die the next day, before riding off. The next day, as the battle begins, Ramsay arrives holding the captive Rickon. He sets him free, but then shoots him dead with an arrow as he is inches away from Jon's reach. With Jon now defenseless in the middle of the battlefield, Bolton archers fire volleys of arrows in his direction with the Bolton cavalry charging at him as well. The Stark cavalry begin their charge to meet the Bolton cavalry, narrowly saving Jon from being trampled to death and forcing them to abandon their initial battle plan. Ramsay executes a pincer movement with his infantry, completely encircling the Stark/Wildling army. As the Bolton army advances, Petyr Baelish and Sansa arrive with reinforcements courtesy of House Arryn, and their cavalry quickly flanks the encircling Bolton army, which is decimated. Defeated, Ramsay retreats with his remaining allies, and closes the gates, confident in their ability to withstand siege, and readies his archers. However, with the help of the giant Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun, Winterfell's gates are breached, and the remaining Bolton forces defeated, although Wun Wun is incapacitated by injuries sustained by archers, and Ramsay delivers the killing shot. Having nowhere else to go, he finally accepts Jon's offer to a one-on-one duel while wielding a bow and arrow. He shoots at Jon three times, but Jon blocks them all with his shield. Before Ramsay can fire a fourth arrow, Jon gets too close and smacks the weapon out of Ramsay's hands before knocking him to the ground with the shield, and proceeds to savagely beat Ramsay to a bloody pulp. Ramsay is spared, however, when Jon sees Sansa and accepts that she has as much right to revenge as he does. Jon subsequently orders Ramsay locked in the kennels as a prisoner. At nightfall, Ramsay is accosted by Sansa. He goads her by telling her how she will never be rid of him because he is "part of [her] now". In response, Sansa tells him that he will be forgotten, and his House will cease to exist. She releases his hounds, which have not been fed for seven days, into his cell. Despite his confidence that they would never harm him, Ramsay quickly loses his composure and desperately attempts to order them to heel as they sniff at him hungrily. The hounds suddenly begin to devour Ramsay, who screams as he is torn apart and killed. With Ramsay's death, the Starks finally achieve their revenge against the Boltons for the Red Wedding, leaving House Bolton extinct and bringing a permanent end to the ancient feud between the Starks and the Boltons.

Behind the Scenes

 * Iwan Rheon's character was announced and then credited only as "Boy" in order to keep his true identity as Ramsay Snow a secret until "Mhysa." The only clue as to his identity was the manner in which Theon is fastened to the rack while Ramsay tortures him, identical to the symbol of House Bolton, representing a flayed man in an X-shape. Even though Ramsay did not appear prominently until A Dance with Dragons (he appears in A Clash of Kings, but disguised as a servant, Reek, until the final chapters), book readers would know immediately after dropping his façade in the TV series who he truly was.
 * During casting for Season 1, Rheon originally auditioned for the role of Jon Snow, but lost to Kit Harington. Throughout the series, particularly A Dance with Dragons, Ramsay is portrayed as Jon's foil in many ways, given that Jon and Ramsay are both bastards of Northern noble families (Stark and Bolton, respectively), and are each other's polar opposites, as well as the Boltons once again becoming the sworn enemies of the Starks after the Red Wedding. A Dance with Dragons even ends with Jon on the verge of leaving Castle Black to confront and kill Ramsay personally, though he is stabbed before he can depart. On Jon and Ramsay's rivalry, Rheon claims, "Jon and Ramsay are literally the opposite to each other, you know. Jon's very noble and honorable, and Ramsay's none of those things". In real life, despite not yet having been seen onscreen together in the series, Rheon and Harington are close friends.