Roose Bolton's masterplan

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[parkersenders]

I get this sense that Roose is almost collecting curses/ personally breaching sacred/ magical laws - he takes and holds Harrenhal, he personally kills his king, he plans and takes part in the greatest breaching of guestright the world has possibly ever seen, he lies in front of the heart tree, hes eaten the Freys, and now he holds a Stark-less Winterfell, when there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. I imagine that, as Ramsay is his greatest liability, kinslaying will be an important part of the end of his story.

[DarkVeghetta]

Surprisingly, it turns out that being a Bolton bannerman is among the safest professions in North, thanks to Roose Bolton himself.

[frankvandorp]

Roose's strategy worked very well as long as everyone around him acted somewhat logically. He could even adapt to Robb's rash choice to spurn the Freys.
But his undoing will be two things that are so crazy he couldn't possibly have predicted it: Stannis going to the Wall and being a threat all of a sudden, and Cersei destroying House Lannister so Roose is left on his own suddenly.
Of course, being a shapeshifting vampire, he probably will try to take over Ramsay's body and make it look like "Roose" is dead. But neither Roose nor Ramsay will have a way out at this point.

[eric]

One of the creepiest characters in all of literature! And I don't even think he's a bolt-on shapeshifting vampire!
*The creepiest part is that he just does not seem to care.* Win, lose, mass murder, be king, lose all his children, ho hum.

[jmace]

House Bolton is proof that sometimes you just need to do a Castamere.

[JohnTorres]

Robb Stark actually picked Greatjon Umber to lead the foot soldier part of the army but Catelyn tells him to pick again. It is actually her fault that Roose ever had the power to get so many soldiers killed and to be answering and receiving ravens at Harrenhal.

[larryf]

Roose was one of those characters that they really couldn't properly portray in the show, he had such an air of terror around him. I think that's one of the reasons that they switched Roose for Tywin in Arya's story in Harrenhal. It would have made much less sense for Arya to fear and distrust show Roose.

[GijsTheDog]

Brynden Tully: Didn't you marry one of these Frey girls?
Roose Bolton: Aye. Lord Walder let me choose any of his granddaughters and promised me the girl's weight in silver as a dowry. So I have a fat young bride.
Catelyn Stark: I hope she makes you very happy.
Roose Bolton: Well, she's made me very rich.

[aprilmae]

I don't think Roose was simply ready and willing to turn on Robb... I believe that he felt Robb was going to lose, and at THAT point, he chose to save his line and turned on Robb- albiet on th DL. I really appreciate how he follows Manderly's lead in eating etc. It says A LOT.

[arcadedomination]

Roose being a wary man really fits into his general undead vibe. The leechings and things he does for his health, his coldness and extreme wariness all seem like ploys to never die.

[renferal]

I'm actually reading the books now. I am on the second one. So many differences from the show. I'm really enjoying them.

[Smurffies]

Content idea: beastiary for Witcher content. Going around talking about all the different crazy creatures or even a traveler's guide for that universe

[danieldirocco]

Ramsey is still such an odd variable. For such a risk averse man, having an unstable psychotic son like him running around has some benefits, sure, but also a lot of risk. It's odd that he doesn't care a bit that his heir was killed by Ramsey or that he will likely do so again. Maybe he is just completely nihilistic and doesn't care what happens to him after he dies, but that is kind of an incongruous personality trait for someone with so much political ambition. While it's certainly tinfoil, the theory that he plans on taking Ramsey's skin to live a second life does help explain this. He mentions taking Ramsey in from his mother after seeing his eyes are just like his. Why would such a cold, uncaring, and risk averse man take in a bastard child when far better men than him keep their bastards at arms length? Maybe he saw something in Ramsey's eyes, that he had the "gift" or curse of the Boltons, a dark counterpart to the Stark gift of skinchanging. Maybe Ramsey has the perfect skin for Roose to flay and wear?

[arcanics]

Roose Bolton, the diet Lannister of ASoIaF. A very interesting character- the sections with Arya are among my favourite in the books. It made perfect sense to swap Roose for Tywin in the show, but I think the book version is much better for it fills out Bolton's character, making him that grey that we love in Martin's "evil" characters.

[DexterTheDuck]

I love these in-depth videos. Please keep them coming

[johnniiee]

Never will accept that evil Frodo got the best of the Lord of the Dreadfordt

[DivingDog]

I think Roose has blundered by sending out the Freys and Manderlys instead of mainly Boltons. Being done in by his own trick is just the kind of poetic irony that keeps happening in these books. Here are the reasons:

- As Theon claims, Hosteen and Wyman won't combine their forces. And Ramsey likely won't either. So we have a three-piece assault. It's the equivalent of a martial arts movie where all your enemies attack you one at a time instead of together.
- Ramsey likely wants to strike last when Stannis is most tired. But if the entire assaulting force is HALF of Roose's army. Then Ramsey's force is a third of that half. Or less (Freys have over 1000 by themselves and seem to be the biggest contingent). I was under the impression Stannis' army started off as roughly equal to Roose's. That's a large size disadvantage.
- Wyman is likely to use this opportunity to turn. Inside Winterfell (assuming none of the Northern houses join him) he's far outnumbered. Outside - he can join Stannis as soon as the Freys get stuck in.
- Why would Wyman join Stannis now? We've seen he's reticent to declare for him, even after his son's safe. This is a sign of him hedging his bets. If he joins the Freys and kills Stannis, he's got one less bet to hedge. He'd never join Roose permanently. He's rat-cook levels of hate for Bolton and Frey. So his last option would be the northern conspiracy. A conspiracy that hinges on finding one of the lost Stark boys. Far from certain. He needs to keep Stannis as a fall-back if the worst happens.
- But let's say during the one or two months this march on Winterfell has played out, Davos found Rickon and sent a raven to declare it. Now Wyman's condition for joining Stannis is complete. And he would DEFINITELY help Stannis. The alternative would be to betray him cus "there is only king of the north now, lol". And you don't make that betrayal when your more hated and more powerful enemy remains alive and at your back.
- Stannis is the mannis. And being the mannis - an expert at war - he is also under the opinion Roose has blundered
- Of all the forces inside Winterfell with the Boltons, the Freys were the most loyal. Without them, the remaining Boltons look more coupable.

I don't see how the Freys get out of this alive. Everyone else is up in the air. But either way, the Boltons aren't winning this fight. They still might win the war (Roose just sitting inside Winterfell with the remainder of his army, now with less mouths to feed, will finish Stannis off). But with Manderly showing his true colours, he knows Oldcastle and Widow's Watch will follow his lead. Two forces still inside Winterfell.

[jcwilder]

roose put the houses that would stand against him in the future in the vanguard, brilliant

[Calebe_Sagaz]

After reading all five books twice, I think Roose Bolton and Euron Greyjoy will be the real threat. Not just enemies, but the real enemies who were always around and no one thought (including us) how big their plan was. And let's remember that GRRM is great at not pointing out the obvious. Many believe the story could end with Jon or Daenerys on the Iron Throne, but I don't think that will happen.

[Levacque]

4:07 clearly not cautious enough, Roose! He hasn't noticed that Manderly has only been eating his own food, thereby not accepting guest right within the castle!