Hey Amulia i reall, like your Art
But Roose Bolton gives a less sinister apperance in your drawing and not the sociopath he is in the story
So my request is can you draw a young Roose Bolton who Experiments with fresh human skin , which would be Story-wise logical based of his comments on the Qualität of it from his older version in Reek III?
"Only Lady Barbrey, whom you would turn into a pair of boots … inferior
boots. Human skin is not as tough as cowhide and will not wear as well. By the king’s decree you are now a Bolton. Try and act like one. Tales are told of you, Ramsay. I hear
them everywhere. People fear you.” [...]
“You are mistaken. It is not good. No tales were ever told of me. Do you think I would be sitting here if it were otherwise? Your amusements are your own, I will not chide you on that count, but you must be more discreet. A peaceful land, a quiet people. That has always been my rule. Make it yours.” - Reek III, aDwD
There are some important aspects to the Roose - Ramsay dynamic:
a) The only reason Roose was interested in seeking out Ramsay is that he ran out of options, and Ramsay is the last person available who shares his Bolton blood. Personality-wise, he and Ramsay are very different.
b) Nevertheless, because Ramsay is born as a bastard of a peasant woman, Roose sees his blood as "tainted", repeatedly refers to it like that, and blames it for Ramsays bad nature
"Perhaps such service might atone in some small measure for whatever crimes his bastard blood has led him to commit." He shrugged. "Or not. When the war is done, His Grace must weigh and judge. By then I hope to have a trueborn son by Lady Walda." - Catelyn VI, aSoS
c) Ramsay is a peasant's son, didn't grow up at the Dreadfort, and did not have a nobleborn's education. He got raised by his servant Reek and his mother. Most of his "education" appears to be what these two taught him.
“Bulls are strong. Bears. I have seen my bastard fight. He is not entirely to blame. Reek
was his tutor, the first Reek, and Reek was never trained at arms. Ramsay is ferocious, I
will grant you, but he swings that sword like a butcher hacking meat.” - Reek III, aDwD
"The woman disobeyed me, though. You see what Ramsay is. She made him, her and Reek, always whispering in his ear about his rights. He should have been content to grind corn. Does he truly think that he can ever rule the north?" - Reek III, aDwD
d) Roose looks down on lowborn people, and knows keenly about the differences between nobles and commoners.
"—my lord, when you should have said m'lord. Your tongue betrays your birth with every word you say. If you want to sound a proper peasant, say it as if you had mud in your mouth, or were too stupid to realize it was two words, not just one." - Reek III
In the entire Reek III chapter you can see Roose being exasperated with Ramsay and mocking his bad/impulsive decisionmaking and lack of know-how around navigating complex political situations.
The meaning of the human boots line becomes pretty clear when you look at the line that follows directly after:
Human skin is not as tough as cowhide and will not wear as well. By the king’s decree you are now a Bolton. Try and act like one.
Like, any peasant can try out making boots out of human skin and then notice they don't work, but a real noble would not even attempt this in the first place because they would have teachers and servants that can inform them. Anyone with a real noble Bolton upbringing would have heard a story about a Bolton wearing human skin in a history lesson, ask the maester if that is actually possible, and get taught that it is not as tough as cowhide. Ramsay is lacking even knowledge as basic as that.
Ramsay is not being mocked for merely lacking experience, he is being mocked for his entire existence: a baseborn rube whose only reference for "being a Bolton" is peasant stories and legends.
The flayed man was the sigil of House Bolton, Theon knew; ages past, certain of their lords had gone so far as to cloak themselves in the skins of dead enemies. A number of Starks had ended thus. Supposedly all that had stopped a thousand years ago, when the Boltons had bent their knees to Winterfell. Or so they say, but old ways die hard, as well I know. - Theon IV, aCoK
Roose made a face, as if the ale he was sipping had suddenly gone sour. “There are times you make me wonder if you truly are my seed. My forebears were many things, but never fools. No, be quiet now, I have heard enough. - Reek III, aDwD
They hunt together, the Bastard and this Reek, and not for deer. I've heard tales, things I can scarce believe, even of a Bolton. - Bran II, aCoK
Ramsay's persona appears completely informed by northern legends about the Boltons; scary stories about flaying people and wearing their skins which were likely all he had growing up to model himself after. Ramsay thinks fear and cruelty makes him respected, and where Roose acts polite and lordly in public, Ramsay fully embraces ancient/mythical customs like using flaying as threats and ferocious displays.
Jon saw no reason not to tell him. "Moat Cailin is taken. The flayed corpses of the ironmen have been nailed to posts along the kingsroad." - Jon VI, aDwD
Belthasar Bolton's Pink Pavilion made from the flayed skins of a hundred Sistermen... - tWoIaF
"Save me the Freys," the Bastard was shouting as the flames roared upward, "and burn the rest. Burn it, burn it all." - Theon VI, aCoK
King Royce Bolton, Second of His Name, is said to have taken and burned Winterfell itself; his namesake and descendant Royce IV (remembered by history as Royce Redarm, for his habit of plunging his arm into the bellies of captive foes to pull out their entrails with his bare hand) did the same three centuries later. - tWoiaF
The books always play coy about just how much of the "old customs" are still present in the Boltons and it is generally part of their stereotype and what people will rumour about; however it is clear that by the time of the modern story, it is NOT what they present as their public image.
Eddard Stark had never had any reason to complain of the Lord of the Dreadfort, so far as Jon knew, but even so he had never trusted him, with his whispery voice and his pale, pale eyes. - Jon VII, aDwD
Domeric, who is a trueborn Bolton, gets a good education like any other nobleborn, and is said to have enjoyed reading history books and to have the potential to be a good jouster (both kind of serving as contrast to Ramsay). Roose praises him for those "normal" traits.
"For the moment. I had another, once. Domeric. A quiet boy, but most accomplished. He served four years as Lady Dustin's page, and three in the Vale as a squire to Lord Redfort. He played the high harp, read histories, and rode like the wind. [...] Redfort said he showed great promise in the lists. A great jouster must be a great horseman first." - Reek III, aDwD
Roose is for sure guilty of many crimes (he even admits to rape on page) that he could be arrested for, however, the point of the human boots is not to draw a parallel between Ramsay's and Roose's hobbies, but rather, to illustrate their differences. Perhaps the Dreadfort still tortures by flaying (though Roose, as most lords, generally delegates such work; see here, here and here), or has the rumoured room of human skins, or any such things; but here Roose specifically mocks Ramsay for his bad education and lack of cultural knowledge. Roose would not have to "experiment" as Ramsay does; he would be taught by his father and teachers in the ways of his house, and emerge a man highly educated and skilled.
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Any headcanons/inspirations for Unnamed Lady Bolton/Unnamed Lady Ryswell? What houses you think they come from? Etc?
For Roose' mother i had a little writeup in this post (which also has some more unnamed ladies speculation if youre interested); basically we know Domeric squired in the Vale, so Roose would have some connection there be it relatives or friends. Roose also appears pretty isolated in aDwD, his strongest allies are all through marriage ties, so it would make a lot of sense if his mother's house wasn't northern and so doesn't have a presence (after all, marriage ties are supposed to connect you politically through the children). Domeric also appeared to feel lonesome in the north, desiring a brother to equal the companionship he witnessed in the Vale. So i feel it is likely Roose' mother was a Redfort (the house he sent Domeric to), or another Vale house; the Starks also married into the Royces sometimes so it's not an unheard of interregional connection. Generally i feel Roose being a cousin/otherwise related to any of the currently present northern characters would be something that comes up once he is warden and characters all start making statements on what they think of him or how they are connected to him, so the Redfort heritage is my favourite option, but his mom could also be a Bolton cousin, or characters simply dont care and he is just descended from a Locke/Glover/Flint/whatever. Houses i discount as options are obviously Stark (bolton-stark marriages also never happened in canon), and the mountain clans since roose talks about them in a classist way.
For the Ryswell mom there is 0 information to go off in the text; i like to make her an Umber because i headcanon Rodrik as short (as many horse riders are), so it would be a cute height difference if she was from a very tall house :)
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