History Characters / GameOfThronesHouseBolton

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Locke is incensed when Jaime attempts to buy him twice. He might be an open rapist and chop limbs off for a hobby but he [[SeriousBusiness prides himself in his iron loyalty]], like all Northmen.[[labelnote:From the books...]]Locke's book counterpart Vargo Hoat has no loyalty to anyone, being a mercenary who sold out the Lannister's for the Boltons.[[/labelnote]]

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the books, he's described as "neither handsome nor plain". His voice is also described as soft and whispery in the books, but [=McElhatton=]'s [[BadassBaritone deep, smooth voice]] has earned him quite a few fangirls. He's also not as pasty white as he is in the books.

* BadassBaritone: Has a very deep and commanding voice.

** Roose raises his bastard son, Ramsay, entrusts him with command, eventually legitimizes him Ramsay becomes his heir after Ramsay murders him and his baby brother, just to make sure he'll be the next Lord Bolton, and tells Ramsay he will always be his "firstborn" after the birth of a trueborn son by Walda Frey. However, this is subverted in that Roose treated Ramsay very poorly, did not include him in castle life while he was growing up, and only legitimized Ramsay once his trueborn son was gone, realizing Ramsay was all he had left. In HBO's featurette 'Bastards of Westeros,' GRRM states, "Ramsay gets nothing from Roose," and contrasts Roose as a 'dark counterpoint' with Ned, who loved and raised his bastard child, Jon, as one of his sons alongside his trueborn children at Winterfell.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Locke is incensed when Jaime attempts to buy him twice. He might be an open rapist and chop limbs off for a hobby but he [[SeriousBusiness prides himself in his iron loyalty]], like all Northmen.[[labelnote:From the books...]]Locke's book counterpart Vargo Hoat has no loyalty to anyone, being a mercenary who sold out the Lanister's for the Boltons.[[/labelnote]]

-->'''Roose:''' [[ManipulativeBastard The Lannisters swindled their enemies]], [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority the Storm Kings hammered them]] and [[OffWithHisHead the Starks cut off their heads]]. In such company, are the Boltons really so... ''indelicate''?

* TheStoic: He very rarely shows any genuine feelings at all. In "Mhysa", he no longer has anything to hide, so he shows much more expression than he normally does, and there's something rather UncannyValley about them. This ties into his characterisation as TheSociopath, as his expressions are likely learned through mimicry rather than genuinely felt. When Ramsay stabs him to death, Roose's only reaction is an involuntary cry of pain. After, he bleeds out with a completely neutral expression on his face and without saying or doing anything.

* WeaponOfChoice: The only weapon he's seen using is, unusually, a crossbow -- though not with enough skill to be an ArcherArchetype.

* HateSink: A sadistic and cruel psychopath like her lover, Ramsey. Let's just say that she was such an insane monster that her death was satistying.

* FatalFlaw: His blind spot toward Ramsay. He is well aware that Ramsay is a psychotic idiot whose antics weaken House Bolton's position, but he continues to keep Ramsay close and enable him as he believes Ramsay would never betray him. Unfortunately, he never considered that Ramsay's loyalty only went as far as his certainty that he was Roose's heir.

[[caption-width-right:300:''"[[KnifeNut Have you seen what I can do with a knife?]]"'']]

* KnifeNut: His main WeaponOfChoice before joining the Night's Watch was a rather huge knife (which he used to sever Jaime's hand).

* RedRightHand: Her crooked teeth. The actress, Charlotte Hope, has normal teeth in real life.

* {{Foil}}:
** He's one for Tywin Lannister as both are stoic, ManipulativeBastard characters with posh accents as well as deconstructions of the EvilOverlord trope. Whilst Tywin is a much more powerful high lord who's all about sending a message to people who cross him, Roose is a much more low-key noble who's all about trying to keep his own sadistic impulses in check. They also have sociopathic descendants, a son and grandson respectively who practice StupidEvil, and employ another sociopath to do their bidding (Gregor Clegane for Tywin, Locke for Roose). Whilst Tywin is able to completely domineer [[TheAllegedBoss King]] [[TheCaligula Joffrey]] due to being two generations his senior, whilst Roose ultimately fails to control Ramsay and dies due to letting his guard down. They also both wanted to kill their sons (Tyrion and Ramsay, respectively) when they were babies but for different reasons: Tyrion's birth [[MaternalDeathBlameTheChild killed Tywin's wife Joanna]], while Ramsay was the product of Roose's raping a peasant girl. Both Tywin and Roose end up killed by their respective sons as well although whilst Roose simply lets Ramsay get too close him and stab him, Tywin has to be caught with his pants down to be killed by Tyrion.
** He is also everything Ned Stark hates: treacherous, deceitful, dishonorable, cruel, [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical]], and opportunistic. Also, contrast their treatment of their illegitimate sons:
*** To Ramsay:
--->'''Bolton''': My banners, not yours. You're not a Bolton, you're a Snow.
*** To Jon:
--->'''Ned''': You are a Stark. You might not have my name, but you have my blood.
** It's ironic that in the end, Roose did the one thing that Ned, who lovingly raised Jon and brought him up as one of his sons, never did: legitimize his bastard son, give him the family name, and make him his heir -- at the same time, according to [[Creator/GeorgeRRMartin GRRM]], Roose only did this because he had no other choice and states: "Ramsay gets nothing from Roose."

* TheSociopath: A sadistic, cruel and decietful FemmeFatale that seduces her victims with zero remorse.

[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | '''House Bolton''' ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesTywinLannister Tywin Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesTheonGreyjoy Theon Greyjoy]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Petyr Baelish a.k.a "Littlefinger"]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesMargaeryTyrell Margaery Tyrell]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]

* AssholeVictim: Ramsay may be several magnitudes worse, but Roose's death at his hands is still deserved.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Locke is incensed when Jaime attempts to buy him twice. He might be an open rapist and chop limbs off for a hobby but he [[SeriousBusiness prides himself in his iron loyalty]], like all Northmen.[[labelnote:From the books...]]Locke's book counterpart Vargo Hoat has no loyalty to anyone being a mercenary who sold out the Lanister's for the Boltons.[[/labelnote]]

* DirtyCoward: Smugly pushes his weight around Brienne and Jaime, two unarmed and restrained captives who are unable to defend themselves. He also isn't above taking jobs that involve killing defenceless (and in one case, crippled) children.

* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Book Walda was more of a jolly BigFun type, whereas the show version seems far more shy, amenable, and demure.

* Foreshadowing: His telling Jaime to send Tywin his trust should give away to viewers that he was planning to betray [[spoiler:Robb]]. Not to mention the ''blatant treason'' of releasing the Kingslayer in the first place!

* BadassBeard: The aforementioned pointy beard goes with his effective combat skills and stealth abilities.

* BadassBeard: See the picture. Not really a bad guy ''per se'', at least compared to Locke, so it's this instead of a BeardOfEvil.

* TokenEvilTeammate: He and his men exemplify, like the soldiers that Brienne killed in the Season 2 finale, that not all those on the DesignatedHero side of the Starks are good men. These are Stark counterparts to the Mountain and his men.