History Characters / GameOfThronesRamsayBolton

* AlmightyJanitor: His cover to gain Theon's trust.

* ArcherArchetype: Manages to kill at least six of his own men with a few well-placed arrows and is a very composed and cold individual.

* DeathByIrony: He starved his hounds for a week only to end up becoming their first meal.

* DeathbyIrony: He starved his hounds for a week only to end up becoming their first meal.

* VillainousBreakdown: According to WordOfGod, ''he is unable to process that he is losing'' the moment where the Knights of the Vale arrived in "The Battle of the Bastards" as he is used to being in control and get his way every time. He remains confident that his cunning and tricks will get him out somehow. When his army is absolutely destroyed by the Vale knights, he waves it off as nothing saying he still has Winterfell and can withstand a siege, never mind that the Arryn forces outnumber him and are prepared to besiege him. When he is being beaten by Jon, he thinks he will be spared because of Stark honor, without realizing Jon spared him so Sansa, Jon's sister, could be the one to deal the final blow. Even when he is chained up inside the dogs kennel, he still thinks he will break out of this one for some reason until they are literally on top of him. This echoes the last days of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, who acted much the same way regarding failure.

* TooKinkyToTorture: At the conclusion of the "Battle of the Bastards", he is giddy and ecstatic when Jon Snow pulverized his face with his fist. This continues after he is tied up and placed in the kennels as he taunts Sansa. Cue the appearance of his own starved hounds, he is still able to blow off the situation as a joke until he realizes he's soon-to-be dog shit. The act finally drops while he dies screaming in agony from being ripped open from asshole to appetite.

* SpareToTheThrone: Though legitimized, Roose does not hesitate to remind Ramsay that [[KickTheSonOfABitch he only sees him as his backup heir.]]

* AdaptationExpansion: Ramsay only appears in two of the five published books and is mainly part of Theon's story arc. The show gives him several additional scenes and moments that vastly expands his role. Ironically, it also ''tones down'' his cruelty which says a lot.

* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** An interesting use that turns the trope fully on its head. Despite his main onscreen victim being Theon, who we'd grown to hate in previous seasons, his treatment is so over the top and pointlessly cruel that he just comes off as being evil himself, while Theon is suddenly completely sympathetic.
** Played straight in "Mhysa", where it's revealed that he flayed the Ironborn deserters who handed Theon over to him. [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves It's hard to feel much sympathy for these particular victims]] -- recall that Robb Stark offered Balon that if the Greyjoys joined his side against the Lannisters, he'd support them becoming their own independent kingdom too...and that Balon's response was to have the Greyjoys stab the Starks in the back and invade the North, out of just a wounded sense of pride, and then simply ''hope'' that the Lannisters (and now the Lannisters' Bolton allies) would "reward" them with independence for turning on the Starks (which is what they ''should'' have done had they stayed loyal to the Iron Throne anyway!)
** He orders to throw Myranda's body to the dogs and Myranda is an AxCrazy ClingyJealousGirl.
** Played straight again in "Home" when he stabs his own father in the heart in cold blood, killing him in the exact same manner in which Roose killed Robb Stark.

* MaritalRapeLicense: As shown in "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken", he revels in this, forcing himself upon a clearly uncomfortable Sansa on their wedding night. As shown in "The Gift" one episode later, he doesn't stop this, keeping her as a GirlInTheTower and aggressivey and forceful raping her every night to the point that she has bruising all along her arms (and probably also in many places we can't see).

* MirrorCharacter: To Joffrey Baratheon. Both are bastards who nonetheless manage to rise to significant positions of power and become enemies to the Starks, both are engaged to (and in Ramsay's case, married to) Sansa Stark and are horribly abusive to her to the point of becoming her ArchEnemy, and both are completely unhinged {{Sadist}}s who [[TheCaligula use their power to kill and torture anyone they see fit]]. However, Ramsay eventually proves himself to be far more dangerous and brazen in his evil than Joffrey. While Joffrey is the definition of StupidEvil and is openly disrespected and ignored by many of his supposed subordinates who in reality [[DragonInChief run his kingdom for him,]] Ramsay possesses a low cunning that allows him to [[spoiler:take true control of the North by murdering his father]] and he shows much more tactical intelligence in battle than Joffrey, although he is still too shortsighted to realise that [[HatedByAll making so many enemies]] is not a good idea in the long run. Ramsay is also a much more capable fighter than the pathetically weak and cowardly Joffrey.

* JustDesserts: His ultimate fate. It's extremely satisfying, to say the least.

* TooCleverByHalf: Ramsay can be quite cunning and clever but his sadism and impulsiveness seriously undermine any ability he might have and, in the true spirit of this trope, his outsized ego ends up doing far more damage for himself and his house than even Joffrey did to the Lannisters with his blundering idiocy, eventually wiping out the Bolton line completely.

* BoomerangBigot: Frequently taunts and insults Jon Snow based on his bastard status, despite the fact he himself is a bastard.

* CardCarryingVillain: Ramsay clearly revels in all the pain and misery he causes and enjoys the reputation he gains from it.

** This also present in his torture and castration of Theon. Theon is so psychologically broken that he ends up being no use as a negotiator, which is what Roose had hoped for, and his castration means that Balon has no interest in trying to get him back, making him useless as a bargaining chip. It's clear from Ramsay's reaction that he never considered the consequences of his actions.
** This trope is so much of a part of his personality it shows up in minor things. When everyone else is worried about winter and having enough food, Ramsay is having a big private feast to himself, made up of animals he should have kept alive for the hard times ahead. Ramsay does what he wants when he wants without thinking of something as simple as how to have enough food for the future.
* DirtyCoward: Unlike the way he was in Season 4, in "Battle of the Bastards", he refuses to fight Jon one-on-one, then stands back and watches the battle without ''remotely'' getting his own hands dirty. When the knights of the Vale arrive and turn the tide, he turns and retreats to Winterfell. ''Then'' when Wun Wun smashes the main gate and Winterfell is stormed, he retreats. Finally, when he's cornered, he spitefully shoots Wun Wun in the eye and snarks that he's "reconsidered" Jon's offer for one-on-one combat, trying to kill Jon at a distance. He gets his face beaten in when Jon closes in using a shield. Quite the 180-degree turn from the shirtless BloodKnight in "The Laws of Gods and Men", as it turns out a lifetime of flaying helpless people after that left him quite unprepared for someone who could actually fight back for once. He also has a noticeably terrified VillainousBreakdown when chained up and having his dogs sicced on him.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Ramsay is always and forever his own first priority and he thinks of little beyond satisfying his own sadistic desires, never paying attention to the consequences of Them for House Bolton, and repeatedly showing that no one else matters to him in the slightest. Like his other flaws, this comes back to bite him in Season 6 when he murders his father and brother to gain power, damaging House Bolton's hold on the North, and his complete disregard for the lives of his men means that his army is wiped out, letting Jon's forces take back Winterfell and execute Ramsay in a truly horrifying manner.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Big time. He murders Roose to take over, turning the Northern Houses he hadn't already pissed off with his sadistic actions against him, his abuse of Sansa is what causes her to flee Winterfell and his military decisions cause his army to be wiped out. It's fair to say that Ramsay played a crucial role in restoring the Starks to power.

** All of this comes to a head in "Battle of the Bastards". Sansa convinces Jon to raise an army against the Boltons, leading to the titular Battle of the Bastards. Ramsay uses his own men as a trap, discounts the possibility of reinforcements and ends up killing his entire Karstark-Umber-Bolton alliance more or less to a man. When finally cornered inside Winterfell, he at least has one chance to kill the enemy leader while surrounded, but wastes it by finishing off the giant Wun Wun (who was going to die anyways) instead of killing Jon, when he is distracted. His actions have left House Bolton with no heirs, dooming it to be forgotten by history as the Starks retake Winterfell and he is fed to his own dogs.

** Ultimately subverted in Season 6 where his only feats are stabbing his unprepared father, having Walda killed, and counter-assasinating Osha. By the time of Battle of the Bastards, he becomes essentially fat and complacent, no longer feeling the need to fight enemies like he did shirtless against the Ironborn.

* AmbiguouslyBi: He keeps a harem of women with him at the Dreadfort, and his little ''game'' with Theon/Reek is filled with 100% [[NoYay nightmare inducing]] homosexual undertones. In Season 4, he helps Theon/Reek bathe and even asks if Reek loves him.

* {{Sadist}}: Even the established torture-happy monsters like Gregor Clegane, who had people killed via terrified rats gnawing through their chests for the hell of it, don't hold a candle to just how utterly sadistic and cruel Ramsay can be with those who fall into his hands.

** When he stabs his father to death, he takes no pleasure in it, and appears to be shaken up afterwards, but he soon regains composure. That's about the extent of his standards.
** Perhaps the ''only'' straight example of this would be the deaths of his stepmother and baby brother. Although he does it [[ThereCanBeOnlyOne solely to secure his place as the one true heir to the Bolton name,]] when he has Walda and his brother devoured by his hounds, it is the only time ''in the entire series'' where he takes absolutely no pleasure in doing so and he even looks away a bit near the end. He doesn't even [[FauxAffablyEvil use his usual charm]] to taunt them like he typically does, his voice and manner suggests he's actually reluctant to do it and he even seems to genuinely consider just letting her go when she promises to flee with the baby and never return, which is a '''big''' indication [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness this moment is different from the rest.]] While he still goes through with it, it's quite jarring to see him ''almost'' human for the briefest of times.

* KnifeNut: If you think he was sadistic with his mind-games, wait until he brings out the knives...

* CriticalResearchFailure: Invoked. He tells Theon to go east to meet up with Yara, who is at Deepwood Motte. Deepwood Motte is in the northwest of the North, which means that Theon goes the wrong direction...and back to where he was being tortured.

* PyrrhicVillainy: His penchant to treat the lives of everyone who isn't named Ramsay Bolton as expendable ends up costing him the Battle of the Bastards and his own life. Not to mention his habit to KickTheDog caused the battle in the first place. On top of that, he's pretty much completely wiped out his own House.

[[caption-width-right:300:''"[[BastardBastard My mother taught me not to throw stones at cripples... but my father taught me to aim for their head!]]"'']]

* {{Foil}}:
** To Joffrey, arguably a ShadowArchetype. Both are equally sadistic, cruel, and [[BastardBastard bastards]], and both share the same favourite pastime of tormenting others (however, Joffrey is not officially recognized as a bastard, but is publicly seen as a trueborn Baratheon son -- despite suspicions to the contrary). The main difference between them is that Joffrey is a DirtyCoward OrcusOnHisThrone and a weakling who prefers to make others do the dirty work for him. Joffrey also pays some token lip-service to the dignity of his office from time to time (usually not, but one can make an appeal to his arrogance that if something would make him look bad, he ''might'' listen). In contrast, Ramsay isn't afraid to get his own hands dirty, poses an actual threat in combat, and is far more intimidating in general. Joffrey at least had some token conception of being a great king, so some actions would hurt his public image (admittedly few), and thinks he has the right to "power" because he's the son of the last king (though he secretly isn't...); Ramsay, meanwhile, openly acknowledges and revels in the fact that he's a sadistic butcher, and that his claim to "power" is purely based on his brutality, not laws or inheritance. In addition, while both are StupidEvil, Ramsay is still shown to be quite intelligent as opposed to Joffrey, knowing exactly how to push a person's buttons, not just to torment them, but to ''break'' them (it's more of a "low cunning" though; Ramsay can think on his feet, but Roose has criticised him for having no sense of long-term planning, i.e. ''routinely'' torturing to death enemies who surrendered in good faith for promise of safe passage, purely for his own amusement, with no thought to the repercussions). Though Ramsay turns out to be just as much of a coward as Joffrey as seen in 'Battle of the Bastards' and both die [[UndignifiedDeath Undignified Deaths]].
** The polar opposite of Jon Snow. As even George R.R. Martin pointed this out in the Season 4 featurette on "Bastards of Westeros". Again, both are illegitimate sons, both have the surname Snow (given to highborn illegitimate children born in the North), and both are the sons of powerful Northern noblemen. The most obvious contrast is that Jon is [[HeroicBastard honorable, heroic, compassionate, and strives to do the right thing]] while Ramsay [[BastardBastard is pretty much the direct opposite of that]]. Jon loves his father and legitimate half-brothers and sisters while Ramsay killed his father and his legitimate half-brother. Their relationships with their fathers are also a point of contrast: Ned loved Jon and treats him as one of his sons, telling him that he might not share the Stark name but that he's every bit a member of the family, raising him as his own alongside his trueborn children. Roose, on the other hand, treats Ramsay poorly, bluntly informing Ramsay that he's just a Snow, not a Bolton and frequently calls him a bastard. While Ned never legitimized Jon, Roose did so for Ramsay... but only after Ramsay helped him win the North and Roose lost his trueborn son, leaving him with only Ramsay.
** He could also be seen as one for Tyrion Lannister. Both were born with things that caused people to write them off (Ramsay being a bastard and Tyrion being a dwarf) and grew up under the thumb of cold abusive fathers who made their low opinions of them known while still using them to further their goals. The difference is that Tyrion is one of the kindest, most noble and intelligent characters in the series while Ramsay is...well, just look at the rest of the tropes used here. Both were also betrothed to and married Sansa Stark; Tyrion refuses to bed her unless she's willing, while Ramsay rapes her.

* TokenEvilTeammate: He manages to be this even within House Bolton who are regarded as this trope for the North. This comes to a head in Season 6 when he murders his father and brother to take over and ends up leading the house to ruin because the same qualities that made him valuable end up destroying him.

* {{Jerkass}}: Taken UpToEleven. He's sadistic, violent, callous, arrogant, and just plain rude sometimes.

* PaperTiger: After 3 seasons of being a BloodKnight KarmaHoudini and InvincibleVillain, once Ramsay's army is finally defeated and he's left to fight Jon one-on-one by himself, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown he gets the absolute shit kicked out of him with relative ease]]. This sends the impression that while Ramsay was a deadly fighter, his true strength lied in ruthless ambushes and fighting with number advantages. Once those were no longer in his favor [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty he quickly crumbled]].

* AdaptationalHeroism: "Heroism" is entirely the wrong word, but the show lightens Ramsay's behavior compared to the books (not that this is very hard).