Roose Bolton/Theories

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 Theories may be removed if ... 
  1. Stated as questions or possibilities.
  2. More appropriate for another article.
  3. Illogical or previously disproven.
  4. Proven by canon source, and moved to main page.
  5. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments.
  6. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead).
  • This does not include responses that are also standalone theories.
  • Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response.

In a theory known as "Bolt-on", some readers believe that Roose Bolton is an immortal being, possibly an Other, that steals and wears other people's skin.

Evidence for

  • The Faceless Men of Braavos have demonstrated that it is possible to remove other people's faces and wear them as a disguise. The Dreadfort is proximate to Braavos, so the Boltons might have sailed there and learned the secret.
  • Even if they never traveled to Braavos, House Bolton has been flaying people for centuries, and would be most likely to discover that skin could be worn.
  • Roose states that the only reason he did not kill his illegitimate son Ramsay Snow is the taboo of kinslaying. However, Roose conceived Ramsay when he hanged a miller and raped his wife beneath his swaying body, and broke his sworn oaths by killing his liege lord; it seems uncharacteristically moral of him to shun kinslaying.
  • It seems more likely that Roose plans to take on Ramsay's identity and skin eventually, as Ramsay shares Roose's distinctive blue eyes. Even if the being wearing Roose's skin is immortal, its persona needs to "die" every so often to avoid suspicion. It is even possible that Roose killed his only trueborn son Domeric Bolton, because Domeric did not share Roose's eyes.
  • Reek notes that Roose does not seem to age:

Though past forty, [Roose] was as yet unwrinkled, with scarce a line to tell the passage of time...there was an agelessness about him, a stillness.[1]

  • Nearly every mention of Roose Bolton mentions the pale coldness of his nature or eyes, indicating that he might be an Other. At one point, it is even stated "Roose Bolton's own face was a pale grey mask".[2]
  • Old Nan tells Bran a story of a man who had a child with a woman in white, probably an Other by her description. Old Nan's stories have a history of being true. This child could be Roose.
  • Roose leeches blood from himself because "Frequent leechings are the secret of a long life",[3] consistent with his not seeming to age.[1] He states, however, that although he expects his new wife Fat Walda Frey to be fertile and birth children,

Ramsay will kill them all, of course. That's for the best. I will not live long enough to see new sons to manhood, and boy lords are the bane of any House.[4]

Roose is only in his 40s.[1] Planning to take Ramsay's identity would explain his being so confident (yet unworried) that "Ramsay" will kill any rivals to his inheritance, and that Roose himself will not be alive long enough to see his future children as adults.

Evidence against

  • There is no direct evidence for this theory, only circumstantial evidence.