The Dreadfort

The Dreadfort is the ancestral seat of House Bolton, a grim and forbidding castle in the east of the North, on the Weeping Water. Its name reflects its dark reputation, for the Boltons of the Dreadfort were once Red Kings who warred against the Starks of Winterfell, and they are notorious in the North for the ancient and outlawed practice of flaying their enemies alive.

The Dreadfort stands as a monument to the Boltons' menace. Beneath its halls lie chambers where, by grim tradition, the flayed skins of dead Starks and other enemies are said to have been kept, and the flayed man is the sigil of the house, a stark and chilling device unique among the noble houses of Westeros.

Geography

The Dreadfort is a strong stone castle with thick walls and tall towers, set in the eastern reaches of the North. It is large and well fortified, capable of withstanding a serious siege. Its dungeons and torture chambers are infamous, fitting the cruel reputation of its masters. The Weeping Water runs nearby, and the lands around are bleak and thinly settled.

History

In ancient days the Boltons of the Dreadfort were Red Kings, rivals to the Stark Kings of Winter, and the two houses warred for centuries. More than once the Boltons bent the knee to the Starks and more than once they rose against them, and the memory of flayed Starks and rebellions lingers. At last the Boltons submitted and became bannermen of Winterfell, though the old enmity was never wholly forgotten.

In the story

During the War of the Five Kings, Roose Bolton serves Robb Stark as one of his chief commanders, all the while plotting his own advancement. His bastard son Ramsay, cruel and savage, ravages the North and takes Theon Greyjoy prisoner, breaking him into the creature called Reek and holding him at the Dreadfort. After the Red Wedding, in which Roose helps betray and murder Robb, the Boltons are rewarded with Winterfell and the wardenship of the North, and the Dreadfort's masters rise to rule the region they once served.

Rulers

The Dreadfort is held by House Bolton, whose words are "Our Blades Are Sharp" and whose sigil is a flayed man, red on pink. After the Red Wedding the Boltons become, for a time, the Wardens of the North.