Boltons

The Boltons, or House Bolton of the Dreadfort, are an ancient and powerful noble house of the North in Westeros, bannermen of House Stark notorious for a dark and cruel history. Their sigil is a flayed man, and their dread reputation rests on the old practice of flaying their enemies alive.

An Ancient and Sinister House

The Boltons are one of the oldest houses of the North, tracing their line to the First Men and the Age of Heroes. In ancient days the Red Kings of the Dreadfort warred against the Kings of Winter, the Starks, for dominion over the North, and the Boltons were said to wear cloaks made from the flayed skins of dead Starks. Flaying was eventually outlawed, but the flayed man remained their sigil, and the practice never wholly died among them.

Roose Bolton

The head of the house during the War of the Five Kings is Lord Roose Bolton, a quiet, cold, and calculating man who serves as one of Robb Stark's chief commanders, all the while plotting his betrayal. In league with House Frey and House Lannister, Roose helped orchestrate the Red Wedding, in which Robb Stark and much of the Northern host were slaughtered. For his treachery, the Lannisters named Roose Warden of the North.

Ramsay and the Fall

Roose's legitimized bastard son, Ramsay Bolton, is a sadist whose cruelties become infamous, including the breaking of the captive Theon Greyjoy into the cringing creature "Reek." The Boltons seize Winterfell and try to cement their rule over the North through marriage to a false Arya Stark, but their reign is built on treachery and terror and earns the bitter enmity of the Northern houses.