Roose Bolton speaks so softly and so rarely raises his voice that men who have crossed him report the experience as more unsettling than any shouted threat, and the North has learned across centuries to treat House Bolton's calm with particular wariness. He keeps his leeches close, believing they draw off bad blood and ill humors, a habit that has earned him his epithet and does nothing to soften a reputation his ancestors built flaying men alive. Sworn to Robb Stark as one of his bannermen, Roose is a man who reads the field with a banker's patience rather than a soldier's urgency, giving away nothing of where his own priorities ultimately lie. A maester who has studied House Bolton's long, unpleasant history finds Roose entirely true to form — patient, unreadable, and never once acting before the advantage is unambiguously his.
Roose Bolton
the Leech Lord
- Life
- no fixed AC year given; a grown man, Lord of the Dreadfort and head of House Bolton, when the story opens
- House
- Bolton
- Titles
- Lord of the Dreadfort
- Allegiance
- House Bolton; formerly House Stark
- Seat
- The Dreadfort
- Culture
- First Men / the North
- Religion
- The Old Gods of the Forest
- Notable for
- The soft-spoken, quietly calculating Lord of the Dreadfort, head of one of the North's oldest and most feared houses
Holding a position of considerable new authority in the North, in circumstances this chronicle keeps carefully veiled.
Where they appear
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
Key events
- no fixed yearBorn heir to House Bolton, Lord of the Dreadfort and head of one of the North's oldest, most feared houses
- 298 ACAnswers Robb Stark's call to war as one of his sworn bannermen
- 298-299 ACCommands a wing of Robb's forces, including the garrison later installed at Harrenhal
- 299 ACSecretly arranges terms with House Frey and House Lannister behind Robb Stark's back
- 299 ACTurns his blade on Robb Stark's household at the Red Wedding, helping deliver the massacre that ends the war in the North
- 299 ACIs rewarded with Robb Stark's forfeited titles and named Warden of the North
- 300 ACMarries a Frey bride in hopes of a trueborn heir to secure House Bolton's new standing
- 300 ACRules from a reclaimed Winterfell as his legitimized bastard son campaigns against the ironborn holding Moat Cailin
Reading the character
Roose Bolton reads, from his very first appearances, as one of the story's most carefully calculating lords: a bannerman whose quiet, unshowy manner masks a patience that unsettles anyone paying close attention. Where louder, more visibly ambitious men commit themselves loudly to a cause, Roose's stillness gives away nothing about where his own priorities ultimately lie, a trait that keeps readers and characters alike guessing at what he is actually thinking.
His family's long, unsettling reputation in the North — the flaying men, the leeches, the centuries of wary rumor neighboring houses hold about House Bolton — colors every scene he appears in, making him one of the story's clearest lessons in how a house's history can precede and shape the man currently carrying its name.
The arc of Roose Bolton
This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
In the timeline
Theories about Roose Bolton
Explore further
House
Is Roose Bolton alive?
Yes, alive as of A Dance with Dragons and holding a position of considerable new authority in the North — the chronicle keeps the fuller particulars behind the veil.
Who is Roose Bolton?
The soft-spoken Lord of the Dreadfort, head of one of the North's oldest and most feared houses, once sworn to Robb Stark as a bannerman — the chronicle keeps the rest of his wartime record veiled.