No notice Ramsay activities and crimes before war of five king??

[Curled Finger]

Yah, there is definitely something to Ned's hands being tied when he is both dead and headless when Ramsay begins to do his thing.  The threat was gone and Ramsay has been very lucky about being in the right place at the right time since appearing in the tales.  Roose was a pretty brutal guy and he knew to keep his unsavory activities on the down low.   Ramsay just isn't that bright.  

[Nittanian]

On 11/7/2020 at 1:09 PM, Loose Bolt said:

Another thing is that violence seems to be rather common and normal phenomenon in the North. Or meeting Ironborn or wildling raiders seems not to be abnormal. After all Bran was captured near Winterfell. So if anyone heard that people are disappearing around Dreadfort nobody would have cared bc that happens also another parts of areas ruled by Starks.

FYI, ironborn raiding of the mainland is the exception during the Iron Throne era rather than something common.

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Aegon the Dragon had destroyed the Old Way when he burned Black Harren, gave Harren's kingdom back to the weakling rivermen, and reduced the Iron Islands to an insignificant backwater of a much greater realm. (ACOK Theon I)

"The Old Way served the isles well when we were one small kingdom amongst many, but Aegon's Conquest put an end to that. Balon refused to see what was plain before him. The Old Way died with Black Harren and his sons." (AFFC The Kraken's Daughter)

Here are Robb and Luwin's thoughts regarding Bran's attackers.

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Robb glanced over at where Stiv lay sprawled in the stream, his ragged black cloak moving fitfully as the rushing waters tugged at it. "Deserters from the Night's Watch," he said grimly. "They must have been fools, to come so close to Winterfell."

"Folly and desperation are ofttimes hard to tell apart," said Maester Luwin. (AGOT Bran V)

While there are occasional outlaws, the Liddle suggests the Starks kept the land peaceful.

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The Liddle took out a knife and whittled at a stick. "When there was a Stark in Winterfell, a maiden girl could walk the kingsroad in her name-day gown and still go unmolested, and travelers could find fire, bread, and salt at many an inn and holdfast. But the nights are colder now, and doors are closed. There's squids in the wolfswood, and flayed men ride the kingsroad asking after strangers." (ASOS Bran II)

 

[Frey family reunion]

On 11/7/2020 at 7:45 AM, Alexis-something-Rose said:

That's why Ned never heard a thing about Ramsay, like his father before him never heard about Roose. Roose covered his tracks and made sure the things he did never left his lands and he had enough power to reign Ramsay in, but when he went to war, Ramsay was on his own giving zero fucks what anyone heard about him. 

I agree with this.  We know Roderick first seems to hear about Ramsay from Lady Hornwood.  And Lady Hornwood seems to be relying on rumors she's heard from being in close proximity to Roose's lands.  The rumors probably weren't concrete enough for anyone to feel they could act on them.  Not until Lady Hornwood is abducted by Ramsay.