Bolton's Bold Betrayal: Counterfit Gloves and a Genuine Glover

[hiemal]

When Roose Bolton hears of the fall of Winterfall his response is on brand:

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"It is wolves I mean to hunt. I can scarcely sleep at night for the howling." Bolton buckled on his belt, adjusting the hang of sword and dagger. "It's said that direwolves once roamed the north in great packs of a hundred or more, and feared neither man nor mammoth, but that was long ago and in another land. It is queer to see the common wolves of the south so bold."

. . .

The hunting party returned near evenfall with nine dead wolves. Seven were adults, big grey-brown beasts, savage and powerful, their mouths drawn back over long yellow teeth by their dying snarls. But the other two had only been pups. Lord Bolton gave orders for the skins to be sewn into a blanket for his bed. "Cubs still have that soft fur, my lord," one of his men pointed out. "Make you a nice warm pair of gloves." . . . ACoK

This petty act of insubordination (if it is inteded as such as I  think it is) his gloves are as counterfit as the burnt offerings Theon presented to the North (being only common wolves and common boys respectively.) The Glover and the Tallhart he serves up the Tarly on a silver platter are real enough:

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"A rider from Ser Helman had come two days past. Tallhart men had taken the castle of the Darrys, accepting the surrender of its Lannister garrison after a brief siege.

Tell him to put the captives to the sword and the castle to the torch, by command of the king. Then he is to join forces with Robett Glover and strike east toward Duskendale. Those are rich lands, and hardly touched by the fighting. It is time they had a taste. Glover has lost a castle, and Tallhart a son. Let them take their vengeance on Duskendale." ... ACoK

This seems to me to be so obviously stupidly reckless that it seems a wonder that Bolton's loyalty remained unquestioned until the Lannisters sent their regards.

Is this just a roll of the dice on Bolton's part or am I missing something?

[Canon Claude]

14 hours ago, hiemal said:

When Roose Bolton hears of the fall of Winterfall his response is on brand:

This petty act of insubordination (if it is inteded as such as I  think it is) his gloves are as counterfit as the burnt offerings Theon presented to the North (being only common wolves and common boys respectively.) The Glover and the Tallhart he serves up the Tarly on a silver platter are real enough:

This seems to me to be so obviously stupidly reckless that it seems a wonder that Bolton's loyalty remained unquestioned until the Lannisters sent their regards.

Is this just a roll of the dice on Bolton's part or am I missing something?

Bolton benefited from chaos. Robb had bigger concerns to worry about, and the last thing he needed was to make a serious inquiry into one of his most powerful bannermen. Everything was going wrong for the Starks, as Bolton hoped, and so he sped up their downfall while avoiding the consequences.

[Seams]

Looking at the symbolism, the wolf-skin gloves could represent a sort of "wolf puppet" on Bolton's hands: he was pretending that his order had come from King Robb to kill hostages, destroy the Darry castle and attack Duskendale. These destructive and unnecessary actions were actually Bolton's orders but he "wore wolf gloves" to make them seem as if they had come from the King in the North. Sort of like the wolf in sheep's clothing but with a Bolton flayed man variation on the theme.

I am persuaded by the contents of that Arya POV with all the Bolton and Frey actions at Harrenhal that Roose had already secretly allied with Tywin Lannister and he was actively encouraging the Freys to turn on Robb at that point. The hunting and killing of the wolves is a pretty good evidence that he was not supportive of House Stark.

[hiemal]

4 hours ago, Seams said:

Looking at the symbolism, the wolf-skin gloves could represent a sort of "wolf puppet" on Bolton's hands: he was pretending that his order had come from King Robb to kill hostages, destroy the Darry castle and attack Duskendale. These destructive and unnecessary actions were actually Bolton's orders but he "wore wolf gloves" to make them seem as if they had come from the King in the North. Sort of like the wolf in sheep's clothing but with a Bolton flayed man variation on the theme.

!

I was so caught up in the gloves/Glover that I missed this marvelous symbolism.

Wordplay in wordplay.

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I am persuaded by the contents of that Arya POV with all the Bolton and Frey actions at Harrenhal that Roose had already secretly allied with Tywin Lannister and he was actively encouraging the Freys to turn on Robb at that point. The hunting and killing of the wolves is a pretty good evidence that he was not supportive of House Stark.

Exactly, but it seems to my that so blatantly sending a large portion of the North's might right into the enemy's backyard as it were with no hope of support would be foolish enough that someone ought to questioned it, or at least that's how it feels to me. Like somebody somewhere should have stuck their head up and wondered if this really such a good idea.

Maybe I'm just reading too much into it- it wouldn't be the first time.

[hiemal]

6 hours ago, Canon Claude said:

Bolton benefited from chaos. Robb had bigger concerns to worry about, and the last thing he needed was to make a serious inquiry into one of his most powerful bannermen. Everything was going wrong for the Starks, as Bolton hoped, and so he sped up their downfall while avoiding the consequences.

So far, anyways...

I can see it- Roose certainly isn't afraid to take coldly calculated risks.