Why did Roose personally stab...?

[StoneToilet]

1) Trauma and chaos might have made her a little befuddled, and she just saw him a few moments ago without any armor, so she might not make the connection.

2) He could be wearing a helmet. :dunno:

Not actual bloodspots. Look up the Bolton sigil.

Haha good call but there are other references to northmen killing northmen, like the guy arya and the hound give mercy to.

[Visen]

Roose did it for the street cred. You can't be O.G. if you don't kill your king yourself.

Also he's jealous of Jaime always getting called Kingslayer.

[Gronzag]

He stabbed him because... you know, it was a freudian thing!

[Maxpey]

I think this is it exactly. The Freys were very obviously in this up to their eyeballs — it's their wedding, their castle, mostly their men doing the dirty work. Tywin has no reason to doubt their commitment. Roose, though, could always back out, try to shift blame or otherwise renege. But him personally killing Robb is an ironclad way of proving to Tywin that he's in it for the long haul and willing to inextricably link himself to the assassination.

I do have to wonder what his motivations were for "Jaime Lannister sends his regards." Seems very comic book villain-y, you know? A little too pithy for him. It occurred to me that, until she went nuts, the idea was for Catelyn to be taken prisoner and probably, eventually, at some point, released. Now I wonder if Roose didn't say that for her benefit and for the benefit of any survivors, to tie the Lannisters to the assassination in as ironclad a way as the Freys and Boltons were. Bolton had to know what a huge risk and desecration this would be seen as. That line could be seen as his "insurance," his way to make sure that if the Freys and Boltons ever had to pay for the Red Wedding, the Lannisters would too.

Since Roose always speaks in such a whisper, do you think anybody else heard what he said to Robb, especially given all the chaos that had erupted?

Maybe GRRM just couldn't pass up the opportunity to use such a great line, even if it came off as comic-book villainy.

[Unimportant]

Treason is only treason if you lose.

Treason is treason regardless. Determined by the act, not the outcome.

[Domeric Bolton]

I don't think there is any love between Lannister and Bolton. Roose is making sure that if he goes down, everyone involved goes down with him. He seems like a guy that isn't going to let the Lannisters downplay their involvement in the RW.

Roose is no man's catspaw.

This.

The comment plus the Rains of Castermere insures everyone knows that it was on Tywin's order.

[mattah84]

Roose did it for the street cred. You can't be O.G. if you don't kill your king yourself.

Also he's jealous of Jaime always getting called Kingslayer.

Best answer I have seen in this thread yet as far as humour is concerned. Hahaha

[Aleksandar]

There is a bloody history between Starks and Boltons.....they fought many wars between each others....Starks and Boltons were both kings on the north for 7000 years until 1000 years ago Boltons finally knelt to a Stark king..and in those 1000 years there were few Bolton rebellions....

So i'm thinking it was poetic for Rose to kill Robb...

He killed him personally because of all his ancestors who failed and lost wars fighting the Starks and after all failed rebellions he is the one Bolton(ROSE BOLTON who will be remember in Bolton history as Brandon is remembered in Stark history) who ENDED the Stark line...and their rule of the North...therefore putting a Bolton as a new king of the north(in this case Overlord of the North)

But he will proclaim himself a king of the north as soon as he kills Stanis(if that happens)....

[JonathanTheBold]

The Greatjon and all of the Freys. We know the RW was Tywin's brainchild, and his children knew nothing about it. But now Roose has implied that Jamie was aware of it as well. So now that he's dead the stain passes to Jamie without him even knowing it.

if that was the plan than roose would have needed to know tywin would die soon and no one expected that

[MagnusPrime]

Roose stabbed Robb himself because he didn't like Robb, and because he knew that with Robb Stark dead he would be made Warden of the North.......

It had nothing to do with not liking Robb. it was just Roose being a Bolton. and like others have said he is not going around announcing to the whole north that he killed Robb personally or you could bet the wedding in Winterfell would have been even bloodier. Roose may just unleash the Old Kings of Winter which sleep in the Stark children when word gets to them of his treachery.

While Robb backing out of the marriage pact with the Freys was bad because he lost a significant part of his forces and gained diddly for it (although Roose was whittling down the Northmen also on his own) I say fuck them stoat faced Freys. They needed to be guaranteed a marriage with the heir to the Lord of the North in order to do their duty? Their fellow countrymen's lands are being ransacked and instead of doiing their duty and heeding the call of their liege lord they are holed up in the Twins and barring passage to those seeking to lend aid to said liege lord's people.

How no king in the North ever razed the fucking Twins before the conquest is beyond me!

[mattah84]

It had nothing to do with not liking Robb. it was just Roose being a Bolton. and like others have said he is not going around announcing to the whole north that he killed Robb personally or you could bet the wedding in Winterfell would have been even bloodier. Roose may just unleash the Old Kings of Winter which sleep in the Stark children when word gets to them of his treachery.

While Robb backing out of the marriage pact with the Freys was bad because he lost a significant part of his forces and gained diddly for it (although Roose was whittling down the Northmen also on his own) I say fuck them stoat faced Freys. They needed to be guaranteed a marriage with the heir to the Lord of the North in order to do their duty? Their fellow countrymen's lands are being ransacked and instead of doiing their duty and heeding the call of their liege lord they are holed up in the Twins and barring passage to those seeking to lend aid to said liege lord's people.

How no king in the North ever razed the fucking Twins before the conquest is beyond me!

Obviously Roose didn't kill Robb just because he didn't "like" him. There was a number of big mistakes that Robb and Catelyn made which put Roose Bolton and the other Northern Lords in jeopardy of being defeated by the Lannisters. Roose realized this, and by the time Jaime was brought back to him at Harrenhal, he had already turned on Robb and was planning to take the North.

I think it is obvious that Roose didn't like Robb because of the poor position Robb had left Roose and rest of the North in, and because of the bloody history between the Starks and the Boltons. Roose Bolton was a seasoned general and war vet, and in his eyes Robb Stark was just a "boy king" making mistake after mistake. With each new mistake that Robb made, dissent grew within the Northern Army, and Tywin gained leverage. So when I say that Roose Bolton stabbed Robb because he didn't like him, I meant that he stabbed him for multiple reasons other than just that. I wasn't trying to say that the main reason was because Roose didn't like Robb, but I also thought it was kind of just obvious that Roose didn't "like" Robb.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Because he had dibs on it.

[MagnusPrime]

Robb made two mistakes only two but two which cost him everything. the first was allowing Theon to return to the Iron Islands to negotiate on his behalf with Balon for a mutual pact of cooperation between the Northmen and Iron Born. The second was deflowering and then marrying Jeyne Westerling. one mistake begot the other and led to his eventual demise.

he was not constantly making mistakes. He started out a boy king but with each battle he grew into something more. the reality of war shaped him into something more but the first mistake was made before he was fully forged and the subsequent betrayal of Theon shattered him at his most vulnerable.

Catelyn releasing Jaime is what further divided the northern camp and doomed Robb. Rodrick Cassel not leaving more than a skeleton crew to protect Robb's then heirs or even delegating the task of driving out the Iron Born to someone else is what Doomed Robb. these two things not happening would have led to him not dying at the red wedding.

but of course i agree with you that Roose had other reasons for killing Robb himself. but the desecration of both Robb's and Greywind's bodies was all the Freys and those Muthafuckas got it coming in spades!

[mattah84]

Robb made two mistakes only two but two which cost him everything. the first was allowing Theon to return to the Iron Islands to negotiate on his behalf with Balon for a mutual pact of cooperation between the Northmen and Iron Born. The second was deflowering and then marrying Jeyne Westerling. one mistake begot the other and led to his eventual demise.

he was not constantly making mistakes. He started out a boy king but with each battle he grew into something more. the reality of war shaped him into something more but the first mistake was made before he was fully forged and the subsequent betrayal of Theon shattered him at his most vulnerable.

Catelyn releasing Jaime is what further divided the northern camp and doomed Robb. Rodrick Cassel not leaving more than a skeleton crew to protect Robb's then heirs or even delegating the task of driving out the Iron Born to someone else is what Doomed Robb. these two things not happening would have led to him not dying at the red wedding.

but of course i agree with you that Roose had other reasons for killing Robb himself. but the desecration of both Robb's and Greywind's bodies was all the Freys and those Muthafuckas got it coming in spades!

He also chopped off Rickard Karstark's head which lead to him losing a significant portion of his army.......when he should of just let it slide because Catelyn had robbed Rickard of his vengeance by releasing Jaime.

I think that another big mistake of Robb's was agreeing to Walder Frey's marriage deal and then crossing the Twins like everything was OK. He should of agreed to it, and then sacked the twins upon their crossing and told Walder Frey that he doesn't get to choose his bride. He had 20,000 men with him and probably could have done it, but he was also in a rush to save his father so I understand to an extent why it was not done. Still.......definitely a mistake as we find out later on.

But I agree that the two reasons you mentioned were the VERY big ones, and then I think chopping off Rickard Karstark's head is a close third.

[Daemul]

Like people mentioned, Roose is making sure the Lannistars go down with him, the same thing I would have done to be honest. The RW has a high chance of epically backfiring on Roose one day, he's making sure everyone else involved feels the full brunt of it aswell.

[thisoneposts]

Since Roose always speaks in such a whisper, do you think anybody else heard what he said to Robb, especially given all the chaos that had erupted?

Maybe GRRM just couldn't pass up the opportunity to use such a great line, even if it came off as comic-book villainy.

I didn't think it was comic-booky. I believe it's been mentioned before on this board, but it was reminiscent of Godfather II.

Jaime Lannister sends his regards = Michael Corleone says hello.

Don't know if that helps explain the purpose of it.

[HouseHarrison]

He just got kicks from it. That was the impression I always got. Deep inside Roose lies a Ramsay, that only comes out very rarely.

[Dagon Greyjoy]

Treason is treason regardless. Determined by the act, not the outcome.

Clearly it's not. A victorious traitor gets to write the tale, and then it is no longer treason.

[Sara Sin]

No, passing a sentence is thing of honor and duty. This was a treason. Bolton did it because usually Highlords are killing Kings, and Boltons and Starks have very problematic history.

:agree: I think the second post was the very best in this thread.

[The Mother of The Others]

Uhhhh, he wants to be the man in the uplands, so to be the man you've got to beat the man. Starks Down, Boltons Up. The changing of the guard. Perfectly brought to life in that moment. He wanted to be a part of it, as part of claiming it and owning the future.

The Jaime comment was a modern style shoutout to Tywin, who couldn't be there in person to physically put a dagger in Robb so Roose threw a verbal dagger for the Lannisters so when Tywin heard the reports of what happened he could smile in satisfaction to hear of how the Lannisters had been represented in that moment of Robb's downfall. This nod to Tywin was like Roose acknowledging Tywin as the real boss of this new alliance, the one whose brain had orchestrated the Red Wedding and whose will was causing the blade to swing down into Robb. It was Lannister pride that had been wounded when Jaime was taken by the young wolf, as if Robb was going to go on to upstage their family and downgrade the Lannisters' standing in the realm, so mentioning Jaime was relevant just then. It let Robb understand that Lannister pride was going to be restored after all, and Stark status would continue to decline now that his uprising hadn't amounted to anything.