Roose Bolton in TRoC (book spoilers)

[Alistair's Pantaloons]

I haven't seen most of Season 3 since I don't have HBO but I youtubed the RW and thought Roose was badly performed. I always imagined him as completely emotionally detached and casual about the whole thing and I think that's scarier. And when he said "The Lannisters send their regards" he sounded to dramatic whereas a blank, emotionless delivery would have been better. Frey was done perfectly on the other hand. Can't wait til that fuck dies.

[Theda Baratheon]

No agreed. Just because Roose is much better at the game then his son....at waiting for his moments. He too is a total sadist. I loved that slight smirk. it was his moment of triumph. He feels he was always better suited to rule the north. Not that sanctimonious Eddard....not his fool boy of a son. He did look down at his sleeve. he wanted cat to look. He couldn't contain himself any further. He wanted her to know what he had done before Walder Frey that decaying old letcher could reveal. This was his design.

I like this post. :cool4: This was his design, indeed.

[gash]

great actor but ya the writing of him for this scene was bizarre, him running off like a little girl?? wtf

[Sweet-N-SourRobin]

great actor but ya the writing of him for this scene was bizarre, him running off like a little girl?? wtf

He ran off because bullets (well, bolts) were about to start flying. He'd tipped his hand to Cat, logically Cat was immediately going to raise the alarm, and once she did that the attack would have to start.

And he likely reasoned that since the crossbowmen were FREY crossbowmen -- and much better musicians in this continuity than they were in the book -- they'd probably have shitty aim.

[Negator]

I love your post !

Why thank you. I think that the Bolton-Stark rivalry is incredibly interesting because the two represent the two opposite sides of the same coin that is the North. The Starks are this old-world, Celtic/Nordic honor, guile-free honesty and open masculinity. The Boltons represent the other side, the paganism, the barbarism, the revel of absolute power of a warlord over his vassals and subjects.

What is interesting is that, in a sense, this divide is somewhat new. I do believe that the Starks and Boltons of yore were not that dissimilar, which explains why the flayers were never wiped out: they were not seen as a cancerous evil, but rather as one of many powerful Houses. I do believe the theory that the Starks of old sacrificed their prisoners or even commoners to the Old Gods in exchange for powers, such as warging. Certainly explains the Northern tradition of performing executions manually. The Boltons, in turn, wore the skins of Starks to attempt and directly inherit these warging powers; literally, skinchangers. Blood magic is the best kind of magic in this world. It works for Rhllor, it works for Mirri Maz Druri, and it works just fine for the weirwoods.

[PhoenixFlame]

I didn't say it was "stupid", but it was pathetic and didn't fit Roose's character at all. Yes he behaved like a troll - a BAD troll who can't help grinning before the joke is done, who gets slapped like a bitch and runs away tripping over his own feet. This is NOT how it happened in the book AT ALL, and is a total disservice to Roose, not to mention simply badly staged and therefore losing a lot of impact on the viewers.

Heya! Apologies if I came off as hostile; I was a bit bleary.

You are wrong, in the book Roose DID leave to don his dark plate armour, when he came back he even had his visor down so Catelyn didn't recognise him at first. The guy Cat caught hiding chainmail under his clothing wasn't Roose but Edwyn Frey.

Sorry, I phrased that poorly. I know Roose left to get his armor in the book. It's just in the show he didn't, which in my opinion worked better in the context of the moving pieces. If he totally left to get his armor, it would've seemed like an oddly long time and we would lose a familiar face revealing the shit about to hit the fan. Plus, he would've had to open the doors again, which would look odd because they were closed so forebodingly. And, no one else is wearing heavy armor, so it would look weird. What I meant by "special" was that I didn't recall the armor getting any particularly special description besides being dark plate and being worn with his pink cloak...until ADWD when Theon thinks it's tres chic. If they'd had the part with Ramsay sacking Winterfell in his scary armor, sure, it would've made sense, but that parallel is lost now. I don't think it's that important anyway, but that's just me. Roose's villainy has always impressed me more as the calculating long-planning type. Sure he can fight, but that's not what makes him so fierce.

Yeah, and doing it fast would also be just like any other show (case in point - Sopranos). Also, they did incomprehensibly slowed down at some points, i.e. Rob standing up and talking to Cat while full of crossbow bolts was needlessly (and unrealistically) drawn out. But anyway, the issue isn't between fast and slow, it's between win and fail. Book version = win, TV version = fail, reason: they crammed everything up too much and tripped over their own feet, resulting in an incoherent, mumbling and weak performance doing a disservice to the original.

Eh, agree to disagree. I can understand why some people didn't like that as much.

I can't wait for Ep. 10 to see the Ramsay reveal. On Tumblr there was an awesome GIFset comparing Roose and Ramsay -- they were really well cast as father and son. ... and both are really hot, but that's beside the point.

[I'll pay the iron price]

It made perfect sense for Roose to run aside when he knew a barrage of crossbow bolts were about to come raining down.

The way he slid back in at the end to shank Robb and deliver the line about Lannisters sending their regards was breath taking.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this guy next season.

[LilJonUmber]

...Roose was badly performed. I always imagined him as completely emotionally detached and casual about the whole thing and I think that's scarier. And when he said "The Lannisters send their regards" he sounded to dramatic whereas a blank, emotionless delivery would have been better.

:agree:

I always pictured him saying it in a whisper; a cool, calm, this-is-nothing-to-me kinda way.

Still, they've nailed every other scene Roose has been in, so I can look past the slight difference in interpretation. But it did strike me as an over-the-top delivery, by Roose's standards.

[Brixon]

Roose gave Cat the same look the book readers gave their unsullied friends as it was all about to go down.

[Tenshi]

The sleeve scene was absolute brilliance. It's like the moment in chess where the master reveals "checkmate in 3". The smile - brilliant, of a cool player who knows he's won, without being bombastic.

The kill scene I didn't like too much. I'd have preferred Roose just stepping up slowly, whispering the words with light irony, and finishing it with dignity. In general, I could think of many improvements, but I suppose reading a book is always superior :).

[ebevan91]

I was hoping he'd say it in an angry way while stabbing him from the back.

Oh well, what's done is done.

[Ramsay Gimp]

I just realized something - Roose was showing Cat what he had "up his sleeve." Awesome symbolism by the writers :bowdown:

[OverLordMoe]

I just realized something - Roose was showing Cat what he had "up his sleeve." Awesome symbolism by the writers :bowdown:

You sir, win the internet.

[Honourable Ser]

Actually, I thought Michael McElhatton was one of the best things about the episode. His look at Catelyn said "Go on, look. It's too late now." Chilling stuff!

[PhoenixFlame]

Yeah, I didn't see him "giving the game up," since the doors were just locked. Even if Catelyn sounded the alarm they were already dead.

[UnCleos]

I thought his portrayal was quite good, and thought the look was in character. We know Roose has a sadistic side, and because of the lack of characters he was needed to fill the role of the "chain mail reveal". It wasn't exactly a wide smile either, his eyes widened a little bit as if to say "yup, you're fucked".

As for the running, again I didn't really see it as out of character. Roose is very intelligent, and as many have pointed out the bolts were about to rain (pardon the pun) down on Robb, Cat, and the rest. For me, it was actually one of the most realistic scenes in the episode. Reminded me of a politician being led away on a stage after bullets are fired. Nice touch IMO and a great way to kick off the chaos.

Only thing I agree with is that his original line should have been kept the same. His final stabbing of Robb could have been done better in many ways, but I think they struggled with the logistics of Roose stabbing Robb point blank. We saw the complications that this show had when Arya stabbed the stable boy with Needle (maybe the clumsiest scene in the series). I think they needed it to be quick, hell you don't even see what Roose had in his hands.

[Stannis' shadow babies]

. Reminded me of a politician being led away on a stage after bullets are fired. Nice touch IMO and a great way to kick off the chaos.

That's a good analogy. I like it.

ETA: I liked the way Roose said his emblematic line. Different, but consistent. It was just like the way Jon said 'you were right about me the whole time' to Orell: a mix of strength, anger and satisfaction. I guess you can't speak softly to the man you're about to kill.

[Roose Seal]

I liked the sleeve scene though I could've done without the "gotcha" smile. How he swooped in and out to stab Robb was lame though. Felt very stage-y and contrived. I also didn't like how he delivered his line. I always imagined a much colder and matter-of-fact tone. The way he said it made it sound like he was stabbing Robb out of personal revenge.

[Prince of Dragonstone]

The whole aspect of Roose Bolton in the books and now the television show was the scary fact that he was a huge villain hiding in plain sight. I'm sure a lot of the TV fans are now going to watch the earlier episodes or at least think back to them looking for clues that tipped us off that he was so trecherous. The writing was not on the wall with him, but in retrospect, when you put all the pieces of the puzzle together it's like ":How could I NOT have guessed this???"

[Prince of Dragonstone]

The silent exchange between Cat and Roose was one of the best moments in the entire series to me. I loved it because it goes straight to the core of both their characters. Catelyn, the fierce, protective and suspicious mother finds out something is terribly amiss before anyone else. Roose, the master of trollery, taunts his liege lady in such a dastardly way. He's basically telling her what is about to transpire and that there is absolutely nothing she could do about it at this point. It was chilling and so perfect for building up that whole scene.