坐等洗白！

表情超赞

呃，小白的问一句，学城是指westeros的论坛吗。。还是两个地方。。。

为毛？！表示连卢斯原配是谁都忘了....再说如果不是上帝视角普通人都认为他儿子死于胃病吧...

然后栽赃的结果是把雪诺变成波顿了吗……
这个有点离谱

看完表示好蛋菊

This is the first of a series of three posts on Roose Bolton. Since the other parts are just as long as this one and largely independent, I'll post them later. If a theory has to emerge from all this (I don't have it yet), it would be more sinister than ever.
Lord Bolton I: The fate of Domeric
Roose has been married To Bethany Ryswell. It's not well known that Bethany was Roose's secondwife. Nothing is known about the first wife. Roose and Bethany had one son, Domeric, who died a few years ago from a sickness at the stomach. Roose says that Domeric had brothers who died in infancy. We don't even know if those brothers were Bethany's.
Before I am reminded that everybody knows that Ramsay killed Domeric, let's examine the evidence for that. It's implied in ACoK, when Roose reacts to the false report of Ramsay's death:
We know that Roose is a strange fellow, but even the worst persons are spoken of in the best possible terms when they pass away, aren't they? We hear a second hand rumour (no mention of Domeric)
and, in the presence of Roose
Kinslaying is surely worse than murder and rape. The blame is explicit in ADwD. Roose to Ramsay:
Note that Roose does not accuse Ramsay of the murder to his face, although he is not shy of telling Ramsay anything else. When Manderly recites the horrific crimes of Ramsay to Davos, there is no mention of Domeric.
Finally Roose to Theon:
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To summarize: everybody is convinced that Ramsay is a monster, but only Roose accuses him of Domeric's murder. Despite Ramsay's viciousness, there is no sign that he has any knowledge in poison or means to get any. One would rather imagine Ramsay murdering someone in a "hunting accident", an unfortunate drowning, a slip from the parapet etc.
Walda hopes to have many sons with Roose. She writes it in ACoK
Here is the simplest plausible story I can imagine:
1) Roose is responsible for the death of Domeric.
2) He realized that his bastard son is a psychopath that can attract the blame for the crime, hence admitted Ramsay at the Dreadfort,
3) He never misses an opportunity to put the blame on Ramsay, and to remind everyone of his bastard's cruelty,
4) Other children of Roose (sons) have died in the past. They were infants, but probably not stillborns, otherwise they wouldn't be mentioned, I think. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) we don't know that story. But here is how Arya reacts to Fat Walda's letter:
From that it's easy to speculate that Roose plans to kill Walda's sons (no mention of daughters above), and still blame Ramsay. All that reminds us of Craster and what we suspect of the sacrifices to the Others. More evidence to follow in the second theory.

For those who don't want to believe that Roose killed Domeric, it's possible to address a content, which is not speculative, in the OP: Roose, again and again, even when there was no need to, designated Ramsay as the killer of Domeric. Why?
Concerning the murder itself, it's worthwhile to examine the material circumstances. We know that Domeric died of "sickness of the bowels" (Maester Uthor, via Roose) or "died of bad belly" (appendix AFfC, so it's reliable). That seems to correspond to the following description of the Tears of Lys (Arya, AFfC).
QuoteThe tears of Lys, men call it. Dissolved in wine or water, it eats at a man’s bowels and belly, and kills as a sickness of those parts.
Where could Ramsay, still in his windmill at the time, have found such a poison? There is an interesting import at the Dreadfort, mentioned by Roose as he describes Reek
QuoteOnce, when my second wife was still alive, [Reek] was caught stealing scent from her bedchamber. I had him whipped for that, a dozen lashes. Even his blood smelled wrong. The next year he tried it again. This time he drank the perfume and almost died of it.
I intended to mention this because perfumes are a famous Lysene export. So one can imagine that Roose imported both the poison and the perfume for Bethany from Lys. (Seeing what happened when Reek drank the perfume, I wonder whether the perfume and the poison were not the same thing.)
(I usually avoid pointless back and forth. But, for those who think keeping Ramsay as the only option as an heir is pragmatic, I am willing to bet with them that Ramsay will die before he can impregnate "Arya". Roose is aware that Ramsay's chances are slim and tells him so. So much for pragmatism.)

Lord Bolton II: Last day in Harrenhal
This is Arya's last day in Harrenhal (ACoK)
I'll begin with the most important passage. Its significance is not clear to me. I would welcome more insight. Forgive me if you think my comments seem to stray at some points.
Recall that Arya serves as Roose's page in Harrenhal.
QuoteRoose Bolton was seated by the hearth reading from a thick leatherbound book when she entered. “Light some candles,” he commanded her as he turned a page. “It grows gloomy in here.”
She placed the food at his elbow and did as he bid her, filling the room with flickering light and the scent of cloves. Bolton turned a few more pages with his finger, then closed the book and placed it carefully in the fire. He watched the flames consume it, pale eyes shining with reflected light. The old dry leather went up with a whoosh, and the yellow pages stirred as they burned, as if some ghost were reading them.
I get from this passage that
1) Roose has been reading for some time (he notices it gets dark, as if he had been absorbed by the book).
2) The comment "It grows gloomy here." might reflect what he is reading.
3) Roose does not read the book completely.
4) He burns the book calmly and deliberately.
I have a few little things to add. Curiously, the same day, in the same hearth, Arya had burnt Fat Walda's letter.
QuoteArya took the letter and carried it to the hearth, stirring the logs with a poker to wake the flames anew. She watched the parchment twist, blacken, and flare up. [..]Curls of ash floated up the chimney. Arya squatted beside the fire, watching them rise through a veil of hot tears.I am no specialist in burning parchments. It seems to me that there is a contrast between the burning of the book and the more mundane burning of the letter. It can't be a coincidence that the two events are placed in the same chapter. The book seems seems to consume itself as if it were much more combustible. What sense shall we make of it?
In the pre-printing era a book is a treasure, so burning one is significant. The light in Roose's eyes (usually so inexpressive), the scent of cloves (an essential ingredient of incense, candles with cloves are used in certain pseudo-magical rituals in the real world) and the evocation of the ghost make me think of a kind of ceremony, perhaps a mystical sacrifice of the book, if such a thing makes sense.
But what book could it possibly be?
Here is an earlier scene (still the same day)
QuoteShe spent the next few hours tending to the lord’s chambers. She swept out the old rushes and scattered fresh sweet-smelling ones, laid a fresh fire in the hearth, changed the linens and fluffed the featherbed, emptied the chamber pots down the privy shaft and scrubbed them out, carried an armload of soiled clothing to the washerwomen, and brought up a bowl of crisp autumn pears from the kitchen. When she was done with the bedchamber, she went down half a flight of stairs to do the same in the great solar, a spare drafty room as large as the halls of many a smaller castle. The candles were down to stubs, so Arya changed them out. Under the windows was a huge oaken table where the lord wrote his letters. She stacked the books, changed the candles, put the quills and inks and sealing wax in order.


Note that the candles (of the solar) have burnt completely. Roose stays awake late apparently busy with writing and reading. Curious activity for a warlord. Note also the armload of soiled clothing. What did Roose study in Harrenhal? Who did he write to?
The scene happened on the day Roose decided to betray the Starks. Here is a scene from still earlier the same day.
QuoteThe lord’s bedchamber was crowded when she entered. Qyburn was in attendance, and dour Walton in his mail shirt and greaves, plus a dozen Freys, all brothers, half brothers, and cousins. Roose Bolton lay abed, naked. Leeches clung to the inside of his arms and legs and dotted his pallid chest, long translucent things that turned a glistening pink as they fed.
At that moment, the Freys attempt to convince Roose that the war is lost. But the news that Robb had married a Westerling would came only later that day, just after has Roose decided to go for a wolf hunt, signifying to us the betrayal of the Starks.
Let's turn to the false maester Qyburn. The necromancer is clearly part of Roose's inner circle since he attends the conversation with the Freys. He is in charge of the leeching and of the ravens. Roose's leeching habit predates the encounter with Qyburn (*). It's never explained how Qyburn could have gained Roose's trust so quickly.
Here is how I attempt to reconstruct what happened: Qyburn had visited Harrenhal's library as soon as he got in with the Bloody Mummers. He made some findings of great interest (the book) that he passed to the new lord, Roose. Thus he gained Lord Bolton's trust and became Roose's closest advisor (do we know of any other advisor of Roose, besides, and even that is improbable, Walton Steelshanks?).
Roose rewarded Qyburn handsomely, by sending him to King's Landing as Jaime's savior, paving the way for Qyburn's rise in King's Landing, while the other Brave Companions were abandoned to a doomed occupation of Harrenhal. Qyburn did not start his carreer in necromancy in King's Landing. What did he do in Harrenhal? Did he join the Brave Companions to have access to Harrenhal?
There are good reasons to believe that Harrenhal holds secrets of interest for the North. Consider Old Nan's stories.
QuoteShe remembered Old Nan’s stories of the castle built on fear. Harren the Black had mixed human blood in the mortar, Nan used to say,And Harren had some familiarity with the Wall since his brother was Lord Commander of the Watch at the time. It's not clear whether the magic of the Wall had any influence on the building of Harrenhal. If it has (as suggested by the fact that it appears in old Nan stories), the principle of its construction might be the same than for the oldest castles in the North: the Nightfort and its likely contemporary, the Dreadfort (speculation based purely on the similarity of names). In any case, Harrenhal see***inked to blood magic.
Among the former owners of Harrenhal,
Quote[Jaime] found himself remembering tales he had first heard as a child at Casterly Rock, of mad Lady Lothston who bathed in tubs of blood and presided over feasts of human flesh within these very walls.In the Sworn Sword, Egg describes Shiera Seastar practicing the same thing to retain her youth and beauty.
Quote"...Did they dance with demons and practice the black arts?”
“Lady Shiera does. Lord Bloodraven’s paramour. She bathes in blood to keep her beauty.
Once thing has consistently struck observers of Lord Bolton: his extraordinarily youthful appearance (Reek, ADwD).
QuoteThough Roose had been in battles, he bore no scars. Though well past forty, he was as yet unwrinkled, with scarce a line to tell of the passage of time. His lips were so thin that when he pressed them together they seemed to vanish altogether. There was an agelessness about him, a stillness; on Roose Bolton’s face, rage and joy looked much the same.
It's time to offer a speculation: Roose Bolton is a sorcerer. Some Dark Arts, which might include the leeching, are preserving his youth.
(*) Note about leeching: there seems to be two kind of leeches: the black ones and the translucent ones, both are appropriate for leeching humans. It seems that Roose switched from the black variety to the larger translucent type after meeting Qyburn. Significance?

Lord Bolton III: Lady Dustin
Lady Dustin is the sister-in-law of Roose Bolton. Consequently she knows him well. I think she knows even better than she ought to. When we first meet her, Roose returns from a short round trip from Barrow Hall to Barrowton, bringing back Theon that he had taken from Ramsay (Ramsay stayed in Barrowton since he is persona non grata in Barrowhall). She has a curious way to address Roose when he comes to see her:
Quote“Who is this?” she said. “Where is the boy? Did your bastard refuse to give him up? Is this old man his ... oh, gods be good, what is that smell? Has this creature soiled himself?”
Note the lack of politeness. No "My Lord", not even "Lord Bolton". Roose Bolton is a great Lord, and the Warden of the North. Lady Dustin should have addressed her liege lord properly.
The significance of this has just been highlighted a few page before. Here is Ramsay to Roose about the other Northern Lords
Quote“You are the Warden of the North. Command them.”
and there is the little lecture Roose gave Theon.
Quote“M’lord.” Bolton’s lips parted just enough to show a quarter inch of teeth. It might have been a
smile.
“—my lord, when you should have said m’lord. Your tongue betrays your birth with every word you say. If you want to sound a proper peasant, say it as if you had mud in your mouth, or were too stupid to realize it was two words, not just one.”
Hence we know Roose pays attention to the manner of speech of other people and to the way he is spoken to. Similarly, in Harrenhal, he tells Arya:
Quote“You will call me my lord when you speak to me, Nan,” the lord said mildly.
I see two explanations for this dialogue: either Lady Dustin and Roose are so intimate that they do not address formally to each other, like husband and wife do (yes, possibly lovers or former lovers) or Lady Dustin is so dominant in their association that she can talk down to him. Here is the rest of the dialogue, which seems to confirm this proximity (note that Roose speaks properly).
Quote“He has been with Ramsay. Lady Barbrey, allow me to present the rightful Lord of the Iron Islands, Theon of House Greyjoy.”
No, he thought, no, don’t say that name, Ramsay will hear you, he’ll know, he’ll know, he’ll hurt me.
Her mouth pursed. “He is not what I expected.”
“He is what we have.”
“What did your bastard do to him?”
“Removed some skin, I would imagine. A few small parts. Nothing too essential.” “Is he mad?”
“He may be. Does it matter?”We never learn why Barbrey wanted to see Theon at that point. It seems clear that Roose and Barbrey have plotted something that involves him. I guess it is the role of "closest male relative of Arya Stark" that Theon will play for the marriage. But does it justify presenting Theon specifically to Lady Dustin?
I have no strong opinion yet on whether Lady Dustin is really an ally of Roose. It's often assumed that she is not, because of Domeric's death. I wouldn't be surprised if Roose told her that his former maester is responsible for the death, which would go well along the professed hate of Lady Dustin for the maesters. We hear Lady Dustin express displeasure at the way Ramsay treats "Arya" but she never blames Ramsay for the death of Domeric.
Note: Ramsay's mother, the lady of the Weepwater, looks alike Lady Dustin (both are tall and elegant unlike Fat Walda). But Ramsay himself does not look like her or his father (except for the eyes). That's a second lady who seems to have some power over Roose.

好长……懒得看

哦，上帝，哪位好心人可以帮忙翻译一下么

一笑而过