SPOILERS for last night’s episode of Game of Thrones, “Battle of the Bastards.”
Jon Snow’s man-bun was activated and Sansa Stark played her best strategy, appealing to Littlefinger and the Knights of the Vale to save the day. So at the end of the episode, we had to say goodbye to Ramsay Bolton, the Terror of the North, a bastard who has committed infanticide, patricide, rape, torture and more. But by all accounts, the actor who played Ramsay, Iwan Rheon, was a nice guy and well-liked by producers, directors and cast. He’s just a good actor who was great at playing a total psycho. Following a high-profile GoT death, Entertainment Weekly and/or NY Magazine often run “exit interviews” with the actors. And I always read them, although I rarely cover them. I didn’t cover Hodor’s exit interviews honestly because I was so heartbroken and I’m still torn up about it. But saying goodbye to Ramsay is something I wish I could do every day! You can read Rheon’s full EW exit interview here. Here are some highlights:
Getting the call that Ramsay was going to die: “I had received half the scripts, five episodes, then I got the call. They joked, “Isn’t it great Ramsay ends up on the Iron Throne?” As soon as they said that I said, “He’s dead isn’t he?” It’s cool. I’ve had four lovely seasons here. It’s been great to be involved with such an amazing show. I think it’s kind of right he goes down. Because what else is he going to do after this? He’s done so many things. It’s justified and it’s the right thing to do. It’s the right path. He’s reached his peak. It’s nice for the audience that he goes out on this high, if you will.
Saying no to a one-on-one with Jon Snow: “It’s actually quite intelligent of Ramsay. He would like to fight him. Jon Snow tries to wind him up. But Jon would probably beat him and he knows that. Ramsay knows Jon is an amazing swordsman. Ramsay might win, he might get lucky, but he knows he’s got twice as many soldiers so he’s like, “I don’t have to, you’re all dead.” And without the knights of the Vale, it would have been over.
Ramsay should not have lost the battle: “But I do think it’s just and it’s right. I’m glad it happens as a fan of the show. Jon Snow needs to win because otherwise there’s no hope left in the world. But it is interesting that it isn’t fair. And afterward, Ramsay still thinks he’s won. He’s so arrogant and self-assured he thinks he’ll still be fine — until the last minute. He always thinks he’s going to be okay.
Ramsay’s tiered death scenes: “Yeah, I feel really lucky he got a proper send off. And it’s a gruesome death. It’s so ironic. He’s been banging on about those hounds all this time.
What he’ll miss about GoT: “I think I’ll miss the coming here and seeing everyone and getting down and doing it. And I’ll miss when you pick up a script and read it and there’s always one scene in every season where I go, “Thank you so much, thank you, this is such a beauty.” And the excitement of doing that scene. Usually theres a few, but there’s one absolute immense scene. It’s going to be really odd not doing this anymore. You’re a part of something huge and you turn up and see the sets and the castles and everything. I’m going to be really I’m going to miss being a part of it.
What I enjoy about the exit interviews is that almost always, the actors are fans of the show and they loved being part of the series in whatever way. Rheon loved playing Ramsay, but he also wanted Ramsay to lose or to die because that’s what’s best for the show. Sigh… now with Ramsay gone, what’s going to happen to the North? Will Littlefinger and the Knights of the Vale stay at Winterfell to help Jon secure everything? Will the alliances Ramsay and Roose built end up biting Jon Snow in the ass? Hm…
Photos courtesy of HBO/Game of Thrones.
I’m not going to miss Ramsay. He was a good villain for a while, but then became too cartoon-ish. But, I do like Iwan Rheon. He always seemed like a cool guy.
As for the North, the houses and the alliances aren’t going to mean squat pretty soon. Their biggest challenge yet will be the White Walkers.
The White Walkers Burn & there be dragons. My question will be the role of Daeneyrs & Jon who (I believe) are 1/2 siblings. I am Team Targareyn so there is that.
I love that the dogs took out Ramsey but then I would have liked him to be brought back to life to kill him again.
Was so happy to see all 3 dragons together 🙂 sibling reunion rock!!
Dani would be Jon’s Aunt , so in the great family tradition they can marry….Targaryns operated like that
I have long given up any hope on this show but some of this series makes me want to start again. I saw bits of Sansa yesterday and I am so proud of my girl. I have waited so long for her to come to her true strength.
I absolutely hate Ramsay Bolton and I am so glad he is dead/gone. However, I love Iwan Rheon. I think he is adorable and seems really sweet. Also he is such a good sport unlike whiny little b***** Kit Harrington.
+1000
Iwan always comes across lovely, charismatic and intelligent in interviews. And he’s so handsome, too!
But yeah, happy Rasmay’s gone.
So Ash is on GOT. I know him from Vicious and he was hilarious.
I love him as the earnest neighbor to the most grumpy men on earth. So cute.
Yeeessssss! He’s delightful in Vicious, as is the whole show.
He’s adorable as Ash. A good actor
Littlefinger wants Sansa to be in control (and his wife or Robin’s) and Jon out of the picture. So…this will be interesting.
I wonder if the “inside of you” line Ramsay says is meant to mean she is pregnant? Or just that he affected her psyche.
I take that to mean that he made her the ruthless bad ass she is now becoming. She is now ready to play the game of thones!
That’s what I immediately thought. I feel like they’re just baiting fans, and I hope it’s all a mislead.
I think Sansa will be named Wardeness of the North and marry Lord BAElish. I also think he might be the one to tell Jon about his true parentage.
I really hope not. To have Sansa marry the man who orchestrated the fall of the Starks would be horrific to me. And LF would only be guessing about Jon’s parentage. I also think if LF did want Winterfell (which I think he does) Jon needs to watch his back.
I don’t think it will happen, but if it does, I’ll just be glad to see more of BAElish in the next season.
As long as the Lannisters rule Sansa will never be wardeness.
Cersei thinks she’s killed Joffrey and wants her dead. Last season she said she would name Littlefinger warden if he brought her Sansa’s head.
This was not Jon Snow’s win, this was Sansa’s win. He ignored her every warning and she was the one whose actions saved the day. Plus I don’t think Littlefinger realizes he’s not dealing with a scared child anymore.
Also, between Dany and Yara, Sansa, Lady Lyanna Mormont and Margaery and Cersei playing the game in King’s Landing, I’d say the ladies are sneaking the power right out from under the men and they haven’t even noticed yet.
Oh, Jon Snow. There were so many scenes in this episode which caused me to shout, “YOU KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW!” at the television, much to Mr. ‘Fly’s amusement.
Sooooo…it’s spelled Ramsay. Ok.
Give me an R, give me an A, give me an M, give me an S, give me an A, give me a Y and that motherf*cker finally DIED!!!
Jon Snow’s man bun has really been working for him this season. I always found him hot, but around S3 he was looking a bit bloated and ruddy. This season through he is hot AF! Like, so hot!
I want to know what products he used on that man bun. Because it stayed in place that entire battle. My hair falls out of my hair tie while running on the tread mill, lol.
blood and dirt?
Aw, I wish you had done a post with Kristian Nairn’s (HODOR) exit interview, another super nice and interesting guy.
Can’t say I’ll miss Ramsay the character, but Iwan is a talented cutie IRL. A little palette cleanser for y’all….
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TdDYMBG1g3k
I’ve had GOT on my mind the whole weekend. I watched the Cardinals/Rangers series, and every time Odor came up to bat, I had to say, “ode da door, ode da door”, and it made me sad.
The episode was really good. The only thing missing was Ghost, but he would have been killed. Wun Wun’s death was crushing, but I loved how they flipped the script from season four’s Watchers on the Wall. In that episode, the four NW heroically died keeping the giant from breeching the gate. And last night Wun Wun heroically died after the breeching of the gate. And here we are rooting for Tormund who was the bad guy back then. I love their willingness to fight and die for Jon.
And how sad was it seeing all the bolts hitting Rickon’s dead body?
My sister and I actually cheered and had a toast when Sansa let Ramsay’s hounds at him. And I was angry at Jon Snow for ignoring Sansa’s warnings, like he still thought of her as just a silly little girl. The next one I will be happy to see go is Cersi. She’s such a mean, manipulative bit@h that deserves to get what’s coming. Maybe Arya will be the one to do it.
My husband watches GoT so I only barely pay attention and I kept yelling “someone make sure he is for real dead!” And then when Sansa came down and I saw the dogs I gasped and was all “didn’t he do this exact thing to someone else? You go girl, get your revenge.”
Though I thought maybe they could have left a little snack for Ghost.
I have always hoped Arya is the valonqar.
The prophecy stated she will outlive all her children, so I suspect Cersei makes it through the next episode. She’s going to do something horrible, and Jaime will reject her, is my prediction.
I know I’m in the minority, but I love Cersei! I think everything she does is because she loves and is trying to protect her children. I don’t see her so much as a villain as I do a really involved and protective mother.
She’s now lost 2 of her 3 reasons for living and the 3rd is being used against her. Her time is coming and when it does, I will miss her.
I’ll miss her too. Lena has done an absolute phenom job playing her.
@Sherry, you may change your mind next week.
Cersei doesn’t love her children in a normal, healthy way. She’s a narcissist and she loves the fact that she sees herself in her children. She doesn’t truly love them for who they are.
I beg to politely differ on the matter of Cersei’s love for her children.
I am more into discussing this than into proving anybody wrong. There can be different opinions on a piece of art.
Cersei’s children are the only ones who love her for herself. Her deceased father loved her for her womb/breeding horse = queen and did treat her with contempt quite often. Her brother loves her for lust and because their dislike for their deceased father united them in a very unhealthy way. Her deceased husband (Robert Baratheon) didn’t love her at all, apparently, but married her for political reasons (alliance with Lannister).
Cersei’s mother died early on and apparently there was nobody who replaced her. No nurse or nanny nor any friend’s mother?
But Cersei’s children did probably not have bad intentions towards her earlier – well, so far but now: Tommen knows he practically delivered his mother when he forbade trial by combat.
I do think that Cersei’s love for her children is one of her better traits of character. And to some degree I pity her. She wants to “work” for her family but she is downgraded to breeding horse and mother. She has brains but apparently nobody ever made much of an effort to introduce her to the finer aspects of education, politics, economics, history and religion. Therefore she has a rather simplistic approach in political matters. For example she explained to Littlefinger that “power gives you power” by having him seized by her guards. This little act of violence demonstrates her helplessness as “violence is the last resort of the helpless”.(1) Those who have no idea how to get what they want or need will use violence as a case of last resort. This rather simplistic idea of politics which Cersei has do also explain her rather inept political actions. She has no allies but alienated pretty much everyone and often without need.
Cersei does have a mean streak. But I wonder where that comes from. Tywin Lannister wasn’t cruel but rather politically pragmatic in a Machiavellian way. The only exception might be his treatment of his son Tyrion.
So where did Cersei get her meanness from? I think that she might have been a very lonely little girl after her mother died. And as her education was rather deficitary and apparently she was only educated to become an eligible bride I guess that she isn’t really well-prepard for her position as Queen / Queen mother. This does probably cause a lot of insecurity and Cersei might try to hide that by being vengeful and cruel. She seems to act as if she thinks that if her subjects won’t love her they shall fear her at least.
Unfortunately her unfortunate character traits are accompanied by arrogance. This prevents her from accepting advice and from questioning the motives of the court people. Why doesn’t she see that Littlefinger gains more and more power? Why doesn’t she accept advice from a clever and well-informed man like Lord Varys? Even her brother Tyrion ( and Cersei admits that he is clever) does occasionally try to negotiate with her / advice her but to no avail. I think the same things that make Cersei lonely and insecure do also make her arrogant.
And there are more bad traits: lack of judgement and lack of development. Due to her defitiary education and her arrogance I don’t think that Cersei is willing to learn from past mistakes. Another of her mistakes is lack of judgement. She isn’t a good judge of people. She misjudges her brother Tyrion and she misjudges Littlefinger and she overestimates grandmaster Purcell for a long time. Purcell’s successor is Qyburn who is appointed by Cersei and who dabbles in forbidden things. That doesn’t look like good judgement to me.
The political events have made Cersei to react even more cruelly than she would usually. She installed a military branch of the religion in order to fight the Tyrell’s and Margaery’s growing influence at court. This military branch of the religion has turned against her. Then other things have turned out to be a mistake when Queen Oleanna told her about her lack of allies. And Cersei can’t solve her legal-religious problems by trial by combat because Tommen forbade it. So Cersei finds herself between a rock and a hard place.
It will be interesting to see how Cersei survives and how her character “develops”. So far the predictions of the witch have been correct. The witch predicted about Cersei’s children: “gold will be their crowns and gold will be their shrouds”. So perhaps Tommen will die before Cersei?
1) Roughly: “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent”, https://de.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
Yeah, the only bad thing about Ramsay’s death is having to say goodbye to Iwan, who, by all accounts, seems lovely. My dad had seen him before in several tv shows, always playing nice, shy, well-intentioned guys, and couldn’t believe they and Ramsay were all the same person!! I want good things for him, he has the talent.
On the upside maybe the odds of the rumoured Misfits reunion movie just went up. Now he can stop being indiscriminately cruel and get back to focusing on probation officers.
Worrying for Jon Snow and Sansa Stark because Ramsay’s allies might attack them???
Hello. It is politics, dear. Ramsay is dead. That alliance with him was valuable to his allies only as long as he was alive and in Winterfell. Slowly but surely Ramsay’s former allies will stretch out their hands to Snow/Stark.
A dead ally is no ally any more.