Ramsay Bolton (Knight Of The Laughing Tree)

Myranda (Lover, Betrothed)

**Ser Ramsay Bolton,** Formerly **Ramsay Snow,** is the legitimized bastard son of Roose Bolton, Lord of the Dreadfort, and the unidentified wife of a miller. Before the War of the Five Kings, Ramsay became a close friend to Jon Snow, a hedge knight and supposed bastard son of Ned Stark.

This story plays with the idea of Jon Snow being sent south to squire to Brynden Tully at Catelyn's urging, with him spending his teenage years between Riverrun and The Eyrie, occasionally spending time under Jon Arryn's tutelage as well. In this story Jon discovers his true heritage from Lord Arryn, who is depicted as having been aware of his parentage from the beginning, leading to Jon, after being knighted, to take his mother's moniker of "The Knight of The Laughing Tree" in her honor, becoming a famed tourney knight travelling Westeros while secretly using the events to gather allies, with the intention of overthrowing Joffrey when he takes the throne. Before this can happen, however, Euron Greyjoy begins a campaign that becomes know as "The Crow's Eye" raids, with Jon finding himself becoming centrally involved in the conflict, along with the friends he's made along the way, Gendry Waters and a sane Ramsay Snow.

## Abilities

**High-Level Intellect/Master Tactician**: Through his experience in the Crow's Eye Raids conflict, Ramsay became an impressive talented strategist and battle commander, outsmarting Euron Greyjoy at the battle of Dragonstone, effectively bringing the conflict to an end by driving his fleet towards Duskendale, where Euron met his end. During the War Of The Five Kings, Ramsay led a contingent of the Northern forces, primarily facing off against Kevan Lannister, who vocally came to respect Ramsay as a commander.

* **Master Tracker:** Through long experience as a hunter, Ramsay is a very skilled tracker, even beyond the abilities of his friend Jon Snow, who has referred to him as the best tracker in the Seven Kingdoms.
* **Master Interrogator/Torturer** Taught from a young age by his father, Ramsay is an extremely skilled torturer, being well versed in human anatomy, making him very knowledgable about how to draw out pain longer. Through his time shadowing Varys in the Red Keep, Ramsay has also learned a great deal about psychological interrogation, learning how to get answers out of prisoners without causing physical pain.
* **Expert Animal-trainer:** Through a life-long affinity for dogs, Ramsay is an effective trainer, both for hunting and for war. He is also apparently a capable raven trainer as well, as mentioned by Domeric.
* **Multilingual:** Through his travels throughout Westeros and Essos, Ramsay has picked up a number of languages, learning some dialects of Ghiscari and Low Valyrian fluently, and having some degree of understanding of High Valyrian and Dothraki.
* **Skilled Physician:** Due to his extensive knowledge of anatomy, Ramsay is also capable as a surgeon, effectively saving Gendry Waters from a life threatening wound during the battle of Tarth.
* **Expert Spy:** Through his shadowing of Varys, Ramsay is highly capable at deception, suprisingly easily fooling his father Roose Bolton, an infamously sharp man, into believing Ramsay loyal to him when preparing to betray the Starks to the Lannisters, which later proved his undoing and saved the Stark's lives during the Red Wedding.

**Expert hand-to-hand combatant:** A survivor of the Crow's Eye Raids conflict, Ramsay fought the Ironborn many times, eventually becoming an impressively skilled unarmed combatant.

* **Expert Swordsman**: Though not on the level of either Jon or Gendry, Ramsay is still and impressive swordman, brutally defeating many Ironborn in battle and briefly holding his own against Euron Greyjoy during the battle of Dragonstone before being disarmed, as well as notably matching the skill of Victarion Greyjoy during the battle of Duskendale, earning the Ironborn Commander's respect.
* **Master Archer**: A long time passion, Ramsay is an incredibly skilled bowman, being considered to be one of the greatest archers in Westeros by many who witnessed his skill during the Ironborn Raids, such as Barristan Selmy.
* **Master Knife-wielder:** Being his weapon of choice, Ramsay is an exceedingly skilled knife fighter, usually wielding two in battle with great lethal efficiency.

**Expert of Stealth/Infiltration:** Through many operation during the Ironborn Raids Ramsay is highly skilled in stealth and subterfuge, assisting Jon in his infiltration of Harrenhal to rescue his sister Arya.

**Indomitable Will/High Pain Tolerance/Expert Survivor:** Enduring weeks of torture at the hands of the Ironborn at The Whispers, Ramsay show a great deal of willpower, eventually mustering enough strength to escape with the help of Jon Snow.