Game of Thrones season 6: Let's hear it for Iwan Rheon - Ramsay Bolton was the show’s finest antagonist
Not even a flicker of remorse or regret
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Your support makes all the difference.King Joffrey looked to have things sewn up in the "petulant, spoilt, malevolent heir" stakes in Game of Thrones, but, over the past few seasons Ramsay Bolton has become the most reviled and therefore, looking at him dispassionately, revered villain in the show.
He genuinely had me fooled when he helped Theon "escape" from imprisonment, in what was one of the most disturbing torture scenes I’ve ever seen on screen – a narrative so cruel because of how unbelievably protracted it was, Theon’s transformation into Reek being the product of days and days of physical and mental disfigurement.
After this turning point, Ramsay established himself as far and away the show’s main villain, which is no mean feat given the Seven Kingdoms is also home to the Hitler-lite Daenerys Targaryen, malicious Cersei Lannister and cowardly Walder Frey, not to mention the fiercely imposing Night King (and Machiavellian Tywin Lannister, RIP).
George R. R. Martin, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and the writing team deserve a lot of credit for this of course, but Iwan Rheon really brought their words and direction to life. A gleeful, cackling villain is nothing new of course, but Rheon portrayed Bolton with such unbelievably maniacal cheeriness, delivering the news that he’s about to peel your fingernails off with the chirpy, quotidian intonation of an invite to a tea party.
Rheon has spoken time and time again about how it isn’t easy playing, and therefore being associated with, a character who performs such despicable acts, and on Twitter this week confessed to being “very glad people can differentiate me from the character”. He didn’t hold back in any of his countless violent scenes nor shy away from the jaw-dropping events that lay on the script before him. The true mark of a good villain is how badly the characters and audience want you to die, and it's testament to Ramsay that being repeatedly punched to death was too good for him, with Jon Snow sparing him so his sister could have his face literally eaten by dogs. And oh how fans cheered it.
Sure, the prosthetic and CGI-laden White Walkers will prove a compelling menace in Game of Thrones final seasons, but, supernatural though they may be, Ramsay’s unrelenting cruelty felt somehow even more alien, and he’ll surely remain the show’s finest bastard - in both senses of the word - when the show finally comes to an end.
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