Curtain Call: Iwan Rheon 

♪ Ding dong the bastard’s dead. Which bastard? The Bolton bastard. Ding dong the Bolton bastard’s dead ♪

It finally happened! At the end of “Battle of the Bastards,” Ramsay Bolton was dispatched in the most poetically gruesome manner imaginable.

After being beaten to a bloody pulp, Ramsay regained consciousness in the dog kennels with Sansa 

staring at him through the bars. After a brief exchange in which she affirmed that she has survived his abuse while he will be lost to history, she watched as his own hounds ate him alive.

It wasn’t the “death by dragon” that Iwan Rheon had hoped for but it was “epically nasty” and a well-earned, thoroughly satisfying end for such a despicable character.

Regardless of the controversy that surrounded parts of Ramsay’s storyline, Iwan Rheon deserves immense recognition (ideally in the form of an Emmy, but … oh well) for his portrayal of the bastard of Bolton.

He imbued a potentially lugubrious villain with a maniacal joy that set Ramsay apart from his villainous predecessor, Joffrey, and charged every scene he appeared in with a frenetic energy that made our skin crawl and set even the most casual viewer on edge.

The great irony about Iwan Rheon, though, is that, prior to

I first heard about Rheon back in 2009 when he played the high-strung, suicidal teenager, Moritz Stiefel, in the original London cast of

, for which he won a Laurence Olivier Award. Shortly afterwards, he was cast in the hit series,

, as the painfully shy juvenile delinquent with powers of invisibility, Simon Bellamy.

, Rheon appeared in a number of films and television shows, most notably

, a multi-camera sitcom in which he played Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi’s sweet, naïve neighbor, Ash.

He’s also a singer-songwriter and released his first album

last year, which included a duet with his brother, Aled Rheon.

With all that in mind, it’s a testament to the power of his performance as Ramsay that many fans now struggle to picture him playing anything but a villain.

“I want to try and move away from bad guys because I really fear being typecast,” Rheon said in an interview with the Independent. “Because Ramsay is the first role like that I’ve ever played and it’s a bit annoying it’s the one that everyone knows. I’d hate that it would just be that… I wouldn’t want to be an actor anymore.”

His upcoming roles include a soldier driven to paranoia by isolation in the science-fiction horror film, 

and young Hitler applying for art school in the dark comedy,

t, which Rheon has described as his most challenging role yet.

So, it doesn’t look like he’ll be wanting for variety any time soon. Though his performance as Ramsay Bolton will surely leave a lasting and haunting impression on

, I’m looking forward to watching Rheon play a wide range of characters moving forward. It’s a testament to the versatility of his filmography thus far (as well as his charisma as an individual) that, despite the extremity of Ramsay’s personality, fans can separate him from his character.

I’m very touched by all your lovely messages….and very glad people can differentiate me from the character. Thank you

He’s a brilliant actor with the rare ability to so fully inhabit extremes in human nature, from panicked timidity to sadistic joy, that it’s difficult to believe it’s the same man playing all these roles. He deserves to be recognized as such.

Have you already read all the books and/or don\'t care about spoilers? You can reveal/hide all the spoilers in the comments with the click of the buttons below.

Place the spoiler remarks inside this short code:

Remove the extra spaces between the word spoiler and the brackets, and the front slash and brackets before publishing your comment.

Love the actor though, Misfits is still one of my fav shows. He played Ramsay perfect.

Thank the maker above. Getting bored of Sansa debate.

Iwan Rheon is one of favourite actors, and I will write a bit, more then usual, shortly!

Iwan Rheon’s facial expressions are in such a class of their own they deserve their own award. Bravo, Iwan! I won’t miss the bastard, but I will miss you.

Iwan absolutely elevated the material he was often given, putting such a unique spin on line delivery and presence that he quickly became my favorite actor on the show, and one of my favorite villain performances since Ledger’s Joker.

In his final scene alone, I would put the way he delivered “Hello, Sansa” against any of the actors with Emmy nominations for their work.

I don’t think any of us will miss Ramsay, but I’ll sure as hell miss Iwan Rheon. Here’s to a great career ahead!

I look forward to seeing him in roles which don’t make me hate him.

I hated Ramsay. I loathed Ramsay. I not only wanted him to die, but after all the suffering, I wanted him to die horribly. I’m a peaceful person and yet this character I wanted to suffer so much because he needed his comeuppance…

Part of that was because of the writing. But the biggest part of that was because Iwan Rheon was incredible in this role. I’ve seen him in other things like Vicious where he couldn’t be further from Ramsay, so it’s a testament to some amazing acting that he got us to loathe him more than we ever hated Joffrey or Roose. Bravo.

Thank you Iwan Rheon for your potray of Ramsay Bolton. You were marvelous.

Oh man, I rewatched last night and Iwan was absolutely at the top of his game in Battle of the Bastards. That Evil, Sadistic, grin of his was completely Terrifying, and Chilling… and yet somehow funny (?) at the same time. And the extent to which he keeps it up even when things are quite clearly lost is an interesting choice. Just, Bravo Iwan. By the end, I hated Ramsey

more than Joffery. Perfectly done. 🙂

People say Ramsay was a one-note villain but man if he didn’t have one of my favorite scenes of the series when Roose named him an official Bolton. Iwan did a wonderful job of showing the depth of the character in that scene. Ramsay was a psychopathic monster, but he also had deep rooted insecurities regarding his place in society. Too bad that wasn’t explored more. But either way that isn’t on Iwan. He nailed the material he was given.

Sorry, but all the major GoT actors will forever be associated with their GoT characters. They are just too iconic now.

They’ll take different roles, but Iwan will always be Ramsay to people, Sophie will always be Sansa, Kit will always be Jon ****ing Snow.

I’m really gonna miss him, ever since joff death he’s been the major “Villain” in the show, but I guess the HS and the NK will fight for that title now.

nonetheless I’m still gonna need this 😀 it’s cheaper than therapy…

The show isn’t as good without Ramsay, Joffrey, Roose or Tywin. I’ll miss that dude’s special brand of chaos.

Iwan’s a wonderful actor. As iconic as Ramsay is, he was great as Simon and Moritz and other roles too, and I have faith he’ll keep on making a big impression.

Thanks for being a gleefully evil fuck all these years, Iwan. We’ll miss you.

I never admitted this but I have always found him hot. Even as Ramsay.

Iwan Rheon is an incredibly gifted and committed actor who managed to fully bring this despicable character to life. As an excellent musician as well, I am certain that he will keep making everyone around the world fall in love with his acting and his voice. He truly deserves to be recognised as one of the best of our generation. Wish him all the best and if he happens to read this, WE LOVE YOY IWAN! Thank you for being our favourite villain in our favourite show.

On man, Iwan, I have tried to rewatch ep9 and one of the reasonsI find so difficult is that I can’t stand to watch that face. Which means he did something extremely well.

I sincerely wish him gentler roles. He is a terrific actor.

I admit it now lol. He is not only an amazing actor but a really handsome man as well.

LOLs were so ashamed cause we found someone so evil, so hot! hahaha

Knowing you, it is probably because he originally auditioned to be Jon Snow. You do not have Ramsay issues, you just have serious Jon Snow issues. That’s better, imo!

Kudos Iwan, job well done. Loved to hate ya!

I think I still have Jack as my favorite most hated character.

I will never forget the whole thing with Theon and Ramsay at the beginning, during season three, when we didn’t know who this guy was. It was such a huge mystery, my sister and I had our heads scratching for weeks. Like ACTUALLY

I didn’t know he auditioned for Jons role first!

Iwan Rheon is a great actor and will be missed. It was great loving to hate him.

Iwan is great. I hope we see more of him and playing a likeable character … Ramsay was such a horrible character. His smiles while throwing arrows to Rickon were sick and also while Jon was punching him … Glad the character is dead and in such a deserving way …

The scene where he killed Roose was amazing too. Loved the touch that, for once, his hands were shaking after he killed someone.

What he did with Ramsay is simply outstanding in my opinion.

He took a caricature and turned him into a credible villian. Still a pshyco though!

From the moment we see him I started falling in love with his acting. The way he alternates from sadist who enjoys just beating his victims to cold calculated, when he plays with the victims mind.

One of my favourite moments where were hi will act nice. That is what it was in the end a ”act” and Ramsay knew it was a act, he never believed he was good but he acted that way perfectly. Fooling Walda and many, many others.

He enjoyed the killing and torture but knew how to hide it and seem like a normal human being. All of this is thanks to Iwan.

His relationship with his father is among my favourite. This is the only time Ramsay is genuine. This is when the monster, who tortures, rapes…etc. turns into a little 5 year old, who want only one thing, his fathers aprovel and love.

This is why he is so hurt, when Roose says he isn’t a Bolton. Because this is the only thing that matters to him.

That is why he takes MC, to prove himself, to show his father he is worthy of the Bolton banner and name and more important to prove that he is worthy of his fathers admiration.

All of this is clearly and lovely showed in Iwan’s acting. The eyes when his father says he isn’t a Bolton. The voice when he tells his father MC is his and when Roose finally makes him a Bolton. All superb acting.

When he finally kills Roose, a fitting end to their relationship, it is again a hallmark of great acting from Iwan.

This all starts in S5 when we see Ramsay much more ”relaxed”, much more confident, because he has achieved his desires.

Everything starts falling when he finds Walda is pregnant. Then his world is shaken to the core.

He finally does the unthinkable and kills Roose. Before he does it he again tells his father how much his approval matters to him. Then, to protect his position and future.

He stabs his father, the only man he ever loved. And the pain is clear. He cannot look at his father when he dies, he cannot bring himself to look into his eyes, something he never does, he always enjoyed seeing his victims suffer but his father? He cannot.

He is visibly shaken, he trambles, he says nothing. His hands tramble when he cleans the blood on his knife, which didn’t happen with Osha for example.

His voice is broken as he tells the Maester his father was killed be their enemies.

But in the end Ramsay was a pshycopat. Who didn’t truly have feelings for other people, except his father, and that is clear in his relationship with Theon and Sansa.

He completely breaks Theon, both physically and mentally and tried to do the same with Sansa, thankfully he failed with the later.

I know I may have talked a bit to much about Ramsay and not Iwan. But to me all this moments are a showcase of Iwan’s amazing talent, that he managed to create a believable character out of someone who could have easly been a caricature.

In the end, I cheered and was filled with joy at Ramsay’s demise but I was also sad, because this means Iwan will leave the show.

I thank him for everything he brought to the show, will miss him dearly, not Ramsay though, can we bring Iwan back like we did Dean? No?…….

I watched couple other of his projects and enjoyed them greatly. Misfits was very good and will eagerly await to see him in more projects in the future!

In fairness he is a very good looking chap! That last picture of him above shows how cute he is in real life and that’s ok – you know how to differentiate! 🙂

By far the longest comment I ever wrote. Another proof of my love and admiration that I have for Iwan!

First of all, when I saw the lyric at the top, it immediately reminded me of

THIS. But enough of that. Let’s focus on Ramsay Snow, the bastard of the Dreadfort… pardon, I mean Ramsay Bolton, former Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.

I can admit that I was utterly disgusted by Ramsay in the books and I was really really worried how would he translate to the screen. His book scenes are worthy of any horror movie. This may sound a bit harsh but I always had a feeling that after Joffrey’s death, GRRM wanted to create the worst villain possible (the type of villains I don’t usually enjoy)

Well, Ramsay on the screen was also the worst villain at the moment but I can say, that I was positively surprised by him. Yes, he performed terrible acts and he had the most sucess of all villains (save maybe Tywin) but he still seemed like a real person to me – a psychopath, but a person, which I can’t admit for his book counterpart.

Even more than his villainous scenes I enjoyed the other scenes – the calmer ones such as those prior to Theon’s imprisonment or Sansa/Ramsay scenes. These indicated that Ramsay was a great actor. The scene when Theon makes a confession to him (And Now His Watch Is Ended) is one of my favorite ones and much praise goes to Iwan Rheon for his believable performance as a “supporting protagonist” and then turning into complete psychopath just moments later.

Behind all this, there was still a tiny bit of human left in Ramsay. Among these scenes was the one, when lord Bolton reveals him that he was legitimized, or the one when he sees Myranda’s death body (although with “feed her to my dogs” he turned back into old Ramsay). After all, he wanted to prove himself to his father and I wonder what would his father say about him during the Battle of the Bastards.

If I say a few words about his end, it was like my dreams coming true – Sansa was the one to deal the final blow and it was a satisfying ending for his character.

To conclude, I think Ramsay Bolton was a hell of a character to play and all my praise goes to Iwan Rheon for his outstanding and convincing portrayal and interpretation of this character, which was brought to life from the novels in completely new form.

Sad that Westeros lost one of their finest military commanders. The bullheaded Starks didn’t deserve to win the battle….Westeros will be a dull place without you, Ramsay, you sweet innocent Bastard child of Bolton.

But jokes apart, I would rate Iwan’s portrayal of Ramsay Bolton second only to Charles Dance’s interpretation of Tywin Lannister. Ramsay had such a commanding screen presence, and couple that with the sinister Bolton music sent chills down my spines…Brilliant actor who played his part to absolute perfection. You will be sorely missed. PS: Hoping Mellisandre brings him back to life

Iwan did a bang-up job of being our favorite villain. I wanted Ramsay to die a terrible death, but I must say I will miss him. He definitely kept us all on our toes. Great job to a great actor!

Great post and pretty much my thoughts as well.

I was afraid it will be too long and people won’t read it! 🙂

Also completly agree with you that he is much, much better in the show and that is mostly thanks to Iwan.

Barry did an incredible job as Ramsay and I’ll miss him. Cant wait to see him in something else. Plus I really need to look at that McKellen/Jacobi show mentioned in the Curtain Call.

He did an amazing job playing a part I kinda believe he was slightly miscast in.

Hes got loads of talent and screen presence, and really was great to watch.

Wow I was going to say that was one of biggest comments you made but you already said it..

Iwan was just perfection in his role..he was ramsey until the last moment and his facial expressions and crazy eyes sole how psycho he really is ..

I will say this about iwan…i cant picture anyone other than kit as jon …but i wonder how iwan would have played him..

He didn’t beg for mercy, he didn’t laugh like a crazy person. He did what Ramsay always did, he tried to play with Sansa’s mind.

Again the acting was simply amazing and Iwan knocked it.

Thrilled Ramsay is gone, bummed that Iwan is. He brought the character to life and I hope he gets fun new roles down the road.

He really did an awesome job with the character. Like him, I hope he can avoid being typecast. He definitely has the talent and range for many different types of rolls. I just hope that views can see past the great job he did in this – which is such a hugely popular show – and he gets many chances at different roles.

I’m not sure if someone already likened this, but at the end of BotB as Ramsey was tied up in the kennel, it reminded me a bit of Silence of the Lambs. “Hello Clarice”……”Hello Sansa”. Very good, quality villainy.

I’m sure you have a bright future ahead of you!

Iwan is an incredible actor and so versatile. Just take a look at him in Spring awakening. What a voice and what presence.

It may take a little while to shake off Ramsay but he’s too good an actor not to create other memorable roles.

Very, very stupid question. OT and again really stupid.

I found a RollingStone article about Ramsay but can’t open the entire article……… If anyone would tell me how I would appreciate it. I would also appreciate if you didn’t laugh at my stupidity…….. but who am I kidding, even I laughed at my stupidity..

I want my firstborn named Ramsey. let’s hope it’s a boy, or she will be in trouble at school!

Just kidding. I was able to normaly open it. I’m not sure what is the problem

He’s a great actor, it takes a certain type of guy play an evil character. He’s also responsible for some pretty funny moments. I love the look on his face when Miranda get’s jealous.

“You can see that your presence has become a bit of a problem.” LOL

I think Ramsay will end up being the biggest death of this season.

Well I have the same problem almost all of the episode reviewe this season..

When i click them i only see a blank screen

I click on the article but it’s just the photo… and comments.

Could you try giving me a link, Luka did that last episode and it worked fine….

People say Ramsay was a one-note villain but man if he didn’t have one of my favorite scenes of the series when Roose named him an official Bolton.

Yeah, Ramsay was largely one-note villain but that’s the script and that’s the character from the books as well. Rheon acted what he was given amazingly, especially the scenes with Ramsay and Roose were great because they put a bit of humanity in the character of Ramsay. Not the biggest fan of such a character in a largely non-blackandwhite story as this, but now when I think of Ramsay I think of Rheon.

Excellent work – it was always difficult to remember that you were just acting when I wanted to reach through the screen and rip that smirk off your face.

It’s not blank, I just see the cover photo and then the comments…. As I said, the reason is probaly me being a idiot….

Oh, I totally forgot to mention my absolute favorite GoT quote that came from Ramsay’s mouth and which on top of that doesn’t even exist in the books. I usually use it against the comments like “

Jon & Daenerys will marry, rule the Seven Kingdoms together and Tyrion will be their Hand

If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention!

Nope, still the same… Only the cover photo and nothing else…

Oh than its different from my problem.. I haven’t read not even one of the reviews this season.

“Hold the door” – From my perspective, no one can surpass that death this season.

Simply amazing work from Iwan, I loved and hated him every second he was on screen!

I will say this about iwan…i cant picture anyone other than kit as jon …but i wonder how iwan would have played him..

You’ll be remembered ! But dont worry, not as a typecast psycho but as a tremendously talented actor !

No one does crazy-dreadful-yet vulnerable quite like Iwan—-thank you for bringing Ramsay to life! Good luck with everything–we’ll be watching!

One of last *true* villains of the show is gone. I know we all wanted Joffrey to die and many wanted Tywin to die but when they did, it left a bit of a villain vacuum. Ramsay filled it quite nicely but with him gone, we’ve only really got Walder Frey and some other more gray area villains and something tells me Walder’s not long for this world. 😀

Cheers to Iwan for being a villain we loved to hate.

Iwan, you beautiful man. Simon, Ash, Ramsay, love them all. Amazing voice as well, especially singing in his native Welsh. 😊 Ramsay and Roose will be sorely missed. In my top 5 actors from GoT, and if you love British programming as I do, you’ve already seen how versatile he is. Thanks, Iwan!

He rose from a bastard to the warden of the North. He played a loving husbad to his lady, a good lord to his smallfolk, collector of taxes and a brilliant military mind.

He died a tragic death at the hand of his doublecrossing evil wife and her simple minded always pouting bastard-brother.

Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 9 – Battle of the Bastards – Open Chat ( 1,077 )

[Updated!] New photos from Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 9 “Battle of The Bastards" ( 981 )

Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 9 – Battle of the Bastards Recap ( 927 )

Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 9 "Battle of the Bastards" Written Recap Round-Up ( 375 )

Behind the Battle of the Bastards, and what else we can expect ( 373 )

Sophie Turner, Iwan Rheon and Gemma Whelan chat about the major events of "Battle of the Bastards"

Game of Thrones stars reportedly in salary negotiations for the final seasons

Give us your thoughts from “Battle of the Bastards" through "The Winds of Winter"

Hoyti Von Totiy on Curtain Call: Iwan Rheon

dragonbringer on Game of Thrones stars reportedly in salary negotiations for the final seasons

Lord Parramandas on Curtain Call: Iwan Rheon

ForestLight on Sophie Turner, Iwan Rheon and Gemma Whelan chat about the major events of “Battle of the Bastards”