The Dreadfort

Thick stone and high walls define the Dreadfort, topped with triangular battlements that from a distance look like a row of fangs. Inside, the great hall barely lets in any light: soot-blackened beams, long tables before a raised dais, and candle-holders shaped like skeletal hands jutting from the walls.

The castle was the cradle of the Red Kings, the dynasty that ruled the Boltons through the Age of Heroes, until they agreed to bow to the Kings in the North as the Andals began arriving in Westeros. The peace didn't last forever: centuries later they rose against King Harlon Stark and held out through two years of siege before surrendering. Legend holds that the dungeons still keep the skins of old enemies, among them Stark lords who fell before that defeat, and that the Boltons themselves lie buried beneath the stones.

When Robb Stark raises his banners at Winterfell at the start of the War of the Five Kings, the Dreadfort's garrison answers the call, with Lord Roose Bolton at its head.

Word reaches Lady Donella Hornwood that Ramsay Snow, Roose Bolton's bastard son, is gathering men at the Dreadfort. It worries her — her house's lands border the Boltons'. On her way back from the harvest feast at Winterfell, Ramsay forces her into marriage.

Lord Wyman Manderly seizes Hornwood before Ramsay can claim it, and White Harbor knights clash with Dreadfort men in the nearby woods. Ser Rodrik Cassel hears of it at Winterfell but doesn't have enough men to step in.

After the sack of Winterfell, blamed on Theon Greyjoy's ironborn, Bolton's bastard carries off the surviving women and children to the Dreadfort. That much comes from a letter Lothar Frey reads aloud to King Robb at Riverrun.

From Castle Black, Maester Aemon sends a raven asking for help against the wildlings; word of it reaches the Dreadfort.

The Boltons turn on the Starks and side with the Freys in the slaughter that will be remembered as the Red Wedding. By royal decree, Roose Bolton is named Warden of the North. With much of the Bolton army stuck beyond Moat Cailin, it's Ramsay who ends up in command of the Dreadfort.

Ramsay serves as castellan of the Dreadfort. In the dungeons beneath the castle he holds Theon Greyjoy prisoner since his capture, torturing him and flaying him partway along with his men.

Arnolf Karstark writes to Stannis Baratheon claiming the Dreadfort is thinly held, barely fifty men and half of them servants. Jon Snow argues the opposite, describing a well-defended stronghold, and tips Stannis toward marching on Deepwood Motte instead.