Game Of Thrones: 8 Reasons 'Battle Of The Bastards' Is The Show's Most Overrated Episode

This isn't something you're likely to catch during a single viewing of the episode, I suppose, but rewatching 'Battle of the Bastards' you might notice that something about Ramsay Bolton isn't quite right. That's to say, his character is a little off.

Because this episode makes Ramsay out to be some sort of elite military tactician with a knack for staging large-scale battles; somebody whose unparalleled skill and intelligence, according to Sansa, is to be feared by all who oppose him.

Thing is, that's never been a huge part of Ramsay's character. You can give the guy credit for the way he aided the defeat of Stannis' army during the Battle of Winterfell, but he had a major advantage and Stannis' army was already weak. This also wasn't necessarily portrayed as "smart" as much as it was "reckless and lucky," because ultimately it resulted in the loss of his most powerful political asset: Sansa Stark.

In reality, Ramsay is a psychopath who consistently makes terrible decisions that almost always come back to haunt him; he loves to act on a whim. Nothing about Ramsay's behaviour across four seasons of Game of Thrones has necessarily established him as a great "leader," per se - he's brave, but he lacks honour.

Suddenly Roose Bolton's bastard son is being talked up by Sansa as a great battle commander; one who manages to devise a great plan to defeat Jon Snow and company that would have succeeded had the Knights of the Vale not turned up. But it just doesn't ring true: the Ramsay we all know (and love) frequently makes terrible decisions because he's unable to control his crazy, perverted impulses.