Game of Thrones star Iwan Rheon says Ramsay was "horrible"

It's a big debate among Game of Thrones fans: which villain was worse... hideous Joffrey Baratheon or repugnant Ramsay Bolton?

In a recent poll, Digital Spy readers named Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) the biggest bastard in Westeros, with nearly double the votes of his villainous predecessor.

"I hope that he'll be right up there with the most horrible characters in the show," Rheon told The Hollywood Reporter. "I think he probably already is. But I think he's a villain with a slight difference.

Ramsay Bolton and Rickon Stark in Game of Thrones s06e09, 'Battle of the Bastards'

HBO/Helen Sloan

"What's happened, which is amazing really, is that he's not just hated. People love to hate him, which is different from what characters like Joffrey had.

"People actually enjoy Ramsay, even though they hate him. They enjoy the hatred. I think that's cool. I hope he'll stand out in that sense."

Rheon went on to argue that Ramsay should get credit for being a self-made man of evil.

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"Joffrey was all-powerful and he did things purely because he could, but he never did his own dirty work," the actor said. "Whereas Ramsay, it was a real battle for him to reach where he got - the heights of being Warden of the North.

"It was all against the odds. He's a bastard, and he had no right to be there in the world of the show. At least he does his own dirty work. I think there's something more to him."

So what's Ramsay's redeeming feature? According to the man that plays him, it's that he "does enjoy people being strong" - since he was "quite impressed" when Sansa (Sophie Turner) stood up to him.

"He's not a complete and utter scumbag. But I do think he's the kind of person who doesn't think he's going to die until the very last minute, when a dog sinks its teeth into him. He has this strange arrogance about him."