I thought every lord had to be trained in the practice of sword...so they would have a strong physique...why Roose seems so small and delicate? Explanations?
why Roose seems so small and delicate? Explanations?
Despite his soft voice, Roose is not exactly "small and delicate" - this is what we know about his physique:
It was almost evenfall when the new master of Harrenhal arrived. He had a plain face, beardless and ordinary, notable only for his queer pale eyes. Neither plump, thin, nor muscular, he wore black ringmail and a spotted pink cloak. - Arya IX, aCoK
Which sounds like an average man's build. He is never explicitly described as being either short or tall, so he is probably of middling height. He also is not a young man anymore.
Though well past forty, [Roose] was as yet unwrinkled, with scarce a line to tell of the passage of time. - Reek II, aDwD
I thought every lord had to be trained in the practice of sword...so they would have a strong physique...
Sword training is usually part of a lord's education, and we also have a textual implication that Roose has been trained or at least has some experience because he knows how to judge swordfighting:
"Bulls are strong. Bears. I have seen my bastard fight. He is not entirely to blame. Reek was his tutor, the first Reek, and Reek was never trained at arms. Ramsay is ferocious, I will grant you, but he swings that sword like a butcher hacking meat." - Reek III, aDwD
He also owns a suit of armor and weapons:
Back where the press was thickest at the center of the column rode a man armored in dark grey plate over a quilted tunic of blood-red leather. - Reek II, aDwD
She could hear the sand shifting around inside as Elmar pried open the lid and pulled out a chainmail hauberk. "Do you think it's clean enough?" As Roose Bolton's squire, it was his task to keep his mail shiny bright. - Arya X, aCoK
Bolton buckled on his belt, adjusting the hang of sword and dagger. - Arya X, aCoK
However, this does not necessarily mean that Roose is a great physical fighter himself; just that he has enough experience to know what proper fighting looks like (like how people say, "you dont need to be an artist to critique art"). If he was trained at arms in his youth and watched many people fight in his life, he would be able to judge another fighter's prowess. A suit of armor is also necessary to command status and respect in a military context, even if he prefers to command from the back. Roose is an able and confident military commander.
Apparently, his age is also already seen as "getting old" in-universe:
"My father [Gulian Swann] is an old man, my lord. Well past forty. His fighting days are done." - Jaime VIII, aSoS
So with Roose being the same age, he would have aged out of the prime fighting days in any case.
We also get the implication that even in his youth, he probably never risked his life in 1:1 battle or got into any serious confrontation, since he has no scars to tell of it (which the text deliberately contrasts with his battle experience):
Though Roose had been in battles, he bore no scars. - Reek II, aDwD
The text also never makes note of his fighting abilities, and no character ever comments on his skill at arms; usually he is instead noted by others for his cunning and caution. He does not have the trained body of a regular fighter (being described as "soft", contrasting characters like Tywin), and he has a cautious personality and stays out of danger, making it appear that he does not enjoy the thrill of physical 1:1 battle and prefers other hobbies in his freetime; seemingly not honing the craft much beyond his assumed youth's training and keeping a layman's knowledge for the hunt and self-defense. Since nobility is inherited, a lord does not need to actually be the physically strongest in his land as long as he can still project his authority, which Roose is able to do; and for actual physical fighting lords have guardsmen and soldiers.
We do know that he enjoys the hunt, which provides an opportunity to kill and use his weaponry in a more controlled context that does not endanger his life the way warring and swordfighting does (as hunting was a popular sport for nobles).
"I will hunt today," Roose Bolton announced as Qyburn helped him into a quilted jerkin. - "Is it safe, my lord?" Qyburn asked. "Only three days past, Septon Utt's men were attacked by wolves. They came right into his camp, not five yards from the fire, and killed two horses." - "It is wolves I mean to hunt. I can scarcely sleep at night for the howling." - Arya X, aCoK
The hunting of hart was most frequently done with the help of hounds, called hunting “par force”. In this method, the lay of the hart was found and then hounds were used by a hunting party to corner down or tire the harts in the chase. Once the hart was slow enough, the leading man of the hunting party would kill it with sword or spear. Boars and wolves were two other notable animals which were hunted in a similar fashion. - medievalchronicles
While we have many lords that enjoy warfare and tournaments and built a reputation as fearsome fighters, we also have plenty of lords that are strategists and readers or otherwise not martial for plenty of reasons including personality, illness/disability and age; and more who are just mediocre swordsmen or excel in other areas. Being martially talented is advantageous in a patriarchal society as it shows masculinity and strength, however there are other qualities that can make someone be respected as well, as long as they dont appear pathetic or weak. Ned for example was a powerful lord, even if he wasn’t the strongest swordsman in his family.
My assumption is that training at arms is part of the standard education for a young noble, since it is an expected skill for a man in their patriarchal society; Being able to handle a sword is useful in many situations, and a lord is also expected to lead his men to war and thus have some martial knowledge as well as project a certain strong/masculine image. However, if a lord becomes a great swordsman/tourney fighter or just stays at a basic/mediocre level seems to depend on his own personality and if he has a passion for the craft (though there can be other factors influencing his decision, like expectations from his family).
[Since Roose is not a PoV and we know little about his past and nothing about his childhood, this meta has a lot of speculation that could be contradicted in future books. But from the Information we know, these are the conclusions i draw for characterization.]
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