'House of the Dragon's Conflict Is Entirely Viserys' Fault
The Big Picture
- Viserys Targaryen's concern for his legacy on his deathbed shows a departure from his character in the books, highlighting the tragic vulnerability brought by Paddy Considine in House of the Dragon .
- Viserys' poor decisions and lack of action, such as marrying Alicent instead of making a beneficial alliance with the Velaryons, led to the civil war that nearly destroyed House Targaryen.
- Despite naming Rhaenyra his heir, Viserys never acted as a mentor to her, neglecting to teach her how to rule and leading to complications in her claim to the throne. His unwillingness to rename Aegon as his heir further added to the problem of succession.
“Will I be remembered as a good king?” asked a sickly Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) to his hand, Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes). On his deathbed, Viserys showed grave concerns about the heritage he’d leave behind and the manner in which history would remember him. This was an interesting departure for his character, who in the books wasn’t too worried about legacy, and was mostly content wallowing in feasts and tourneys. It’s a very subtle change, but it’s the one that makes all the difference, allowing Considine to bring tragic notes to his characters which famously tempted George R. R. Martin to rip out the pages and rewrite Viserys. And one can see why. Considine brought such captivating vulnerability to his character that one couldn’t help but sympathize with the ailing Targaryen King. But when you set aside the excellence of the actor and scrutinize the character on his own merit, you’ll see that Viserys wasn’t actually a good king and that it was his decisions, or rather the lack of them, that started the entire House of the Dragon’s conflict.
Viserys Caused the Civil War That Nearly Destroyed the Targaryens
The conflict of House of the Dragon, popularly known as the Dance of the Dragons in the lore, is a civil war between two different factions of Targaryens born out of struggle for succession. Though the conflict erupted after Viserys died, its inception was sealed the day he married Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey). While Viserys often liked to talk about things like family, duty, legacy, and the realm, he never acted in a manner that would indicate he meant any of it. No matter how ridiculous the age gap was between Viserys and Laena Velaryon (Nova Foueillis-Mosé), it was, without a doubt, the best alliance for the Targaryens and for the realm. And yet, Viserys goes against this advantageous alliance in favor of a selfish choice to marry Alicent.
After a while, Viserys goes on to birth male children from Alicient, and though he is aware that Westeros will always favor a male heir over a female — after all, Viserys himself became a King only because he was a man — he continues to proclaim Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) as his successor. Viserys thought that the matter was settled once he named Rhaenyra his heir and made the lords swear fealty to her, but it was obvious that the nobles of Westeros couldn’t see themselves ruled by a woman. In Episode 3, a group of crowd cheers for Aegon, and one of them even calls him “your grace” while Rhaenyra gets blatantly ignored. Jason Lannister (Jefferson Hall) also implies that he along with many others assumed that Viserys would name Aegon the heir.
These are little hints, but they paint a vivid enough picture to suggest that the social climate of Westeros would just not accept a female ruler. Viserys witnessed all of this, and he had his chance to right his wrongs, by either naming Aegon the new heir or by marrying Rhaenyra to Aegon, but he remained silent and watched those opportunities pass by. And in the end, his reign amounted to little more than a series of bumbling errors, leaving behind a legacy of war that killed all Targaryen dragons and left them weaker than ever before.
Viserys Was Never a Mentor to Rhaenyra in 'House of the Dragon'
Truth be told, it wasn't really Viserys' love for Rhaenyra or the Kingdom that led him to name her his heir - it was to spite Daemon (Matt Smith). Because if he did care for Rhaenyra or the realm, as his gesture is supposed to indicate, he would have acted as a mentor to Rhaenyra, teaching her how to rule a Kingdom. But we never see him acting as the guiding father figure to Rhaenyra. She wasn’t taught how to build and maintain bonds with lords and ladies of Westeros, she wasn't lectured on what it means to be a good ruler and her opinions were rarely, if ever, taken seriously in the small council meetings.
For the most part, Rhaenyra was left to her own devices. Viserys' only concern towards his daughter was getting her married as soon as possible, even though Rhaenyra made it clear that she wasn't ready for it. But even in that regard, Viserys was too eager to make a thoughtful decision. Eventually, Rheneyra had to succumb to her father's will and enter a relationship of compromise with a gay man. And this led her to seek pleasures of flesh and childbirth from a different man, resulting in the birth of illegitimate children, and exposing her claim to scrutiny from opposing factions.
Viserys Might Be Seen as a Good Man, but He Was a Terrible King
Of course, Viserys never intended to trigger the Dance of the Dragons. His intentions were always noble and peaceful. He was soft, humble and always chose to see the good in people. And in a different ideal world, that would have probably made him an exemplary King, but the definition of a good King is subject to change depending upon the socio-political situation of a Kingdom. The period that Viserys was in demanded a proactive, confrontational King, someone who could make tough decisions when it came to it. But Viserys remained mostly passive, allowing the situation and the people to spin him around while he watched helplessly.
Everyone could see that having Rhaenerya as his heir even after birthing a male child would result in conflict. Yet, he never made any contingent plan to prevent it from happening even though he'd seen the seeds of conflict sown right before his eyes. Furthermore, it was an open secret that Rhaenyra's kids were bastards, and naturally, this reflected badly on Rhaenerya's image, allowing the lords and ladies to question her right to rule. Inside his heart, Viserys, must have known all of this. And yet, he chose to ignore the problems piling up in front of him. It was as if he thought the problems would resolve themselves without any intervention. His passivity indicates that Viserys didn't really want to face up to his kingly duties. All he wanted to do was throw banquets, organize tournaments and at the end of the day, retire to his chambers and build his model Westeros.
Viserys inherited an exceptionally peaceful kingdom with Targaryens at their most powerful. All he had to do was maintain it, but Viserys was a conflicted man. On one hand, he wanted to leave behind a formidable legacy for bards to sing about hundreds of years into the future, and on the other, he was scared of making any radical decisions for fear of rocking the boat. And in a way, this fear paralyzed him, and though he wanted to be remembered by history, he could never act on it. And this was the true tragedy of King Viserys. He wasn’t dim, and he wasn’t evil. But neither was he extraordinarily good nor smart. He was doomed to tread the tragic line of unremarkability, being utterly mediocre.
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