HotD Villains Got Nothing on Game of Thrones' Most Sadistic Character
To be fair, it is sometimes difficult to say who is supposed to be a villain in House of the Dragon.
The showrunners mostly appear to think that the Greens are supposed to be the bad guys, with unsubtle symbolism pointing at it, but then they turn around and give nearly all the agency on the Black side to Prince Daemon, or make Princess Rhaenys appear both callous and stupid.
And while we can say that some specific characters in House of the Dragon are supposed to be villainous, they certainly have nothing on villains from Game of Thrones.
Above-mentioned Daemon Targaryen?
Well, the worst he did so far is three cold-blooded murders, including his first wife and a person who just happened to be nearby, when Daemon needed a fresh corpse, pretty bad, but there are minor villains in Game of Thrones who were worse.
Daemon's supposed counterpart from the Green side, Prince Aemond?
Toned down from his portrayal in the book, wanted to bash his nephews' skulls with a rock after being attacked four-on-one, and much later slaughtered one of them by accident, the most villainous things about him by far are his attire and attitude.
Aemond's older brother, Prince and now King Aegon?
Certainly a despicable character, whom we're supposed to hate, but as far as actual crimes go, his worst was raping a servant girl.
Larys Strong?
Well, Larys is probably the most evil of the actual characters in House of the Dragon – the Crabfeeder, however memorable and vile he was, remained just a malevolent presence, without a single spoken line. Larys has orchestrated the murder of his own father and elder brother, and used his advice to incite conflicts whenever he could.
But well, if you look at Ramsay Bolton from Game of Thrones, he personally did more or less every act of evil that the people listed above accomplished together, and so much more on top of that.
He personally murdered his father (in the books he also murdered his first wife and was suspected of murdering his brother), betrays everyone he can for personal power, is a rapist, hunts women and feeds them to his dogs, flays prisoners alive, and tortures people just for the hell of it.
No character in House of the Dragon comes even close to Ramsay's sadism and callous disregard even for his own underlings. May it be that House of the Dragon's showrunners had, intentionally or not, succeeded in actually creating a show where the conflict is painted in shades of grey?