House of the Dragon’s Aemond Has Nothing on the Show’s Biggest Villain Ever

Westeros’ fate in House of the Dragon became the biggest question to ponder over since its last ruler, Rhaenyra Targaryen’s father Viserys I, died leaving no specific request for who he would love to see on the Throne next.

The whole feud between the divided family members is indeed a big crisis for the fantastic land given that, whoever eventually wins the fight and becomes Westeros’ King, there’s still no certainty in whether the next leader will continue Viserys’ legacy.

Though the latter surely was a great king for his people, there was something that those people couldn’t really see, and all the things happening within Viserys’ residence walls were in fact proof of his cruelty hidden from the public eye.

In this case, it would be even fair to say that the King’s merciless grandson Aemond now doesn’t seem to be that bad compared to his powerful relative.

Is Viserys a Good or Bad Character?

Despite the fact that he initially proclaimed his daughter as the heiress to the throne, there was no doubt that such a decision was only a forced measure, and King Viserys was the biggest misogynist that Westeros had ever seen.

The first major sign was featured in House of the Dragon’s season 1 episode 1 when Viserys’ first wife Queen Aemma went into labor and eventually died in agony when Viserys ordered to have the baby removed by C-section without even asking for his wife’s consent.

The king later on pays a big price for his actions burying both Aemma and their newborn son, this time having to reconcile with the fact that Rhaenyra would be the one to get the Throne. Still, even this decision is mostly motivated by Viserys’ desire to punish his brother Daemon for the latter’s rakish lifestyle.

The more the King approaches his death, the more he realizes that his brutal attitude towards the women closest to him in the family and his doubts about their ability to decide for themselves led to the gods’ punishment that he’d felt his entire life.

Viserys’ actor Paddy Considine once stated that his character had surely been feeling his guilt even after he seemingly had found happiness with Alicent as he’d never recovered from losing Aemma and even hallucinated about her moments before passing away himself.

House of the Dragon’s following events proved Westeros’ former ruler completely wrong as his death sparked all the female rage possible making a full-scale war inevitable.