King Viserys Was Already Dying Long Before Anybody Noticed
The king of the seven kingdoms Viserys Targaryen portrayed by Paddy Considine in the long-awaited House of the Dragon passed in episode 7.
In the eight episodes, this character faced many challenges. The one thing that has been steadily deteriorating is his health. In The Lord of the Tides, we see Viserys physically sick before the skin-eating disease takes his life completely. In the interview with The New York Times, Paddy Considine shares that he thinks that his character's death was coming since the series premiere.
In The Heirs of the Dragon, we see King Viserys Targaryen and his queen Aemma, played by Sian Brooke, expecting a child. Due to the complications during childbirth, Viserys is forced to order a C-section on Aemma in hopes to save the life of the unborn heir. Unfortunately, the procedure is unsuccessful, and the King loses both his beloved wife and their child. In regards to the fate of his character, Paddy Considine says, "From the minute of his wife's funeral, I think Viserys starts to die. It's a slow death."
The path to the King's physical death starts with a cut from the Iron Throne. A simple cut doesn't heal and goes on to fester and spread until its effect is irreversible. The actor suggests that his character sees in the spreading disease a punishment for his wife's horrible death and accepts it.
"Nowhere in the story does Viserys ask the maesters to cure him, to stop this thing from eating him alive. I think he accepts it as part of the guilt of the decision he makes to put his wife through a terrible, horrible procedure. It's like people who surrender to illness," he said.
Not only he doesn't fight for his life, but he also doesn't let others help him. Considine adds, "When they offer suggestions to cure him, he doesn't bother with it. He lets it consume him. He surrenders. That was my thing for him, anyway."
To further prove that point, the actor shares that Viserys' last words, "my love," were not scripted but improvised. "I just kind of improvised that line, and reached out a little bit, because this to me is a tragic love story, in many ways. The narrative I had in my mind was that he never really gets over Aemma, that he's devastated for the rest of his life," says Considine.
Every fan of the books and shows knows how cruel the life and death of their beloved characters can be. At least we can be sure that King Viserys is now united with his queen Aemma and hope they found peace.