He stands - DFace - FaceBook Uncensored Alternative, Login And Post What You Want

1 y

Viserys was a poor ruler, despite being one of my favorite characters

There was a post earlier where I was surprised to see many rated him as a great ruler who reigned over peace despite the events that followed his death casting a shadow on his legacy. I personally think the positive takes miss the many clues the show offers about him as a ruler. First and foremost, Viserys continually gets cut by the Iron Throne, which in Westeros is a sign that it's rejecting him as a ruler. It happens frequently and the cuts each fester, to the point of him losing digits and the maesters are unable to properly treat his wounds. The wonderful actor that plays him also directly states that Viserys is suffering from a pretty vicious form of lepersoi, kind of like King Baldwin IV from that movie Kingdom of Heaven, played by an uncredited by masked Edward Norton. The real Baldwin IV has some parallels to Viserys, as his rule was not well received because of increased factionalism in his kingdom and increased influence among his Muslim enemies. Viserys very obviously ignores the issues with his daughter, marries the wrong person, causing the interpersonal relationships continually evolve to the point that will precipitate the Dance of Dragons, where far too many die and the Targaryen house never again regains it's strength. Unless I'm summing it up wrong, the most common defense of Viserys is that he reigned over a long period of peace. That peace seemed artificial, as the Crab King was ignored and wasn't answered properly until Daemon made the balsy move to go after him in the tunnels. And then of course the growing schism between his daughter and his wife is ignored the entire time, seeds of a civil war he willfully ignored. I think the lepersoi rotting half his face and even taking his eye is a metaphor for the willful ignorance that ultimately rots the Targaryen household and irrevocably splits it. He refuses to see the violence boiling over in front of him so the disease took his eye. Viserys also only ever bonded with one dragon, Balerion. His skull is the massive set piece the main show frequently showed off. Visery bonded with that dragon and was the last to ride him, but Balerion was apparently fat and sluggish at that time, and barely able to fly. The dragon died not long after and Viserys never bonded with another. The metaphor here I believe is that Targaryen hegemony was bought by the leverage these living weapons brought, and the biggest of these was already lame and close to death by the time Viserys came to rule. Their bloodline's peak influence was long past, and their family had forgetten how they got power in the first place. That's why Daemon is such a great character; he's still in touch with that cunning violence and decisiveness that brought their bloodline to power. The only problem is he doesn't have interest in ruling. I don't mean to offend anyone with this. Viserys is actually one of my favorite television characters ever, and there's so many excellent ones out there that I think that says something. Patty's portratel is wonderful; watching him tinker with his models makes me think he was meant for other things as he was very talented and intelligent. But despite his birds eye view of the kingdom he had with his models, he missed the forest for the trees and his rule precipitated the Dance of Dragons. He wasn't meant to rule and despite being someone you'd be lucky to know, the Seven Kingdoms where not lucky he was the one to rule them.

Comment