Worst Decisions Made By Viserys In House Of The Dragon

Highlights

• Viserys Targaryen made a power move by naming his daughter as heir to the Iron Throne, but his bad decisions led to deadly kin strife in the Seven Kingdoms.
• Viserys permitted a gruesome procedure that sacrificed his wife’s life to save their child, further tearing apart his family and leaving his daughter vulnerable.
• Viserys alienated House Velaryon and made the mistake of marrying into House Hightower, which caused betrayal and strained relationships within the realm.

Viserys Targaryen ruled the Seven Kingdoms after his grandsire, Jaehaerys I, passed away. He was elected as the new Prince of Dragonstone at the Great Council of 101 AC, which lies at the beginning of House of the Dragon. Viserys took over the reins of the powerful Targaryen dynasty during a transitional stage between the old and the new. A shrewd king makes a good king, but Viserys was more into history and philosophy than politicking.

In a power move, Viserys upended precedent and named his girl, Princess Rhaenyra, the heir to the Iron Throne. He also invited lords to the Red Keep to swear fealty to her. While that was a true assertion of dominance, he weakened her claim with one bad decision after another. As seen in House of the Dragon, most of Viserys’ decisions catapulted the Seven Kingdoms into deadly kin strife.

7 Viserys Permitted Grand Maester To Slice Open Aemma’s Womb

Aemma Bled To Death Without Having A Say In It

At the beginning of House of the Dragon, Viserys is married to his cousin, Aemma Arryn, who bears him a daughter named Rhaenyra, but he wants a male heir to secure his succession. Aemma has suffered two miscarriages, two stillbirths, and lost a newborn in the cradle, so she conveys to her husband that the current pregnancy is the last time she’s putting her body through misery. While Aemma fights for her and their baby’s life in the childbed, Grand Maester Mellos summons Viserys and explains to him:

During a difficult birth, it sometimes becomes necessary for the father to make an impossible choice: to sacrifice one or to lose them both. There is a chance that we can save the child. A technique is taught at the Citadel, which involves cutting directly into the womb to free the infant. But the resulting blood loss…

Viserys permits Grand Maester Mellos to sacrifice his wife’s life to save the child. Aemma, held down and unaware of what’s coming for her, begs Viserys to be saved. The attendees forcibly cut into her womb and bring out the baby. Aemma dies and Viserys’ heir, Baelon, survives a day. Viserys breaks apart his family, leaves Rhaenyra vulnerable, and finds comfort in Alicent’s company.

6 Snubbed The Velaryons

Alienated House Velaryon

After Aemma Arryn’s death, Viserys, the king, is repeatedly told to remarry to propagate the royal line. At first, he shows no desire to replace Aemma with another, but soon, his Hand, Otto, begins to move his daughter, Alicent Hightower, on the chess board. Alicent privately visits Viserys in his chambers, and the two gradually form a bond. At the same time, the Velaryons present their daughter, Laena, in a marriage alliance, saying the Crown is vulnerable. Lord Corlys Velaryon tells Viserys:

Join our families. Wed our daughter, Laena. Unite the two great surviving Valyrian Houses. With the Targaryen dragons and the Velaryon fleet bound in blood, you can show the realm that the Crown’s strongest days are ahead, not behind.

Viserys acts against the advice of Lord Lyonel Strong and ultimately chooses Alicent over Laena. In doing so, he puts his authority, his heir’s position, and the stability of the realm at stake.

5 Choice Of Hand

Rhaenyra Was Never Viserys’ Hand

While Viserys maintains that Rhaenyra has to rule after him, he doesn’t give her the position of power she deserves on the small council. Alicent is seen dismissing a meeting in Season 1, Episode 6: “The Princess and the Queen,” and all Viserys does is helplessly watch.

Viserys gives Alicent far too much power, allows her latitude, and rarely keeps her in check. What’s worse is that he didn’t choose Rhaenyra as Hand during his reign, as doing so would have sent out a strong message to his foes at court and elsewhere.

4 Married Into The Hightowers

Chose Alicent Hightower Over Laena Velaryon

The worst mistake that Viserys committed was marrying into a House that was neither Velaryon nor close to him. He fell into Otto Hightower’s trap easily, and this became a major transgression and breach of faith, as Alicent was Rhaenyra’s best friend.

Rhaenyra felt betrayed by her father’s choice of bride as well as by her best friend. Her relationship with Alicent took a nosedive after the announcement, and nothing would bring them close, ever.

3 Let Alicent Have Her Way

Alicent Had Leverage At Viserys’ Court

As Viserys’ illness worsened, he rarely showed up with authority and let Alicent’s choices override his decisions. The prime example of this lies in House of the Dragon‘s “The Princess and the Queen,” when he allows his wife to counter every single one of Rhaenyra’s suggestions at the small council. Rhaenyra, the bigger person, proposes:

My son Jacaerys will inherit the Iron Throne after me. I propose we betroth him to your daughter, Helaena. Ally ourselves, once and for all. Let them rule together.

Alicent laughs in Rhaenyra’s face and dismisses her at once, even when the king thinks it is the perfect solution to end strife. Despite being king, Viserys doesn’t get a say in the proposal, and Alicent marries her daughter to her eldest, Aegon, in the tradition of House Targaryen.

2 Let Rhaenyra Move To Dragonstone

Kept His Heir Away

Soon after this proposal, Rhaenyra moves to Dragonstone with her children, husband Laenor, and their household. She vacates her place in her father’s small council because the suspicion surrounding the paternity of her children gets to her. She leaves Alicent the overall in charge, and Viserys just lets it happen. This is a naive move on Rhaenyra’s part because it renders her father vulnerable, leaving him surrounded by the hostile Greens.

Viserys forbade his Hand, Lord Lyonel Strong, to resign from his position but let Rhaenyra move. He should have kept his daughter close because she was to be Queen one day.

1 Reappointed Otto Hightower As Hand

Otto Was Reinstated As Hand After Lord Lyonel Strong’s Death

Knowing Otto Hightower’s objectivity was compromised, Viserys reappointed him as Hand after firing him on grounds of being biased. Viserys himself admits to Lord Lyonel in House of the Dragon‘s “The Princess and the Queen”:

Your advice [Lord Lyonel] has been sage. Unmarked by self-interest, which stands in contrast to all others.

Viserys could have used Lyonel’s resignation to move Rhaenyra to the position of Hand. But he let her walk away and rejected Lord Lyonel’s resignation. Soon after, Lyonel and his eldest, Harwin, were murdered in a fire at Harrenhal that was orchestrated by his youngest son, Larys. Otto was brought back to King’s Landing, and he was back to politicking in no time.