Viserys I

Greetings fellow acolytes. Welcome to another episode of The Westerosi Primer. My name is Liz. If you’re new to this podcast, welcome! I hope you enjoy this journey of all things Westeros. And in this episode, I’ll be talking about Viserys I.

Before I start the discussion, there are a couple of things to note. First there will be some potential spoilers for people who have not read any of the books connected to A Song of Ice and Fire. There may also be potential spoilers for House of the Dragon and other shows adapted by Max in the future. So if you’re okay with this, then please continue listening.

Second, the information in this episode comes from the written works of George R. R. Martin and the contributors of A Wiki of Ice and Fire on Westeros.org. Check out the full show notes and other links located on this show’s website: thewesterosiprimer.com With that said, let’s begin!

So you can tell what I’m talking about in this episode from the title. Now obviously much of what I’m talking about this time was covered in Season 1 of House of the Dragon. However for the sake of consistency and also being a proper nerd, I’ll be pretty detailed in this episode. I will mostly focus on things that were skipped in the show or changed in the adaptation process. I’ll do quick mentions of things that were basically the same in the show because you don’t need me to rehash that.

Also I’m going to periodically mention how old some of the characters are in certain years just to give you listeners some context of their ages. It’s pretty interesting to see how much of a difference it is from the show where basically everyone has been aged up from the book. You’ll see what I mean as we continue with this episode.

I feel that the best way to start the discussion off with is by rewinding the clock a bit. Let’s go back to around AC 74 to re-introduce you all to the grandchildren of King Jaehaerys I since they will be the main characters of this episode. If you recall from the previous two episodes, despite the many children they had Jaehaerys and Alysanne only ended up with 4 living grandchildren before they died.

When the old king died, the only children left alive (as far as I know since George doesn’t delve into them) are Vaegon, Maegelle and Saera. For different reasons they were no longer involved with the politics or ruling of Westeros. Which is why I’m going to take some time re-introducing those grandchildren and then talk about the Great Council. The episode will then go on to expand on Viserys’s reign not fully addressed in House of the Dragon.

The first of the grandchildren was Rhaenys Targaryen. As I mentioned in the previous episode, she was born in AC 74. She was the daughter of Prince Aemon Targaryen and his aunt/wife, Jocelyn Baratheon. She claimed Meleys as her dragon in AC 87, which was previously ridden by her aunt Alyssa Targaryen. She would marry Corlys Velaryon in AC 90 when she was aged 16 and he was 37.

One interesting fact is that Rhaenys actually had black hair in Fire & Blood. This is more consistent with the plot point in the first novel from A Song of Ice and Fire. After all, the way Ned and Jon Arryn before him found proof that Joffrey and his siblings couldn’t be Robert’s kids was the idea that Baratheons have dark hair throughout their blood line. That would mean that as a half-Baratheon, Rhaenys should have dark hair. Now you could argue in the show, she had silver hair because of age, but still this is just a different choice done for the show.

The other change in the TV show due to Rhaenys hair color is Rhaenyra’s older sons. In the books, her sons being bastards rather than Laenor’s kids was more dubious. Since Rhaenys had dark hair, there was room to argue that possibly the boys inherited their grandmother’s Baratheon dark hair. Of course there’s also the choice of casting for the TV show.

As I had discussed in the previous episode, Princess Daella Targaryen marries Lord Rodrik Arryn. She would give birth to her only child, Aemma Arryn in AC 82. She would die a few days later from complications. Aemma is the youngest child in this family. She would marry her cousin, Prince Viserys in AC 93. If you do the math you realize she married him when she’s 11 years old.

I really don’t understand what the rationale is for her marrying Viserys so young other than George having strange ideas when it comes to creating family trees, etc. Now granted Marie Antoinette got married at age 14. Though I think the rationale for her marriage was she’s an Austrian princess. She was supposed to live in France to learn and become more accustomed to French court life. Her marriage wasn’t consummated until a few years later so it’s less crazy sounding.

Unfortunately not much is mentioned about Aemma’s life other than her many pregnancies while married to Viserys. Personally I think it’s kind of unfortunate that there’s so little about her life discussed. Especially compared to her cousin, Rhaenys, and her daughter Rhaenyra.

Next I’ll talk about Viserys and Daemon. They were born in AC 77 and AC 81 respectively. Similar to episode 2.03 when I said you can’t really talk about Aenys without Maegor, you can’t talk about Viserys without Daemon. Incidentally there’s another pair of brothers in a later episode where this is the case as well.

I have to say that how they were portrayed in the TV show is more or less how they were in Fire & Blood. The personalities are fairly consistent. One interesting difference is that Viserys was actually overweight, and Paddy Considine isn’t like that at all. It seems that in the book Viserys’s weight was the cause of his health problems.

Viserys had gout and he might have had other complications later like diabetes. He disliked conflict and enjoyed balls, feasts, and tourneys. Daemon was his opposite in that he was pretty physically active and enjoyed a good fight. He was so good at martial skills he was knighted when he was 16. At some point his grandfather gave him Dark Sister.

Okay so now I have to talk about Otto Hightower before we really get into the timeline. Otto Hightower was a second son of House Hightower. We also saw this mentioned in the TV show. Like any other younger son, he has no land to inherit. This is undoubtedly a major reason why he’s so ambitious to make sure his bloodline is sitting on the Iron Throne. Unlike his brother who is the lord of the Hightower in Oldtown, Otto hopes he can brag that the future kings and dragon riders of Westeros descend from him. We’ll see about that Otto.

I mentioned it in the previous episode, but Otto was chosen to be Hand of the King after the death of Prince Baelon in AC 101. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is one of many reasons why Daemon hates Otto. Incidentally the show does a good job depicting the mutual hate they have for each other.

Otto brings his family including his 15 year old daughter Alicent to King’s Landing. And as I also mentioned in the previous episode, she helps tend to King Jaehaerys in his final days. I’ll get more into her in a bit.

It’s not too surprising given Viserys’s personality and ruling style, that he keeps Otto in the position of Hand. Also unsurprisingly, Otto becomes pretty self-satisfied in his place as Hand. There are plenty of people resentful of his close access to the royal family. It shouldn’t be too surprising what happens in the Dance later, but I’ll get more into this in the next episode.

Again like how it was depicted in the show, Otto and his brother feared the idea of Daemon becoming king after Viserys. If you guys listened to episode 2.03 about Aenys and Maegor, I talked about why Maegor is such a big deal. Anyways, I could see to some degree why they had this concern, but I’m not completely certain he’d be that bad. But maybe I’m somewhat getting influenced by the TV show. Point though is that it’s Otto’s idea to convince Viserys to name Rhaenyra the heir.

I made this observation in my old podcast about my thoughts on this, but it’s fascinating how Otto schemed to boot Daemon off the throne. But then he fails to convince the king to change his mind and name Otto’s grandson heir. He tried to use the argument that the Great Council confirmed male preference when he himself put Rhaenyra up as heir in the first place. Trying to be clever screws you over doesn’t it, Otto?

So now let’s really start looking at House Targayen and Westeros via the timeline.

In AC 92, Rhaenys gave birth to her first child, Laena. That same year, her father Prince Aemon, the Prince of Dragonstone, also died. As I mentioned in the previous episode, Jaehaerys chooses Baelon to be his heir despite others protesting that Rhaenys should be the heir. By this point you listeners know my opinion on this issue. In truth, Rhaenys was probably the more capable heir in the long run. However again I feel like choosing her, from a political perspective, made no sense because if she was chosen to be queen in the future, why couldn’t Rhaena have been queen after Aegon died. Rhaena was the oldest child.

In AC 94, Laenor Velaryon was born.

In AC 97, Rhaenyra was born. Aemma had been pregnant a few times during her marriage and this would be her only living child. It’s crazy to imagine Aemma gave birth to Rhaenyra as a 15-year-old. Viserys is 20 years old here.

Also it’s this year that Daemon married Rhea Royce. I’ve always found this marriage arrangement very odd. It was apparently organized by Queen Alysanne. All of you who watched House of the Dragon know that this marriage was a disaster considering Rhea and Daemon hated each other and were barely together the whole time. But beyond their conflicting personalities, this marriage puzzles me from a political perspective. If anyone listening to this episode can offer some rationale behind this marriage I’d appreciate knowing.

However I feel like this marriage made no sense politically. If you listened to episode 1.03 of this podcast, I already explained about the houses in the Vale. If House Targaryen was using marriages to make connections to the Vale, I think Daemon and Rhea were frankly redundant. If you recall, I mentioned earlier and in the previous episode that Princess Daella had married Rodrik Arryn. Their daughter Aemma Arryn has Targaryen ancestry and married her cousin Viserys. So you already had a solid marriage and blood alliance between the Iron Throne and the Vale.

I just don’t get why they’d want another marriage alliance with the Vale. The only rationale I can think of is that since Rhea was the heir to Runestone, Daemon having at least one son with her would result in the Targaryens claiming Runestone and a stronger foothold in the Vale. Otherwise I think it makes no sense.

So here’s where we need to talk about the Great Council of AC 101. At this gathering, multiple potential heirs were in consideration, but the list gets trimmed very quickly as most of the candidates were dismissed. Rhaenys and Laena were considered. There was some support not just from the Stormlands, but interestingly there were Northern houses as well. Rhaenys and Laena were dismissed from consideration because they are female.

Laenor’s potential claim was taken more seriously especially since he had also claimed Seasmoke just before the Council. Corlys tried to use his influence to gain support, but it didn’t really help since more people chose Viserys. When you think about it, this only made sense. At this point in time, Viserys was a 24-year-old man and Laenor was a 7-year-old. As we know, Rhaenys would then become known as “The Queen Who Never Was” after this.

It’s not clearly stated when this happened, but in the book Laena was able to claim Vhagar when she was a kid at some point before AC 104.

In AC 103, King Jaehaerys I dies and his grandson Viserys becomes the king. Daemon would try petitioning his brother to dissolve his marriage, but of course Viserys refuses. He allows his brother to stay at Court to take up different positions on the Small Council. Daemon only served those positions for very short terms because he just wasn’t suited to those positions. Though he flourished as the Commander of the Gold Cloaks, which lets him act as a proper combat commander. The TV show does reference this.

In AC 104, we have two things to talk about. First Rhaenyra claims her dragon Syrax. More importantly, there was a tourney held celebrating Viserys’ coronation. This was actually the tourney where 22 year old Criston Cole got the attention of the court including getting Rhaenyra’s favor. This is in contrast to the TV show, which was the premature celebration of Baelon’s birth. If you’re doing the math, Rhaenyra was only 7 years old at this time. Incidentally, this isn’t the only time there’s a huge difference of children’s ages between the books and the show. I might revisit this in a future season when I do a discussion of Game of Thrones and the original novels.

And as we saw in the very first episode of House of the Dragon, Aemma would be pregnant with her final child in AC 105. The baby would be named Baelon and die a day after her. Interesting thing to note is that if you paid attention, Rhaenyra was about 8 years old. So she was aged up in the TV show since we would have to assume she’s intended to be in her early teens in that episode. I suppose this could be a writing decision to get rid of the oddity of the ages of the characters that I noted in the book versus in a live action TV show.

Also right afterwards we had the infamous “heir for a day” fight between Daemon and Viserys. This causes 8 year old Rhaenyra to be named Princess of Dragonstone. Daemon hurries off to Dragonstone with Mysaria. Unlike the TV show, Mysaria was apparently pregnant and was sent back to Essos where she originally came from. However she lost the baby and disappears for a short while from the story. Daemon was ordered to return to Runestone with his wife though as we know he would leave to join Corlys at the Stepstones.

As we all remember from the show, Viserys is now expected to marry another wife. Just like in the show, 12-year-old Laena was presented as a candidate. She was indeed the most politically sensible choice considering she’s Valyrian descent with Targaryen blood. And of course we know Viserys ends up marrying Alicent. The Velaryons are angry at the snub and refuse to attend the wedding in AC 106. So just to do another age check, when Alicent marries Viserys, he is 29 years old and Alicent is 18. There is an age gap, but not really that crazy. Also Rhaenyra was 9 years old. This is why I just find it really fascinating the dynamics between Rhaenyra and Alicent in the show.

Another interesting thing is that the book mentions there were actually rumors and speculation about the choice of bride. The rumors said she may have been seducing Viserys while he was still married. It’s pretty interesting this wasn’t something included in the show, but I suppose the show didn’t want to make the situation even more squicky than it already was.

The TV show has Alicent and Rhaenyra as former best friends. Meanwhile there’s a huge age gap in the book where clearly they can’t possibly be best friends. At best there’s a big sister/little sister relationship. Rhaenyra poured Alicent wine and Alicent called her “daughter” at the wedding. So there seems to be some good feelings at the time. It’s possibly because Rhaenyra was young and didn’t fully understand the implications of a young stepmother like Alicent being around. Just like in the TV show, things change once Alicent has her kids.

So Alicent has 4 children. We’ve seen three on the show and in Season 2 we got a hint of Daeron. Hopefully we get casting info about this kid. Anyways they would be born in this order: Aegon in AC 107, Helaena in AC 109, Aemond in AC 110, and Daeron in AC 114. I will say that Aegon and Aemond in the book are also how they’re portrayed in the TV show more or less.

The only one who is pretty different is actually Helaena. It seems based on some of George’s comments, the changes were done by the writing team for the show. George apparently said he did appreciate the changes they did in how Helaena was presented on screen. So no Helaena was not prophetic or had dragon dreams in the book. Admittedly it does make her have more of a personality than in the book. I’ll get more into it in the next episode when I talk about the Dance.

Considering we haven’t seen Daeron on screen yet, I think I’ll just briefly describe him based on the book. I hope that we’ll get a character similar to this in season 3. As the youngest kid, he wound up following orders. He was apparently courteous, clever, and the gentlest of the brothers. Though considering how Aegon and Aemond turned out, I don’t imagine we’ll get someone super gentle. He wound up being just as antagonistic towards his nephews as his older brothers were.

He also claimed his dragon, Tessarion, when he was 6 years old. He was 12 years old, which would have been around AC 126, when he was sent to Oldtown to serve as a page to Lord Ormund Hightower, his grandfather’s nephew. It probably explains a bit why we didn’t see him on the show. Given his young age, he wouldn’t have been involved with much of the action that happened in Season 1. Plus in Season 2, he would have already been in Oldtown when those events were happening. I would imagine they’re going to cast a teenage boy to play Daeron, but we’ll see.

While all of this was going on, we had some other happenings at court. Criston Cole was selected as a new member of the Kingsguard. And oh does Rhaenyra later regret this decision. The Strongs from Harrenhal arrive at King’s Landing. We know Lord Lyonel becomes Master of Laws. Harwin joins the Goldcloaks. Larys joins the King’s confessors, which is a fancy title for a torturer serving the king. Not included in the TV show is that Larys and Harwin had two sisters joining them at court. The girls become Rhaenyra’s handmaids though we don’t know what eventually happens to these girls later since they’re nameless extras in the story.

In AC 109, Otto Hightower was being his usual self and pushed too hard for Aegon to be named heir. This of course displeased Viserys and that’s when he was replaced as Hand. This is different from the show where this happened because Otto was spying on Rhaenyra searching for something to catch her with.

Unlike the TV show, AC 111 is when we get the creation of the Green and Black factions. In the TV show, this happened at the betrothal feast, which I’ll talk about a little bit later. In AC 111, there is a tourney celebrating the 5th anniversary of Viserys’s marriage to Alicent. At the opening feast, Rhaenyra and Alicent wore different colored gowns matching their houses. Alicent wore green and Rhaenyra wore a red and black gown. Which is of course where the factions get their names from.

Interestingly, Cole was still Rhaenyra’s sworn sword and actually defeat many Green faction knights while wearing her favor. This is also the tourney where Daemon makes a return to court and presents his brother the crown of the Stepstones. This is depicted in the tv show as another court session in the Red Keep. I imagine the budget didn’t allow for yet another tourney in the show.

This is also when Rhaenyra allegedly lost her virginity to Daemon. It was interestingly Lyonel Strong who recommended that Daemon be executed for treason. However it was pointed out that the king can’t order the death of his brother because it would be kinslaying. Hence Daemon was exiled instead. Alicent actually proposed the idea of Rhaenyra marrying Aegon. Mostly to ensure her son would be able to rule. If you’re doing the math Aegon is 4 years old and Rhaenyra is 14.

By AC 113, Rhaenyra’s marriage prospects were discussed and as we know, Laenor and Rhaenyra were betrothed. Of course Rhaenyra didn’t want to go through with it, but she had to agree when Viserys threatened to make Aegon the heir. They marry in AC 114. It was generally agreed that it was pretty awkward considering it was speculated that he was more interested in other men. It was just a speculation in the book, but pretty clear it’s the truth in the show.

Another interesting thing that’s a point of departure between the show and Fire & Blood is the relationship between Rhaenyra and Criston Cole. The show depicted their relationship one way. The book doesn’t make it clear what happened, but it discusses theories as to what created the rift between the Princess and her former sworn shield. The age gap in the book makes things even more awkward. Rhaenyra was 17 and he was 32.

If you’ve seen the show, you know how the TV show depicts this. In the book, there’s two theories discussed. One suggests that Rhaenyra wanted to lose her virginity before the wedding since she doubts Laenor would be able to do so. However Criston is the honorable knight and refuses her. The other story is that Criston offers to elope with the princess but she refuses and he’s bitter about it. I find it fascinating the tv show seems to be a blend of the two stories with some other details not in either story. I’m also not sure why the whole virginity thing was an issue since Rhaenyra allegedly lost it with her uncle. That’s just the nature of rumors in the book.

Another point of departure is how Joffrey Lonmouth dies. In case you forgot who he is, he was depicted as Laenor’s lover in the show. In the TV show, they depict Criston Cole beating Joffrey at the feast celebrating the betrothal. However in Fire & Blood this was actually at a joust. It’s a pretty drastic difference. To be honest, I personally didn’t like this change. And no, it’s not because I’m a crazy book obsessed fan. It’s because it makes zero sense how Criston Cole was able to kill someone in public like that without punishment. Someone dying in a jousting match isn’t that unusual. The book also doesn’t make it clear that there was any particular intention to kill Joffrey.

After the wedding, Laenor and Rhaenyra went off to Dragonstone. Harwin and his two sisters joined the newlywed couple. Harwin by this point was already Rhaenyra’s sworn shield and as I mentioned earlier the sisters were Rhaenyra’s handmaids.

Laena had been betrothed to the son of the Sealord of Braavos. However this Sealord died and the son spent all the money he was left. He basically showed up at Driftmark and Corlys tried to figure out ways to avoid the wedding. Eventually in AC 115, Daemon showed up and killed this guy in a duel. This is when Daemon and Laena married. You can debate whether Daemon married her because he was actually in love with the now 23-year-old Laena or he appreciated the connection to the Velaryons. This is when they went off to Essos for a couple of years. Their wedding happened without notice or technically permission from the king.

Also in AC 115, Rhea Royce dies from an accident. The show has Daemon being responsible for her death. The book makes it pretty vague, but the timing does point towards Daemon being involved in the book. Convenient that after the war in the Stepstones ends, she dies, and then Daemon is able to marry Laena. It’s also different from the show because this happens before Rhaenyra’s wedding instead of a year later. I’m not sure if there was meant to be an undertone in the show that Daemon was hoping to still marry Rhaenyra or what.

In AC 116, Laena and Daemon had their twin daughters: Baela and Rhaena. They would eventually return to Driftmark and actually traveled to Dragonstone periodically. They’d visit Rhaenyra, Laenor, and their family. Daemon would also request permission to bring Laena and their girls to King’s Landing to present them. Lyonel Strong and the rest of the Council were against this. However Viserys likely missed his brother and agreed to this and the exile was over.

In AC 120, both Laena and Laenor die. The notable difference is that in the book, Laenor was killed by Qarl. He’s definitely dead since it’s mentioned that Corlys claimed Laenor’s body. So unless Corlys strangely agreed to let Laenor abandon his inheritance, I’m pretty sure the guy died in the book. I have no idea why the show did this. The only explanation I can think of is they didn’t want a gay character to be murdered in the show. I’m not trying to say I think it’s a “woke” thing like some people might argue. I just think it opens up some plot holes in the story. I talked about this on my old podcast I co-hosted. I’ll put a link to that episode in the show notes.

The big plot hole is Seasmoke. As I talked about in episode 2.03, Rhaena found sanctuary in Fair Isle. It’s not hard for Maegor to find her because she had her dragon Dreamfyre. It’s hard to miss a dragon following you around. I can’t imagine that if Laenor was still alive that Seasmoke wouldn’t have been following him. It’s not like you can have a conversation with a dragon about leaving them behind. Nor can you just leave them behind like you leave a dog or a cat at a shelter. A dragon and rider are together until one or both die.

Laena dies in child birth like in the show. However it should be noted that the twins would have been about 3 or 4 years old. Obviously they’re older in the TV show. We also saw this was when Daemon and Rhaenyra marry each other. Then the infamous fight where Lucerys ends up taking out Aemond’s eye. Later by the end of the year, Rhaenyra would have her first son with Daemon: Aegon.

Also happening in the same year is the fire at Harrenhal when Lord Lyonel and Harwin die. Just like in the show, there were too many rumors swirling around that Rhaenyra’s three boys weren’t Laenor’s but likely Harwin’s. And that’s when they went to home. Interestingly the book mentions there were speculations about the fire being intentionally set. Some suspected Corlys arranged this because of those rumors. There were also rumors that Daemon was behind it because he still had an interest in his niece. Larys’s name was also thrown in there because he would conveniently become the Lord of Harrenhal afterwards. Even Viserys was suggested, but that hardly makes any sense. Larys becomes Master of Whispers during Viserys’s reign.

Helaena by this point claimed Dreamfyre though we haven’t seen her ride the dragon at all in the show yet. Aegon also bonded with Sunfyre by this point as well.

In AC 122, Rhaenyra would give birth to her other son with Daemon, Viserys. This is also the year Helaena and Aegon were married. Helaena was 13 and Aegon was 15. A year later, Helaena would give birth to twins: Jaehaerys and Jaehaera.

In AC 126, Rhaenyra argues that Lucerys should be officially declared as the heir to Driftmark. However other members of House Velaryon bring up the argument that her older sons were not with Laenor, but bastards. Interestingly, Viserys orders Velaryons in court making the accusations to have their tongues cut out. This is pretty different from the show where Daemon beheads Vaemond.

Again similar to how it was depicted in the show, Viserys was progressively more ill and would soon stop sitting on the Iron Throne and rule from his bed. Otto naturally took advantage of the king’s worsening health over the last few years to make sure the Small Council is mostly his supporters and backers. I frankly don’t understand how Rhaenyra or Daemon stood back and allowed this to happen if Rhaenyra is so adamant about maintain her position.

In AC 127, Prince Maelor would be born. He’s actually Aegon and Helaena’s third child who was excluded from the TV show. There was some controversy for book readers about his exclusion in the show. I’ll get more into that in the next episode. The family dinner we saw in Episode 1.08 of the TV show happened in this year. Similar to the show, people played nice for Viserys’s sake, but animosity would return soon enough.

Viserys would eventually die in AC 129. In the show he got to have one nice family dinner before he died. In the book, he spent time with Helaena and her children before sending them away from his room. He would take a nap and never wake up. Pretty soon things would go all to hell like we saw in the show. Apparently Alicent was the one who delayed having his body taken care of. So he was decaying for a week before it was attended to. She and the Green Faction were trying to delay announcing his death so they could solidify their takeover of the throne. Suffice it to say, the book is pretty negative on Alicent and she comes across as more power hungry than in the show. She’s like a lighter version of Cersei in some ways.

Of course like the show depicts, Rhaenyra refuses to acknowledge Aegon as the king. Let the war begin.

And that just about covers the life of Viserys I. If you’re interested in finding out more for yourself, feel free to go to the full show notes where I will have links. Though be aware if you do any of this research there will be spoilers to the novels, House of the Dragon, and Max’s future adaptations.

Thank you for listening and tune in to the next episode where I’ll talk about how dragons dancing cause nothing but death, destruction, and chaos.