Jump to content

Was Viserys evil?


Seaworth'sShipmate

Recommended Posts

He seems to have had no redeeming characteristics. At least with Cersei one can say "she loves her children." Viserys never seemed to recognize other people as human beings, and only knew how to bully, exploit, or use other people.

Cersei only loves her children as an extension of herself IMO. She has no redeemable qualities either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, he's certainly no prince charming but nor would I say he's evil until later in the first book. But Danzie outlines pretty well why he can deserve a bit of sympathy. "His story is more tragic than it is villainous."



Plus, I can't look at this adorable image and not feel sorry for young Viserys and Dany.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

No he wasn't evil, but he's a very sympathetic character the most sympathetic character in the series IMO.

He had the world against him from a very young age and nobody cared about a 8yr old innocent child who had just had his whole family murdered, a baby to take care of and his family name and line to carry on.

I don't exampt Viserys for anything he did but the world broke him he had a lot of mental strain and responsibility on him from a very early age and he had to pay for his father's crimes and no one cared.

He's not evil but what he suffered I can honestly say I wouldn't be surprised if he was he's one of the very few characters who I can say is a product of his environment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, he's certainly no prince charming but nor would I say he's evil until later in the first book. But Danzie outlines pretty well why he can deserve a bit of sympathy. "His story is more tragic than it is villainous."

Plus, I can't look at this adorable image and not feel sorry for young Viserys and Dany.

I agree, he's still a douchebag, but you can't deny the shit the man has had to put up with his whole life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I generally felt bad for him... And I feel like Dany realized how difficult it was all for him, which is one of things I love about her.




That certainly doesn't mean that I was OK with his actions. I suppose, argument can be made that life brought him to that point but certainly we can't just give him a free pass because life was being life... He simply became bitter person whom I pitied... Even though, TBH, I would have killed him couple of times before that. He was that annoying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No he wasn't evil, but he's a very sympathetic character the most sympathetic character in the series IMO.

He had the world against him from a very young age and nobody cared about a 8yr old innocent child who had just had his whole family murdered, a baby to take care of and his family name and line to carry on.

I don't exampt Viserys for anything he did but the world broke him he had a lot of mental strain and responsibility on him from a very early age and he had to pay for his father's crimes and no one cared.

He's not evil but what he suffered I can honestly say I wouldn't be surprised if he was he's one of the very few characters who I can say is a product of his environment.

I agree, all that, along with being born with the taint, and the fact that it manifested at a young age, is enough to make most people go insane.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He was an abuser, for sure. I don't have a ton of sympathy for abused persons who turn that onto those weaker than them. I do feel for his plight , of course, but that doesn't excuse his actions.

Also people talk a lot about how he "protected Dany". Maybe I have too much faith in her or whatever but I tend to think she'd have managed on her own - possibly even better without him.

First off, he didn't raise her for the first like 6-8 years of life - it was her knight who did that, the one Jorah reminds her of. So we are then talking about the next few years before they arrive at Illyrios.

Thing is Viserys is an entitled jerk and always has been. I imagine he turned off a lot of would-be benefactors with his attitude alone - we have the example of the dothraki for instance. I think a big reason their welcome wore was because people got irritated with his demands. Dany is different - she tends to draw people to her, to make them want to help and follow her without seeming to try (natural charisma I guess).

Anyway I suspect that without Viserys even a child Dany would have done better than she did with him. She's almost a more tempting ally in some ways because you can marry her and make a claim to Westeros, with Viserys you'd have to agree to follow him and it's obvious immediately that he's no one who can lead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Viserys showed early signs of being a mini-Aerys. I take this to mean he had the Targ madness and it was starting to show during childhood.



He is therefore not evil, but genuinely ill. I actually sometimes feel sorry for the poor jerk. The initial issues he seems to have inherited combined with the traumas and stresses of his early years were a nasty combination. Unfortunately the maesters don't seem to be able to treat these issues yet. Some therapy might have staved off the worst for a while at least.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...