Why does House Lannister have reputation as villains among the fandom while Houses Greyjoy and Targaryen don't?

[boltons are sick]

I have been thinking about this for some time and I realized that despite House Lannister's reputation as "villains" or "evil" among the fandom, they have no members that qualify as Complete Monsters according to TV Tropes's criteria (you can read more about that here). Joffrey does qualify as a Complete Monster, but I am not sure if I would call him a Lannister because he doesn't know about Cersei and Jaime's relationship, thinks he is a true heir to Robert Baratheon and tries to emulate him and even bemoans Tywin Lannister for being a "coward" unlike Robert who showed bravery and took the crown from the Targaryens. So, in terms of feeling of belonding, he is not a Lannister, but technically a Baratheon even if he doesn't share blood with Robert. From the rest of House Lannister, Cersei, Tywin, Tyrion, Jaime and the rest don't qualify as Complete Monsters.

 Meanwhile, House Targaryen and House Greyjoy each have two members that qualify as Complete Monster (Show!Aerys and both versions of Maegor for Targaryen and both versions of Euron and Book!Dalton for Greyjoy), but despite this, they don't really have reputation as "villains" among the fandom. Here are their Complete Monster entries: 

Literature & Live-Action TV canon

• King Maegor I Targaryen, the First of His Name, and also known as Maegor the Cruel, usurped the throne from his nephew and promptly decapitated the one Archmaester who protested. As king, Maegor turned to brutal tactics to suppress the Faith of the Seven, even riding on his dragon Balerion to burn down a Sept with all worshippers inside, using archers to pick off stragglers. Maegor proceeded to commit massacre after massacre, even passing off the skulls of poor smallfolk in the wrong place at the wrong time as members of the Faith's warriors. Worse still was Maegor's attitudes towards family, as he killed his own nephew in combat. When one of his wives gave birth to a "stillborn monstrosity", Maegor had her, everyone at the birth, and her entire family executed. Obsessed with having an heir, Maegor forcibly married three women, including his own niece. After having the Red Keep constructed, Maegor also had the builders massacred to keep its secrets to himself. The books further reveal Maegor cut the limbs off a leader of the Poor Fellows and had another nephew tortured to death.

A Song of Ice and Fire

• Euron Greyjoy, captain of the Silence, is the evilest of the Ironborn and perhaps the most wicked man to ever raise a sail. Having murdered his elder brother as a child, he later murdered the infant Robin while molesting his brothers Aeron and Urrigon. Scorning all taboos and gods alike, Euron was later exiled by his brother Balon and took to reaving and murdering all across the world. Killing and raping countless innocents, Euron has Balon murdered and returns to claim the Seastone Chair, killing all who object in sadistically inventive ways. Capturing his brother Aeron, Euron subjects him to nightmarish psychological torture while having the Shield Islands sacked and their nobles raped and murdered. Taking his pregnant mistress Falia Flowers, Euron removes her tongue to be lashed to the prow with Aeron and numerous other holy men and warlocks whom he has tortured, with the intent to use them as a sacrifice in an upcoming battle. Planning on nothing less than to rise as a new god from the graves and charnel pits, Euron plots the apocalypse to reshape himself into something new and terrible.

The World of Ice & Fire; Archmaester Gyldayn's Histories; Fire & Blood

 

• Dalton Greyjoy, one of the earlier Greyjoys, aka the "Red Kraken" and Lord-Reaper of Pyke during the Dance of the Dragons, began his reaving when he was only a boy. At the age of 12, Dalton began killing men and taking salt-wives for his own, with numerous successful raids behind him. During the Dance, Dalton indulged his bloodlust by raiding up and down the west coast, sacking cities and taking hundreds of women as salt-wives while quickly tiring of women and passing others to his brothers if he did not find them attractive enough. Attacking even noble houses and plotting to sack and conquer even pillars of Westeros such as Oldtown, Dalton was only stopped after one such salt-wife, known as Tess, opened his throat in revenge for her rape as he slept.

Game of Thrones & Histories & Lore

 

• King Aerys II Targaryen, aka the Mad King, grew into a paranoid pyromaniac and one of the worst of his family's dynasty. Terrified of any threats to his power, Aerys begins murdering or torturing those who incense him, having one man's tongue torn out for making a joke. Becoming obsessed with the destructive wildfire, Aerys uses it to burn entire cities when he deems them to house traitors, even inviting a Northern lord to the capital before burning him alive when Aerys's son is accused of kidnapping the lord's daughter. His tyranny causing a massive rebellion, Aerys goes to war hoping to exterminate all Houses who oppose him, and eventually plans to burn all of King's Landing and his own half-a-million citizens within to kill his attacking enemies.
• Euron Greyjoy was banished from the Iron Islands after having burned the Lannisport fleet. Following the "Old Way" on the high seas, Euron took slaves by the thousands to trade or for sex, having any sailors who fought back tortured to death. At one point, Euron tore the tongues out of his own entire crew for interrupting his thoughts, despite them just having saved his life. Returning to murder his brother Balon and claim the Salt Throne, Euron joins Queen Cersei Lannister in a war to conquer Westeros, later having a defeated enemy fleet mutilated while planning to spread his pillaging worldwide.

 

Just to be clear, I am not saying that Houses Targaryen and Greyjoy are "villains" or "evil" (or any House for that matter because you can't lump an entire noble House under this category). I am just saying that House Lannister has no real members that qualify as Complete Monsters because Joffrey who qualifies for this trope doesn't think of himself as a Lannister, but thinks of himself as a Baratheon while Houses Targaryen and Greyjoy have two members each that qualify as Complete Monsters, but despite this, these two noble Houses don't have the same negative reputation like the Lannisters among the fandom.

 

[Craving Peaches]

I think that Houses Targaryen and Greyjoy are villainous too. What Aerys was attempting to do was just as evil, if not more, than anything Tywin has done. Aerys also raped and abused Rhaella. Aerion took delight in breaking someone's fingers because he could, Maegor killed tons of people. Euron is horrible, and the Greyjoys aspire to raid everywhere which includes killing, raping and stealing from innocents. House Targaryen has some good members to help balance out the bad though. The others don't seem to.

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

House Greyjoy doesn't have a reputation as villains ? Since when ?

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

Greyjoys are the most hated of the great houses. They are thieves, rapists, and murderers.

Targaryens are a bit more complicated. Like any royal family they have good kings and bad ones, but their poor reputation is exacerbated by their inbreeding and sense of superiority to other bloodlines. They have all had more power than any other rulers of Great Houses so when they fuck up, they fuck up really bad. As of right now in the story, aside from Dorne (ironically), every other kingdom hates them. Maybe not the Reach but they also probably aren’t excited at the prospect of them returning either.

[astarkchoice]

Probably as the earliest books (with years inbetween them)  we get a stark pov in a war with them so they had an uphill battle to be likes . They are a rich arrogant family and character wise we see little to cheer for as the books go on

 

While interesting tyrion isnt a good guy and he gets worse as  the books go on, jamies redemption arc doesnt wash out what hes done or who he was before, tywin is unquestionably ruthless , cersei is just totaly horrible as a person(fun as a pov though , kevan is a tywin enaabler even old lancel starts as a nasty bully to tyrion and ends up a joyless  snitching fanatic likely to do atrocities for the faith.

[King_Tristifer_IV_Mudd]

14 minutes ago, astarkchoice said:

Probably as the earliest books (with years inbetween them)  we get a stark pov in a war with them so they had an uphill battle to be likes . They are a rich arrogant family and character wise we see little to cheer for as the books go on

 

While interesting tyrion isnt a good guy and he gets worse as  the books go on, jamies redemption arc doesnt wash out what hes done or who he was before, tywin is unquestionably ruthless , cersei is just totaly horrible as a person(fun as a pov though , kevan is a tywin enaabler even old lancel starts as a nasty bully to tyrion and ends up a joyless  snitching fanatic likely to do atrocities for the faith.

I think Jaime can be redeemed and he is well on his way.

[John Suburbs]

The story is primarily written from a Stark-centric PoV, so that's what comes across to the reader. And even the Lannister PoVs shows a lot of hostility between them.

If we were to get some views from, say, Lannisport, the outlook would be distinctly positive, particularly for Tywin who is certified a hero there.

And if you go back even 30-40 years, House Lannister was run by the kindly old lord who just wanted to get along with everybody, while House Stark had a grasping, conniving lord and an obnoxious, arrogant heir. So it changes with each generation.

Edit:

The Boltons, however, are sick, and have been sick for thousands of years. But there's a reason for that.

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

I think Greyjoy does have a reputation for being villains? Also, the Lannisters have earned every bit of their own reputation. 

[sifth]

Probably because they play a smaller role in the series. The Greyjoys are almost non existent in the first and third novel, outside of Theon playing a supporting character in the first and he isn't even in the third book. As for the Targ's, well outside of all the horrible stuff Viserys threatens to do to Dany, all of the evil they've done is in the distant past. Heck Viserys is only around for about 5 or 6 chapters, before he gets his crown and Dany spends most of the follow up books trying to free slaves and destroy the people who put them in chains. She's truly a villain on the same level as the Lannisters, who cheat, back stab and betray others, as easily as most people breath air.

[EggBlue]

I think Tywin is just as villainous as Euron or Aerys. Possibly more so, because he can fit himself into society and pretend he is not the misogynistic monstrous fuck that he is. 

as for the question in the OP because :

1. Targaryen villains are all historical members and for every villainous Targ in history, there are two good ones. 

2. Greyjoys are not as important as Lannisters in the story, so people don't pay that much attention to them. otherwise, characters like Ramsay, Roose, or Euron are far worse than the Lannister siblings.

[Curled Finger]

Can you use TV Tropes for literary villains?  Hrm...  One man's villain is another man's hero and so the circle spins.  We have points of view from a vast array of characters including Greyjoys and Targaryens.  Not to mention lost of history and backstory.  I was not that interested in the Greyjoys until Asha got a POV.  Inside her head the Greyjoys become more textured, larger, animated.  At least they aren't arrogant, silly, sex-crazed Theon.  They are Vikings, not castle grabbers.  Their politics come at the ends of axes in raids, not wars.  We are only still learning who these curious people are.  Targaryens, like Starks, don't really count.  They are magical, so they only really count insofar as the Starks are badasses and violent nutcases.  Nono, my friend, there are plenty of violent nutcase Starks, don't be fooled.  They simply haven't sat the Iron Throne and ruled the world. 

More light has been centered on the Targs as rulers of the 7 kingdoms for 300 years so there may be more stories, certainly more propaganda and axes to grind by detractors.  No way everyone is happy where there were previously 7 kings and Aegon doesn't clearly explain why he's decided to bind the realm.  Things such as the importance of such an action was surely important to the realm?   

None of these communities are particularly celebrated for their communication or diplomatic skill.  They all seem to revel in their suspicious isolation when not plotting all out war against their neighbor.  The characters who do have even the most sophomoric sense of diplomacy, basic human rights, statesmanship and peace are in fact a Greyjoy, a Lannister, a Targaryen and a Stark.  It is very difficult to name an entire family villain when you have a current POV character who stands out so.  

[Nevets]

The Lannisters are more prominent in the story than the other two families.  

The Targaryens are mostly in the past, so we don't really see them.  Daenerys is the only one we see much, and she's pretty decent.

The Lannisters are all pretty major characters, and range from morally gray to downright unpleasant.  Also, they are the ones effectively in charge after the first book, so their villainy has more of an effect.

The Greyjoys are probably worse, but they're mostly secondary characters, so don't appear as much, even disappearing for an entire book.  For myself, Asha is the only one I like to read about.

[Dofs]

Well, Lannisters did play the role of the villains in the first books, by design. I don't think it's fair to call them villains by this point in the story but a lot of readers did get used to seeing them as such and there hasn't been a major "heel-face turn" moment for the House as whole to signal to them that they aren't anymore.

[Lady Stonehearts Simp]

Tywin and Cersei are both unequivocally villains, but neither are complete monsters. Cersei does have a kind of love for her children and she was victimized by the patriarchal Westerosi society. But she is still a bad person, and terrible person. And Tywin tragically lost his wife, the only person he probably truly loved. And again, he is still a terrible human being.

Aside from Euron and Ramsay, every other major character is sympathetic to a degree.

[BlackLightning]

Because the first couple of books (which, at the moment, serve as a principal definition for the series) are about how the family feud between the Starks and the Lannisters gives birth to a horrific civil war...which the Lannisters win. Seeing as the Starks are the hero protagonists of the series, it makes sense why their archenemies are seen as the principal villains of the series.

In those same books, the Targaryens are impoverished celebrities on the other side of the world and the Greyjoys are opportunist thugs slinking around in the background.

• Yes, the sins and crimes of the Targaryens basically creates the world backstory of the series...but that's the past. Distant past at that. The average lifespan of people in Westeros is probably 60 years. As the Targaryens have been gone for almost 20 years, their relevancy to contemporary events in Westeros is a little more than minuscule compared to that of the Lannisters. Especially since the Targaryens are doing something completely different thousands of miles away. And as it so happens, the primary enemies of the Targaryens are the Lannisters. Actually, the Lannisters are the Targaryens' secondary enemies as the primary enemy of the Targaryens are the pro-slavery, pseudo-capitalistic elites of Essos. The Greyjoys aren't even on the Targaryens' radar.
• Yes, the Greyjoys are the reason why the Starks can't just go back home to regroup: the Shire is burning, littered with corpses and trashed, and controlled by an extremely pathetic group of rogues. But that merely makes them secondary antagonists to the Starks. Especially since the Greyjoys never get into any real battles with the Starks (or anyone for that matter) and it is frequently discussed in-universe that the Greyjoys on land are, at best, an extreme annoyance: defeating them is only a matter of "when" not "if." And currently, the good Greyjoys are becoming more and more like Starks. Also, keep in mind that in the original outline/story, the Lannisters (specifically Tyrion) were the ones directly responsible for the fall of Winterfell and the subjugation of the North. So, the inclusion of the Greyjoys and the damage that they do to the Starks in the opening set of A Song of Ice and Fire is more incidental than we'd care to admit.

Now, with the way everyone is either dismissive or ignorant of the threat posed by the Greyjoys and how the Greyjoys themselves are unable to do anything about Euron Crow's Eye (despite the fact that they all hate him), Euron is being positioned to be the ultimate human villain of the series. And then you have to consider the Freys, the Boltons and the Sand Snakes: they are both so cold, vindictive and depraved that they make the Lannisters look reasonable. So, when the book series is finished, maybe the fandom will have a more nuanced take on the Lannisters.

But the Lannisters have definitely earned their reputation as villains. They are objectively bad people.

[EggBlue]

14 hours ago, Prince Rhaegar Targareyen said:

 And Tywin tragically lost his wife, the only person he probably truly loved. And again, he is still a terrible human being.

You know, Tywin's love for his wife is overrated. For one, the two people telling us he loved her are Cersei and Pycile, both of whom like to idolize Tywin. but looking at his actions, Tywin didn't seem to love his wife: firstly, he made a tunnel from the tower of the hand to a brothel. Then, after his wife died, his first act was to disregard her wishes about their children's future and disrespect her oldest friend. And through his treatment of Tyrion , he insulted his wife's memory and virtue by believing that because Tyrion is a little imp, he must be a bastard.