Most Evil Families in the series

[Lady Stonehearts Simp]

1. House Targaryen- while we can debate their history since Aegon’s Conquest, they were a part of the Valyrian Freehold upper class. Meaning they were almost certainly complicit in every atrocity they committed. From blood magic, slavery, genocide, and were eugenicists.

2. House Hoare- called the “Black-line” or “Black Blood” they are everything wrong with Ironborn culture 

3. House Greyjoy/Drumm/Any Iron Islands family of Kings- simply put, they were like the Hoares but less successful.

4. House Bolton- Literally skinning people alive and wearing their skin. What else needs be said

5. House Yronwood- Known for their cruelty and how they torture people.

[Craving Peaches]

House Uller?

[Curled Finger]

Hightower, frickin climbers

exhume Otto and kill him again

[James Steller]

24 minutes ago, King Maegor the Cool said:

 

2. House Hoare- called the “Black-line” or “Black Blood” they are everything wrong with Ironborn culture 

 

Didn’t the Hoares try to outlaw thraldom and reaving, though? A lot of the Hoare kings seemed to push for cooperation and trade over war. I don't think we can write them all off as being the worst of the Ironborn

Edited March 27, 2023 by James Steller

[BalerionTheCat]

The Boltons are really sick. Skinning people for fun. How many were like Ramsay?

The others are bloody conquerors. Just the notch under.

[Curled Finger]

29 minutes ago, King Maegor the Cool said:

1. House Targaryen- while we can debate their history since Aegon’s Conquest, they were a part of the Valyrian Freehold upper class. Meaning they were almost certainly complicit in every atrocity they committed. From blood magic, slavery, genocide, and were eugenicists.

House Targaryen was a minor player in Valyria.  Their only claims to fame were dragon riding and Daena.  I doubt they were involved in anything of any importance and were more air support than anything there.  They didn't even amass all the cool Valyrian Steel the lousy Celtigars had or the riches of the Velaryons in Westeros.  In that they were unable to produce viable offspring in the form of dragon babies for generations, had no slaves and failed to hatch eggs after the dragons were long gone I think you give them way too much credit here.  

[Lady Stonehearts Simp]

32 minutes ago, Craving Peaches said:

House Uller?

My b

[Terrorthatflapsinthenight9]

27 minutes ago, James Steller said:

Didn’t the Hoares try to outlaw thraldom and reaving, though? A lot of the Hoare kings seemed to push for cooperation and trade over war. I don't think we can write them all off as being the worst of the Ironborn

Yes, some of them were very cruel, but again this is the norm for the Ironborn and their "black heart and dark blood" is largely an invention of the Drowned Men who hated the Hoares for going against the Old Way and changing the Ironborn lifestyle.

[The Wolves]

House Lannister. 
 

[SeanF]

I’m not convinced that any Houses are better or worse than each other.

Individuals are better or worse than each other.

[Alester Florent]

1 hour ago, SeanF said:

I’m not convinced that any Houses are better or worse than each other.

Individuals are better or worse than each other.

Yeah, this. While there do seem to be some houses worse than others, damning a whole family as evil because some of them did some bad stuff doesn't seem right.

I have yet to hear anything positive about any members of houses Peake or Wyl and the Brackens are not particularly sympathetic on the whole, but I wouldn't call any of the families themselves evil.

[EggBlue]

I'm not bringing up historical figures and such. Because if we examine everything closely, every house ends up evil. Sadly including the Starks( the Hungry Wolf must give you a hint).

In the main series, and by counting the prominent members of each family, the evilest house is definitely, and for sure, 1. house Bolton; 2/2 members being super nasty. After that, it goes like this imo:

2. House Lannister: between Tywin's atrocities and Cersei's cruelties, the best thing you can get is Jaimie's arrogance and Tyrion's frustrating self-pity, who both, despite heroic and humane moments, are pretty terrible people, especially Tyrion, with showing great potential to become a mini-Tywin. (and I'm not even counting Joffrey as a Lannister!) 

3. House Greyjoy : You've got Euron(pure evil), Balon(frustratingly cruel)  and Victarion(a dumb rock who is more that capable of cruelty) , every bit terrible individuals. then you have Aurone, who might be the best Greyjoy despite being a freaking fanatic. Then you have Theon, a prickly, selfish dude, even as Reek, and Asha, who only has the benefit of a very low bar to be counted as the most normal Greyjoy. 

 

[GZ Bloodraven]

Every house has its evil generations, but House Peake consistently has just terrible leadership. Not as bad as the Bolton flayers or the Greyjoy rapers, but they are the only house who single-handedly led a rebellion with zero support that led to a kingslaying for absolutely no reason. If they were effective (like the Boltons or Dalton), maybe I'd give them a pass, but they have consistently been on the losing side of every battle. 

Edited March 27, 2023 by GZ Bloodraven

[Curled Finger]

2 hours ago, EggBlue said:

 

In the main series, and by counting the prominent members of each family, the evilest house is definitely, and for sure, 1. house Bolton; 2/2 members being super nasty. After that, it goes like this imo:

2. House Lannister: between Tywin's atrocities and Cersei's cruelties, the best thing you can get is Jaimie's arrogance and Tyrion's frustrating self-pity, who both, despite heroic and humane moments, are pretty terrible people, especially Tyrion, with showing great potential to become a mini-Tywin. (and I'm not even counting Joffrey as a Lannister!) 

 

And Tytos' stupidity.  Never forget that, it caused a lot of trouble.  

[Alester Florent]

3 hours ago, EggBlue said:

 

2. House Lannister: between Tywin's atrocities and Cersei's cruelties, the best thing you can get is Jaimie's arrogance and Tyrion's frustrating self-pity, who both, despite heroic and humane moments, are pretty terrible people, especially Tyrion, with showing great potential to become a mini-Tywin. (and I'm not even counting Joffrey as a Lannister!) 

Even if you don't like Jaime and Tyrion, and you don't count Torment and Myrcella, I think Daven and to a lesser extent Kevan and Lancel take the curse off the Lannisters a bit as a house during ASoIaF.

[Oana_Mika]

8 hours ago, King Maegor the Cool said:

1. House Targaryen- while we can debate their history since Aegon’s Conquest, they were a part of the Valyrian Freehold upper class. Meaning they were almost certainly complicit in every atrocity they committed. From blood magic, slavery, genocide, and were eugenicists.

While House Stark was part of the First Men who genocided the Cildren of the Forest, extinguished many Houses to gain their Kingdom in the North and isolated the wildlings beyond the Wall. 

 

As for being eugenistic, the Starks also believe they are better than others because of their First Men blood. And while House Targaryen married many times outside their house and blood, House stark only married a couple of times with someone who did not have the blood of the First Men.

 

Oh, and House Targaryen, although they were among the dragon riding families, were not very influential in Old Valyria.

 

BTW, here I have how many years of peace they offered in Westeros, since you said it's debateble :

 

Targaryens ruled for 283 years, from 1 AC to 283 AC, when Aerys is slain.

Aegon I: The conquest ended after the first Dornish War ended with a peace treaty in 13 AC. The rest of Aegon’s reign was peaceful and lasted 37 years. 37-13 = 24 years of complete peace.

Aenys: ruled from 37 AC to 42 AC, 5 years. His reign was plagued by rebellions, so none of the years in his reign could reasonably be considered peaceful. 0 years of complete peace.

Maegor: ruled from 42 AC to 48 AC, 6 years. Obviously none of his reign can be considered peaceful. 0 years of complete peace.

Jaehaerys I: ruled from 48 AC to 103 AC, 55 years, all of which were peaceful and prosperous. 55 of complete peace AND prosperity.

Viserys I: ruled from 103 AC to 129 AC, 26 years. While it was during his reign that the seeds of the Dance were planted, Viserys’ reign itself was completely peaceful (save for the Stepstones but that did not affect Westeros). 26 years of complete peace.

Aegon II: ruled from 129 AC to 131 AC, 2 years. Obviously there was a civil war happening, so 0 years of complete peace.

Aegon III: ruled from 131 to 157 AC, 26 years. While his reign was immediately after the civil war and there was some instability during the regency, Aegon kept the peace for its entirety. 26 years of complete peace.

Daeron I: ruled from 157 AC - 161 AC, 4 years. His reign was marked by the conquest of Dorne, so I will count its entirety as 0 years of complete peace.

Baelor: ruled from 161 AC to 171 AC, 10 years. He actually tried to atone for Daeron’s wars, and while he was often in a silly goofy mood, I would count all 10 years of his reign as relatively peaceful, 0 if you think that his craziness impacted the realm in some way.

Viserys II: ruled from 171 AC to 172 AC, 1 year. No war during his reigns, it was actually said that he had what it takes to be another Jaehaerys, but his reign was cut short. 1 year of peace AND prosperity.

Aegon IV: ruled from 172 to 184 AC, 12 years. While he was a terrible king, there were no wars during his reign. I will be generous though and say that on the account of his terrible kingship, 0 years of peace for him.

Daeron II: ruled from 184 AC - 209 AC, 25 years. He brough Dorne into the kingdom peacefully, but some of his reign was plagued by the First Blackfyre Rebellion, lasting one year in 196. The rest of his reign was peaceful. 24 years of complete peace.

Aerys I: ruled from 209 AC to 221 AC, 12 years. In 212 there was a Greyjoy rebellion and Second Blackfyre Rebellion, lasting 1 year. The Third Blackfyre Rebellions lasted in 219, also one year. Other than that, there were 10 years of peace.

Maekar: ruled from 221–233 AC, 11 years. No wars during his reign. 11 years of peace.

Aegon V: ruled from 233 AC to 259 AC, 26 years. Brief Blackfyre rebellion broke out in 236. He also had to deal with uprisings, but it’s hard to estimate how much of his reign was dedicated to that. Lyonel’s Strong rebellion was “short”, so let’s say it lasted one year. Jaehaerys’ marriage to Shaera also caused troubles with the Tullys and Tyrells,  TWOIAF does not mention anything about a full fledged rebellion, though. There was a rebellion in 251, where Daeron was slain, let’s say it lasted another year. 2 years were spent at war. In order to make it “much”, I will generously add some years, let’s say 8 years of some other conflicts. Still, that’s 16 years of relative peace.

Jaehaerys II: ruled from 259 AC to 262 AC, lasting 3 years. In 260, the last Blackfyre pretender appeared and killed during the War of the Ninepenny Kings, lasting a year. Other than that, his reign was pretty unremarkable. 2 years of peace.

Aerys II: ruled from 262 to 283 AC, 21 years. Initially, his reign was promising. When do we start counting it as chaotic? Aerys’ madness only truly started during Defiance at Duskendale, started in 277. Robert’s rebellion lasted from 282–283 AC, a year. Let’s be generous and count the Defiance as the beginning of chaos. 21-6=15. 15 years of peace.

That is, in total, 210 years of peace. 222 if we count Aegon IV as peaceful because there were no wars, 200 if we exclude Baelor because he was crazy. Percentage-wise, it’s respectively 75%, 78% and 70%, a clear majority of time. Mind you, before the conquest, the Seven Kingdoms were at constant war with one another, so this is an extremely drastic reduction. (Source)

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Oana_Mika

[Nevets]

House Bolton has an awful reputation, which they have apparently done their best to live up (or down) to.  Roose and Ramsay are continuing a well-established tradition of depravity.

House Lothston, previous holders of Harrenhal, had several members who dabbled in the black arts and did truly horrible things.  Which is why they no longer exist.  They're still remembered in the area, and not fondly.

[Lady Stonehearts Simp]

1 hour ago, Oana_Mika said:

While House Stark was part of the First Men who genocided the Cildren of the Forest, extinguished many Houses to gain their Kingdom in the North and isolated the wildlings beyond the Wall. 

 

As for being eugenistic, the Starks also believe they are better than others because of their First Men blood. And while House Targaryen married many times outside their house and blood, House stark only married a couple of times with someone who did not have the blood of the First Men.

 

 

 

Literally Zero proof in that. Starks arose after defeating the Others the first time. Targaryens extinguished many a house as well. And we don’t know much of anything from the time the Wall came up, or why the Wildlings stayed on the other side. And the wars with the Starks were always initiated by the Kings Beyond the Wall raiding south of the wall.

 

Where have the Starks ever said they thought First amen Blood was superior? I’ll wait. Find it in the text. Whereas the Targaryens literally have an agreement with the Faith on Targaryen Exceptionalism. They married relatives many times specifically because they believed Targaryen blood is superior to Westeros nobles. Whereas the Starks have married into all the northern houses at some point as well as some southern ones

[The Bard of Banefort]

House Wyl. Have those POSes ever done anything that wasn’t absurdly evil?

[SeanF]

3 minutes ago, King Maegor the Cool said:

Literally Zero proof in that. Starks arose after defeating the Others the first time. Targaryens extinguished many a house as well. And we don’t know much of anything from the time the Wall came up, or why the Wildlings stayed on the other side. And the wars with the Starks were always initiated by the Kings Beyond the Wall raiding south of the wall.

 

Where have the Starks ever said they thought First amen Blood was superior? I’ll wait. Find it in the text. Whereas the Targaryens literally have an agreement with the Faith on Targaryen Exceptionalism. They married relatives many times specifically because they believed Targaryen blood is superior to Westeros nobles. Whereas the Starks have married into all the northern houses at some point as well as some southern ones

There were unquestionably horrible Starks, throughout history.  Those who hung up their enemies’ entrails and raped their daughters.  Nor, were the she-wolves of Winterfell likely pleasant people.

But, I think my point stands.  It’s individuals, not Houses, who should be judged.