King Viserys has already had to figure out who his heir is going to be in House of the Dragon, due to his wife passing away during labor and his son also dying at birth. During the bulk of the episode and presumably in the time before, King Viserys was so focused on having a son so that his heir would be easy to name. However, after his wife and son passed away, Viserys was given a tough choice to make, and almost immediately had to do so.
In the few hours after the passing of his wife and child, Viserys’ council held a meeting to discuss the heir should something happen. Viserys clearly did not want to talk about the subject, as he had just been through a trauma that no person should have to go through. After the meeting was done, Viserys announced to his council that he would name his daughter, Rhaenyra, his heir over his brother, Daemon.
Why did Viserys name his heir Rhaenyra over Daemon?
Even though the idea was brought about with some skepticism due to the uncertainty of some being willing to bend the knee to a queen instead of a king, Rhaenyra was chosen to be the heir. In the first scene, Rhaenyra shows her ability to ride and control the dragons, something that is clearly important to the Targaryen rule. Rhaenyra has a kind heart and cares about the people around her. She proved herself to be very smart while Lady Alicent was asking her questions about history.
She also wants the chance to prove herself, as she has felt that her father had overlooked her all this time during his quest to have a son. In the meeting of the council, those who were there were not sure about Rhaenyra being a queen, however, they clearly had no faith that Daemon would make a good king at all.
Throughout the first episode, Daemon had been proven to be unreliable. In fact, in one of the first scenes, the council is meeting and questioning where Daemon is, as he was not present at this meeting but was supposed to be. Daemon was named the Commander of the City Watch of the King’s Landing, a position that he took way too far as he became the judge, jury, and executioner with the men of the City Watch as well. This made Viserys furious, as that was not the way that he had figured criminals should be dealt with in King’s Landing.
However, the real thing that Daemon did that upset Viserys the most was mock the death of his son inside a brothel, only a few hours after his death. Daemon had said that Viserys’ dead son was “heir for a day.” Hearing this really put the nail in the coffin for Daemon to win over Viserys in being named the heir. King Viserys clearly had enough of his brother and felt very comfortable naming his daughter the heir to the throne.
It will be interesting to see how everything plays out between Daemon and Viserys with Daemon not being named the heir.
Published: Aug 22, 2022 12:57 pm