House of the Dragon: 'Weeks ahead' trailer teases future episodes
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Series opener The Heirs of the Dragon saw Viserys Targaryen (played by Paddy Considine) having the archmaesters tending to a nasty wound he’d sustained from the Iron Throne. He wasn’t the first monarch to have cut himself on the prickly throne, made out of old swords and blades and shaped in a chair. Viserys again cut himself on the throne and in episode two – The Rogue Prince – and he once again had his healers fixing his finger with the king plunging the digit into a tub of writhing maggots to eat the dead flesh.
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from Fire and Blood and potential House of the Dragon spoilers
How does Viserys die?
All of these small nicks and cuts seem to be foreshadowing Viserys’ demise with fans wondering exactly how the good king may perish.
While House of the Dragon is broadly following Fire and Blood, the programme-makers Miguel Sapochnik and Ryan Condal may change some parts from the source text to add an element of surprise.
However, Game of Thrones did more or less stick with George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels until they show outpaced the source material and the Emmy-winning drama diverged somewhat.
In the Game of Thrones encyclopaedia, A World of Ice and Fire, Viserys injured himself again on the Iron Throne in 128AC (after Aegon’s Conquest) after passing a judgement.
The wound became dangerously infected and the king had to have two of his fingers amputated.
However, this measure wasn’t enough to curb the infection with the king getting more frail as the days continued and his journey towards the Stranger began.
According to Fire and Blood, Viserys began to grow ill in 129AC and while celebrations were taking place, the king was getting weaker.
He started suffering chest pains and had to be carried around on chair through the Red Keep as he could no longer walk unaided.
In the book, it states: “By the second moon of the year, His Grace had lost all appetite and was ruling the realm from his bed… when he felt strong enough to rule at all.”
Generally, it was Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) who would be handling duties on the king’s behalf.
Viserys passed away on the third day of the third moon in 129AC after seeing his grandchildren and recounting tales of his great-grandfather flying beyond the Wall and battling wargs, wildlings, and giants.
After seeing his grandchildren, Viserys went to sleep, never to wake again at the age of 52 after ruling over Westeros for 26 years.
Viserys’ reign was seen as one of the most prosperous and peaceful for the Seven Kingdoms and the monarch praised for keeping the realm harmonious.
With his death came the Dance of the Dragons with all hell breaking loose amid a Targaryen civil war and the fight for the Iron Throne between Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Viserys’ children with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).
According to the New York Times, Considine based some of his performance on the physically ailing Viserys on his mother who underwent a number of amputations due to diabetes before her death from a heart attack.
Considine’s co-star Cooke told the outlet: “He turns himself inside out in his performance, and that metamorphosis is sometimes really painful to watch.
“We spoke about it, and the only way he can access his performance, sometimes, is to go to such a horrid and painful place.”
House of the Dragon has quite a way to go before viewers reach this endpoint with a whole 26 years worth of rule to take place first.
So far, viewers have only encountered young versions of Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and Alicent (Emma Carey), suggesting there will be a time jump coming which will see the timeline propelled forward.
But it’s not yet known how far into the future House of the Dragon will be going within the first season.
House of the Dragon airs on HBO on Sundays and Sky Atlantic on Mondays and streams on NOW
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