Will Viserys Die on ‘House of the Dragon’? Here’s What We Know
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Game of Thrones loves to remind us that “all men must die,” so forgive me if I’m looking up the expiration dates on some of the characters in the prequel spin-off series about the Targaryen dynasty, House of the Dragon. You just know some of these little blonde b*tches are going to murder each other. When is Viserys going to die on House of the Dragon? It wouldn’t be a game of thrones if the king was fine and dandy, ya know?
If this wasn’t clear, spoilers for House of the Dragon by way of George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood—which the series is basically based on—are ahead. This is for the people who just can’t wait to know what’s going to happen. The ones who never read the books but knew about the Red Wedding way in advance. The ones who want to know all the nasty details about the Targaryen family tree, because let me tell you, they are gross. Game of Thrones wasn’t kidding when it said the Targaryens loved incest.
Is he going to die?
King Viserys I Targaryen is eventually going to die. Immortal beings do exist in fantasy stories, but A Song of Ice and Fire isn’t really *that* kind of fantasy story. He’s just as human as you or me and will kick the bucket sooner or later, causing a brutal succession battle between his daughter Rhaenyra, his brother Daemon, and whatever other contenders to the Iron Throne emerge between now and his final day.
In the books, Viserys dies in the year 129 AC (that stands for After the Conquest) at age 52. To put that in context, that’s 24 years after the death of his first wife, Aemma Arryn—which happened in 105 AC and in the premiere episode of House of the Dragon. So in theory, he could be around for many seasons to come. That makes sense, because as we know from GRRM’s books, Viserys has a lot of children to father.
So how does he eventually die?
Not to disappoint bloodthirsty viewers, but he dies in his sleep. It’s not a particularly interesting or dramatic death. However, his death was concealed from the general public of Westeros for a full week. That’s pretty dramatic. The civil war that ensued when Viserys died to determine who should succeed him as queen or king is called the Dance of the Dragons in A Song of Ice and Fire lore. So, the clock is ticking. It’s already pretty clear that the question of King Viserys’s heir is the main conflict of House of the Dragon, but if he’s still alive, then it’s not, like, that urgent.
When is this going to happen?
The issue is that House of the Dragon is not structured the same way as Game of Thrones. The spin-off is going to jump forward in time at least once, if not multiple times. We know this because older actors have been cast to play Alicent Hightower, Rhaenyra Targaryen, and other younger members of the court like Laena and Laenor Velaryon. So Viserys could be in the ground by the end of the first season for all we know.
Also, who knows, this is an adaptation and they might mix things up. The Old Gods and the New know that Game of Thrones took liberties with the source material. So while we know a lot of people, both on the show and watching the show, are waiting for Viserys to die, it could happen any day…or not!
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