House of the Dragon: What Disease Does Viserys I Targaryen Have and What Does It Mean?

Viserys I Targaryen is on the throne at the beginning of House of the Dragon, but from the first chapter, the days of the fifth king of the dynasty are numbered, hence the urgency of naming his heir, who for the moment is his first daughter, Rhaenyra Targaryen. It is evident that Viserys is going to die soon, not only because that is written in the books and is what leads to the Dance of the Dragons, but because the king is sick and everything seems to indicate that he has some kind of rot that is slowly weakening, and no amount of worms is enough to wipe out the dead tissue or stop the progress of their “disease”.

A sick king, even when only a few trusted people know about it, is a danger to any kingdom, it means that he is vulnerable and that anyone could take his crown, and Viserys knows very well, because of that prophecy, that only a Targaryens can save the world, so what is happening to him now is especially dangerous.

House of the Dragon: What Disease Does Viserys I Targaryen Have?

The first chapter of House of the Dragon shows a moment in which Viserys cuts himself with his throne, and this is repeated in the second chapter, where the king is seen injuring his finger on the edge of the swords. They are not large or complicated wounds, the problem is that, in the case of Viserys, it does not seem to heal they seem to have a state of necrosis and rot that is slowly advancing, which leads the king’s advisors to treat him with everything type of remedies that range from the crazy to the superstitious.

We know that the Targaryens are the product of incest and inbreeding, this is what produces their madness, but also other problems. In the real world, many royal families practiced incest as well, and that led, for example, to some men suffering from diseases such as hemophilia, which implies that, if an injury occurs, there are no coagulating agents to help it close, so even a small cut can be dangerous (as in the case of Alexei, the son of Tsar Nicolas Romanov).

But in the case of Viserys, it seems that what happens to him is something else, almost prophetic. At one point in the series, it is mentioned that Viserys I Targaryen is a weak king, and if there is one thing that is not tolerated or forgiven in the world of Game of Thrones, it is weakness. This could mean that the throne is rejecting Viserys in some way, trying to kill him to make room for someone much more suitable.

It is not that Viserys is a bad king, he has created many alliances and manages to maintain the peace that his predecessors started, but it is clear that he is not a strong king, physically or mentally (he does not even seem to have his dragon), so his “sickness” could be an act of the gods of this universe, who know that difficult times are ahead and that the right person must be on the throne.

Rhaenyra seems to be the right person, she has already shown her courage and ability by flying to Dragonstone to retrieve the dragon egg that belonged, for a few hours, to her younger brother, but this is complicated. At this point, no woman has ever sat on the iron throne, and although Viserys has already appointed her, any rightful male heir can challenge him, which is precisely what leads to the Dance with Dragons. When is the king going to die? You must remember that he gets to have more children (and no, he’s not a spoiler, that’s the whole point of the civil war), so he has at least a few years left, but not too many.