HotD Villains Can't Compete with Game of Thrones' Most Sadistic Character

Summary

• Game of Thrones was full of loathsome characters that we loved to hate.
• House of the Dragon, however, is not so simple.
• Not one of its characters can be called a pure villain or hero.

Remember when we used to hate a new character from Game of Thrones every week? Though some managed to hold the title of most hated for entire seasons.

It started with Jaime and Cersei Lannister pushing Bran Stark out of a tower window to hide their incest, and continued with a slew of despicable men – Joffrey Baratheon, Roose Bolton, Tywin Lannister, Walder Frey, and Stannis Baratheon, all of whom committed multiple unspeakable atrocities.

Perhaps the biggest bad boy of them all is Ramsay Bolton. Even though the bastard son of Roose Bolton only became a major player in Season 3, all of his actions were so sadistic and inhuman that by Season 6, viewers hated his guts as if he was a real-life psychopath.

Absolutely everyone cheered Jon Snow when he brutally beat Ramsay to a bloody pulp and Sansa when she let his own hounds eat him alive.

House of the Dragon Antagonists

Characters like Ramsay Bolton prove that the creators of the Game of Thrones franchise are more than capable of crafting believable villains. So why doesn't House of the Dragon have at least one character who is equally loathed by the audience?

We have the manipulative Otto Hightower and his duplicitous daughter Alicent. We have the creepy Larys Strong and the somewhat pathetic Criston Cole. Finally, we have two similar Targaryens who seem to enjoy murder and thrive in the chaos of war: Aemond and Daemon.

But even they can't compare to the evildoers of Game of Thrones. Does this mean that the HBO writers have lost their ability to create believable characters and arcs? Not in the least.

This was done on purpose, and is exactly what separates House of the Dragon from its parent show.

The Carefully Crafted Narrative

While Game of Thrones had clear protagonists (the House of Stark and Daenerys Targaryen until one controversial moment) and everyone who hurt them felt like a villain, House of the Dragon is different.

Following the source material, prequel creator Ryan Condal wants to show the Dance of the Dragons from the perspective of both the Greens and the Blacks. This is a civil war, which means sister going against brother, and there can't be just one right point of view.

All the characters are protagonists and antagonists at the same time. All of them have a truth behind their actions, which justifies even horrendous things like the murder of a child and the slaughter of innocents.

For the Blacks, this truth is the legitimacy of Princess Rhaenyra as heir to the Iron Throne and A Song of Ice and Fire. For the Greens, it is the firm belief that the realm will tear itself apart if a woman is made ruler of Westeros.

Basically, when watching House of the Dragon, viewers are supposed to pick a side and root for them, thereby excusing their disastrous actions.