Viserys’ wounds in House of the Dragon are a Thrones lore deep cut
House of the Dragon wasted no time before setting up the multiple conflicts plaguing the Seven Kingdoms. But one of the biggest threats to King Viserys Targaryen’s rule is largely playing out in the background.
[Ed. note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon and Fire & Blood.]
In the series premiere, we learn that Viserys has a small wound on his back from sitting on the Iron Throne. As the maesters tending to Viserys note, the cut mysteriously refuses to heal. In fact, it’s spreading. Viserys receives a second cut from the throne in the same episode, which similarly becomes infected and leads to the amputation of two of his fingers.
The reason Viserys’ wounds won’t heal is more symbolic than anything as routine as bacterial infection. The significance of being cut by the Iron Throne actually has deep roots in Targaryen history and Game of Thrones lore, dating all the way back to the throne’s creation.
Viserys’ ancestor Aegon I Targaryen constructed the Iron Throne out of a thousand broken blades he had taken from his enemies. The “ironwork monstrosity,” as George R.R. Martin referred to it in Game of Thrones, was built with the intention of causing extreme discomfort. “A king should never sit easy,” Aegon the Conqueror explained in the first A Song of Ice and Fire book.
Aegon’s son Aenys succeeded his father, but was eventually killed by his brother, the usurper Maegor. Six years into Maegor’s infamously cruel reign, his nephew Jaehaerys Targaryen raised banners against him. After very few houses came to Maegor’s aid, he chose to spend the night brooding alone on the Iron Throne. The next morning, one of Maegor’s many wives, Elinor, found him dead in the seat with one of the throne’s blades impaled
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