I'm beginning to think they're painting Joffrey as insane (true megolomaniac, I guess?) rather than Black Hat Evil. Or maybe I just want to believe that.
So many characters are really fascinatingly gray -- Jaime, Tywin, Varys, Cat, even Cersei -- that if Joffrey really is pure Black Hat Evil, then I would think Dany would have to be pure White Hat Good. She's not innocently good, really, more fiercely righteous, but still, the Good.
What bothers me is that it seems so clear someone as one-note as Joffrey could ever succeed in the end. So if Dany is his antithesis, does that hold true for her, too?
Joffrey is just the absolute worst. Thank goodness for Tywin holding him back or Joffrey would be a menace the likes that the killer of kings needs to take out again.
I'm beginning to think they're painting Joffrey as insane (true megolomaniac, I guess?) rather than Black Hat Evil.
The books make a huge deal out of Mad King Aerys being the product of many generations of Targaryen incest (and not the first time either), so yeah.
When a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin, eh?
In many ways, I think you can see Dany as constitutionally "good" in that her concern is for her people first, second, and third. However, because this is the universe it is, that doesn't inherently make her the best ruler.
-t's comment makes me think that this will be another "Avet my eyes" ep when I get a chance to see it.
When you really sit down to delve into what produced him, it's actually possible to have some sympathy for Joffrey too.
Not, you know, a LOT.
I...think I would need that case laid out. And, even then, I am unlikely to find it compelling.
I am 100% with Debet. Ultimately I don't give a shit about fucked up circumstances if you are a violent abusive tyrant. Joffrey doesn't seem to care about other people. Does he? Anyone else?
I realize there are other sadists in GOT. The books seem to be filled with them.
Essos is a big continent. I'm sure she hasn't run out just yet.
Are they all explicitly brown in the books, or is this a PJ+Middle Earth extrapolation (I do hold Tolkien liable too, but death is ultimate evasion)?
Are they all explicitly brown in the books, or is this a PJ+Middle Earth extrapolation (I do hold Tolkien liable too, but death is ultimate evasion)?
They probably are, but I don't remember explicitly. (And wouldn't it be Tolkien/Middle Earth's fault anyway? What with Aragorn's pure noble Western blood giving him the moral right to overthrow all those evil men from The East?)
When you really sit down to delve into what produced him, it's actually possible to have some sympathy for Joffrey too.
Yeah, I don't know. That's like having sympathy for every vampire, I think.
Plus, this is not a kid who was abused or neglected -- he was adored and spoiled and well-fed. No matter what's in his genes, he doesn't have a lot of experiential reason to be as horrible as he is.
