Viserys' actor, Paddy Considine, revealed on the West of Westeros podcast that the king is suffering from a 'form of leprosy'. But how close is this disease to leprosy in reality?
In an interview on Entertainment Weekly's podcast "West of Westeros," Paddy Considine (who plays Viserys) gave insight into what illness is plagueing Viserys. "He's actually suffering from a form of leprosy," Considine said. "His body is deteriorating, his bones are deteriorating.
“He's actually suffering from a form of leprosy. His body is deteriorating, his bones are deteriorating. He's not actually old. He's still a young man in there, he's just unfortunately got this thing that's kind of taken over his body.
The first reason King Viserys Targaryen kept cutting himself on the Iron Throne is because that's what the chair is designed to do. No, seriously, when Aegon the Conqueror first used Balerion to melt a bunch of swords into the world's deadliest armchair, he deliberately made the throne uncomfortable.
We can presume that King Viserys Targaryen lost his eye as a result of his leprosy. The virus has already eaten away at his fingers and arm, and it seems in the last few years of his life, it spread to his face.
Viserys' actor, Paddy Considine, revealed on the West of Westeros podcast that the king is suffering from a 'form of leprosy'. But how close is this disease to leprosy in reality?
Viserys had a form of leprosy in House of the Dragon.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actor Paddy Considine (who played Viserys), revealed his character had a form of leprosy. In the podcast he explains, “He is not actually old. He's still a young man in there.
Actor Paddy Considine shared some details during an appearance on Entertainment Weekly's Game of Thrones podcast, West of Westeros. According to Considine, the King suffers from “a form of leprosy.”
Viewers see the illness slowly take over Viserys's health as he loses strength and is unable to heal from minor cuts induced from the razor-sharp edges of the Iron Throne. Over time, various extremities are removed from Viserys, including fingers, an entire arm, and one of his eyeballs.
In fact, Martin outright said as much during a Q&A back in 1999, calling the idea that Targaryens were magically immune to fire a “common misconception.” “TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE!” the author emphatically stated. “The birth of Dany's dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle.
The maesters treat King Viserys
In the first episode of House of the Dragon itself we see the lesions and scabs on King Viserys that have not been reducing despite the maesters' treatments. Instead, Mellos has been using leeches to give King Viserys some sort of relief. This treatment was seen in episode 5 as well.
In House of the Dragon, Viserys' mask is used to shield his condition from his family and his subjects, just like he shields himself from believing the truth of Rhaenyra's children's father. His mask is also a way to attempt to reclaim his status as king.
Literally — his body and face were crumbling. Viserys' deterioration happened slowly. First, it was a few festering cuts from sitting on the Iron Throne, then it was some missing fingers. After the 10-year time jump in Episode 6, he lost an entire arm.
In 'The Rogue Prince', we saw Viserys receiving treatment for an infected finger cut he'd sustained on the Iron Throne. Said treatment involved submerging his hand in a pile of live maggots to let them eat away the infected, necrotising flesh.
Though "Fire & Blood" offers no canonical explanation for what the disease actually is, the fact it appears to be a result of infections received from the swords of the throne itself hints towards something like sepsis or tetanus - and possibly a result of the most controversial tradition upheld by House of the ...
Why is Viserys Targaryen not a dragon? Viserys is not a dragon because he is not a fire breathing creature. He is a Targaryen who called themselves 'blood of the dragon' which does make him a dragon in that sense. Being a dragon is not measured in bonding with dragons or being fire immune.
According to lore, greyscale is spread by direct touch or by coming into contact with objects affected by someone with the disease. Shireen picked up the disease from a contaminated doll, however Viserys has been in direct and indirect contact with many people who have not succumbed to infection.
In the trailer for episode 9, which confirms Viserys' death, Alicent says it out loud: "He told me he wished for Aegon to be king."
He never woke. He was fifty-two years old, and had reigned over most of Westeros for twenty-six years. The last people who Viserys spoke to, according to the history book, were his daughter Helaena and his grandchildren, and he died in his sleep rather than with one last vision of Aemma before breathing his last.
According to Mirri Maz Duur, he was inhuman, hideously deformed and covered in dragon-like scales. He had the stub of a tail small leather wings, reminiscent of a bat. Rhaego was stillborn.
Putting Rhaenyra as his heir is his penance for what happened. After the graphic House of the Dragon episode 1 birth scene, Hess' comments prove that Viserys is desperate to make up for his hand in his wife's demise, which may be a small comfort to viewers.
Daemon Targaryen reveals that Viserys never told him about Aegon's dream in House of the Dragon, confirming Daemon was never going to be his heir.
EW got the answer. In the podcast West of Westeros, we learned that Viserys is suffering from leprosy.
It isn't explicitly stated in the show, but because we learn after episode six that all three boys have dark brown hair — and despite Rhaenyra and Laenor's matching blond color — it has been strongly implied that they are actually the children of Ser Harwin Strong, the Lord Commander of the City Watch.
King Viserys Targaryen's (Paddy Considine) health rapidly declined with each episode. He looked old beyond his years while he was supposed to be in his late forties to early fifties. Paddy Considine confirmed that his character has leprosy.