The oldest son of King Viserys Targaryen and Queen Alicent Hightower, Aegon II Targaryen, has done plenty of cruel things in House of the Dragon, with happily betting on children in illegal underground fighting rings, it quickly becomes clear why people don’t want him ruling as king. As twisted as the TV show’s version of him is, Aegon was significantly crueller in the books. Let’s take a look at some of the worst things the Targaryen prince ever did.
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Aegon II Targaryen Celebrated His Nephew’s Death
Kin-slaying is one of the worst atrocities you can commit in Westeros and Prince Aemond Targaryen became guilty of the crime after the unfortunate incident with his nephew Lucerys Velaryon. Rather than respond in horror like most of the Greens did, Aegon II Targaryen congratulated his brother for what he had done and even threw a feast to honour him.
His complete disregard for what his brother’s actions would mean for the kingdom was a clear indicator of how much he actually cares about his role as king.
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How He Handled the Passing of His Oldest Son
After the death of Lucerys Velaron at the hands of Aemond, Daemon decided he wanted revenge for his wife’s son and hired assassins (Blood and Cheese) to pay Aegon II Targaryen in kind by having them go after his sons.
After his sister-wife is put through a traumatizing series of events by Blood and Cheese, in which she is forced to pick one of her sons to die or allow unspeakable acts her young daughter, he completely neglects her, leaving her to deal with the psychological trauma she had to go through all on her own.
He does set his men on the two assassins, but they only managed to find Blood. In an attempt to warn the rat catcher that managed to escape about what awaited him, Aegon II Targaryen has all the rat catches in Westeros rounded up. As long as he gets his message across, he doesn’t care who is harmed in the process.
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He Made Aegon III Watch the Passing of His Mother and Was More than Happy to Interrogate Him
After losing the throne to Rhaenyra, Aegon II Targaryen went behind her back and turned a lot of her supporters against her, then lured her into a trap and forced Aegon III to watch her as she lost her life.
He then spared his nephew but still took him as a prisoner, who he would proceed to threaten for the rest of his reign. When the armies that were once loyal to Rhaenyra marched down on him, Alicent encouraged him to follow through on his threats toward his nephew. Fortunately, before the king could act, his advisors betrayed him and stopped any attempts he tried to make on his nephew’s life.
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