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, from assaulting a woman to 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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0 of 1 minute, 54 secondsVolume 0% 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 he killed 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 Murder 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 watch her young daughter get raped, he completely neglects her, leaving her to deal with the psychological torture 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 and executed. He didn’t even blink at the chance to kill many innocents as long as it meant a message was being sent.

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He Made Aegon III Watch the Brutal Murder of His Mother and Was More than Happy to Torture 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 where he forced her son, Aegon the Younger, to watch as he burned her alive and fed her remains to his dragon.

He then spared his nephew but still took him as a prisoner, who he would proceed to threaten with torture and castration 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.