Viserys Targaryen
The exiled would-be king, last living son of the Mad King, who has dragged his little sister across the Free Cities all their lives, hawking her for an army to take him home.
A soul of House Targaryen, born at Dragonstone.
The fuller tale
Season One
In Pentos, Viserys weds his sister Daenerys to Khal Drogo for the promise of an army. Viserys learns he will ride in a khalasar's dust; Daenerys stops flinching. Viserys draws a sword in the sacred city ÔÇö Drogo crowns him in molten gold.
Where they stand. Pentos and Vaes Dothrak.
How it ends for them
On the screen. Given a golden crown (S1┬ÀE6)
The beggar king demanded his golden crown at swordpoint in Vaes Dothrak, where no blade may be drawn. Khal Drogo gave him one: molten gold, poured over his head. He was no dragon ÔÇö fire cannot kill a dragon.
On the page. A crown of molten gold (AGOT, ch. 47)
He drew steel in Vaes Dothrak, where blades are death, and demanded the crown he was promised with a sword at his sister's belly. Khal Drogo melted his medallion belt in a stewpot and crowned him with it. He was no dragon.
Viserys dies in Vaes Dothrak, the city beneath the Mother of Mountains where no blade may be drawn and no blood spilled, and both tellings savor the loophole that kills him. Drunk past caution at a feast in his sisterÔÇÖs honor, he drew his sword ÔÇö the sacrilege alone earning death ÔÇö and laid its point against DaenerysÔÇÖs belly, telling Drogo he would take her back unless the promised crown was paid. Drogo answered that he would have his golden crown, and men should look on it and tremble; his riders broke ViserysÔÇÖs sword arm and held him kneeling while the khal melted gold over the fire and poured it, molten, over his head.
The books have Daenerys watch without looking away and deliver the verdict that fire cannot kill a dragon; the show keeps the scene nearly intact, down to the awful weight of the finished crown hitting the floor. In both, the last Targaryen king-in-waiting dies without the story ever once granting him the name of king.
Their chapters, book by book
A Game of Thrones 3 chapters that name them
Daenerys I
In Illyrio's manse in Pentos, Viserys dresses his sister for sale; Daenerys meets Khal Drogo and learns her wedding will buy her brother an army.
Daenerys III
On the Dothraki sea Daenerys stops the khalasar to walk in the grass, faces down Viserys for the first time, and learns she carries Drogo's child.
Daenerys IV
In Vaes Dothrak Daenerys eats the stallion's heart and the crones name her son the stallion who mounts the world; Jorah stops Viserys stealing her eggs.Where the page and the screen part
The two tellings agree on almost every beat of Viserys ÔÇö the exile, the sale, the crown ÔÇö and Harry LloydÔÇÖs performance is generally counted among the showÔÇÖs most faithful translations. The books deepen the pathos rather than change the plot: novel readers learn that little Viserys was a sweeter child before exile curdled him, that he blamed Daenerys for their motherÔÇÖs death from her cradle, and that Illyrio and Varys privately intended him for nothing but a stalking horse all along. The books also stage his death slightly differently ÔÇö Drogo melts a belt of golden medallions in a stewpot rather than the showÔÇÖs buckled belt over a fire ÔÇö and give Daenerys the colder final line: he was no dragon.
Their journey
Where the two tellings send them to the same place the road runs whole; where they part, the screen keeps the left and the books the right.