Game of Thrones: 5 Ways Joffrey Was A Terrible King (& 5 Ways Tommen Was Worse)

Although Game of Thrones is a television series that is so grand in scope and scale that no other TV show in history can really compete with it, on some level the series feels like the story of many bad kings and queens who are all terrible at their jobs in different ways.

Two of the major kings that sat on the Iron Throne throughout the show were Joffrey and Tommen Baratheon. After Tywin Lannister spent years building up House Lannister, these two ineffectual kings nearly brought their house and the Seven Kingdoms itself falling down around them, and they were both awful kings in very different ways.

10 Joffrey: Because He Was Stupid Enough To Be Manipulated By Everyone

Joffrey was an extremely arrogant individual who thought that he was above pretty much everyone else in the world.

However, he was a moron. He was in fact so stupid that he didn’t even realize how stupid he was, which left many other much more intelligent people with the opportunity to influence Joffrey in any way that they wanted. And in typical idiot Joffrey fashion, he never picked up on it.

9 Tommen: Because He Was Naive Enough To Be Manipulated By Everyone

It seems like Tommen was a bit more intelligent than Joffrey, or at least had a bit more innate common sense, but where he really lost his way was in that he was just too young and innocent to withstand the wiles of courtly intrigue.

Tommen found himself cripplingly manipulated by Margaery, Cersei, and the High Sparrow all at the same time, simply because he wasn’t developed or strong minded enough to stand up to them.

8 Joffrey: Because He Was Too Indulged By Cersei

Game of Thrones didn’t take too much time to illuminate exactly why Joffrey was always destined to be a terrible king. Cersei legitimately seems like the only person who actually loves him, and she certainly was the one who raised him almost exclusively.

And throughout his entire life, she told him that the entire world was his and he could have anything that he wanted. It comes as no surprise that he believed that to be true when he became king.

7 Tommen: Because He Was Too Babied By Cersei

Tommen was younger than Joffrey, and it wasn’t expected that he would ever ascend to the throne, but it seems like a massive oversight that no one even considered that possibility and equipped Tommen with some tools in case he had to rule Westeros.

Cersei went out of her way to keep her children young as long as possible, which was actually kind from a motherly perspective, but ruined Tommen’s chances of being a good king.

6 Joffrey: Because He Thought Being King Made Him God

Because of Cersei’s childrearing and Joffrey’s own narcissistic impulses, he literally thought he could do whatever he wanted to anybody and there would be no consequences.

It’s why he killed Ned when it was guaranteed to start a war, and it’s why he wound up being poisoned at his own wedding. Joffrey clearly thought that he was as infallible as a god.

5 Tommen: Because He Never Acted Like A King

For all of Joffrey’s flaws, no one can say that he lacked enough confidence to be king (if anything, he had the opposite problem). But the same can’t be said for Tommen.

Tommen was clearly a somewhat insecure and ill-prepared young man, and he wound up being pushed in all sorts of insane directions simply because everyone around him sensed his weakness and insecurity.

4 Joffrey: Because He Had No Political Insight

One of Joffrey’s most significant weaknesses as a king is that he seemed to be completely lacking in political knowledge, insight, or understanding.

It wasn’t just that he didn’t care like Robert did, he literally didn’t have any concept of how his behaviors and decisions could have massive impacts on the Seven Kingdoms that would undermine his rule, he didn’t even seem to understand that killing Ned Stark and every one of Robert Baratheon’s bastards made his kingship look illegitimate.

3 Tommen: Because He Was Too Politically Weak

Tommen had a better shot at being a better king that Joffrey because he seemed to at least have an interest in ruling with political deftness, but his ascent to the throne made it clear that he’d had no education in such matters and that he had zero instincts for it.

He was also far too prone to taking everyone at their word and never questioning their motives.

2 Joffrey: Because He Was A Sadist

Joffrey’s obvious and most fatal flaw as a king has got to be the simple fact that he genuinely enjoyed hurting people. Sadists don’t typically make very good kings, and the only aspect of ruling that Joff seemed to have any knack for is extreme punishment.

Being a complete failure at everything else may have at least been survivable, but being evil on top of it guaranteed that he’d lose his crown one way or another.

1 Tommen: Because He Was Completely Ineffective

Tommen may have been a kind boy, but he was just completely out of his depth when it came to ruling.

He spent the entirety of his reign being used without even realizing it, and he didn’t even have the faintest idea of how to solve every single problem that he was confronted with.