(House of the Dragon spoilers will be found below.)
Thank goodness that King Viserys I didn’t live to see the devastation already wrought by his final ramblings that were misinterpreted by Queen Alicent Hightower. This swiftly led to Aegon II being crowned as king, which led to Aemond’s inability to reel in his dragon, Vhagar, from torching Luke and Arrax. Yep, a lot of f*cking up happened, beginning with Viserys’ mishandling of the realm, including his own family, but people will still love Paddy Considine’s monarch. The actor previously weighed in on the reason that Viserys’ health faltered in such a gruesome way on House of the Dragon, and that would be because (according to Paddy) he was essentially dying since he greenlit the horrific childbirth procedure that killed Queen Aemma.
Now, a key production member is weighing in on the practical effects that showed how Viserys literally rotted away. He lost fingers and oozed plentiful sores, along with losing an eye, hair, and his teeth. This was particularly unsettling because Targaryens are thought to be resistant to illness, but obviously, that didn’t apply to this king. Here’s how prosthetics designer Barrie Gower worked out the finer details of Viserys’ deterioration, and scarily enough, Gower looked toward reality. Via Variety:
“We researched various flesh-eating disorders,” Gower says. “Necrosis, leprosy, all kinds of horrible references. Lots of interesting shapes, colors and ulcers. They could give us a good indication for textures, colors, glosses, how dry things would be. It’s very grounded in the real world of horrible diseases.”
There’s plenty more (somewhat revolting) detail at Variety, including Gower’s recollection of how the shocking Episode 8 transformation involved five hours in the makeup chair for Paddy, who was a real trooper while also hauling himself through the throne room (while Viserys was wracked with pain) in time to see Daemon commit a shocking beheading after Vaemond shouted insults toward Rhaenyra (and her sons) after Viserys confirmed his daughter as heir.
Now that’s a set of effects that I’d also like to hear more about, but for the moment, Gower’s divulging on the process of taking down a diseased king is well worth a read.
(Via Variety)