Analyzing Evil: Joffrey Baratheon 

Get a browser that’s literally better at everything: operagx.gg/TheVileEye

Fun Fact: Jack Gleeson received a letter from George R.R. Martin after the show aired, stating: "Congratulations on your marvelous performance. Everyone hates you!"

One minor correction- Joffrey wasn’t murdered. He poisoned himself so he wouldn’t be around when the show fell off a cliff.

I like how Joffrey and Tommen have the opposite downfalls as king. Joffrey was too selfish, too mean, and hardheaded as king. Tommen was too selfless, too nice and softheaded as king.

I hate how people take their hatred and anger out on the actor because people can’t distinguish him from the character because he did such an amazing performance.

I love how Joffrey obeyed his mother's lessons on how wrong it is to hit a woman, deciding to order a knight to hit her for him. Without a doubt, a logical decision at the level of the undoing of the Gordian knot

You know Jack Gleason did a phenomenal job when the entire world hates your character with a passion and was delighted when he died via poisoning

"It's hard to put a leash on a dog when you've already put a crown on its head."-Tyrion Lannister to Cercei about Joffrey

The fact Joffrey thought he could take on Robb Stark in sparring is actually comical

Perhaps the most hated and vile villain on television, but you can’t deny the incredible staying power he had in the show. Truly one of the most captivating villains of all time

Superb acting by that kid, regardless of how much he was hated. He was Caligula level of acting on par with Jay Robinson. Might be an overstatement, but for a essentially a child to evoke rage from people watching him play Joffrey is a testament to the level excellence he achieved such acting.

I'm glad someone acknowledged Robert’s influence on Joffrey, not just Cersi

"I AM THE KING!!" ~ Joffrey, 17 Minute video "Any man who must say 'I am the king' is no true king." ~ Tywin, 1 hour and 10 minute video

It sucks Jack Gleason got so much hatemail from crazy fans, he absolutely nailed the role - I hope to see him in more stuff in the future

No matter how much we hated Joffrey, we look back on our time with him fondly in comparison to the last two seasons of Game of Thrones

Holy shit I never realized the fact that Joffrey was just hunting like his “father”

Joffrey was so evil he even caused Jack Gleeson to suffer

*Fun fact:* Joffrey is heavily based on Emperor Caligula. In addition to having an appearance quite similar to the Emperor's, his extravagant cruelty is basically identical. It's quite possible George R. Martin was specifically inspired by the Caligula from the Anthony Burgess' book "The Kingdom of the Wicked", in which that Emperor commits acts as cruel as lunatics, such as serving his guests cooked babies or filling with semen the pillow he uses to suffocate Tiberius

Joffrey is what happens when an evil nature meets power at a young age, if he had lived longer he could’ve been one of the most evil characters in television history

The books heavily imply that Joffrey's tangles with Bran Stark didn't end with refusing to comfort Lady Stark. An assassin makes a failed attempt to kill Bran with a dagger that is eventually traced to belong to King Robert. The implication is that Joffrey took the dagger and gave it to the assassin to do the deed with. And there are two possible motivations for this act: Either his general cruelty, or a horribly misguided attempt to earn favour from his father, for after learning of Bran's crippling, Robert lamented that keeping such children alive might actually be crueler than letting them die.

Another thing to note is that Joffrey seems obsessed about torturing sansa after she seems him weakly beg for his life. As if he's overcompensating for her seeing his weakness. He does the same to Tyrion after he slaps him as you noticed and it seems to be a Lannister thing lol(never forget a slight)

I remember watching the purple wedding episode at a "game of thrones viewing party" in a bar. Literally the whole crowd cheered when Joffrey died...that's quite telling lol!

I feel like the mental illness and incestuous blood line had a lot to do with it. He basically was like his great great grandfather book wise

Please do an episode on Cersei Lannister. The actress did such an amazing job portraying her and she’s by far on of the most interesting characters in the show.

“He’s monumentally stupid”, I couldn’t have said it better myself. If Joffrey had the kind of control chances are his kingdom would’ve been easily conquered, he would’ve overlooked any advice given to him by more experienced leaders and probably would’ve tried to hang out in the front line. I can only imagine him screaming from a dirty cell in the North or complaining about a water leak in the cell of an Iron Isle dungeon. Hell, him freaking out in a sky cell would’ve been hilarious too!

Hands down probably the most hated character in that show

Jack Gleeson was amazing as Joffrey, truly a character I love to hate. Thank you so much for making a video on him.

I got to meet him at a convention in 2017, I remember having a great conversation with him, and about how a character like it Joffrey can evoke so much emotion and he was nothing but the nicest person ever

Honestly, I can’t help but pity Joffrey. He was coddled and indulged by Cersei, abused by Robert, and neglected by Jaime. Maybe if Joffrey spent more time with Tyrion, despite his mom likely feeding him lies about Tyrion, he could have ended up better. Tyrion could have been Joffrey’s light at the end of the tunnel, kind of like how Iroh was for Zuko. Or heck, how Jaime was for Tyrion. In the end, Joffrey was a horrible, pathetic little shit, but he’s also kind of a villain of his circumstances. Not to mention, he’s completely insane, and the fact he’s so young and so out of his mind is even more tragic. Compare that to Ramsay, who not only knows and admits that he’s evil, but he’s proud of it.

I might be one of the few people who feel pity for Joffrey. When you learn more about the people around him, you know he never had a chance. Cersei was cruel and indulged him at every point, Tywin saw him as a tool for his "legacy", Robert didn't care for him at all, etc. He was the product of all t the people in his life and was all their negative aspects turned up to eleven. Children often try to act like those closets to them and emulate those directly around them the most. What was Joffrey if not the apathy of Robert, cruelty of the Lannister House, and the twisting evil that infected the Iron Throne?

Joffrey's an evil SOB, but I can't deny that he's got a great sense of fashion.

Vile Eye, One of the most cruel, sadistic characters in TV history. A co-worker I believe either threw an object or wanted to throw an object onto the TV for how Joffrey treated many characters during his wedding ceremony. That’s how great a villain he his. It would be great to analyze these characters: Ramsey Bolton - Game of Thrones Castor Troy - Face/Off Franklin Saint - Snowfall The characters and theme from Reservoir Dogs The Governor from The Walking Dead comic

I feel so bad for that kid, he did such an excellent job 😂😂😂😂

In the books, GRRM draws a direct line from Tywin to Cersei to Joffrey: -in ACOK, both Cersei and Joffrey greet Tyrion with "You." To which Tyrion comments on where Joffrey learnt his courtesies -in ASOS, both Tywin and Cersei greet Jaime by immediately blaming his hand on Catelyn Tully and swearing vengeance... to which Jaime corrects them by saying it was Tywin's own mercenary who did it Tywin's life philosophy of Lannister superiority + his total sexism means Tywin's legacy always had a huge hole in it - even if Tywin were to perfectly recreate himself in a male heir, disregarding the female sex means maleducation will guarantee a Cersei situation, where the next generation progressively degenerates as a malprepared daughter cannot properly prepare the next line That is, Tywin ignored his daughter, the very person who is supposed to train the Lannister king... so Cersei couldnt make anything but a Joffrey given Tywin's lack of education. Thus, GRRM is stating that Joffrey is a logical end to Tywin's ideology........ In the words of Sansa: "Bright, shining, empty".

He might be evil, but you cant deny the Joffmeister was an entertaining villain.

Jack Gleeson was just outstanding! He had the potential to become one of the best actors. Even tho his carrier ended too soon, his performance as Joffrey will be remembered for years to come.

I can hear a softness in your voice, gentle like you're speaking to a lover at over the phone on the back porch of your childhood home, trying not to wake your parents, speaking into the warm dark wind of the night. absolutely beautiful, thank you Vile Eye.

A product of incest, disliked by his “Father” Robert who he always wanted validation from, pampered by his mother since day 1, never facing any consequences and growing up in the most powerful family in Westeros. He was a recipe for disaster. In a way his attitude reminds me of Nero. Btw can you do an analyzing evil episode on The Human Condition trilogy? Both the movies and the books are masterpieces.

Joffrey was one of the best villains ever. This kid was unapologetically pure evil who seemed to only fear karma, combat, loosing and Tywin. Recommendation: STEM from the film Upgrade.

Jack Gleeson deserves so much more credit, he played this villain SO well.

My only problem with Analyzing Evil is that I’m going through these videos faster than new ones are posted. A very enjoyable series.

He was my favourite villain from Game of Thrones. Phenomenal performance!!

Joffrey Baratheon. The boy we loved to hate. The actor is out of this world considering he's a really sweet kid irl and was THAT hateable on the show. And I could watch that death scene on an endless loop forever, unbelievably satisfying to watch and absolutely hilarious 😅

One thing I think you forgot to mention is the fact that Tommen and Myrcella were probably neglected by Robert too, so clearly something was wrong with Joffrey himself (The fact that he was meant to be king and Cersei's favorite didn't help too of course)

One thing that I found interesting was how GRRM was quick to point out in one of his interviews (I can't remember which one, as he's done like 1,000 of them--since he has nothing else he needs to focus on, apparently) that Joffrey and Tywinn seem so irredeemable because they were the only two main characters who never had POV chapters. Related to this is the character of Tyrion. As I read online: "We see Tyrion as the hero because we, the readers and viewers, often see things from his point of view. But the people living in King's Landing _DON'T_ see him as we do, and they've clearly got a different picture of the type of man he is." I'm not trying to imply Joffrey or Twinn would be sympathetic if we saw things from their vantage points (we might even be _more_ disgusted by them), but I've just always found that interesting.

Let’s go! Glad you’re finally covering some GoT characters. Can’t wait to see your video on Ramsay Bolton.

Yessir! Joffrey was one of the most despicable villains on the series and the books. Everyone is mine to torment!

The way you presented Joffrey accomplished something I thought that I'd never be able to... I felt something resembling sympathy for the way Joffrey was raised. Everyone deserves far better parents than Cersei and Robert

One of My favorite details about how he was raised comes with the Cat and her litter story. Cersei tells the story as simply a child making a mistake, an accident born out of curiosity that should not be looked too much into, and Even shows hatred towards Robert for his understandable disgust at the scene Meanwhile, Stannis side of the story paints it in it's true form, a child comiting a wicked act and not being properly corrected. As a bonus. In some of the Audiobook formats, the narrator gives Cersei a dismisive tone during her recounting, while giving Stannis (a man that has seen and suffered from The horrors of War) a diagusted tone of voice in his recounting.

What makes Joffrey fascinating is that its really tough to separate how much of Joffrey is his *nature* and how much is the result of the way he was raised. You could make the argument that he was always going to come out spoiled rotten ,but at the same time: 1. Cersei imprinted her own frustration and spite into him, alongside her father's brutal philosophy, hoping to effectively sit on the Iron Throne through Joffrey since she couldn't do so on her own ,due to the heavy patriarchal society of Westeros. Only for her to unintentionally twist him into a vicious, powerhungry little shit like herself. And one she ended up not even being able to control by the end. 2. His real father was absent from his life as revealing that he was the product of incest would *destroy* house Lannister and reveal that Robert's brothers had a legitimate claim to the Throne. And speaking of... 3. Robert himself was as absentminded from raising his "children" as he was in actually ruling. Literally the only time he paid any attention to Joffrey is when he'd do something stupid and would have to discipline him. And instead of sitting down and teaching Joffrey *anything* about the real world , he would just run off to a brothel or to go drink himself into a coma or go hunting. Meanwhile , Cersei was free to undercut any lesson Joffrey could have learned. Humility being one of them. 4. Tywin was hardly even a factor in his life until he basically had no other choice then to get involved to fix his messes for him. At which point he all but ruled instead of him. 5. Tyrion was quite literally the only impactfull *positive* influence on Joffrey. Every time he literally slapped him and laid into him for being a sadistic idiot was akin to an orgasmic experience. If Tyrion had been a bigger part of his life maybe he would have turned out better ,as he would have actually taught him something on top of reprimanding him, unlike Robert. Overall, Joffrey was a *fantastic* villain. Hateable, fully entertaining and effectively the catalyst for the entire story. The actor also did a *phenomenal* job of bringing him to life. Its almost too fitting that the show , basically, died with him.

A real villain. No face turn, no mercy. Excellent work by Jack Gleeson. Side Note: is Sephiroth doing the narration now???🔥

Not only was he a hated character, Jack Gleeson played him spectacularly that it's never boring when Joff is the scene. It's a pretty good combo methinks. A villain that's just vicious woulf have been less entertaining to watch.

It's notable that in the books, Cersei actively cultivated Joffrey's personality and when Robert disciplined Joffrey over killing the cat, Cersei promised to kill Robert in his sleep if he ever struck him again.

Absolutely love your channel man! Do Ramsay Bolton ne Snow next! Hes a whole other level of evil even compared to this little shit.

Now that the show has wrapped up, I think Barry would be a really interesting show to make videos about! Lots of complex characters and moral dilemmas. Great job as always Vile.

When he died on the show, as it was airing, a friend of mine posted, "Choke you little shit. CHOKE" and not a single person who commented was confused. Even his grandma was like yassss. Honestly, one of my favorite early adulthood tv memories. Jeoffrey sucked so bad he united generations.

Joffery might've died by poison, but it was his parents who killed him.

This actor really played the character so well. It’s so sad he faced real life fallout for how evil he was able to make the character in his portrayal.

Yes! Now we need a video on Ramsey and Roose Bolton!!

Actors and writers did an amazing job with this character, so much so that the actual actor got hate offscreen.

Between your voice,the subtle background music, and the way you analyze people, every video is perfect

Excellent timing imo. I'm on my 29385736th reread of the entire series and I actually just read the Purple Wedding last night lol. I love that chapter so much.

The cast claim his character was essentially the exact opposite of the actors personality. That’s how you know talent. Similar to Joaquin Phoenix in gladiator

I love the timing of me finding this channel + a friend of mine starting to read GoT without knowing ANYTHING of the franchise!!!! This feeds my need as an old GoT fan + i hold back spoiling him :")

Joffrey's death was nothing short of cathartic

best channel on youtube! and joeffery was a s.o.b btw i have more suggetions t bag - prison break jax teller - sons of anarchy vic mackey- the shield hitman agent 47- hitman video game franchise

Now I’m not necessarily equipped to say this, but. I always felt that of the main human villains in GoT, Joffrey appeared more as a psychopath as he was cowardly and coddled and only wanted to do things he wanted. Ramsey on the other hand, I always felt was a sociopath as he had genuinely no emotions and most notably compared to Joffrey: No fear. Joffrey is constantly sniffling and crying, Ramsay gets eaten alive by dogs and until they bite his face off is convinced they won’t touch him

Another excellent video Vile Eye! I hope the Lich from Adventure Time gets a glimpse of your vision.

This was such a great analysis to this character, so vile and yet such an interesting addition to a great series

Hey Vile I would love to see a video on the villains from Puss In Boots The Last Wish. I suggest covering them in one video due to the amount of screen time they get and they all correspond with the movie's messages and themes.

I noticed that he is being compared to Roman Leaders. Augustus, Caligula, and Tiberius have done some messed up stuff. However it is Cafe Nero that keeps me awake at night.

I really love the interviews Jack Gleeson did with Oxford Union! The difference between an actor and his character could not have been greater...

As hated as he is as a character, I thought he was great for the series. He’s a character who isn’t physically powerful, isn’t particularly intelligent, very emotional and worst of all, he wields so much power that he shouldn’t have because he’s a bastard. But that shows how unfair this world is (and the real world is). There’s some sense of justice when he dies during the Purple Wedding, especially in such horrific fashion but the damage he caused was irreversible. He was the perfect villain for this world.

keep up the great content suggestions for next videos t bag - prison break jax teller - sons of anarchy vic mackey- the shield hitman agent 47- hitman video game franchise

"It's hard to put a leash on a dog after you have put a Crown on his head" - Tyrion Lannister Probably one of the best Quotes in the Show and hate or love Joffrey you have to admit he was part of the Golden Age Arc in GOT

I LOVE these videos! So well reserched and structured. I would love to see one with Stanis

Thanks for another great episode, Vile Eye! For a future video, I would highly recommend Silco from the Arcane series. He’s an incredibly interesting character with several fascinating layers, so I think you’d enjoy analyzing him.

nice video suggestions for next videos t bag - prison break jax teller - sons of anarchy vic mackey- the shield hitman agent 47- hitman video game franchise

It's interesting how Robert and to an extent Cersei seem to be the only people Joffrey has anything resembling love for. Robert seems to be his role-model and he even cries at his death.

He played his role so well he had to retire from acting since people just hated him

Thank you for these deep dives into truly vile characters. Your voice reminds me of Douglas Rain, known for the voice of HAL 9000. I could so see a malevolent AI being masterfully played by you. Cheers.

Anyone who says I am the king is no true king

As the final season of “Top Boy” has aired on Netflix and all episodes have been released, It would be great to see an “Analyse Evil of Sully” one of the main characters in the whole series.

I love the narration on this one. The delivery is so soft and dark at the same time.

Watching Tyrion strike Joffrey was just so satisfying "And now I have struck a king, did my hand fall off?" 🤣 🤣 🤣

His death scene was one of the most satisfying moments in the show.

One of the best actors ever. Had a huge effect on the audience. Job well done!

Awesome video as always. I admire the amount of care and detail that goes into each of your essays. If you find the opportunity, I would love to see you do a video on Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu from Takashi Miike’s “13 Assassins”. In a lot of ways, that villain reminds me of Joffrey with his spoiled sadism and stupidity.

I know some historians see Edward of Westminster as the basis for the inspiration behind Joffrey, which is true to an extent since Game of Thrones/A Song if Ice and Fire is inspired by the Wars of the Roses and both Joffrey and Edward were the subject of accusations of being illegitimate (those being true in Joffrey's case), but that's pretty much where the similarities end. I see more of Richard II in Joffrey in his vindictiveness, narcissism and someone who likes to sound more intimidating than they actually are. When it came to an actual fight, both Richard and Joffrey were pushovers.

Fantastic. Finaly a character of GoT again. Ramsay, Roose and Petyr are also worthy of a take.

Man I was so happy to see this on my feed. The Tywin video was one of my favorites.

As vile as Joffrey is, he still isn’t the most evil character in the series. I think it’s pretty clear that Anti-social personality disorder runs in the Lannister family, as his mother is sociopath. His grandfather, Tywin also resembles a businessmen type sociopath, who is only caring and charming when he needs to be. Joffrey being terribly inbred, could escape the negative genetic personality traits that run in his family. Also as an aside: A former teacher of mine, told me a story about former student of her’s who was a diagnosed sociopath. The student in question would shoot the eyes out of puppies and kittens for fun with a pellet gun. While watching, game of thrones Tyrion, mocks Joffrey by joking about his nephew torturing kittens. So unfortunately, real world equivalents to Joffrey due exist. Excellent video analysis as always. Villain Profile Suggestions: 1. Frank Underwood/Francis Urquart (House of Cards) 2. 001 Squid Game) 3. Petyr Baelish (A Song of Ice and Fire) 4. Frank Gallagher (Shameless US 5. Marty and Wendy Byrde (Ozark) 6. Dudley Smith (L.A Confidential) 7. Lorne Malvo (Fargo) 8. Idi Amin (Last King of Scotland) 9. Kratos (God of War series) 10. Eric Cartman (South Park) 11. Father (Full Metal Alchemist) 12. The Sons of Anarchy Gang

Such a great character. Dude absolutely nailed the role.

With absolutely NO WARNING or slipped secret from the cast or crew, Joffrey's death was a complete and totally AWESOME EVENT!! It remained in my "Top 5 Unexpected Moments for the 8 seasons of that show! Ned losing his head was another one of the "worst unexpected moment". I have 3 more but I'd have to look them up😅

Would love to see stannis Baratheon, he’s an extremely gray character and it would be fun to see your analysis on him.

I’ve been wanting an analysis on Joffrey for a while, and I’m highly satisfied with this video. But there’s a couple things I want to bring into the conversation that I felt were overlooked in the analysis. 1. Although the big reason for Joffrey’s personality was the influence of his corrupt family, his genetics likely also played a role in that. Incest has been denounced and reviled by scientist for ages. A huge reason as to why is because incest children actually have a higher likelyhood of being born deformed in a physical and/or mental fashion. And so it’s also hugely the case that Joffrey has an inability to think things through because of how messed up his brain chemistry likely is. Even the Targaryens had to put a limit to the inbreeding because of the amount of Mad Targaryens. Jack Gleeson even said, “I imagine all that incest is not good for the pre-frontal lobe!” 😂 2. I know Joffrey is a vile person, but I do feel a decent amount of sympathy for him. He was born an incest child and was lied to about it his entire life, and was also born into a family of corrupt politicians. So even though his acts are horrible, it’s not like he asked for the life he was given. Nobody asked to be born, even less so born into the life he had. 3. Joffrey is definitely one of the most revolting characters on the show, but he’s not as bad as some of the other villains in my opinion. His actions were held back from time to time because of his parents, and so he wasn’t capable of causing as much damage as he would have liked. But then if you compare him to Ramsay: Ramsay is so much worse in my opinion, because there was no holding back on his actions whatsoever, and he was malicious on purpose for the pursuit of power. Joffrey at the very least had some tragedy in his backstory to gain him some sympathy. Ramsay did everything he did with no justifications whatsoever. And although yes, Ramsay was a bastard and did what he did so he could become the heir to the Dreadfort. He found great enjoyment in what he did and continued to do it after he achieved his goal. And I’m pretty sure had Ramsay become king he would’ve been on par with the Mad King Areys! Ramsay had more time to cause more damage than Joffrey and would have done even more had he won the Iron Throne. Also Ramsay was way smarter than Joffrey and would’ve found more creative ways to out-chaos Joffrey. 😬 4. I’m very interested to see where Joffrey will rank on the next tier list video. In my personal opinion, he would either be High B-Tier or Low A-Tier. Mainly because of his youth, influences, genetics, and scale of crimes being shorter than several other characters in the show. He’s like a much more vile version of Alex DeLarge. These are all aspects of Joffrey that I feel get overlooked when discussing the character. And since this is a Joffrey analysis video, I felt it would be appropriate to make out these observations of mine. Sorry for the long comment. Much love to The Vile Eye! ❤

No joke I was literally scream "DIE DIE DIE" when he was choking in his final scene 😂😂

I wonder if it was actually Margaery that murdered the "sex worker' with the Crossbow. They foreshadow it earlier with her asking Joffrey if she'd like to watch her kill someone.

"-That sword was Joffrey's, right? What did he call it? -Widow's Wail... -He really was a c**t, wasn't he?.... Tell Cersei! I want her to know it was me!" Still the best part of Season 7.

Somehow you always post whenever I get back into watching GOT and yk what it’s great timing