The saucy murals could serve both as marital aid and religious tribute, just like the incense and candles lit to the Gods in the Sept of Baelor. Thus it makes sense for a pantheist like him to surround his home with images in praise of copulation and fecundity. We know Viserys has a preoccupation with matters of fertility in his search for a male heir. King Viserys I likely inherited his explicit decor from his predecessors on the Iron Throne, but if it was his choice, it’s an understandable one.
What better way to worship a god of fertility like Priapus than by airing his greatest hits above the fireplace? When Pompeii and Herculaneum were excavated, the 19 th century archaeologists discovered frescoes that made them blush so much that they hid them away for centuries as far too scandalous for the viewing public. Those Pre-Christianity guys shared a similarly open-minded attitude to hanging sexually explicit art in the home. The Targaryens’ erotic art, of course, is entirely fitting for a dynasty heavily inspired by the Roman Empire and Ancient Greece.
They hang above the dining table where King Viserys eats with his teenage daughter, decorate the Red Keep’s corridors, and adorn the royal bedchamber. These images aren’t locked away but out on view. There are orgies, erect penises, penetration, cunnilingus and sex acts of every variety. On the walls of the Red Keep – the royal palace in the city of King’s Landing – are multiple erotic murals depicting sexually explicit scenes. In the interests of keeping their bloodline pure, Targaryens marry their siblings (sometimes a handful at a time), betroth children to grown adults, and when it comes to sexuality, are unencumbered either by Judeo-Christian religious shame or childish embarrassment. The dragonlord rulers of the Seven Kingdoms live by customs that, in our time and culture, wouldn’t just raise eyebrows but would urgently require the involvement of social services and several SWAT teams. Warning: contains spoilers for House of the Dragon episodes 1 and 2.
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