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| Joffery Baratheon. Extreme dislike for this guy. Ugh. |
As per usual, I'll first start off this discussion with a brief biography of the character in question. Joffery Baratheon, son to the late King Robert Baratheon is heir to the throne of the Seven Kingdoms. He has only just reached his teen years in the book (although in the show he is about seventeen) and is maybe a shade or two away from being a complete sociopath. Growing up as a pampered prince, he didn't need to answer to anyone but the queen (who was generally happy to let him have his way). He learned to revel in the power he had over others and expected total obedience simply because it was his birth right. Take that sadistic teenager and place him on the throne and you have the perfect recipe for an utterly horrible tyrant. Once on the throne, he orders several people dead simply for his enjoyment. Oh, and did I mention he is also a complete coward? For a series that generally has excellent depth with its characters, Joffery is one of the few that's a little two dimensional. None the less, George R.R. Martin did an excellent job making a character that was so easy to hate. Regardless of his heinous crimes, he too still has a band of extremely loyal followers because, well, he is the king by birthright and by the will of the gods; thus, all his subjects are sworn to serve him. But when is it acceptable, if ever, to overthrow an unjust king?
The passage I want to analyze in conjunction with this particular part of Game of Thrones is Romans 13:1-5 in which Paul says, "let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience".
There is a similar doctrine in the world of Game of Thrones. The authority of the land is believed to be placed upon the throne by the gods thus making their rule absolute. To go against the king is to go against the gods themselves. What we see in the Bible is that it is important to listen to the authorities and follow them for they essentially seem to know whats good for society better than the common man. However, is it still God's will for us to follow authority that subverts individual prosperity and peace? No. I don't think that is the case in either Game of Thrones or the bible. Although we do not find any evidence towards this view point in this particular passage, we can see it throughout the entirety of Bible through the message of Jesus. He teaches peace, and treating all with love and dignity. A ruler that is not in conjunction with these teachings and one who, in Joffery's case, seems to wholly enjoy hurting others is not fit to rule. Furthermore, a king who orders his subject to go against the will of God is not one who will not be in power for very long. The Bible has had its fair share of tyrant kings, and each came to some kind of untimely doom. The same can then be applied to Joffery. Though there are several gods in the Seven Kingdoms, from what I have read, none seem to be in favor of injustice. A king or queen is meant to rule for the betterment of his or her people, not to fulfill their own selfish desires. Thus, when the people of the Seven Kingdoms realized what a terrible leader Joffery was, many of them decided to rebel and wage war on him and his tyranny. Like Jeroboam I, and Ahab, Joffery too eventually meets his end.
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