History Characters / GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon

* FatalFlaw: Where to begin, really, but his cruelty, pettiness, vindictiveness, impulsiveness and lack of intelligence are definitely up there. He throws his weight around and needlessly antagonises people whom he actually depends on; has a lot of enemies gunning for him as a result of his viciousness; his spite, petulance and casual cruelty mean that no one is really going to be that sorry if something awful happens to him; and it is explicitly mentioned by those who actually do conspire to murder him that, if he had been a bit kinder or at least a bit smarter and capable of suppressing his baser impulses, they might actually have allowed him to live.

* FatalFlaw: Where to begin, really, but his cruelty, pettiness, vindictiveness, impulsiveness and lack of intelligence are definitely up there. He throws his weight around and needlessly antagonises people whom he actually depends on, has a lot of enemies gunning for him as a result of his viciousness, and it is explicitly mentioned by those who actually do conspire to murder him that, if he had been a bit kinder or at least a bit smarter and capable of suppressing his baser impulses, they might actually have allowed him to live.

** Very subtle, but he serves as one to Daenerys as well. Aside from having their own reasons for being claimants to the throne, both are from houses hailed for their [[TheBeautifulElite good looks]], are [[BrotherSisterIncest products of inbreeding]], and have very visible [[BloodKnight blood lust]]. Later on, Danaerys becomes more of a MirrorCharacter, becoming an unhinged tyrant.

** Very subtle, but he serves as one to Daenerys as well. Aside from having their own reasons for being claimants to the throne, both are from houses hailed for their [[TheBeautifulElite good looks]], are [[BrotherSisterIncest products of inbreeding]], and have very visible [[BloodKnight blood lust]].

** Season 1: He points out that a feudal system makes it incredibly difficult for a single ruling faction (the Iron Throne) to maintain authority over a territory as big as the Seven Kingdoms, given the vast diversity in loyalties and military power between the ruling lords. He instead suggests forming a national military who are centralised, highly-trained, and loyal to the state itself. It's a very astute and forward-thinking idea - especially as the feudal system is a major cause of the various wars that have plagued Westeros for decades - but his subsequent bad suggestions on how to force the creation of such an army undermine his point.

** Season 3: Joffrey is one of the few people in Westeros who takes the rumours of Daenerys Targaryen and her three dragons seriously. When he voices his concerns, Tywin instantly and condescendingly dismisses the dragons as "curiosities" and claims that the skull of the last Targaryen dragon was the size of an apple; Joffrey counters that the oldest skull was the size of a carriage. This inaction by Westeros - which gets distracted by the War Of The Five Kings - allows the dragons to mature into the army-destroying monstrosities that Joffrey had feared them to be, and they ultimately [[spoiler:strike a deathblow against House Lannister]].

** Season 3: Joffrey is one of the few people in Westeros who takes the rumours of Daenerys Targaryen and her three dragons seriously. When he voices his concerns, Tywin instantly and condescendingly dismisses the dragons as "curiosities" and claims that the skull of the last Targaryen dragon was the size of an apple; Joffrey counters that the oldest skull was the size of a carriage. This inaction by Westeros - which gets distracted by the War Of The Five Kings - allows Daenerys to build her power and the dragons to mature into the army-destroying monstrosities that Joffrey had feared them to be, and they ultimately [[spoiler:strike a deathblow against House Lannister]].

** Season 1: He points out how counter-productive a feudal system is towards maintaining a strong, centralized state and suggests forming a nationalized military loyal to the state itself. While a fair observation in itself (given that it's the reason half the country currently wants to kill him), his solutions towards implementing such a system are less well-thought out.

** Season 3: When consulting his grandfather Tywin in the throne room, Joffrey voices his concerns about Daenerys Targaryen and her three dragons. Tywin contemptuously dismisses these concerns and reassures Joffrey the dragons are of no danger to them and they are mere "curiosities"; Tywin claims he saw the skull of the last Targaryen dragon and it was the size of an apple, and Joffrey counters that the oldest skull was the size of a carriage. As the series continues, it becomes increasingly apparent that Daenerys' dragons are indeed the large, fearsome kind that can single-handedly decimate armies, and they became a very real threat to the Seven Kingdoms. But by the time the rest of Westeros takes notice of this, Joffrey is long dead and unable to gloat about being right.

* WeaponOfChoice: [[NamedWeapons Named, ornate swords]] aside, Joffrey enjoys menacing stationary targets with a crossbow.

* AdaptationalWimp: Surprisingly, Joffrey was not as much a BoisterousWeakling in the books--he's still a coward, but he's said to be tall and strong for his age, even taller than both Jon and Robb who are three years Joffrey's senior. And when the King visits Winterfell, he spars on equal footing with Robb despite the age difference. Joffrey also volunteers to fight during the Battle of Blackwater, and actually contributes to the battle. He only leaves the battle when brown beaten into doing so by Cersei, and still expresses desire to command the crossbowmen. In the TV show, he does none of these things.

* HypocriteHasAPoint: He's the biggest DirtyCoward in the series, but when he accuses Tywin of being one during Robert's Rebellion when he hid under Casterly Rock until the war was almost decided, [[DeathGlare Tywin's reaction shows]] that he's probably not wrong.

* HypocriteHasAPoint: He's the biggest DirtyCoward in the series, but when he accuses Tywin of being one during Robert's Rebellion when he hid under Casterly Rock until the war was almost decided, Tywin's reaction shows that he's probably not wrong.

** In the series proper, Joffrey is also implied to feel this way about his "father", Robert. He is genuinely distraught over his death, holds Robert up as a king worth emulating, and praises his achievements and wartime valour. He even extols his late father's whoring, bringing it up to justify keeping Sansa as a mistress and to insult ''his own mother'', who had to deal with the humiliation of Robert's indiscretions for years.

* HiddenDepths: Despite his absolutely disgusting behavior and actions; Joffrey has some qualities that are hard to notice. When he talks with Margaery Tyrell he can recite facts about many members of the Targaeryn Dynasty without so much as skipping a beat, likewise he shows an interest in the acts of many famed Kingsguard Knights and can easily recite information from a name by reading it alone. (The aforementioned admiration for Maegor the Cruel as he exhibits in ''Histories and Lore'' also bears witness to this.) Tyrion for his credit notices Joffrey's love of history and gifts him a book of many great kings of the older ages.

* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm: Despite having quite a sardonic sense of humour himself, he doesn't seem to get it when he's on the receiving end. After he empties a goblet of wine over Tyrion's head, Tyrion quips "Fine vintage; shame it spilled" to which Joffrey replies "[[CaptainObvious It did not spill]]." Then later when Joffrey decides to humiliate Tyrion further by making him his cup-bearer, Tyrion says "[[SarcasmMode What an honour]]", prompting Joffrey to angrily reply "It is not ''meant'' as an honour."

* LikeParentLikeChild: He combines the worst traits of his mother, Cersei Lannister (cruelty, unpleasantness, and an obsession with power) and the worst traits of his supposed father, Robert Baratheon (sexism, love of violence, and disinterest in any aspects of being king outside of getting everything he wants).

* {{Foil}}:
** To Gendry. Gendry's poor, hardworking, clever, brave, kind, physically strong, and Robert's son. Joffrey's ''none'' of these things.
** To Stannis and Robb. Both of them lead their armies from the frontlines, Joffrey, for all his bravado, doesn't. Robb Stark and Joffrey's foil nature goes deeper. One is a King chosen by his own people with legitimate claim to his lands and titles, the other is a King with no legitimate claim to his position who was essentially forced upon the people by the machinations of the players of the game of thrones, and each have opposing approaches to leadership, Robb considering everyone as being like his children who he has to protect, and Joffrey believing that being King means that everyone is his plaything to torment. Their relationships with Catelyn and Cersei respectively can also be compared and contrasted, especially as both Kings pursue relationships with women against the advice of their mothers, and these decisions both ultimately lead to Robb and Joffrey each meeting their sudden and shocking demise by being murdered at a wedding. Robb is [[HundredPercentAdorationRating loved and respected by the North]] at the beginning of the war (though dissent breaks out later) while Joffrey is [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating universally hated.]] Their respective betrayals (by houses known to be dangerously Machiavellian) come as a moment of epic ''[[KickTheSonOfABitch schadenfreude]]'' in the latter case and a horrific MoralEventHorizon for the former.
** To all the Stark children, who are taught WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility. All Joffrey knows is that [[AppealToForce Might Equals Right]].
** To Ramsay Snow. Both are unstable people with violent tempers who seem to exist only to inflict pain. But Ramsay is willing to fight in battle and shows at least some intelligence while Joffrey is a coward with no fighting experience in addition to being an idiot. Both serve under cold ruthless relatives who make their disdain for them clear and both spend time horribly mistreating Sansa Stark. The two are also separated by the fact that Joffrey's sole redeeming feature is that he genuinely loved (or at least ''admired'') Robert while Ramsay murdered Roose to gain power. In the end, Ramsay proves himself to be as much of a coward and even dumber than Joffrey and ends up [[TooCleverByHalf wiping out his own house which someone as useless as Joffrey never would have been able to]], making him the only character in the series more repulsive than Joffrey. Ramsay and Joffrey are also given two of the [[CruelAndUnusualDeath most agonizingly painful]] and [[AssholeVictim deserved deaths]] in the series.

* TheSociopath: For a person so young, the arrogant, selfish and very untrustworthy Joffrey manages to be more hostile, cruel and sadistic than most ''Game of Thrones'' villains. Which is of course pretty scary and demonic.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: A PuppetKing [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible variation]]. Nevertheless, nobody likes Joffrey. Not the nobility, not the smallfolk, not the people in between. He's so hated that the mere sight of him riding through the streets is enough to provoke a full-blown riot. Even his own family members are no exception, except maybe his mother Cersei, and even she wouldn't mind him being subjected to some of his grandfather's "discipline."

* VillainousAromanticAsexual: For a show that oozes sex and sexual politics like ''Game Of Thrones'', Joffrey is a markedly asexual character. He has a peculiar habit of steering conversations about sex away from the topic, usually parlaying them into conversations about violence. When Margaery tries to discern his turn-ons, she gets nowhere talking about sex outright. His [[{{Sadist}} only pleasures come from either witnessing or inflicting suffering on others]], but they're clearly not sexual pleasures. Watching Ros torture Daisy with that stag head mace plays more like a sports fan watching his favourite team repeatedly score on the opposition as opposed to a sadomasochistic voyeur getting turned on by the violence, making his villainy a very cold and inhuman bent.

[[Characters/GameOfThronesWesteros The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark House Stark]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkChildren House Stark Children]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesJonSnow Jon Snow]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesSansaStark Sansa Stark]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesAryaStark Arya Stark]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStarkHousehold House Stark Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBolton House Bolton]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesRamsayBolton Ramsay Bolton]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseKarstark House Karstark]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMormont House Mormont]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseReed House Reed]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesOtherNorthernHouses Other Northern Houses]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannister House Lannister]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesTywinLannister Tywin Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesJaimeLannister Jaime Lannister]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseLannisterHousehold House Lannister Household]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseClegane House Clegane]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheonOfKingsLanding House Baratheon of King’s Landing]] ('''Joffrey Baratheon''') | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTargaryen House Targaryen]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysCourt Daenerys I’s Court]] [[[Characters/GameOfThronesDaenerysTargaryen Daenerys Targaryen]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesTyrionLannister Tyrion Lannister]]], [[Characters/GameOfThronesServantsOfDaenerys Servants of Daenerys]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseBaratheon House Baratheon of Storm’s End and Dragonstone]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesStannisBaratheon Stannis Baratheon]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseGreyjoy House Greyjoy]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesTheonGreyjoy Theon Greyjoy]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseArryn House Arryn]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesPetyrBaelish Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTully House Tully]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseFrey House Frey]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTyrell House Tyrell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesMargaeryTyrell Margaery Tyrell]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseTarly House Tarly]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseMartell House Martell]] ([[Characters/GameOfThronesSandSnakes Sand Snakes]]) | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFreeCities The Free Cities]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSlaversBay Slaver's Bay]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheDothrakiSeaAndTheRedWaste The Dothraki Sea and the Red Waste]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesQarth Qarth]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesNightsWatch The Night's Watch]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRoyalCourt Royal Court]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheOrderOfTheMaesters The Order of the Maesters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheKingsguard The Kingsguard]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesWildlings Wildlings]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesBrotherhoodWithoutBanners Brotherhood Without Banners]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheFaithOfTheSeven The Faith of the Seven]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesRedTemple Red Temple]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesIndependentCharacters Independent Characters]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesTheatreTroupe Theatre Troupe]] | [[Characters/GameOfThronesSupernaturalBeings Supernatural Beings]]]]]]-]

** As soon as he finds out that Robb Stark has been assassinated at the hands of the Freys, the first thing he demands is to have Robb's head decapitated and delivered to him so he can ''serve it to Sansa on his wedding fiest''. Tyrion prevents it from happening, however.

* VillainousAromanticAsexual: For a show that oozes sex and sexual politics like ''Game Of Thrones'', Joffrey is a markedly asexual character:
** He has a peculiar habit of steering conversations about sex away from the topic, usually parlaying them into conversations about violence.
** His casual conversation to Sansa about getting her pregnant once she's "had [her] blood" (i.e. begins menstruating), which obviously requires sex, glosses over the act itself, and gives no indication of whether Joffrey would enjoy the act itself. Sansa, of course, is noted to be beautiful even in the book series, and nearly every male that comes in contact with her finds her very attractive.
** When Margaery tries to discern his turn-ons, she gets nowhere talking about sex outright. His [[{{Sadist}} only pleasures come from either witnessing or inflicting suffering on others]], but they're clearly not sexual pleasures.
** Him watching Ros torture Daisy with that stag head mace plays more like a sports fan watching his favourite team repeatedly score on the opposition as opposed to a sadomasochistic voyeur getting turned on by the violence. Similarly, we have no indication that he had sex with Ros before killing her, instead he seems to have simply forced her to strip before shooting her repeatedly with a crossbow.
** His threat to invoke [[DroitDuSeigneur the Lord's Right]] on Sansa seems to be more for the sake of humiliating Tyrion and causing her physical and emotional pain than any actual desire for her sexually.

* Ultimately Deconstructed and Subverted, because at the end of the day Joffrey is still the king and he proves too temperamently to be properly controlled by experienced politicians.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: Tommen relates that Joffrey periodically threatened to kill and skin his pet cat, then mix the cat's remains up into Tommen's food. [[labelnote:From The Books]]Joffrey already has a lot of form for the classic psychopathic behaviour of torturing animals: Tyrion learns Joffrey once killed and skinned a pet fawn of Tommen's and sees Joffrey shooting hares with a crossbow [[ForTheEvulz for his own amusement]]. After his assassination, Stannis relates to Davos and Melisandre an incident where, [[EnfantTerrible while still a child]], Joffrey disembowelled a pregnant cat, than took the bloody cat fetuses to where Robert and Stannis were having dinner. According to Stannis, Robert [[WouldHurtAChild disgustedly struck Joffrey so hard]], Stannis honestly thought his brother had killed the boy.