Originally Posted by
Gaelforce
Except Dany figured out that he saved her life to use her as a prop. He is never shown demonstrating one ounce of affection towards her. And if I wasn't clear, I wasn't saying Targaryens need to marry in the family, just that that was how Viserys saw it, especially since Dany was supposed to marry big brother first. The goal he has is to restore himself to the throne and to make more little Targaryens with his sister. He wanted to make sure the pure Targaryen bloodline continued, and for that, he needed the only remaining pure Targaryen.
And yes, he sold her. Those were his words. People who use that phrase aren't pulling it out of thin air. He flat out says he sold his sister for his army and would, to paraphrase, let every Dothraki screw her if it got him what he wanted. There's a difference between a politically arranged marriage and selling your sister as a whore, and the total indifference he shows in being willing to have her abused by an entire barbaric tribe goes right to the heart of what he thinks of his sister and how she views herself by that point.
It isn't that Dany is 'special' in that regard. Littlefinger was clearly a villain when he gave Sansa to Bolton because he was an evil shit. He knew full well what would happen to her. Viserys was pretty confident that he was handing his sister over to vile and vicious barbarians and was willing to see her gang raped. The difference isn't in Dany being special, it's in Viserys for being evil and cruel about the entire endeavor. He is hardly portrayed as a hero or a saint in the book, either.
As to the 'understanding,' that was the problem. Both Jorah and Ilyrio flat out told him it was not a 'sale' or a 'trade' but a 'gift' and that he needed to be patient to get his gift in return. He is the only one who keeps referring to it like a horse-trade, and his petulance is what got him killed.
Viserys was *repeatedly* taught about Dothraki customs. He just considered them beneath his contempt. He wasn't being set up when his patron and his sworn servant keep telling him that his idea was *not* how Dothraki custom works. Not only does he learn their customs, btw, he openly *flaunts* them. "Your custom says you can't shed blood here, but I can!"
Yes, in the books she sees the good and the bad in him, and she always tries to appeal to the good. In exchange for trying, though, she has gotten nothing but further scorn and abuse. And again, you skip that whole 'I will cut that baby out of your belly' part - threaten any mother with the murder of their unborn child (and, consequently, with their own death) and that pretty much seals the deal. Despite the fact that he traded her away not caring how they would treat her, when it turns out that she found her place among them, all it did was make him jealous and angry. If he truly cared one whit for his sister, then he would not have responded with violence to her kindness. She lost her faith in him when she saw what he truly was. She had been in denial because she loved her brother. It is the absolute textbook definition of an abused wife who stays with her husband despite how badly he hurts her. She loved her brother and refused to see what a horrible man he had become, and it took Jorah to help open her eyes to this.
Her story has a lot more depth than how you're portraying it.
Dany and Jon is a different kettle of fish altogether and not at all like Viserys and Dany. She and Jon love one another, and she has never once treated him poorly, even after he rejects her. Viserys pretty much despised Dany for having been responsible for their mother's desk and treated her horribly.