Before Game of Thrones introduced us to the evil Ramsay Bolton, we had Joffrey Baratheon to annoy us all. Joffrey was a combination of spoiled, entitled, and sadistic. For four seasons, the spoiled young King managed to annoy and frustrate us all until he met his timely end in season four.
While usually, it would be bad form to revel in the death of a teenager, in the case of Joffrey, there were no qualms at all. It was just a shame that Westeros would be trading one sadistic young Lord for another in the shape of Ramsay Bolton. This article will list 10 of the worst things Joffrey has done to the Starks.
Didn’t Offer Condolences To The Starks
After Bran Stark had fallen (been pushed) from the Winterfell tower, several of the Lannisters offered their condolences to the Starks. However, Joffrey refused to offer any condolences to the Starks. It was for this reason that Tyrion slapped Joffrey, a moment we would all come to love.
This scene showed us just how spoiled and bratty Joffrey would be, little did we know that this spoiled little boy would end up as the most powerful man in Westeros in a few short episodes.
Mocking Robb Stark
At his wedding feast to Margaery Tyrell, Joffrey planned to have two dwarfs reenact the Battle of the Five Kings. He did so knowing full well that Sansa Stark was there and it would upset her. However, little did Joffrey know that Sansa had the poison around her neck that would ultimately end his life.
Joffrey's performance at his wedding was despicable and was met with almost universal (yet muted) disapproval. In addition to tormenting Sansa with the Robb Stark mockery, he also tormented Tyrion by pouring wine over his head.
Making Sansa Say Her Dad Was A Traitor
Despite killing Sansa Stark's father, Joffrey was not finished with her yet. He had made her watch the execution, yet he also wanted to make sure she knew her father was a traitor. He, essentially, forced Sansa to agree that her father was a traitor and that he deserved to die.
It is moments like this that truly show how sadistic Joffrey was as a character. While clearly not as masochistic as Ramsay, he was certainly still an evil little boy.
Marrying Sansa to Tyrion
Fortunately for Sansa, Tyrion was not the kind of person to take advantage of the situation. Joffrey thought that the best way to humiliate Sansa would be to have her marry his uncle, Tyrion. Joffrey knew that Sansa had a fantasy of marrying a handsome prince and living as a princess/queen, so Joffrey knew that the best way to torture Sansa was to take this dream away for good.
What made this even worse is that Sansa originally believed she was to marry Loras Tyrell, the Prince of Flowers. Despite the fact that Tyrion and Sansa would become close friends due to this sham marriage, it was a cruel act by Joffrey.
Getting Lady Killed
This moment made every Game of Thrones fan instantly hate Joffrey. After attacking Arya, Nymeria (Arya's direwolf) bit Joffrey on the arm to defend Arya. However, knowing that Nymeria would be killed for the attack, Arya set Nymeria free. That being said, the Lannisters wanted revenge on the wolf and insisted that Lady (Sansa's wolf) be killed in Nymeria's place.
Ned Stark relented and killed the direwolf himself. Ned believed that, as Lady was a creature of the north, she deserved better than to be killed by Ilyn Payne.
Treating Sansa Violently
Joffrey did not only attack Sansa psychologically, but he was also a violent bully as well. He would frequently strike Sansa and hit her for no reason at all. Perhaps, Joffrey would have grown into something akin to Ramsay Bolton if he had been given the chance.
There were stories in the book that made him even worse than the TV show. In the novels, Joffrey was said to perform vivisections on pregnant cats and kill animals with his crossbow. He truly a serial killer waiting to happen.
Made Sansa Look at Ned’s Decapitated Head
Most of Joffrey's attacks on Sansa were based around her family. He openly mocked Robb Stark in front of her after his death and he even made Sansa admit that her father was a traitor. However, one of the more sickening moments between Joffrey and Sansa was the time Joffrey forced Sansa to look at Ned Stark's head on a spike.
This is just one of the more terrible forms of mental torture that Joffrey insisted on inflicting on Sansa. He truly was a sickening character.
Ordered Sansa To Be Beaten and Stripped
After learning about Robb Stark's victory against the Lannisters in battle, Joffrey ordered Sansa to be beaten and stripped before the throne as punishment. It was another example of the barbarism and humiliation that Joffrey consistently used to keep Sansa under his thumb.
Fortunately for Sansa, Tyrion arrived and saved Sansa from the humiliation before it could begin to get too violent. Tyrion was Sansa's saving grace in many ways during her time in King's Landing.
Deceived Ned
The original plan with Ned was to send him to the Wall, rather than kill him. It was with this promise in mind that Ned confessed to his crimes, against his own moral code. This was also a smart move politically from the Lannisters, as it would also give the Lannisters a valuable hostage to use against any potential northern rebellions.
However, Joffrey betrayed the promise and had the Warden of the North executed in some heinous show of power, triggering the War of Five Kings.
Killing Ned
It's been hinted at several times in this list, but the worst thing Joffrey did to the Starks was having Ned Stark executed. This was not a Lannister decision, it was a Joffrey decision and even Cersei and Tywin were very disapproving of the decision by the young King.
The execution cost House Lannister a valuable hostage and catapulted Westeros into a war that would rage on for years to come, eventually leading to the fall of House Lannister in season 8 of the show.