When I was first introduced to Joffery, in TV show, he talks about a centralized army and from then on I felt that his character would be far better if he was a modernizer of the kingdoms but a douche who nobody liked from a personal stance as well as fearing the change in status quo. I feel that petulant child character was too simple and martin could have done better to a degree. Putting that out there to see if anyone agrees with my weird idea
Hi anon.
I disagree. The purpose of Joffrey as a character is to show he's a child with power with no idea how to handle it. It’s in fact his need to show he has it that leads to all of his abuses. He’s a capricious little kid, who knows nothing about ruling the seven kingdoms, or even how to keep his people happy and loyal to him. The purpose of him as a character is to show failure and capriciousness (and that even in that case power would still allow him to sit on the throne). Joffrey wouldn’t have ever had a political plan to modernize or even rule the kingdoms, because he was never taught to do anything else but to show his privilege and status. He was never taught about the importance of ruling, the needs of the people, how to win wars and how to take care of his kingdom. He couldn’t have ever set up an idea of how to change things because he had no interest in changing them. If GRRM had made him what you wanted there would be a real disconnect between where the character comes from, has been, or lived, to where he is going. The writer has to "realistically" set up situations that have explanation in past lived moments. How can he write that Joffrey wanted to modernize the 7 kingdoms if his father was more than happy to "rule" things as they were. His father wanted order and his Hands provided that. The Hands ruled the 7 kingdoms, not the King, and Robert knew that. Robert didn't care to do more. And where else would have Joffrey gotten those ideas? From his mother? I don't think so. She just taught him he could do what he wanted, and sheltered him. For me, you have to have something that explains why the character wants to go in a certain direction. For example, Daenerys' ideas to free slaves and ban all sorts of slavery finds an explanation and is the result of her own experiences when she was sold, raped and used.
Joffrey's kingship was never about ruling, it was about domination. He has power and he wants them to bend the knee. Nothing more. Joffrey is there to prove to the reader (whether that comes across in the show is another thing), an heir, no matter how much or how little right he has to rule, is not necessarily the best choice for his people. At some point Joffrey is aware of the dangers his crown is facing, and all he wants is to do is defeat the rebels, and sit back an enjoy. He even questions his grandfather’s actions in that sense. But all in all, his purpose as a character is showing nothing new but to cause the needed riots in order to allow the arise of other Kings and other forces. Of course the main issue with his ruling is his lack of right to sit on the throne, but as time passes he not only wins the hate of the North and others, but as well the hate of his own people, that don’t even respect him no matter how much they might fear his capricious ways.