LogFAQs > #973003100

RuneterranSnap posted...

Evil is a choice that Joffrey simply wasn't given the chance to understand. There's something to be said for his personality as not all the Lannister kids were so outright evil, but if he had good parents he might have had a chance.

Agreed

It's really not surprising that he turned out so rotten when he was not only spoiled but told from birth that he was going to be king and could do whatever the hell he wanted. Robert was not a tyrant but he was a flawed man who did not set a great example for "his" son which perfectly served Cersei and Tywin's ambitions for the boy. In contrast Myracella's "role" was to eventually marry into foreign royalty and Tommen wasn't "supposed" to rule at all, thus their upbringing was less of a priority and likely resulted in more time with governesses than did Joffrey who would have been shadowing his father, grandather, and (to a lesser extent) his uncle/bio-father from a very early age. With Robert's being the paragon of "machismo," Tywin being an archetypical "evil overlord," Jamie being a pompous ass who happened to be one of the best warriors on the continent, and Cersei encouraging all of it (well, not so much Robert but she took care of that lol)....yeah, Joffrey didn't really have much of a chance to be anything except the twisted little monster that he was.