Game of Thrones is not known for its positive father figures. In fact, the dads on this show are pretty terrible, with a few exceptions. With Father’s Day around the corner, take a moment to appreciate how good you’ve got it by reminding yourself how much worse it could have been. Begin roll call…
Robert Baratheon
Robert raised Joffrey Baratheon. Need we say more?
Yes, we do. It’d be more accurate to say Robert didn’t raise Joffrey Baratheon, and therein lies the problem. Robert had three children, or so he thought: Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen. It’s notable how little we see or hear of him spending any time with them. Cersei may be a corrupting influence on her kids (and on pretty much anyone else she meets, for that matter), but at least she was there, trying to guide them down what she thought was the right path. Robert would rather be whoring, or drinking, or hunting, and finally, dying. If he’d paid his children a little more attention, maybe they would have been better equipped for the challenges they eventually faced and failed to survive.
And if you’re wondering, no, it doesn’t matter that they weren’t actually Robert’s children. Neither they nor he knew that, and Robert ignored them all the same. Robert Baratheon isn’t as overtly toxic as some of the other dads on this list, but his unthinking absenteeism isn’t going to win him any Father of the Year honors. You don’t need to actively hate your children to mess them up.