The House of the Dragon and Financial Feuds

You’ve heard it whispered in the streets.
Their names carried by the wind.
And now the time has come to choose:
Team Black or Team Green.

Now, enough with the dramatics. I’ll leave that to the Targaryen family; God knows they will be serving us drama for days.

In fact, with the first few episodes of the second season already out, fans around the world are already rooting for the monarch they would wish to see ascend upon the Iron Throne.

But I’m sure the question on everyone’s minds is not whether or not Rhaenyra will take back the throne, but actually how the world of Westeros handles its finances (...right?), and whether modern financial services would have prevented family feuds.

Because nothing screams business accounts like a good old medieval fantasy drama.

Wise Business account

Family, Power, and Financial Feuds

Mixing family with business usually evolves in one of two ways:

1. A prosperous and respectful business that runs smoothly.
(readers laugh - yes, I know you did.)

2. In the case of the Targaryen family: civil war, bloodbaths, destruction, ruin - you get the picture.

What is a kingdom after all if not a business, and the Targaryens sure know how to run theirs (to the ground).

I’m not here to decide on the rightful heir to the throne, but rather to explore how best King Viserys could have handled some financial business affairs.

Transparent is not a word used often in the mediaeval setting of Westeros, where secrets rule and mischief triumphs, but perhaps it should have been.

Had their business accounts been handled with more transparency, like Wise praises, who knows, maybe we’d already know who should have succeeded on the throne!

Not to mention that by setting up a business account with a financial service such as Wise, the King could have given a card with access to the account to each* Targaryen member (free for digital cards and at a £3 cost per each extra physical card) while also setting a limit for each member.

This way each member of the Targaryen family who is an admin to the account could have had equal access to the business funds while the King could have kept order by limiting the access for each member (something tells me things would have still looked sour for Daemon).

But alas! Such were not the ways of handling business nor family affairs within the Targaryen family and behold the results.

*Wise cards are not available in all regions. Check whether Wise cards are available in your region.

Spending with employee cards

Wise Spending

Or rather some unwise spending had been plaguing the lands of Westeros. I am looking at you Aegon Targaryen.

As the son of the King, the term “budget” was a foreign one on Aegon Targaryen’s vocabulary, with the young prince constantly overspending.

Had King Viserys introduced a business account, then he would get spending alerts on his son’s expenditures and would have monitored his spending more wisely.

It remains to be seen how Aegon will handle his accounts as the new King. Something tells me push notifications would be off for this one.

Managing the Seven Kingdoms

Sitting upon the Iron Throne does not come without responsibility.

Seven responsibilities in fact, as the one who sits upon the Iron Throne rules Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms.

While the Seven Kingdoms now all use the same currency, before their unification each kingdom had its own.

I can imagine the Kingdom’s accountant pulling their hair out trying to balance everything and keep all finances in order.

If only there was a financial service that allowed businesses to set up local account details in multiple currencies and integrate with popular accounting software (like QuickBooks and Xero today, an abacus and double-entry bookkeeping back then)... cough cough: Wise.

Life would be so much simpler.

Winter is not coming, yet

Winter might not be coming yet in the House of the Dragon, but following the famous phrase of its predecessor, Winter could be coming.

I get it, family feuds and dragon fights present more pressing matters, but perhaps the Targaryen family should also be preparing for potential problems in the future.

Then, it was money boxes. Now, it can be digital Groups.

Groups allow account holders to save up for big events, leave money aside for a snowy day, or even plan for future expenses such as dragon saddles.

Winter is always coming, so why not prepare for it by saving in Groups?

How to use and manage Groups

So there you have it. Had King Viserys been Wiser with sorting out his business accounts, perhaps some family feuds could have been avoided and the Targaryen family would have prospered as a business.

But then again that would make a far less interesting show and I know you all love to watch those dragon fights.

Written by Eleni Socratous