Aetholwold

Aetholwold is a nephew of King Alfred, and he never lets anyone forget he thinks the throne should have been his. He drinks, he sulks, he charms when it suits him, and he watches the court with the resentment of a man who believes his birthright was stolen out from under him.

Harry McEntire plays him as pathetic rather than menacing at first, which is the trick: a spoiled boy nursing a grievance, funny and a little sad in the same breath. That smallness makes him unpredictable — you're never quite sure whether his self-pity will curdle into something more dangerous.