House Of The Dragon’s Ser Criston Cole Was Always A Monster

One of the more shocking character arcs in House Of The Dragon is that of the brave and chivalrous knight Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel).

Introduced early on as a brave and skilled warrior, the only man capable of besting Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) at the king’s tourney, he quickly catches the eye of the young Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) who chooses him to be the new member of the Kingsguard.

Soon, the two form what appears to be a fast friendship. When she flees her father’s hunting pavilion and rides alone into the Kingswood, Ser Criston follows. They spend a night in the woods and he saves her from a wild boar. At this point, the relationship is strictly that of a bodyguard and a lady and as friends—but that soon changes.

After Rhaenyra is spurned by a confusingly amorous and then suddenly cold Daemon on their ill-fated outing to Flea Bottom, she returns to the Red Keep a bit of a hot mess. Still flustered, she brings Ser Criston into her chamber and then into her bed. He puts up a lame resistance, telling her that he can’t possibly while quickly succumbing to her nubile charms.

They become lovers—scandalous in its own right given her station, but doubly so given Ser Criston’s Kingsguard oaths, one of which is to remain chaste. He fails in that regard and rather quickly. And herein lies the true problem.

Many people misunderstand Ser Criston’s transformation from dashing knight to murderous bastard as one of love gone sour. Take this Polygon piece, for instance, which assumes that Cole’s breaking bad is due to her spurning him and his inability to imagine how she could say no to eloping.

“Frankel has absolutely nailed the hottie bait-and-switch, transforming from suave Dornish swordsmith to monstrously petty ex,” writes Joshua Rivera. “Frankel is both very good at coming across as the kind of handsome that he is both unaware of his good looks but also confounded at the thought that someone would say no to his pretty face. It’s a set of talents perfect for depicting Ser Criston Cole’s life as one of unexamined Hottie Privilege.”

But this is much less about being a petty ex or a spurned lover and much more about Ser Criston’s misguided sense of honor. Ser Criston Cole, we have to understand, was never a good guy. He wasn’t an honorable knight who went over to the dark side. He merely wore a chivalrous façade. He didn’t want Rhaenyra to run away with him because he loved her despite his claims to marry “for love.” Nor was he heartbroken over her refusal.

What truly drives Ser Criston’s hate is the fact that he believes it was Rhaeyra’s fault that he broke his oath, and when she refuses to run away and “fix” the problem, instead of taking responsibility for his oath-breaking he places all the blame on her.

She is now a ‘slut’ for seducing him, which was never his fault, surely. This allows him to preserve his sense of honor, because it was never his fault that his oath was broken to begin with.

He breaks his oath for the most ordinary of reasons—carnal lust—and then spends every remaining moment of his life blaming Rhaenyra for his own shortcomings. He uses the Queen and her power and her allies to enable this hatred and protect him from the consequences of his violent actions, whether that’s the murder of Ser Joffrey at Rhaenyra’s wedding or the murder of Lord Beesbury during the Green Council. He shows no remorse, because he’s the kind of person who has never taken responsibility for his own actions. His sense of honor and chivalry are as warped and twisted as Ser Larys’s clubfoot.

He also has a direct hand in training and guiding Alicent’s children, who he does his best to shape into his own image—petty bullies who would gleefully mete out violence on those who cannot defend themselves.

And like so many monsters, he’s rewarded for it, rising up in the ranks to Lord Commander of the Kingsguard for Aegon II after the death of Viserys I. A landless knight yet one of the most powerful in the Seven Kingdoms.

Ser Criston Cole was always a monster, his true self a slavering beast hiding behind that handsome, chiseled visage. Lurking beneath a veneer of chivalry and honor, the coiling serpent lay waiting. It was always just a matter of time before his ugliness was exposed.