House of the Dragon it has a huge creative advantage over most adaptations. George RR Martin's Fire and Blood it is not a definitive account of events. It is a history of House Targaryen “written” by a master that is incomplete or even wrong in certain places. (Although we can't always know how or where). This is especially true of the time period that HBO's prequel series retells. That section is based on three biased sources which often conflict, often because none of the chroniclers actually witnessed the events they wrote about. Their blind spots and distortions provide House of the Dragon narrative freedom It also allows the show to fill in huge gaps never mentioned. I House of the DragonThe season two premiere used this narrative advantage to make Queen Alice and Ser Criston Cole's relationship much more troubling, complex, and interesting.
In Fire and Blood, Kingsguard member Criston Cole goes from being the sworn sword of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen to the personal protector of her nemesis, Alicent Hightower. No one in Westeros ever hated Rhaenyra more than the man who crowned her brother Aegon king. The Targaryen story provides a very personal reason for the enmity between the two previously close friends: their relationship turned sexual.
In Fire and Blood, a source claims that Cole asked Rhaenyra to cross the Narrow Sea with her, giving up her claim to the Iron Throne. Another says it was Rhaenyra who asked him to abandon his Kingsguard vows. What all historians agree on is that, after that time, the two despised each other. Criston Cole didn't just turn her back, he worked to destroy her.
House of the DragonThe first season gave a definitive answer to what happened between them. It's what always made the most sense based on what we knew about each. Was Criston Cole, the worst person ever, who begged Rhaenyra to leave Westeros with him.. The HBO series also gave us a reason for its request. He was not driven by love or even lust. Cole felt guilty for breaking his sacred vows in the first place and wanted Rhaenyra to drop everything to make him feel better about himself. When she refused to enter House of the Dragon First season, Criston Cole left her and put herself in the service of Queen Alicent.
For everything Fire and Blood says/hints at Cole and Rhaenyra's relationship, both explicitly and subtext, says next to nothing about her relationship with Alicent. Criston Cole becomes Alicent's swordsman and sworn protector, but none of the book's sources raise even a hint of impropriety between the two. But that also doesn't mean the show created a physical relationship out of thin air.
Westeros remembers Criston Cole for the unethical punk he was. He also knows that he almost certainly broke his vows and became intimate with Rhaenyra. (Who was a drunken teenager the first time they slept together on the show). It is no stretch, by any means, to imagine that Cole also violated his oaths with a young and beautiful widow like Alicent. Nor is it absurd to think that a woman whose entire life was defined/bound by duty up until that point took her handsome gentleman to bed when she was under the most stress she had ever known.
While their physical relationship contributed to the spectacle to fail Fire and Bloodthe most shocking moment (the flip side of the adaptation freedom coin), this expansion of its story is ultimately a good thing for the show. It makes all their interactions more difficult. Their advice to Aegon, whether they agree with it or not, is also harder to trust. Alicent and Criston Cole have become entangled in a way that has often doomed other duos because personal relationships have a tendency to undermine duty and rational thought.
Each character is also more interesting on their own now. This evolution of the relationship makes Alicent more complex and therefore more compelling. She's not as “perfect” as she thought. Maybe now she fears/knows that Rhaenyra was right about her true nature, especially since Alicent did the same thing she did to Rhaenyra. It's even possible that jealousy of how Rhaenyra lived her life drove Alicent into Criston Cole's arms. House of the Dragon second season And while Alicia's hypocrisy makes her less righteous, calling into question her piety, it makes her more human and therefore possibly more likable. She is as vulnerable and flawed as anyone else. He yielded to his baser desires like any other human power.
While this relationship twist makes Alicent more dynamic, it also makes Lord Commander Ser Criston Cole an even bigger villain. He's less of a gentleman and more of a forked-tongued walking con artist. Every horrible thing he says about Rhaenyra is projection. He can't really protect the king and his family because he's compromised. It is the amoral and unethical center of the Dance of Dragons.
He is what the show needs game of thrones he needed characters like Joffrey, Ramsay and Baelish. The handsome member of the Kingsguard who began his story so nobly and with so much promise is like a Jaime Lannister in reverse, someone we hated but came to love.
No one will ever love Criston Cole… Except apparently Alicent Hightower. I House of the Dragon it's better for it.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer for Nerdist and the original Criston Cole hater. You can follow it Twitter i Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
