Who is Criston Cole on House of the Dragon?

The other day, none other that A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin announced that English actor Fabien Frankel would be playing Criston Cole in House of the Dragon, HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off series. Frankel joins a growing cast that includes Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen, and many more. Like Game of Thrones before it, there are a lot of characters in this story.

But just what kind of story is it? Well, House of the Dragon is about the Dance of the Dragons, a brutal Targaryen civil war that tore Westeros apart over 100 years before the start of Game of Thrones. Criston Cole is a key player in that drama, and now that he’s been cast, we thought we’d take a minute and explain how. Although be forewarned: we will be discussion major SPOILERS about his journey.

Okay, let’s begin.

Criston Cole, the Knight of Ambiguity

Criston Cole was born the son of a steward to Lord Dondarrion of Blackhaven, in the Dornish Marches, which is the border region between the stormlands, the Reach and Dorne. He had black hair, green eyes, and was described as charming. He showed skill at arms and eventually won a melee during a tourney, impressing the crowd by knocking the Valyrian steel blade Dark Sister out of the hands of Daemon Targaryen.

The tourney was being held to celebrate the ascension of King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) to the Iron Throne, and after his victory Criston honored the king’s young daughter, Rhaenyra. Although sons traditionally inherit in Westeros, King Viserys didn’t have any living sons and had named Rhaenyra his heir. This is where we come to a recurring theme with Criston: what was his motive for doing what he did. When he gave the victor’s laurel to Rhaenyra, was it doing it because he was ambitious and wanted to get in good with the king’s daughter? Did he feel a personal connection with her, or was he just doing the chivalrous knight thing? Sources differ, as laid out in George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood.

What we do know is that, at Rhaenyra’s urging, King Viserys named Criston to be Rhaenyra’s sworn shield. They were constant companions and even rumored to have an affair. And here again sources differ. According to one story, Criston stole into Rhaenyra’s bedchamber one knight, confessed his love to the princess, and offered to run away with her and marry her. But she refused him, because if she ran away she couldn’t become queen like she wanted, and also reasoned that if Criston could break his Kingsguard vows like this, what’s to stop him from breaking his marriage vows?

But according to another story, Rhaenyra was the one who tried to seduce Criston, with whom she was in love, into taking her virginity, this shortly before she was set to be married off to her homosexual cousin Laenor Velaryon as part of a political alliance. In this version, Criston refuses her.

We don’t know what happened, and I’ll be curious to see what House of the Dragon does with the ambiguity. What we do know is that afterward, Criston went from being Rhaenyra’s best friend to her bitterest enemy. He attended the wedding of Rhaenyra and Laenor Velaryon. While participating in the tournament held to celebrate it, he smashed the f**k out of both Harwin “Breakbones” Strong, the guy Rhaenyra was currently sleeping with; and out of Ser Joffrey Lonmouth, who Laenor was sleeping with. His actions were considered excessive, but Criston didn’t care. He had a new patron now: Alicent Hightower, King Viserys’ second wife and the mother of his son Aegon II.

Criston Cole, the Kingmaker

Eventually, King Viserys dies in King’s Landing, which is when things get really crazy. By this point, Criston Cole is Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and fully a member of Alicent Hightower’s camp. Alicent wants her son Aegon II to ascend the Iron Throne rather than Rhaenyra, and Criston is fully behind this. Again, we don’t 100% know why. Is it because Criston thinks Aegon II will be an easier ruler to control than Rhaenyra? Or maybe he’s still smarting over Rhaenyra rejecting him romantially.

In any case, Criston Cole crowns Aegon II as king himself, putting upon his head the iron-and-ruby crown of Aegon the Conquerer. He also kills the only guy on the small council who says that Rhaenyra is the rightful heir to the throne.

Rhaenyra and her people are away at Dragonstone while all this happens. When they learn about it, Rhaenyra crowns herself queen, and suddenly we have two claimants to the Iron Throne on her own. And so begins the Dance of the Dragons.

The war rages for a while. Eventually, Aegon II gets fed up with the performance of his grandfather Lord Otto Hightower’s performance as Hand of the King and replaces him with Criston Cole. Criston enjoys some military victories, but is eventually plugged full of arrows and dies at a battle known as “the Butcher’s Ball,” where he and a bunch of men loyal to King Aegon encounter a lot of angry soldiers from the Riverlands and the North who support Rhaenyra.

And thus ends Criston Cole, Kingmaker, Hand of the King, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, possible angry ex-boyfriend, and human pincushion. It could be a really meaty part with a lot of room for juicy character development. Hopefully Fabien Frankel gets to make the most of it.

House of the Dragon is set to premiere sometime in 2022.

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