Like its predecessor Game Of Thrones, House Of The Dragon features no shortage of hateable characters. Even amongst that rogues’ gallery, however, Ser Criston Cole is rapidly distancing himself from the rest, at least in the eyes of hardcore fans. They took to social media in droves after the latest episode to give voice to that hate, and while they didn’t like him before, it’s safe to say their distaste is only growing.
Before we get into specifics though, let’s do a real quick recap of what we’ve seen from Criston Cole lately. If you haven’t caught the latest episode yet (2x2), you should do so ASAP and then come back to this article, as there will be spoilers.
To sum up, Cole wasn’t around when Jaehaerys was murdered because he was bedding the poor Prince’s grandmother Alicent. That didn’t stop him from blaming Ser Arryk, however, which he did in public as part of a larger diatribe that also included criticisms over his white cloak being dirty. He then ordered Arryk to go murder Rhaenyra himself in a stupid plan that obviously failed but also somehow resulted in him being made Hand Of The King after Otto Hightower roasted it and upset King Aegon. Oh, and then also, he slept with Alicent again.
So, yeah, there’s been a lot to be mad about, which is probably why a ton of the anti-Criston tweets aren’t even about one specific action. They’re about how much fans hate him every single time he’s on the screen. For most, it’s a visceral, full-body hate, or at least a vicious Rhaenyra mean mug, as we see in this tweet that shockingly already has more than 75,000 likes in less than a day…
Me every time I see Criston Cole on screen #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/P1e8df6QQZJune 24, 2024
The problem with Ser Criston and I think the reason why he infuriates fans so much is because his character arc has been such a slow and steady funnel into the muck. When we first met him, he seemed really likable, a plucky fighter from humble beginnings who clearly had a thing for Rhaneyra. Naive as it was, there was even something touching and almost noble about asking her to run away with him, but from the moment of that rejection forward, it has been almost nothing but whining, hypocrisy, spilling tea, violence and more hypocrisy.
He was vehement he wouldn’t be Rhaenyra’s whore; yet, he seems to have no problem being Alicent’s. He talks constantly about his sacred duty; yet, he’s murdered multiple people because he couldn’t control his own angry impulses. And everytime it seems like he’s hit his low point, he somehow finds a way to get even worse. It’s like every single episode he’s challenging himself to get more hateable, which is why the following tweet has more than 20,000 likes already…
Unreal how he literally gets worse every episode. #HouseoftheDragon pic.twitter.com/WsYcx0T8vKJune 24, 2024
If you go to any of the House Of The Dragon trending topics on X, formerly known as Twitter, you’ll notice a really high percentage of the popular tweets are about Criston Cole. They take aim at just about every issue he has, from his hypocritical obsession with his cloak to how bad his schemes are. It’s that last one I really want to touch on because I have been living for all of it. I’m not always the world’s biggest Otto Hightower fan, but I love how little respect he has for Cole.
I also love so many of the comments about his plan to have Ser Arryk dress up as his brother and try to infiltrate Dragonstone. If you’re wondering why such a thing seemed so familiar, let me present you with this joy of a tweet, which has more than 20,000 likes already…
this is criston cole’s plan to kill rhaenyra: #HOTD #HouseOfTheDragon pic.twitter.com/FgpekwsDSsJune 24, 2024
Game Of Thrones has a long history of finding redemption for characters who seem unredeemable. Whether someone was a good guy or a bad guy often depended on which plotline they were currently involved in. Some, however, were always beyond redemption, and I suspect that’s what we’re going to see with Ser Criston Cole. In my mind, he’s done far too much and is far too unlikeable to ever be redeemed in my eyes, but I’ll keep watching with an open mind and see where this is going.
You can catch new episodes of House Of The Dragon on Sunday nights on HBO, Max and other streaming options in different countries. Season 2 disappointingly only has 8 episodes; so, it’ll conclude at the beginning of August.
