Few characters in ‘House of the Dragon’ have sparked as much frustration among viewers as Ser Criston Cole. After being introduced as an honorable knight who had earned his place through skill and loyalty, Criston slowly became one of the most polarizing characters in the series.
However, with the arrival of season 3, the HBO drama seems set to delve into a facet of Criston that viewers haven’t seen before. The series doesn’t just show him as a bad guy; it could be the first time it shows the man behind the armor.
Criston Cole’s Untold Story May Be Season 3’s Biggest Surprises
Even though Criston was one of the most prominent characters in the Dance of the Dragons, he is one of the least explored central characters in the show. While much has been revealed about others, like Rhaenyra, Alicent, Daemon, Aegon, and Aemond, little is known about Criston’s life before he arrived at court.
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“I think, with Cole, all you know is that he was a soldier and that’s it, and then he’s put into this world,” he told SR. That’s about to change, says actor Fabien Frankel. The actor recently teased that season 3 will delve deeper into Criston’s past.
The show will finally offer viewers a greater understanding of where he came from and what shaped his worldview. “There’s a lot that’s not talked about, and I think that will be fleshed out more this season about his past.”
In addition to being a steward’s son and an accomplished soldier, audiences have been given almost no information about what occurred in his life before the narrative began. The absence of context has sometimes made Criston seem more two-dimensional than other morally complex characters in the series. Season 3 appears to be set to fill that void.
‘House Of The Dragon’ Wants You To Understand Criston Cole, Not Necessarily Like Him
But giving more backstory doesn’t magically make Criston’s actions disappear. Throughout the series, he has made decisions that made him unlikable to fans and directly contributed to the rising conflict between the Greens and the Blacks.
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However, ‘House of the Dragon’ has always been successful when it delves into the humanity of its most flawed characters. Heroes and villains are not always neatly defined in the show, and the characters’ pride, trauma, ambition, and loyalty can lead them to make terrible choices.
That could make the upcoming storyline for Criston even more interesting. As the conflict escalates and his power within the Greens increases, it becomes increasingly important to know what makes him tick in order to add a layer of emotion to his decisions on the battlefield.
The series is in its final stages, and season 4 is the endgame, so it’s time to go deeper into one of Westeros’ most controversial characters. Fans may not come to like Criston Cole, but they might finally understand him.
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