Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon share an accolade. Few franchises have given the world as many characters to truly despise. Everyone recalls the white-hot hatred they felt the first time they saw King Joffrey’s smug, self-satisfied smirk. House of the Dragon is no slouch in that department either. Of all the monsters in King’s Landing, Criston Cole is probably the most detestable. His body count might not be the highest, and his sins might be behind closed doors, but it’s hard not to want him dead. That makes his nickname, “Kingmaker,” hard to hear.
The two central figures of House of the Dragon are, arguably, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Aegon II Targaryen. They’re the two potential nobles vying for the throne. In truth, the battle tends to be between Rhaenyra and Aegon’s mom, Alicent Hightower. Though they’re the supposed leaders, each brings a massive ensemble of allies to the table. Some push for war, others struggle to usurp their supposed bosses, and a few express genuine loyalty. Criston Cole is a strange addition to the team, especially given his motivation.
Why is Criston Cole the Kingmaker?
The small folk of Westeros dubbed Ser Criston Cole the Kingmaker after witnessing his successful campaign across the Riverlands. Cole is one of the most warlike members of Aegon’s entourage. He initially joins the team as Alicent’s sworn defender. He takes that position after his brief romance with Rhaenyra falls apart. Cole is genuinely motivated, at least in part, by his teenage girlfriend’s unwillingness to run away with him. After Rhaenyra turns him down to secure a strategic marriage, Cole whines about the supposed sullying of his position as her sworn defender. Supposedly, marrying her and subsequently stealing her away from her position as the next queen would have somehow fixed that. His incredible pettiness led him to assault a fellow knight and attempt suicide. Alicent kept him around, shifting him across the Red Keep to become her sworn protector. After Viserys died, Alicent and Cole started a torrid relationship, gradually allowing most of their other interests to fall to ruin because they just couldn’t turn each other down. In the meantime, Cole started failing upward into increasingly important positions.
Cole is pretty terrible at anything that isn’t direct physical combat. He’s an exceptional warrior and a pretty good battlefield strategist, but his mind only seems to work when it’s considering troop movements. His trysts with Alicent leave much of the Red Keep undefended, indirectly allowing the Blood and Cheese plot, which leaves Aegon II’s heir dead. However, he’s one of the few people in the castle pushing for conflict. Cole hates Rhaenyra, leading him to encourage a war for his own petty vengeance. This places him in Aegon’s good graces, as the king despises politics. Aegon eventually fires the longtime Hand of the King, Otto Hightower, to replace him with Cole. Cole’s harebrained schemes fell flat at first. He sends Arryk Cargyll behind enemy lines in the guise of his brother, knowing full well that the guy Arryk is impersonating will be at the scene. Cole returns to his core competencies when he and Aemond work out a plan to take the Riverlands. This campaign of violence across several small towns leaves many dead, but it also massively increases Cole’s army. People begin to believe that Cole and his soldiers are the best weapons in Aegon’s arsenal. He partially proves himself again at Rook’s Rest, where his ambush scheme kills one of the Blacks’ finest dragons and her rider. Of course, his scheme backfired because he couldn’t predict the unhinged actions of his king, who almost died in the attack.
Is Criston Cole’s role different in the books?
Cole’s story in House of the Dragon is similar to his in Fire & Blood, but the details change at every turn to make the character a worse person. Cole served as Rhaenyra’s defender until a botched romance drove them apart, but it never got as far as it did in the show. Rhaenyra tried to seduce Cole, then he slipped into her chambers to profess his love, but she refused to run away with him. Cole still killed Joffrey Lonmouth in the books, but he did so in a tournament rather than out of rage. Alicent supported him against the accusations of foul play, leading him to support the Greens. The show’s biggest invention in Cole’s life is his romance with Alicent, which never comes up in the books. Cole still becomes Aegon’s Hand and orders Arryk Cargyll to attempt an unsuccessful assassination. He still fights across the Riverlands and Rook’s Rest. Because the book lacks the hidden romance element, all of Cole’s actions seem more sensible. His failures are genuine mistakes, rather than absurd overreactions to avoid getting caught. The HBO version of the character seems to value his sex life more than his actual life. He’s a much more impressive figure in the books.
What will happen to Criston Cole?
A lot of people are asking whether Criston Cole will die. More accurately, in the context of House of the Dragon, they’re asking when he’ll die. It’s Google’s first autofill result most of the time. Cole marginally wins the battle of Rook’s Rest. Aegon suffers wounds that lay him out for a year, and his dragon is left grounded, but at least Rhaenys is off the board. Cole remains the Hand of the King under Aemond, who temporarily sits upon the Iron Throne. Cole’s plan is to take Harrenhal, which is currently under Daemon Targaryen’s protection. He’ll strike after he gathers enough strength from the Riverlands. The attack will appear to go perfectly. He’ll walk right into the castle and easily claim it. Unfortunately for him, he will stumble into a trap. Daemon’s army will abandon Harrenhal, using the lack of defense to take King’s Landing. Cole will march to meet a Hightower army, hoping to take back the Red Keep. It won’t work out, as the Blacks plant countless ambushes and destroy villages to deny them supplies. Finally, the remaining dregs of Cole’s army will meet a force of 1,000 Black-aligned soldiers. He’ll likely offer his life in exchange for the lives of his men, but his captors won’t agree to his terms. Cole faces execution by arrows. Fans may get to see his head on a pike at the First Battle of Tumbleton.
Criston Cole is probably the character who gets the worst treatment in House of the Dragon‘s transition to the screen. He’s one of the most hateable characters in the show so far. There’s still time to redeem him, but the quicker route might involve simply following him to his end in the books. If nothing else, Cole’s days are numbered. Fans will have to wait and see how big that number might be. The Kingmaker has a path in place to meet his maker.
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