RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Heading into battle in Episode 6 of House of the Dragon Season 3. —Theo Whiteman—HBO
Warning: This story contains spoilers for Episode 6 of House of the Dragon Season 3 .
After two seasons of cementing himself as one of the most hated characters in Westeros history (which, as Game of Thrones fans know, has no shortage of reprehensible monsters), Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) ultimately went out with little more than a whimper in Episode 6 of House of the Dragon Season 3.
Following his declaration in Episode 5 that he intended to die a warrior's death by leading his men on a suicide mission into the path of Team Black's massive army of Rivermen and Winter Wolves, Cole was erased from the board within the first 10 minutes of Sunday's installment. The episode opened with Cole and his remaining Greens falling into a trap set by young Lord Oscar Tully (Archie Barnes) and Lord Roderick Dustin (Tommy Flanagan) that saw a host of Rivermen play dead in order to lure their enemy into battle. Although Cole's forces triumphed in the scuffle, they soon realized the real trick was that they were surrounded by the full strength of the Black army.
Cole attempted to bargain for his men's lives by promising surrender and, when that offer was refused, put forth a bid to decide the battle by facing Oscar and Roderick in two vs. one combat. But Team Black obviously had no plans of letting Cole go out in the blaze of glory he so greatly desired. Without waiting for either lord to even deign to respond, archer Alysanne Blackwood (Annie Shapero) let loose three arrows that struck Cole down, unceremoniously killing him. Their army then advanced on his men to slaughter them.
Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) makes his last stand in Episode 6 ofHouse of the Dragon Season 3. —Theo Whiteman—HBO
Those who have read George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood will recognize this event as the massacre known as the Butcher's Ball. And in the book, it's made abundantly clear Team Black meant for Cole to die as undignified a death as possible. As one Riverlands knight bluntly remarks to Cole's dead body, "I'll have no songs about how brave you died, Kingmaker."
In House of the Dragon , it was ironically Cole himself who set the scene for his anticlimactic demise—because really, how often does a character in the Thrones universe actually get what they want? "I am the realm's greatest warrior," he told Ser Gwayne (Freddie Fox) in Episode 5. "And I will die as such. Clear-eyed. Unbent. Glorious in battle. And not in their service, finally. But in my own. And they will sing songs of it. And Queen Alicent herself will hear them."
Despite proving himself to be the Dance of the Dragons' most hypocritical player, by shifting his allegiance to Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and the Greens back in Season 1, Cole managed to convince himself he was walking the path of righteousness. No matter how deplorable his actions were, in his mind, everything he did was to uphold honor, duty, and the law. But after witnessing the devastating power of dragonfire firsthand at the Battle of Rook's Rest in Season 2, Cole's view of the conflict began to spiral into nihilism. In the end, the only way he felt he could leave his mark on the world was to go down swinging in battle.
Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) readies his men for a final march in Episode 5 of House of the Dragon Season 3. —Theo Whiteman—HBO
"Criston Cole started as a soldier before the 20-year stretch that he spent at King’s Landing—that’s how he started, and that’s how he wants to finish," Frankel told Variety of his character's motivations in Season 3. "In his mind, the only honest version of himself is the soldier. Everything else is pretense; the diplomat is pretense; the Hand of the King, there’s a level of pretense; Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, there’s a level of pretense. I suppose they’re all psychological, brain-led jobs. He isn’t that way, he’s very much led by his sword and his fighting instinct. The idea that that’s how he will be remembered, I think, feels honest."
But Cole doesn't get the poetic, honorable last stand he thinks he deserves, reinforcing the futility of common soldiers fighting a war of nobles and stripping him of the fantasy of a worthy legacy in his final moments. Seems like Alicent will never hear those songs, after all.
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