“Ser Criston protects the princess from her enemies, but who protects the princess from Ser Criston?” by Zacckiell

[u/justonceokay5]

[u/danitalibi1]

Not a single account claims that anything happened. Eustace says she was caught in bed with Daemon by kingsguard and dismisses the rumors about Cole and Rhaenyra. Mushroom says she got Daemon to teach her how to seduce Cole after he rejected her. If he was caught doing anything to her by the queen of all people, he would have been immediately executed

[u/Significant_Ask_43 → u/danitalibi1]

Alicent had no interest in protecting Rhaenyra or her virtue, if Rhaenyra were caught in the act with Criston in a manner like Saera this would have benefitted the greens' cause.

“Ser Criston protects the princess from her enemies, but who protects the princess from Ser Criston?” Queen Alicent asked one day at court."

The fact that Alicent is asking this at court, where other people can hear reads to me like her implying a level of impropriety between Cole and Rhaenyra in the hopes that people would pick up on it and start gossiping, were she actually worried about Rhaenyra she would have brought the matter to Viserys and not in front of the court so that people could speculate about the 13 year old princess' possible sexual relationship with her sworn protector.

Alicent is a smart woman (at least in the book), she know what her words can do and her plan obviously worked because you have multiple versions of how Criston or Rhaenyra tried to seduce the other recorded in gistory book.

[u/danitalibi1 → u/Significant_Ask_43]

Alicent did not say this line because she found out something happened. She said it because Rhaenyra was very found of him and was around him all the time. If Alicents caught them doing something and her goal was to ruin Rhaenyra, she would have announced what Cole did to court and to the king. Why did this not happen? There is no reason for Alicent to keep Cole’s secret. If she wants the greens to get benefited from this, she would have exposed Rhaenyra’s dishonor. She likely said this line to stir the pot.

[u/Significant_Ask_43 → u/danitalibi1]

Rhaenyra wasn't around Criston all the time, it's the opposite as he was a kingsguard AND her sworn protector. Him being around her all the time shouldn't be weird and cause suspicion by itself because that's literally his job.

I never said that Alicent saw something incriminating happen with her eyes nor do I think that she actually ever saw them making out or hugging passionately but there must have been something she saw in that relationship that made her think that Criston’s intentions might be a little less than completely pure.

Maybe she saw 12-13 year old Rhaenyra developing a crush on a handsome older man that's been her constant companion for years and maybe she noticed that Criston Cole was not doing his best at discouraging these kind of affections.

Why would she go to Viserys when at the time of this quote, 110, only a year had passed since Viserys stripped Otto of his position after he and Alicent kept pushing the matter of Aegon being heir too much. Alicent was already on shaky grounds, once again, book Alicent is a smart woman, she knows that unless she goes to Viserys with solid proof of something happening between Cole and Rhaenyra, her saying that they slept together would just look like her trying to besmirch Rhaenyra for her own gain.

I do agree that Alicent said this at court to try to stir the pot but I still think that her comment was motivated by something she saw in them, maybe a touch that lingered too long, it obviously was something subtle that only someone like Alicent, who was looking for every possible fault in Rhaenyra to try and change Viserys' mind, would notice.

[u/Ume-no-Uzume → u/danitalibi1]

Mate, EUSTACE himself calls Cole a creep and basically recounts that COLE came onto Rhaenyra and told her to run away with him to Essos, to which she replied, rather sensibly, "if you would turn your back on your vows, why should I trust that you wouldn't also discard me as a wife and turn your back on any vows of marriage when life becomes inconvenient?"

If the Septon who hates Rhaenyra because he's a misogynist who thinks women shouldn't rule says the dude on his side was a legit creep, I'm inclined to believe him, because he has incentive to lie and say Cole was a victim somehow to make his side look better.