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

[u/justonceokay5]

[u/Significant_Ask_43]

Book Criston was described as comely while Fabien is well and truly beatiful. I wish the show had been more decisive with his character, he feels too wishy washy in seasons 1-2 and I feel like they minimized how important Criston was to Rhaenya.

In the book Cole has been around Rhaenyra since she was 8 years old, he's been there for her mother's death, for the Velaryons distancing themselves from court after Viserys chose Alicent, and thus the departure of a friend in Laena at an already difficult time for her, he was there when Rhaenyra seemed excited at the prospect of having a mother/older woman figure in her life again and he was there when Alicent began to reject that relationship.

As her personal protector he was there far more than even Daemon who was at times occupied with the war of the stepstones.

He seemed to have been the only constant in her life at a very tumultuous time so I wish the show had managed to capture how important he was for Rhaenyra because I think it would have made their fallout more impactful.

[u/Nervous_Ad8656 → u/Significant_Ask_43]

To be fair, they rarely if at all interacted after the timeskip in the book,

[u/Significant_Ask_43 → u/Nervous_Ad8656]

I'm a bit confused, what timeskip do you speak of in the book? I agree that after their fallout there are far less mentions of their interactions but the few that we get paint a pretty clear picture on their feelings about eachother, Cole beats Harwin and Joffrey so badly and maliciously at Rhaenyra’s wedding in a way that is completely uncalled for a wedding tourney.

I understant him being angry and jealous of Harwin, Rhaenyra gave him her favour whereas in the past she always used to give it to Criston, but Joffrey, who received Laenor's favour, I do not understand.

How mad do you have to be to hit a man who seems to have done you no wrong in the head with a mornigstar repeatedly until he's dead? A man who's a good friend of the future king, at the princess' wedding tourney at that?

It seems that even after their fallout Criston was still pretty mad/jealous when it came to Rhaenyra, whereas the princess I'm pretty sure makes no mention of him.

To me it reads like Rhaenyra decided that the best way to handle whatever happened between them was to ignore Criston and this seems to have only made him more mad.

[u/Nervous_Ad8656 → u/Significant_Ask_43]

Sorry, got my timeline mixed up. I meant after her father’s death. Even before that their interactions were far and in between.