Ser Criston Cole stands in his armor in "House of the Dragon"

It’s nice when the Game of Thrones fandom can all band together to hate on the same person. For House of the Dragon, that person is Criston Cole. He is played by the amazingly talented and sweet Fabien Frankel, but Cole is absolutely the worst kind of man on this planet.

Or, well … the worst kind of guy in Westeros. Cole started out as someone who tried to get a younger Rhaenyra (played by Milly Alcock) to run away with him to sell oranges and cinnamon together. She, with a disgusted look on her face, rejected him, and the “nice guys finish last” energy that took over Criston Cole has not stopped.

Now, in season 2, he is sleeping with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and pretending like he is some knight in shining armor. (While he is an actual knight, he barely does his job.) So … unfortunately we constantly have to see his face doing things and wonder what we all did to deserve this. (At least Frankel is very handsome, but god, Criston is the worst.)

Criston’s actions (that of a fedora-wearing bro who might tell you to hear Andrew Tate out) have ushered in fans all posting about how much they don’t like him.

Is it ironic that I am listening to “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” by Taylor Swift while writing about Criston Cole? Yes, but it is a song that really fits with him.

If Criston Cole has a million haters, I am one of them. If he has 1 hater, it is me. If he has no haters, I am dead.

But I do love that Alicent essentially kept her sex life from him out of revenge for … sleeping with her and not doing his job so her grandson died. Or at least she tried to make that last.

We love a united hateful front

The online hate for Cole reminds me of how much we all hated Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) on Game of Thrones. And much like Joffrey Baratheon, Cole is played by the nicest man on this planet. I know; I met Frankel and was shocked by how brilliant and kind he is given how … annoying Cole is.

Maybe it is just that I don’t trust a man who makes his whole personality hating the woman who told him no, but I just don’t really care about Cole and his happiness. So, seeing Alicent essentially using him to finally enjoy sex for once is pretty iconic. But I am sure it is going to end well, right? It isn’t like this man has a track record for being an absolute heinous nuisance to women who tell him no.

I do want to give love to Fabien Frankel because it isn’t easy to play the guy everyone hates on a show, but he does it so well and then is a gem to see in interviews? That’s skill and also probably a guy who knows that men like Criston Cole really suck in real life.

May the Criston Cole hate fest continue as we all watch House of the Dragon season 2!