SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for Season 3, Episode 5 of “House of the Dragon,” now streaming on HBO Max.
In tonight’s “House of the Dragon” episode, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) proclaims that he’s ready to die — and he’s ready to do so honorably.
As the war to capture the Iron Throne rages on, Criston marches onward with his men, including Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), to put a stop to the Rivermen reaching King’s Landing and aiding Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy). But their journey to catch up with the Rivermen proves increasingly difficult, after one of their horses gets caught in a trap. Once they come across a burned-down bridge to cross the river, they realize there is no chance of catching up.
Gwayne and Criston regroup and debate what to do next, now down to half the men they started with. Gwayne says continuing forward “would march us toward certain death.” That’s when Gwayne realizes this was Criston’s goal all along, as Criston launches into a revealing monologue: “I have been a servant all my life. To Green or to Black. I have defined myself by oaths, through unyielding devotion. And the highborn have made much of me while it pleased them to do so. But I will not let them diminish me now. I will not return spurned, rejected. I am the realm’s greatest warrior. And I will die as such.”
