Daemon and Criston essay is out.
Why Is Daemon Extremely Glorified And Not Condemned As Much Others?
Why are Daemon and Criston treated so differently even though they're similar? In a way?
I think fans often judge actors' relationship to the character differently depending on whether they already morally identify with the character.
And Daemon is an unusually effective character for generating that kind of attachment.
1. Daemon is extremely charismatic.
This is probably the biggest factor. Matt Smith plays the character of Daemon Targaryen with this combination of:
confidence, humor, menace, swagger, vulnerability, unpredictability, sexual charisma and genuine affection for certain people.
Daemon is rarely boring. Even when he's doing something terrible (to strangers especially), he's entertaining to watch doing it. And a lot of people frequently confuse: âI enjoy watching this character.â with: âThis character is fundamentally admirable.â
Those are completely different judgments.
Daemon is basically engineered to be a charismatic antihero.
2. He's given enormous amounts of narrative "coolness".
Just look at how the show presents him.
He comes back covered in blood without a scratch.
He has the coolest entrance music.
He has that swaggering walk.
He says provocative things.
He's played by Matt Smith, who has extraordinary screen presence.
The show frequently gives Daemon the visual language that television normally reserves for the badass protagonist.
So even when he's objectively behaving terribly, the presentation can encourage the audience to experience him as cool rather than repulsive.
That's not necessarily accidental.
3. He gets away with things that would destroy another character's reputation.
This is where the Criston comparison is important.
Daemon's treatment of Rhea is horrible. He abandons her, treats, talks about her and views her with contempt, and eventually kills her.
Yet this isn't remotely as central to the fandom's conception of Daemon as Criston's actions toward Rhaenyra are to Criston's.
And then there's the brothel incident.
Daemon takes a very young Rhaenyra to a brothel, publicly exposes her to sexual activity, and then leaves her in a sexually compromising situation, with barely any clothes on, surrounded by freaks.
That's beyond an enormous boundary violation.
Yet fandom conversations frequently transform it into:
"No, you don't understand, see, Daemon was trying to teach Rhaenyra about sex and introduce her to adulthood.â
Then there's the choking. That's harder to reinterpret away because the show deliberately presents Daemon physically attacking Rhaenyra during an emotionally charged confrontation.
Yet even there, you'll often see people immediately shift toward: "He was grieving.â, âHe was angry.â, âHe still loves her.â
All of which may explain his behavior. None of them excuse it. And that's the distinction fans can't seem to make.
4. Daemon is allowed to be morally complicated; Criston is often treated as morally simple.
Daemon can kill people, manipulate people, abandon people, abuse people, behave selfishly, be violent, be cruelâŚand fans can still say: âBut he's complicated.â
And they're actually right. He IS complicated.
But then so is Criston. So is basically every other character we keep seeing in the show.
Criston does something morally ugly and suddenly the conversation becomes: âHe's an incel.â(I mean he kinda is), âHe's pathetic.â(which he is), âHe's just a misogynist.â(one of his most prominent qualities), âHe's insane.â (let's not give him too much credit).
There is a strange asymmetry in how complexity is distributed. Daemon's bad behavior is treated as evidence of his complexity.
Criston's bad behavior is often treated as evidence of his essential nature.
That's a huge difference.
5. Daemon's flaws are often interpreted as expressions of love.(I'm shaking my head so hard right now).
This is especially noticeable with Rhaenyra.
Daemon's possessiveness becomes: âHe loves her intensely.â
His jealousy becomes: âHe's terrified of losing her.â
His violence becomes:âHe's passionate.â
His obsession becomes: âShe's the only person who understands him.â
Sometimes those interpretations are psychologically valid.
But there's a dangerous slide that happens afterward:
explaining his shitty and weird behavior, then romanticizing said behavior until finally excusing his behavior.
You can understand why Daemon chokes Rhaenyra without concluding that choking her is somehow evidence of profound love.
Both can be true. Daemon loves Rhaenyra and he is capable of violently hurting Rhaenyra. Those aren't mutually exclusive.
6. Daemon has something Criston doesn't: enormous "cool factor".
This sounds shallow, but it's very important to fandom psychology. If Daemon kills someone, the audience gets:
Matt Smith looking terrifying and suck af+ dragon + sword + badass music + Targaryen imagery.
If Criston does something terrible, the audience often gets:
Criston Cole being bitter and angry again.
The emotional packaging is totally different.Daemon's violence is frequently a spectacle. Criston's violence is frequently uncomfortable.
And audiences are remarkably susceptible to presentation.
7. The fandom also tends to identify Daemon as a Targaryen fantasy.
There's something aspirational about him. Daemon represents: âWhat if I didn't care about the rules?â
He's powerful enough to disregard convention. He has wealth, status, dragons, weapons, sexual freedom, political influence.
There's a fantasy of unrestricted agency around him.
Criston represents almost the opposite: âWhat if I followed the rules and then those rules destroyed me?â
And a lotta viewers instinctively identify with Daemon's rebellion more than Criston's resentment.
Criston's violence and impulsiveness is done to spite rhaenyra and he's actively working to harm her family. Daemon's violence and impulsiveness is done to aid Rhaenyra and he works on her side and is an important part of her family.
8. And Matt Smith specifically matters a lot.
Matt Smith clearly likes Daemon. He talks about him affectionately, jokes about him, plays up his charisma, and often seems to enjoy the character's ridiculousness.
Fans generally don't interpret that as Matt Smith defending everything Daemon does. They understand: âHe's an actor who enjoys playing a complicated fictional character.â
But when Fabien Frankel talks enthusiastically about Criston, because Criston is so disliked by portions of the fandom, people can interpret it as:Â âOh my God, he's defending Criston. He's just like Criston!â
That's a bizarre double standard.
An actor doesn't have to morally condemn their character to play them well. In fact, it's often better when they don't.
Frankel can find Criston fascinating, sympathetic, tragic, or even admirable in some respects without endorsing everything Criston does. And Smith can love playing Daemon without endorsing murder or domestic violence.
9. There's also a gendered component.
I think this deserves acknowledging carefully. Daemon's violence is often perceived through the cultural archetype of:
âdangerous, dominant, sexually powerful man.â
That archetype has enormous romantic appeal in fiction.
Criston's later behavior, meanwhile, fits a much less glamorous archetype: âresentful man whose romantic rejection turns into hatred.â
People have very different emotional reactions to those two fantasies. The first is often coded as dangerous but sexy. The second is coded as dangerous and pathetic. And once you notice that, a lot of fandom discourse between the two makes more sense.
But I wouldn't go as far as saying Daemon fans don't see his flaws. Many absolutely do.
There's actually a much healthier interpretation of Daemon:
He's fascinating precisely because he's loving, courageous, loyal, funny, politically astute, selfish, violent, impulsive, possessive, cruel, and capable of genuine tenderness.
That's a great character.The problem is when the fandom turns:âDaemon is a fascinating person with good and terrible qualitiesâinto: âDaemon's terrible qualities aren't actually terrible because he's complicated.â
That's where I think criticism becomes legitimate. And I'd apply exactly the same standard to Criston.
Criston can be genuinely honorable in some respects, courageous, genuinely attracted to and emotionally attached to Rhaenyra, deeply traumatized by his own choices, at times psychologically fascinating and simultaneously be spiteful, hypocritical, misogynistic, violent, self-righteous, and responsible for terrible things. Those aren't contradictions.
The irony I find most interesting is Daemon and Criston are actually much more similar than their respective fandoms sometimes want to admit.
Both men are intensely concerned with honor, masculinity, status, loyalty, and their relationship to powerful women.
Both are capable of enormous devotion.
Both can become extremely violent when emotionally destabilized.
Both have enormous egos underneath very different social positions.
Both rationalize their own behavior.
Both are absolutely obsessed with their social status.
Both have an extraordinary capacity for self-deception.
And both can be loving and abusive, courageous and cruel, sincere and hypocritical.
The difference is largely in how the story and the audience frame them.
Daemon gets to be the glorious, sexy, fascinating monster.
Criston gets to be the humiliating, bitter, fascinating monster.
And a fandom is much more willing to forgive a monster when the monster is cool.
