what else ought there be?

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[knightofbladess]

House of the Dragon Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole -> Season 1

[alysmond]

"The best and the worst." So one of us is like to live in song. "And a few who were a bit of both. Like him." He tapped the page he had been reading. "Who?" Ser Loras craned his head around to see. "Ten black pellets on a scarlet field. I do not know those arms." "They belonged to Criston Cole, who served the first Viserys and the second Aegon." Jamie closed the White Book. "They called him Kingmaker."

A FEAST FOR CROWS, George R. R. Martin

[nochancennochoice]

Brienne reaching out for Jaime. 

[gayfilmgeek]

anniesymonscostumedesign.com/kiss-short-film

[wulfhalls]

you're his little treasure now

DAERON TARGARYEN, ORMUND HIGHTOWER and GWAYNE HIGHTOWER

[goldcrescent]

so many people hate seeing Criston on screen but he’s a dick in such a totally normal way that it makes him hysterically funny in contrast to the living anime characters he hangs out with. He is literally just some guy having the exact same struggle with the false ideals of chivalry and knighthood and the inherent loss of the self that comes with being a tool of state violence as a thousand other knights in westeros but also he has to run errands with Sephiroth

[alicentsgf]

criston's face when viserys insulted alicent is actually SO Insane. like the man was just looking at the king like that. in broad fucking daylight. blatantly willing viserys skull to explode victim-of-alys-rivers-psychic-witchery style. you know why he missed the kids sneaking out?? because he was busy standing over viserys in the dark armed with murderous intent

[emmaziadarcy]

[userparamore]

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON S01 E05 We Light The Way S03 E05 Unbowed and Unbent

[jessmalia]

I bore Viserys three Targaryens. But with the last, my last... I wanted him to be a Hightower. In truth, I'm glad I waged that battle, seeing now what came of our other sons. Perhaps sending Daeron away was my truest act of motherhood.

[drag00ni]

knights kissing

[visenyaism]

I understand him this is devastating

[goldcrescent]

needlessly long stream of consciousness about Gwayne lets go

It’s soooo interesting how Gwayne’s first reaction when he’s vulnerable around Ormund is to endure the bad behavior (“I would let him win” ect), don on a respectful posture, and try to force down his irritation down long enough to do his job bc I truly think mister son of a second son absolutely had it drilled into his head that Ormund is above him and he has to accept it no matter how loathsome the man is because everyone also has to show deference to the lord of their house. Despite vaguely internalizing that he clearly cannot actually hold the facade for long. Ormund of course knows this and immediately starts trying to get a rise out of him, then pivots to using Daeron to do it, the decides they’re too pleased to see each other and promptly sows discontent by undermining Gwayne as a parent and role model in front of Daeron while simultaneously making Daeron behave in a way he knows Gwayne will be repulsed by.

Exactly as you’d expect from someone coming back to an abusive household while already exhausted and depressed, Gwayne does kind of lash out at Daeron for not following Gwayne’s lead and enduring abuse correctly. Daeron has no grasp on the Oldtown’s number one selling book “25 ways of maintaining your dignity while your dad skins you” so he just cries about it because Daeron is not Gwayne, he is a child trying to not set off an angry man and it is not Daeron’s job to react acceptably it is Gwayne’s job to protect him.

Despite Gwayne being a character who’s first reaction IS to defend he also just spent 6 months watching massacre after massacre whilst unable to help anyone at all and they both know he has absolutely no control over either Ormund or the Hightower army, he can’t save Daeron from dragon fire any more than he could save his men but Ormund might be able to, except he’ll destroy Daeron anyway. You literally see Gwayne deflate and start having a category cole nihilism moment bc he actually turns away from his crying nephew, blatantly lies that he’ll be fine and the second Daeron can’t see him he makes this face

Then of course the rejection hurts Daeron so badly he literally asks for the mother Gwayne is meant to be filling in for. That fully snapped Gwayne back to reality, both out of shame that his refusal hurt Daeron so badly he’s grasping for a woman he met twice and because Gwayne promised Alicent he’d look after this boy looking back at him with her sad face. Mind you, Gwayne is the only person who has said out loud that he cares that Alicent is being held hostage. After this Gwayne looks livelier.

Ormund continues to undermine Gwayne by taking jabs at Otto (likely repeated straight from Hobert’s mouth, being Otto’s own shitty older sibling) and treating Gwayne and Daeron’s like they’re the same age and he’s both their dad and obviously Gwayne is more competent and saves everyone but I would posit that this moment

was Gwayne losing his temper and big dogging him. Look at his face. The assailants were already dead, there was absolutely no need for him to do this and while he intentionally threw in that little jab he has known Ormund his entire life and he absolutely 100% made Ormund look at this shit to scare the shit out of him AND so he’d get sick in front of Daeron to make himself look bad. That expression says “you have the title but we both know I am stronger than you and you need me, say something I dare you”. Ormund apologized and back the fuck up immediately and Daeron looked horrified at the violence and then…..is immediately shown trying to take on multiple assailants exactly like Gwayne just did. So while I’m sure the crashout felt really good at the moment, the absolutely batshit crazy way in which Gwayne stood up to their mutual abuser is maybe not communicating the healthiest coping mechanism for a boy as sensitive as Daeron

[m00nstrvck]

very interesting scene b/c while daeron has to appease ormund out of fear, there's a certain complicity here that reminds me of that quote about father and daughter looking down on the mother. maybe the poison drips through...

[m00nstrvck]

"i hate what i am when i'm with him. a puppet, a fool, a child." "and yet he means to put you on the throne, apparently". "only as he cannot sit on it himself. no, he would thrust me forward and devour me from within until there's nothing left." "so tell him you won't do it". "then who will protect me then?"

[visenyaism]

but if i said that the lgbt community has forgiven criston cole i would be “cancelled.” le wokisme at it again

[visenyaism]

[visenyaism]

in the better version of asoiaf in my mind that’s exactly the same except the faith of the seven canonizes people saints they did st. sebastian the fuck out of criston cole getting shot by riverlands firing squads btw

[myrtlesandasphodels]

Okay but Criston Cole being posthumously sexualised by thousands of gay guys and artists for generations is exactly what he would hate and I would LOVE

[knightsickness]

criston screaming in the afterlife because the westerosi baroque movement is doing this to his image