Fantasy television series have been having a moment. We're not sure who had the genius idea to air HBO's House of the Dragon at the same time as Amazon's Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, but it's inspired a lot of comparisons, both good and bad. One thing that the HBO Game of Thrones prequel has over the LOTR prequel is some serious character hatred. And we're not even talking about Queen Alicent Hightower. We're talking about Ser Criston Cole.
Criston's character was introduced in a positive light - the knight became Princess Rhaenyra's sworn shield, and later, her lover. Sadly, he didn't take kindly to her refusal to run away with him, so the scorned white cloak became Queen Alicent's right-hand man, and one of Greens' staunchest supporters. Cole, who is played by British actor Fabien Frankel, has been behind a ton of aggressive anti-Targaryen actions, and some pretty unnecessary deaths. His nasty attitude has all but erased the internet's thirst for the character, and that thirst seems to have been replaced by passionate contempt. That contempt is incredibly evident on Twitter, where people have laid waste to Alicent's favorite errand boy. Best of all? The hatred isn't lost on Fabien Frankel. The actor recently shared one of the hate-filled memes on Instagram, perhaps as a way to distance himself from the vitriol. And we can't blame him for that.
