What the Hell Is Going on With Aemond and Criston Cole? Ewan Mitchell Explains

The Big Picture

• Aemond has become one of the most sinister character in House of the Dragon after winning the battle of Rook's Rest.
• Aemond and Ser Criston Cole's partnership raises questions about their true intentions and loyalties.
• Aemond's ambition and political agenda may be harder for the small council to control, leading to an interesting dynamic with Cole.

House of the Dragon Episode 4 "The Red Dragon and The Gold," brought in all the blood and fire fans were waiting for. While the loss of Princes Rhaenys (Eve Best) and King Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) will change the game considerably, it's Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) that his kin and fans need to watch out for. By winning the battle of Rook’s Rest, Aemond has cemented his place as the most sinister character of the series. His planning and plotting with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) has the audience questioning his real intentions. In a new interview with TV Line, Mitchell speaks about what’s in store for their partnership.

In the first three episodes of this season, Aemond has been working quietly on the periphery with Cole, both of them lusting for war and taking the Blacks down. “They’re very similar-minded,” Mitchell explained. “They believe that war is inevitable, and they have a plan that they will manipulate the small council to suit their needs and to suit what they want and shape the direction of where they want to take the war.”

Aemond and Ser Criston Cole’s Partnership Will Take a Turn

Certainly, at the start of the fourth episode, we saw Aemond laying down his battle plans for Rook’s Rest in front of the council and his King, with no qualms, and Cole all in on the plans, taking one stronghold after another. For the newly minted Hand of the King, it’s the question of where his true loyalties lie, “We genuinely do not know what he’s doing it for or how far he’s prepared to go — and he’s gone pretty far, so far. You’ve got Aegon, who said himself he has no wish to rule. You can see how that is lucrative to members of the small council: someone who doesn’t have ambition.”

But for someone like Aemond, “someone who you could argue has an ambition, who you could argue has a political agenda — that might be something a little harder for the small council to control,” Mitchell explains, “I think Aemond and Cole, they’re very aligned most of the time. But I can’t wait for people to see how that relationship changes.” Aemond unarguably, is one of the more sinister characters in the show, while he showed remorse for Luke’s death, with Rhaenys and Aegon, he is rather calm and calculative which makes him all the more dangerous. How far he goes remains to be seen.

House of the Dragon drops a new episode every Sunday.

House of the Dragon

The reign of House Targaryen begins with this prequel to the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. Based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, telling the story of the Targaryen civil war with King Viserys.

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