“Criston Cole started as a soldier before the 20-year stretch that he spent at King’s Landing—that’s how he started, and that’s how he wants to finish,” Frankel told Variety of his character’s motivations in Season 3. “In his mind, the only honest version of himself is the soldier. Everything else is pretense; the diplomat is pretense; the Hand of the King, there’s a level of pretense; Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, there’s a level of pretense. I suppose they’re all psychological, brain-led jobs. He isn’t that way, he’s very much led by his sword and his fighting instinct. The idea that that’s how he will be remembered, I think, feels honest.”
