Criston Cole body count reaches at least 10 before episode 6 death
Ser Criston Cole cuts through at least 10 men in House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 6 before an archer ends his last stand.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
The Criston Cole body count climbs fast in House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 6, with Mashable counting at least 10 men killed by the knight in the opening fight before his own death.
The sequence gives Ser Criston Cole, played by Fabien Frankel, the battlefield ending he appeared to be chasing after his speech to Ser Gwayne Hightower, played by Freddie Fox, at the end of episode 5. According to Mashable, Cole had spent much of the season in a bleak state before laying out his plan to Gwayne.
In that episode 5 exchange, Cole tells Gwayne that their mission was doomed from the start. He rejects Gwayne’s offer of service to House Hightower and says he has lived under oaths to one side or another, green or black.
Cole also declares himself “the realm’s greatest warrior” and says he wants to die in battle on his own terms. One episode later, the show puts that claim to the test.
How many men does Criston Cole kill in episode 6?
Mashable’s frame-by-frame count of the opening sequence puts Cole’s tally at at least 10 men killed in less than two minutes of fighting. The site also says he wounds several others during the ambush by troops under Oscar Tully, played by Archie Barnes.
The scene shows Cole fighting alone after the ambush begins. He cuts through attackers quickly enough to back up, at least for a moment, his own claim that he belongs among the realm’s top warriors.
His streak ends before he can turn the fight into the duel he seems ready to take. After he is surrounded, Oscar Tully and Roddy the Ruin, played by Tommy Flanagan, confront him. Cole offers to fight both men himself, according to Mashable’s recap.
The duel does not happen. An archer shoots Cole with three arrows, and he collapses on the battlefield. After that, his surviving men are overrun.
What happens to Ser Criston Cole?
Ser Criston Cole dies in the opening sequence of House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 6 after killing at least 10 men during an ambush, according to Mashable. He is killed by arrows rather than in the one-on-one or two-on-one fight he appears ready to seek.
The death still lines up with the broad shape of the exit he predicted in episode 5: a violent end in battle, away from court service and the political machinery that defined much of his life.
Mashable notes that Cole had become one of the show’s most disliked characters, but episode 6 gives the former Hand a ferocious last sequence. The count is the point: whatever viewers think of him, the scene shows he could fight.
House of the Dragon Season 3 is streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes airing Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, according to Mashable.
This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.