He wasn't an honorable knight who went over to the dark side. He merely wore a chivalrous façade. He didn't want Rhaenyra to run away with him because he loved her despite his claims to marry “for love.” Nor was he heartbroken over her refusal.
So yeah, he will always love Rhaenyra. Cole certainly did not take Rhaenyra's rejection well; in fact, he beat a man to death because he was so salty about it. He's now taken a central role in the faction that opposes Rhaenyra's claim to the Iron Throne, and things are not going to get better.
The moment that causes the break in Rhaenyra and Criston's relationship is when Criston offers to elope with Rhaenyra, and she turns him down to pursue her ambitions. They break up after this and their love turns into bitterness and hatred. Most accounts in George R. R. Martin's books agree that this is what happened.
Rhaenyra and Daemon's Marriage
Soon after being widowed, Daemon and Rhaenyra marry each other in secret when he is 39 years old, and she is 23. Their marriage causes a huge scandal at court and another rift between Daemon and Viserys, but it is eventually accepted. The couple has two sons together, Aegon and Viserys.
The subtext of one big House of the Dragon episode 9 scene suggests Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) is in love with Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke).
With Rhaenyra's relationship with Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) seemingly over for good, it's a mystery. Until you watch Episode 6, that is. Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon Episode 6! “The Princess and the Queen” opens up with Rhaenyra giving birth to her third child, another boy.
She told Laenor that though they couldn't negate the wishes of their fathers, after marriage, they could continue with their respective affairs. But Criston Cole wanted more. He didn't want his relationship with Rhaenyra reduced to just an inconsequential affair.
After this, when Cole was the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Rhaenyra was arranged to marry Laenor Velaryon. Because of this, Criston Cole confessed his love for her - which she rejected, stating that, as a Targaryen, she was meant for more than being the wife of a sellsword.
That's right, during the Oct. 2 episode of House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith) stopped fighting their feelings for one another and finally got together. However, this was more than just an illicit liaison, as Rhaenyra and Daemon got married at the end of the episode.
In the show, there isn't any romantic love between them. Daemon uses Rhaenyra for her position, and by being the first man to be intimate with her, he ensures that no other man would want to marry her. In the books, however, Rhaenyra was in love with Daemon and had always been besotted with him.
Yet, after finding his proposal of elopement rejected by lover Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock, then Emma D'Arcy) in the fifth episode, Ser Criston was furious that he had betrayed his vow of chastity in the Kingsguard for the Princess and was more disgusted when she suggested they continued their affair ...
Criston Cole betrayed Rhaenyra and confessed everything to his Queen Alison Hightower for several reasons, but the main reason is that he felt like he dishonored himself and his position in the Kingsguard. He also felt hurt because Rhaenyra rejected his proposal.
She told Variety that Alicent was actually in love with Criston Cole before Rhaenyra slept with him. Alicent's feeling of betrayal by Rhaenyra was a focal point of episode five.
When Ser Harrold Westerling, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, died in 112 AC, Criston was named his successor to lead the white cloaks. In 113 AC, King Viserys I Targaryen arranged for his reluctant daughter Rhaenyra, Princess of Dragonstone, to wed Ser Laenor Velaryon.
In the end, Robb Rivers and two other bowmen fatally strike Ser Criston Cole with three arrows under Pate's orders. After that, the blacks' host kills the greens' remaining soldiers, calling the massacre the Butcher's Ball.
After Daemon's first wife dies, he gets together with Laena Velaryon—who was initially suggested as a bride for King Viserys. They have two daughters. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra marries Laena's brother, Laenor Velaryon, and they have several kids.
After the beginning of Daemon and Rhaenyra's marriage played offscreen, viewers were able to return to the story to see the pair after they'd established their life together. It's obvious that in that time, the two gained an awareness of both themselves and each other.
By the time we reach episode six — which occurs more than 10 years later in the show's timeline — Harwin was revealed to be Rhaenyra's primary lover and the father to her three children.
When we last saw the two, Daemon was banished from the realm for the second time in just four episodes. Otto Hightower had informed the King of Daemon and Rhaenyra's "coupling," as he nervously called it, even though she actually slept with Ser Criston Cole.
One of those characters is Ser Criston Cole, portrayed by Fabien Frankel, a knight from House Cole who arrives in King's Landing and becomes part of the Kingsguard for Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine).
To leave her responsibilities, her betrothal, his vows, and to flee to Essos and marry him. In a way, a culmination of his fears, happiness, desperation, and feelings of shame made him fantasize about a way out.
Turns out, Rhaenyra and Daemon are endgame, meaning they have a sexually tense relationship, eventually hook up, and get married—which is pretty significant from a power play perspective considering (1) they both want the throne and (2) their Targaryen union is almost sure to guarantee that happens—even though Alicent ...
Eventually, it's Daemon and Rhaenyra's two sons who end up sitting on the Iron Throne, but is that for a future series? The Velaryons survive, but in recent years Ser Corlys has come to support the Greens, after falling out with Rhaenyra and being accused of treason (unfairly).