Alicent and Criston Cole’s Illicit Relationship Arc Might Finally Be Coming to an End

After a gradual build-up across the first four episodes, House of the Dragon season 2 reached a mini-crescendo as the Greens and the Blacks engaged in their first out-and-out battle on the field.

Spoilers for House of the Dragon and Fire & Blood ahead

As is the case with every episode of House of the Dragon, episode 4 was littered with subplots, one of the major ones concerning Queen Dowager Alicent. Aegon II’s mother is handed a concoction by Grand Maester Orwyle towards the start of the episode, with the conversation between them suggesting that the potion is for a third person, whose identity is not disclosed. However, as the episode progresses, Alicent is seen gulping down the drink.

The mysterious drink that the matriarch figure of the Greens is seen consuming is Moon Tea, a popular remedy to avoid pregnancy in the Game of Thrones universe. Fans of the show will recall that the recipe first appeared in season 1, episode 8, where Alicent made one of Aegon’s female staff drink the tea after he forced himself upon her.

Alicent taking caution against an untimely pregnancy is a result of her secret liaison with the Hand of the King, Criston Cole. While the Dornishman is currently away raising armies for the Greens’ cause in the current events of the show, the pair’s escapades were a central plot point in the initial episodes.

The dynamic between Alicent and Cole was created exclusively for the show, as they had no such relationship in the source material, Fire and Blood. Therefore, the pregnancy is a non-issue for Alicent in the literature, and it will be fascinating to see how the writers progress this subplot further in the TV series, if at all.

As things stand, the entanglement between the Queen Dowager and the Hand is potentially on the cusp of its conclusion, considering the tense state of affairs between the Green and Blacks, especially after the events of the fourth episode. Cole is likely to shoulder a majority of the blame for Aegon’s near-death experience, which could sow seeds of resentment between him and Alicent.