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a lot of really bad takes on the affc white book scene can be traced back to a popular tiktok on how the dance characters died for non-books readers which paraphrased the ‘no songs were sung of him’ out of context in relation to criston. this means a lot of non-book readers interpret this as like he’s a historical nobody no one gives a shit about him he won no honour or glory which isn’t like. insanely incorrect but is also a gross misunderstanding of criston as a thematic character in affc
the no songs were sung of him is specifically referring to songs being sung of straightforwardly virtuous knights (aemon dragonknight) or straightforwardly bad knights (lucamore strong) and how criston is a historically ambiguous figure he made a huge significant decision but his motives were obscure he’s a bit of both. he might have been acting for what he believed was the greater good he might have been acting out of petty treacherous cruelty he is a VERY explicit parallel to jaime’s own feelings about killing aerys and how he’s perceived because of it. kingmaker-kingslayer etc. it’s jaime thinking about what being a good man and a good knight means and legacy in general+ also is thematically all over the dorne plot and the faegon plot there’s a reason queenmaker kingbreaker variant chapter headings recur
#making him an actual character makes this deliberately equivocal theme role weird#asoiaf#a song of ice and fire#criston cole#jaime lannister
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