Who Is Alysanne Blackwood? The Archer Who Slays Ser Criston Cole in House of the Dragon
Three arrows. No duel. No ceremony. Just a decisive shot from the treeline that changes the entire trajectory of House of the Dragon Season 3. Alysanne Blackwood’s entrance into the series is as efficient as it is ruthless and it signals that she’s not a character to overlook.
Played by Annie Shapero, Alysanne (known in the lore as “Black Aly”) is a fierce Riverlands archer fighting for Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). She didn’t appear in Seasons 1 or 2, but her arrival in Season 3 has been anything but quiet. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, her role only grows from here stretching well beyond the battlefield and into the political reconstruction of Westeros itself.
Here’s everything you need to know about who Alysanne Blackwood is, what she does in the show, how she compares to her book counterpart, and why she may be one of the most important characters heading into House of the Dragon’s endgame.
The Season 3 Episode 6 Shock: Alysanne Blackwood Kills Criston Cole
Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and Hand of the King has been a dominant force throughout the series. So when the Rivermen and the Winter Wolves spring an ambush on him in Episode 6, his instinct is to fall back on tradition: he calls for single combat with their leaders.
Alysanne doesn’t take the bait.
Rather than step forward to face him blade-to-blade, she draws her bow from the treeline and puts three arrows in him. Clean, cold, and completely on her own terms. Criston Cole is dead not at the end of a sword during some honorable duel, but by the hand of a Riverlands woman who had zero interest in playing by his rules.
It’s a massive moment. Criston has been central to the Green cause since Season 1, and his death marks a turning point in the Dance of the Dragons. The fact that it’s Alysanne who delivers the killing blow to a character the audience is only just meeting immediately establishes her as someone worth paying attention to. Annie Shapero had already appeared briefly in Episode 2 as one of the most spirited singers among the Riverlands soldiers, but Episode 6 makes her presence undeniable.
Book vs. Show: Alysanne Blackwood in Fire & Blood vs. House of the Dragon
How “Black Aly” Is Introduced in the Source Material
In Fire & Blood, Alysanne Blackwood’s story begins somewhat differently. Her defining book moment comes at the Battle of the Burning Mills, where she avenges her brother Lord Samwell Blackwood by killing Amos Bracken with a precisely aimed arrow. That act of vengeance cements her reputation as a sharpshooter with both skill and purpose.
After the battle, Alysanne joins the broader Riverlands host and takes command of its archers fighting in Rhaenyra’s name throughout the war. Martin describes her as fierce and fearless, a woman who consistently defies what Westeros expects of noble ladies. She doesn’t sit in a castle and wait. She leads.
What the Show Changes and Why It Works
House of the Dragon shifts things by making Alysanne the one who kills Criston Cole directly, rather than following the book’s version of his death. It’s a creative departure, but a smart one. By assigning her that kill, the show immediately gives Alysanne cultural weight with the audience. She’s no longer a name from a history book, she’s the woman who took down one of the most prominent antagonists in the series.
The core of who she is remains intact: a Riverlands archer, a commander, a woman who operates by her own code. Whether she’s avenging her brother in the book or refusing single combat on the show, the throughline is the same. Alysanne Blackwood does not follow the script handed to her by a patriarchal society. She writes her own.
The Future of Black Aly: Alysanne Blackwood and Cregan Stark’s Marriage
Alysanne’s battlefield accomplishments are impressive, but they’re arguably not even her most consequential contribution to Westerosi history. That comes later during the Hour of the Wolf.
After the Dance of the Dragons ends, Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) arrives in King’s Landing as Hand of the King to young Aegon III. He is not a gentle Hand. Cregan dispenses swift, severe justice the kind that doesn’t leave much room for mercy.
But then there’s Alysanne.
When Aegon III moves to pardon Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) despite being too young to hold any real authority, Cregan’s response is telling. He allows the pardon to stand. The prevailing explanation in Fire & Blood credits Alysanne, who reportedly went to Cregan personally and appealed for clemency. Whatever she said worked. Cregan agrees to honor her request, but with one condition: she must marry him.
She does. And in doing so, Alysanne Blackwood becomes a Stark, a woman of two great houses, bridging the Riverlands and the North at a moment when Westeros desperately needs bridges.
The political significance of the Alysanne Blackwood and Cregan Stark marriage can’t be overstated. It is, in part, what softens the Hour of the Wolf from a period of Northern dominance and harsh reckoning into something with at least the possibility of peace.
Why Alysanne Blackwood Is Vital to the Reconstruction of Westeros
A Strategist, Not Just a Soldier
Alysanne’s contribution to post-war Westeros doesn’t stop at convincing Cregan to show mercy. Before the two return to the North, she turns her attention to the Riverlands, her homeland which has been gutted by war.
Her solution is practical and quietly brilliant. Alysanne arranges for displaced Northmen, men who traveled south with Cregan’s forces and have no easy path home, to marry widows in the Riverlands. This keeps skilled men in the region to help with rebuilding, gives those men a new home and purpose, and provides stability to communities left devastated by the conflict. It’s political architecture dressed up as matchmaking, and it works.
The Character House of the Dragon Actually Needs Right Now
House of the Dragon has excelled at depicting the destruction wrought by the Dance of the Dragons. What it now needs as the story moves toward its conclusion is a character who can represent reconstruction without losing dramatic tension. Alysanne fits that role precisely.
She’s not soft. She kills Criston Cole without hesitation. She commands armies. But she also understands that wars are ultimately won or lost in what comes after the fighting. Her influence on Cregan Stark, her plan for the Riverlands, her dual identity as both Blackwood and Stark all of it positions her as the connective tissue between the chaos of the Dance and whatever Westeros becomes next.
Annie Shapero’s portrayal has the potential to be one of the show’s most compelling arcs in its final stretch. The character is already announced through action. Now comes the deeper work.
Black Aly’s Story Is Just Getting Started
Alysanne Blackwood arrives in House of the Dragon Season 3 with a bow, three arrows, and an immediate claim on the audience’s attention. But the real argument for her importance isn’t the kill shot it’s everything that follows.
From commanding Rhaenyra’s archers in the field to navigating the brutal political landscape of the Hour of the Wolf, Alysanne operates with a rare combination of force and foresight. She is neither purely a warrior nor purely a diplomat; she’s both deployed as the moment requires.
House of the Dragon has always been at its best when it centers women who refuse the roles assigned to them. Alysanne Blackwood, archer, commander, political architect, and future Lady of Winterfell, belongs in that conversation. Keep watching.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who shot Criston Cole?
Ser Criston Cole is shot and killed by Alysanne Blackwood in the television series adaptation, while the books credit Red Robb Rivers.
