this is the face of a man who wanted nothing to do with criston cole? who wanted him to die? who hated him and wanted him as far as possible?

at this point, to me, gwayne's implied homosexuality has served one specific purpose: to confirm that he indeed, fell in love with criston. it has no narrative relevance outside this and he has no other love interests. they could've had the exact same character without the purposely added layer of homosexuality if his feelings for criston were strictly platonic and more camaraderie-like.

this episode gave us a grieving gwayne whose reaction still displayed what he felt for criston despite the fact that he knew this man was dead from the moment he was forced to leave him behind. to be the first character being delivered the news of his death, to have his nephew expressing his condolences to him - it's not a coincidence to me and these were the kind of details that led me to predict their dynamic altogether.

now, we have ormund hightower - a man whose first interaction with gwayne consisted of homophobic microaggressions and one of the nastiest things a character has ever said to another in this show (and by this i mean when he alluded to daeron having to watch his backside with gwayne around). so far, he's been treated as “the wife” “the husband” “the alpha to his omega” despite how uncomfortable and clearly abusive his relationship with gwayne's beloved nephew is. all meanwhile the meanest thing criston cole ever said to gwayne was “no fucking inns.”