‘Gilmore Girls’ Unpopular Opinions: Christopher Hayden Wasn’t the Villian in His Love Story With Lorelai Gilmore
Christopher Hayden is an easy character for Gilmore Girls fans to dislike. Christopher, Rory Gilmore’s father, was a foil to Luke Danes and Lorelai Gilmore’s relationship. That alone makes him hated by many Gilmore Girls fans. He was also immature, entitled, and hard to read. While he was often portrayed as the villain in his story with Lorelai Gilmore, if you look at it from a different angle, Lorelai is the real villain in their ill-fated love story. It might be an unpopular Gilmore Girls opinion, but there is evidence Lorelai was the issue.
Some ‘Gilmore Girls’ fans believe Christopher Hayden was a bit of a villain
It isn’t hard to dislike Christopher Hayden. Rory’s father disappeared from her life early on and only seemed to reemerge when his child was a teenager. Each of his visits with Rory also appeared to have an ulterior motive. He seemed to want to get closer to Lorelai.
In the seven-season run of Gilmore Girls, Christoper Hayden made a move on Lorelai multiple times. Each time he did so, he appeared to ruin things for Lorelai. Is that really what happened, though? It might be an unpopular Gilmore Girls opinion, but if you look at it through a different lens, Christopher wasn’t all that villainous. Lorelai wasn’t exactly innocent, either.
Christopher Hayden was always waiting on Lorelai
While it’s easy to suggest Chris always hung around in hopes of messing up Lorelai’s life, you could argue that the opposite is true. There isn’t much to indicate that Christopher’s actions were ever actually malicious.
From early on in Gilmore Girls, it was clear that Christopher Hayden was hung up on Lorelai. He was still in love with her, despite the years and distance that their life circumstances put between them. While the duo was always connected through their shared child, Chris always hoped for more. That might make him a bit sad, but it certainly doesn’t make him a villain. Lorelai wasn’t shy about feeding into the flirtation, either.
Lorelai often used Christopher to sabotage her own love life
It might be an unpopular Gilmore Girls opinion, but Lorelai was kind of awful to her love interests, and Christopher was no different. Christopher’s perceived availability was something that Lorelai seemed to enjoy exploiting. You could argue that she often used Christopher Hayden as a tool to sabotage her own love life when she was being pulled out of her comfort zone.
Lorelai used Chris when she was uncomfortable with the idea of marrying Max Medina, and she used him to seemingly close the door on her relationship with Luke Danes, too. When neither relationship worked out the way she wanted, she summoned Christopher Hayden. In the case of Max, they simply had a phone conversation. When things were going poorly with Luke, Lorelai slept with Chris, and eventually married him. The action ensured she and Luke wouldn’t get back together any time soon.
While Christopher Hayden was often presented as the person who popped up to ruin Lorelai’s romantic interests, it was her who went looking for him every time she felt a bit uncomfortable. Not only was her behavior not fair to Chris, but it wasn’t fair to herself, her romantic partners, or her daughter, either. Technically speaking, neither was really a “villain,” but if you have to pick someone who was more at fault, it was absolutely Lorelai.
