George R.R. Martin

HBO has another critically acclaimed hit with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, and it deserves every bit of the praise heaped upon it. The immensely satisfying first season wrapped with last night’s finale, dealing with the tragedy of the penultimate episode and setting the stage for the further adventures of Dunk and Egg. House of the Dragon is a solid series, but Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has reminded staunch GoT fans of everything they loved about the original series in the first place.

(Spoilers below, but no major reveals until after the second gallery. We’ll give you a heads up when we get there.)

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms adapts the first novella in the series, The Hedge Knight, and is set more than 50 years after the events of House of the Dragon. Dunk (Peter Claffey) is a lowly hedge knight who has just buried his aged mentor, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb). Ser Arlan was perhaps not the kindest of mentors and often stone drunk, but at least he was hung like the proverbial horse—as viewers discovered in a full-frontal moment that instantly went viral. Lacking any good employment options, Dunk decides to enter a local tournament, since he has inherited Ser Arlan’s sword, shield, and three horses.

En route, he stops at an inn, where a bald-headed child who goes by Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) asks if he can be Dunk’s squire. Dunk refuses at first, but Egg follows him and Dunk reluctantly agrees. He christens himself Ser Duncan the Tall but finds he cannot enter the tournament without a knight or lord to vouch for him—someone who remembered Ser Arlan. Dunk strikes out again and again, until he meets Prince Baelor “Breakspear” Targaryen (Bertie Carvel), son of King Daeron II and heir to the Iron Throne. Baelor remembers Arlan and vouches for Dunk.

As they await their turn at the tournament, Dunk and Egg are drafted into a friendly game of tug-of-war by Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings), aptly known as the “Laughing Storm.” They attend a puppet show starring the Dornish-borne Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford); Egg is enthralled by the showmanship, while Dunk is enamored of Tanselle. And the pair bond further on the first day of the tournament, cheering with excitement at the jousting knights.

But this is Westeros, and nobody’s truly happy for long. Prince Aerion “Brightflame” Targaryen (Finn Bennett)—nephew to Baelor, son of Prince Maekar “The Anvil” Targaryen (Sam Spruell)—has also entered the tournament, and he’s the spoiled and vicious black sheep of the family. His lack of honor is firmly established when he deliberately lances his opponent’s horse to dismount him, effectively ending the day’s festivities. It’s only a matter of time before Dunk runs afoul of Aerion.

A humble hedge knight

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is just plain great storytelling, with excellent pacing, unexpected twists, and a much lighter tone than its predecessors, which makes the inevitable tragic moments that much more powerful. The episodes are short, and there are only six of them, so there is no padding whatsoever, yet somehow the main characters are fully drawn and compelling. The Game of Thrones franchise has always excelled at spectacular battle sequences on a grand scale. Here we get the same heart-pounding excitement on the smaller scale of jousting at a country tournament. The clever camerawork makes the viewer feel they’re in the center of the action, often showing the combatants’ viewpoints through the slits in their helmets.

The casting is inspired. Claffey, a former rugby player turned actor, is Dunk incarnate: tall and strong with a heart as big as his frame and a naively earnest belief in the knight’s code of honor. Ings’ Lyonel Baratheon oozes ribald charisma—he’s very fond of bawdy tavern songs—and one can see hints of what Game of Thrones’ King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) might have been like as a young and handsome warrior lord (before he got old and fat and fatefully encountered that wild boar). Carvel infuses Baelor with quiet strength and dignity, while Bennett is suitably menacing as Aerion to give us a colorful villain who’s fun to hate.

Yet young Ansell, at just 11 years old, outshines them all as Egg, bringing a perfect blend of intelligence, spunk, vulnerability, and disquieting maturity to his performance. Ansell had minor roles in the British soap Emmerdale and as young Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but this is his first starring role. May there be many more. His chemistry with Claffey makes you believe in Dunk and Egg’s friendship and root for them to succeed. It’s a wonderful dynamic. But can their bond withstand the big reveal of Egg’s true identity? (Of course it can, but not before a tearful, heartfelt clearing of the air.)

(WARNING: Major spoilers below. Stop reading now if you haven’t finished watching the series or haven’t read the books.)

A “trial by seven”

As any fan of the books can tell you, Egg is short for Aegon—Aegon Targaryen, Aerion’s younger brother, who ran away after his other older brother, Prince Daeron (Henry Ashton), refused to enter the tournament. Egg was so looking forward to being his squire and latched onto Dunk instead, but he can’t protect him from Aerion’s wrath. Dunk ends up in a prison cell and must prove his innocence in fine Westeros fashion: trial by combat, specifically a trial by seven, which means he needs six other knights to fight with him. Dunk is one man short until Baelor unexpectedly steps in as the seventh.

And that brings us to the seismic events of the penultimate episode (a GoT tradition). The joust is brutal. Aerion is the more skilled fighter, but Dunk has the size and strength advantage, so each inflicts significant bodily damage on the other. And just when you think Dunk has lost, he rises again and defeats Aerion, forcing him to withdraw his accusation. Dunk’s team suffers a couple of casualties, but everyone is relieved that Baelor has survived.

Dunk kneels and swears his loyalty in gratitude, which is when Ser Raymun (Shaun Thomas) notices the prince’s crushed helmet. Baelor has been mortally wounded by his own brother Maekar’s mace. He collapses and dies as a sobbing Dunk cradles his body, deftly setting up the season finale, in which everyone must deal with the aftermath.

The heir to the Iron Throne is dead—a good man who would have been an excellent king. A humble hedge knight has somehow changed the future of Westeros, and chances are it won’t be for the better. So what does Dunk do now? Ser Lyonel offers him a place at Storm’s End, but Dunk refuses, believing that he will just bring bad luck. Maekar offers him a position at the Targaryen Summerhall castle so that Egg can be his squire; his influence might actually prevent Egg from turning into a jerk like Aerion (whose penance is exile to the Free Cities). Again, Dunk declines, to Egg’s chagrin. But when Dunk leaves town to strike out on his own as an itinerant knight, Egg runs away again and joins him.

There are, of course, tons of Easter eggs for diehard Westeros fans, but one is particularly worth mentioning: a fortune-teller tells Egg that he will be king one day but die horribly in flames. “Why would she say that?” an understandably upset Egg asks. It’s a reference to a bit of Westeros lore only mentioned in passing in Martin’s many books: the tragedy at Summerhall. Egg becomes King Aegon V with Dunk heading up the Kingsguard. They were both killed by wildfire (along with many others), and Summerhall was destroyed in what was most likely Aegon’s attempt to hatch new dragons out of seven surviving dragon eggs. So not even Dunk and Egg get a truly happy ending.

All episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms are now streaming on HBO. It was renewed for a second season—which will be based on The Sworn Sword—before the first episode even aired, and I eagerly await what comes next for our unlikely heroes.