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Imagine if A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms were a laid-back Westerosi adventure, where two companions embark on a personal journey of growth. While it can’t be solely that, Episode 3 of AKOTSK (“The Squire”) underscores the historic significance of Dunk’s encounter with Egg. But before diving into those pivotal moments, why not linger by the Elm and the river? Picture Egg whittling while humming cheeky Dornish limericks as Dunk, attempting to be stern, realizes his calling is to educate. Picture him teaching the young squire to backstitch, or enjoy their humorous exchanges as they mimic each other’s distinct accents. Delight in Duncan’s tongue-tied attempts to converse with the charming Tanselle at the market stalls. Unlike the relentless pace of the GOT universe, Seven Kingdoms takes time to relish the minor details of this fictional world. It’s akin to enjoying a roast pork and fried goose egg sandwich with a dear friend—satisfying and heartwarming.
While Duncan hasn’t fully contemplated life beyond the tournaments—having focused so intently on joining them, only to now grapple with nerves—Egg has certainly pondered their shared future. Perhaps he has no home to return to, or maybe he’s escaping a shadowy past. Each morning, Egg diligently practices handing lances to Dunk and trains Thunder the horse for jousting. Meanwhile, Ser Duncan’s apprehension about the tournament could appear naive to some. Plummer (played by Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), Lord Ashford’s aide, attempts to involve Dunk in a scheme of match-fixing, given the depleted Ashford coffers after the tournament expenses. However, Dunk refuses to compromise his integrity; cheating would dishonor him as a hedge knight making his debut.
In jousting, targeting a horse instead of its rider is another form of deceit. Yet, one would expect a knight of noble lineage to eschew such tactics, right? Not so with Prince Aerion “Brightflame” Targaryen. When he challenges Ser Humfrey Hardyng (Ross Anderson), the match ends abruptly on the second lance as Aerion deliberately strikes Humfrey’s horse in the neck, causing it to fall and crush Humfrey’s leg. Though he’ll lose his horse as a penalty, Brightflame’s underhanded move was clearly intentional.
Finn Bennett’s portrayal of a Targaryen is striking. Behind his dragonhead helmet, iron flames licking his armor, and his stylishly cut white-blonde hair, Aerion epitomizes the Targaryens as described by Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas)—”incestuous aliens, blood-magickers, and tyrants who’ve burned our lands.”
As Dunk watched the joust from the crowd, he noted Aerion’s low approach, and Egg later remarked, “that was no mishap.” But how could a rustic farmboy or an orphan from Flea Bottom, whatever his origins, possess such insight into the underhanded tactics of knights in the lists?
It’s something Ser Duncan’s considering when his squire comes running. Aerion Targaryen attacked Tinselle at the puppet show.
There is a gentleness about Dunk. We’ve learned that. But this sense of calm is left outside the tent. At sight of Aerion in the center of a puppet show in violent disarray, clutching at Tanselle and breaking her fingers for the made up crime of representing a dragon as weak, Ser Duncan swings into action, and lands three haymakers before the prince even knows what’s happening. He knocks out a few Targ teeth, and saves Tanselle from further injury, but is restrained with the knowledge he’ll likely die for this single noble act.
Or will he? A small voice commands Aerion’s guards to unhand Duncan. “You impudent little rat!” Brightflame exclaims – and then, “What’s happened to your hair?” Not only does Aerion know who Egg is, the little bald joust knower and mysterious past haver, these two are related.
“I cut it off, brother!” Egg shouts at the prince. “I didn’t want to look like you.”
The camera in Knight of the Seven Kingdoms whips around the principals in the scene, from Prince Aerion Targaryen, to the now-revealed runaway prince, Aegon V Targaryen, to Tanselle, Duncan, and even Raymun, Dunk’s flabbergasted buddy. An heir to the Iron Throne has just been walking around in camp with this random hedge knight for the past few days, and nobody was the wiser? But the randomness of Dunk and Egg’s relationship is suddenly not a trifle, and will definitely not stay just a nice story of smallfolk camaraderie. To make a Westerosi omelette, sometimes you gotta break a few Aegs.
Helms and Hauberks for Episode 3 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (“The Squire “):
- It’s always a party in the Baratheon pavilion. Enjoying a few pints in Ser Lyonel’s tent, Dunk and Egg observe the lord singing another ribald tune. They also encounter a fortune teller, who professes a lore-filled future for the boy. “You shall be king, and die in a hot fire, and worms shall feed upon your ashes…”
- Wearing an eyepatch fabricated from plate steel is pretty fucking metal. But the AKOTSK flashback that shows us why Ser Robyn Rhysling (William Houston) needs this – when his eyeball got gouged out during a joust, he just kept going, letting it flap in the breeze – is way more metal. When they meet, Egg calls Ser Robyn “the maddest knight in the seven kingdoms.”
- It’s also just like a tyrant to put his boot on the neck of arts and the humanities. What sets Aerion Targaryen off at the puppet show is that the “dragon ought never lose” – Tanselle playing a knight slaying a firebreathing puppet isn’t showing sufficient loyalty to Targaryen propaganda. The life-size puppetry of Tanselle’s traveling show upholds art as a unifying message in society, and acts as another rewarding visual element to hang out with inside the visual detail of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.