Share and Follow
In Episode 3 of HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, titled “The Squire,” viewers are treated to an intriguing moment involving a mysterious woman who offers to read the fortunes of Ser Duncan the Tall, portrayed by Peter Claffey, and his young squire, Egg, played by Dexter Sol Ansell. The fortune-teller predicts that Dunk will rise to become a mighty hero and gain wealth comparable to a Lannister, prompting laughter from the hedge knight. However, her prophecy for Egg is more troubling: she foresees he will one day be king and that people will celebrate his death, leaving the boy visibly distressed.
**Spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 3 “The Squire,” currently available on HBO Max**
While the series seems to brush off this fortune-telling as mere entertainment at a tournament, devoted fans of George R.R. Martin’s work recognize the prophecy as remarkably accurate.
Fans familiar with the Game of Thrones universe will recall that Ser Duncan the Tall ultimately becomes the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and is celebrated as one of the most renowned warriors in Westeros history. In Season 4 of Game of Thrones, Joffrey, played by Jack Gleeson, notably derides Jaime Lannister’s scant record of achievements by contrasting it with Dunk’s impressive legacy, which spans four pages. Clearly, Dunk’s future holds great success.
At the conclusion of Episode 3, Egg’s true identity is unveiled: he is actually Prince Aegon Targaryen, the youngest son of Prince Maekar, played by Sam Spruell. In George R.R. Martin’s novels, Aegon ascends to the throne, earning the title “Aegon the Unlikely.” Notably, Egg is the grandfather of the infamous Mad King Aerys, linking him as the great-grandfather of Daenerys, portrayed by Emilia Clarke, and the great-great-grandfather of Jon Snow, played by Kit Harington.
So what happens that makes Egg the kind of king that people would want to see dead? Well, that part might to an event that’s set to happen about 50 years after the Tourney at Ashford: the Tragedy at Summerhall.
When Egg grows up and becomes King Aegon V, he becomes obsessed, like many other Targaryens of this era, with bringing dragons back to life. He assembles his entire family, including his pregnant granddaughter Rhaella, at Summerhall, a Targaryen castle in between King’s Landing and Dorne. We don’t know exactly what Egg’s master plan to bring dragons back was, but we know it was a disaster. Summerhall erupted in flame and King Aegon perished along with many members of his family. A heavily redacted text in GoT lore suggests that more would have died were it not for Dunk’s heroism. Most fans assume he died, too, saving Rhaella just as she was giving birth to Jon Snow’s father, Prince Rhaegar.
However, when Knight of the Seven Kingdoms stars Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell stopped by DECIDER HQ last October, Ansell seemed to think that Dunk actually survives Summerhall.
We asked the actors (while they made their own dragon puppets in honor of Tanselle’s show) if they knew anything about what “Summerhall” meant to fans steeped Game of Thrones lore.
“Yes,” Dexter Sol Ansell said, nodding excitedly. “Yes, we have.”
“I can’t talk about Peter,” he continued, “but I do know a bit about when Egg’s trying to make dragons in the Summerhall and then there’s a huge fire. But we don’t — we know — we know from George—”
“We don’t know,” Peter Claffey said, interrupting. “Yeah, we don’t know if that is exactly what happened.”
“We know that Dunk survives, but we don’t know if Egg survives,” Ansell said, prompting Claffey to wince and make a “cutting” motion at his neck.
“We don’t know. We don’t know exactly what’s happened,” Claffey said. “But let’s just get this Season 1 out of the way and then we’ll see.”
So did Dexter Sol Ansell spill a secret that George R.R. Martin told the actors or was he getting his details wrong about the finer points of Westerosi history? Either way, the witch’s prophecy in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms does have implications for the future of Dunk and Egg’s story.