‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Dunk Book Change, Explained

HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is getting rave reviews across the board. Fans are loving the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), especially now that Season 1 is barreling towards an end and things are getting more serious.

AKOTSK Season 1, Episode 4, “Seven,” finds Ser Duncan recruiting six men to fight alongside him in a Trial of Seven, where he’ll face off against the vile Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett) and six of his allies. Dunk is forced into this battle after defending a woman named Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford) from Aerion, who attacks her for no good reason. Dunk’s friends come through in the end, setting up an exciting fifth episode.

Episode 4 sticks to the source material: George R.R. Martin’s “The Hedge Knight” novella. That’s for the best, as bad things tend to happen to Game of Thrones shows when they stray. Many fans would agree that GoT began to dip off in quality when it ran out of books to adapt, culminating in a backlash to the final season so explosive that the cast still talks about it. Meanwhile, House of the Dragon Season 2 disappointed fans after it strayed a lot from Fire & Blood. So A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has the right idea by staying true to the text. However, there is one scene from “The Hedge Knight” that didn’t make it into “Seven,” and it was a big missed opportunity.

This Scene Would Have Added Dimension to Dunk’s Fight in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Season 1, Episode 4

Illustration by Gary Gianni from the book A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin, published by Bantam Books | New York. Photo by Dan Selcke.

In “Seven,” the last thing Dunk does before meeting his allies for the Trial of Seven is pick up his shield from the blacksmith Steely Pate, who had outfitted it with new rims. When Dunk asks how much he owes for the work, Pate is generous. “From you?” he asks. “A copper.” Here’s where A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms cuts out a scene. On his way to the lists in the George R. R. Martin book, Dunk is approached by various peasants who wish him luck:

A few steps farther on, a woman called out, “Good fortune to you.” An old man stepped up to take his hand and said, “May the gods give you strength, ser.” Then a begging brother in a tattered brown robe said a blessing on his sword, and a maid kissed his cheek. ‘They are for me.’ “Why?” he asked Pate. “What am I to them?”

“A knight who remembered his vows,” the smith said.

The theme of class consciousness runs through the impressive A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Dunk is a poor orphan who feels intimidated by the rich lords he’s trying to impress into hiring him. He’s dazzled by the members of the Kingsguard. When he tracks down Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel) to talk him into letting him participate in the tournament, he gets turned around in Ashford Castle, since he’s more accustomed to sleeping in barns and on the side of the road. What Dunk has going for him is that he’s a decent person who thinks a knight should defend the innocent no matter what, even if that means attacking a member of the Targaryen royal family like Aerion.

That offends Aerion, a member of Westeros’ elite who thinks he’s able to get away with anything on account of his name and wealth. However, it makes Dunk a hero to the smallfolk, who aren’t accustomed to knights actually standing up for them when they’re accosted by, as Dunk’s friend Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas) put it, the “incestuous aliens” who rule the Seven Kingdoms. The moment where the smallfolk express their support for Dunk in the book is powerful. It makes clear that Dunk isn’t just fighting for his life. Instead, he’s fighting on behalf of the ordinary people who are so often forgotten in this brutal world.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms hints at this theme when Steely Pate, a peasant himself, decreases the price of Dunk’s shield, but it should have also kept the scene that follows. That would have made the moment when Baelor decides to fight at Dunk’s side (which means he could actually win) even better. It would also have made the upcoming battle feel even more meaningful.

All in all, this is a small complaint; the show still sticks very close to the source material and is still tremendously entertaining. But as good as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is, there are still nits to pick.