It took more than half of the season to finally hear the Game of Thrones theme in all its glory, but boy was that the perfect moment to bring it out. After three episodes that were much lighter in subject, the fourth installment of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms took things to a much darker place as Dunk faced the music for doing the right thing at the end of episode three, and little Egg faced the music for lying to Dunk and making him feel like a fool.
Back in Game of Thrones, Varys said that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin and the realm holds its breath – because the chances of getting a truly heinous mad king (or queen) are about 50-50. And in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, we’ve been privy to all the different flavors of Targaryen you could get. There’s Aerion, an angry, vengeful man who believes that he is descended from dragons – and who not only attacks the weak but has also threatened to castrate his little brother. There’s Daeron, a drunk who wants nothing to do with the lists, his brother’s squabbles, or really anything related to his family, but who isn’t above lying to save his own skin – even if it means someone lowborn like Dunk must bear the brunt of his dishonesty. There’s Maekar, who looks down on those beneath him and doesn’t particularly care about anything but how people perceive him and his heirs. There’s Egg, a young boy who desperately wants to not be like his brothers or father but is also willing to take advantage of someone below his status to achieve his goals – not a bad egg at all, but clearly not fully aware of the power he wields simply by existing. And then there’s Baelor, the honorable Targaryen. The person who Egg idolizes and wants the respect of. Someone who is more than willing to step up when needed to protect those below him. And someone who, I suspect, isn’t long for this world because if there’s one truth about the honorable in Westeros, it’s that they eventually get punished for doing the right thing.*
There’s also the prophetic dream Daeron tells to Dunk – that he will have a dead dragon fall on him amongst fire while Dunk remains alive. Perhaps it’s foretelling something that happens with Egg and Dunk in the far future – they remain together for years to come in the stories. But something tells me that dragon falling on Dunk might be Baelor, sacrificing himself to save the noble Dunk from an underhanded attack by Aerion. After all, we’ve seen that Aerion doesn’t fight fair.
This was an episode exploring just who would come to the aid of a hedge knight – albeit a kind one with a heart of gold – when asked. To show us just how rotten things are in Westeros where the noble houses have truly lost any semblance of honor – laughing at Dunk’s speech, mocking his earnest belief that doing the right thing and protecting the innocent should be the bedrock of a knightly calling. Even Dunk’s fellow swords aren’t standing by his side out of loyalty to him – although they do like him alright. Rather, each one has a bone to pick with the Targaryens – and Lyonel really just loves a fight. It was fitting that they were all called to Dunk’s side by little Egg – who clearly wanted to make up for what he did with his initial lies – because it’s another sign that perhaps Egg might just grow up to be like his uncle after all.
Over the three Westeros series, we’ve seen a heck of a lot spoken about chivalry and the role of a knight. We’ve heard the vows a knight takes spoken twice, in two very emotional knighting ceremonies*. Yet time and again we get reminded that despite this seeming belief that knights are truly honorable people, they aren’t. They’re human. They often forget about their vows, they can be greedy, they can be rash, and they can throw their honor away should a lord ask them to – as we saw with Ser Steffon’s heel turn. But at one point, they did vow to protect the innocent – and Dunk is there to remind the elite at that tourney that they could be so much better than they are.
*If there was ever a sign that Ser Arlan didn’t knight Dunk, it’s when he cannot bring himself to knight Raymun. It’s one thing for Dunk to lie to lords about his status as a knight, but it’s another for him to offer to knight someone when he cannot technically do so. He’s so honorable he wouldn’t even lie about that.
We’ve reached the climax of the series, with the epic battle to play out next week. As I mentioned at the start of these reviews, I’ve never read the story so I don’t know what is to come (I only know what eventually happens to Dunk and Egg – although I suspect everyone watching knows those two are getting out of this alive). So, who lives and who dies in the melee next episode will be a surprise to me as well. But what a showcase for Peter Claffey, asked to imbue Dunk with so much strength in the face of insurmountable odds. Yes, a hedge knight is sad – and Dunk was sad for most of this episode – but it turns out that good people can attract support when they need it most. And Dunk is a true good egg.
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