‘Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Sees a Determined Dunk Inch Closer to His End
Last week Knight of the Seven Kingdomswe saw how Dunk met Egg—and when the fence warrior reluctantly agreed to let the oddly bald kid serve as his squirrel.
We also followed Dunk’s quest to find someone, or anyoneto convince him—hopefully the legacy of his master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree, would be enough to get him on the journey to Ashford Meadow.
This week, in an episode titled “Hard Salt Beef,” well… Dunk has to step up. Big time.
Your eyes won’t soon forget the sight of Ser Arlan of Pennytree emerging from the shack (where he’s clearly just had a tryst) and hitting a cool whizz—barely naked, his dangling manhood visible. Last week’s projectile poop has nothing to do with this obvious visual. You do anything in between Game of Thrones-recent history? A deadpan. In your face. It’s full of piss.
This memorable moment in the past is emphasized by Dunk’s narrative in the present. Ser Manfred Dondarrion blew him up last week, but some knight or king must remember Ser Arlan… right?
“He had a peaceful nature. Quiet and humble,” Dunk explained. “A veteran of a hundred battles but his own enemy. He always knew what was expected of him.”
It’s a brilliant reminder that’s not entirely supported by a flashback montage, which shows that Ser Arlan was often very drunk and liked to sing at the top of his lungs in that state. But Dunk is really sincere, and when we leave his memories, we see the little hedge hero circling… in vain. None of the men—House Florent, House Hayford, House Tyrell—gathered at Ashford remembered their dead king.
We realize that Egg has been taking a lot of rejection and feels sorry for Dunk being humiliated over and over again.
He doesn’t understand why Dunk is so patient. “Why do you treat these royal dogs as if they are better than you?” he asks. Dunk’s response: “See there is my best.”
He still hopes that someone will remember Ser Arlan. But his quest is interrupted when trumpets sound and a group of riders, dressed in black and carrying banners emblazoned with that familiar three-headed dragon, gallop into Ashford.
We get a close-up of Egg looking worried. He immediately asks to go back to their camp to check things out. Distraught, Dunk agrees and leaves after the newcomers.
Yes, they are the Targaryen faction, led by Baelor-Hand of the King and heir to the Iron Throne. Also associated with his brother, Maekar, and Maekar’s son, Aerion. These are the only two with the ice-blonde hair the family is known for, and that trademark positive attitude.
Aerion immediately mistakes a dunk going up for a stable boy. A good first impression. But that doesn’t stop Dunk from mustering up the gumption to follow the old Targaryens to the castle.
He is determined to continue hunting for a patron but overhears Baelor (respectful, soft-spoken), Maekar (crude and confused), and Lord Ashford (very angry) discussing the unpleasant fact that Maekar’s two sons, Daeron and Aegon, have gone missing while on a journey.
A fierce Baelor is sure they will come. Maekar, speaking of Daeron, who should have entered the list, growls, “I don’t need to be reminded of my son’s mistakes, he can change; the will change, gods be damned.”
Dunk chooses that moment to make his presence known—disrupting the family’s discord—and explains his predicament.
Baelor, too, is modest; Maekar is very evil. Even Ashford is snooty. But Baelor recalled Ser Arlan! In more detail, in fact!
He’s kind as Dunk is traumatized (even Maekar snorts when he gropes the hedge knight) and suggests to Ashford’s manager—the phlegmy guy we met last week; he is in charge of the competition—that Dunk should be allowed to enter.
Dunk puts his foot in his mouth a few times during this conversation, but Baelor lets it slide. He reminded Dunk well that he couldn’t use Pennytree’s guitar since he wasn’t the old man’s son. He will need to replace Ser Arlan’s shield with his own.
We are back at the cartoon show. The cute narrator from last week, now even taller with the logs, plays as Dunk looks at him with goo-goo eyes. After the show, Dunk and Egg (Egg is also entertained by the cartoon show, for more child-like reasons) approaches. After saying that he helps create dolls, Dunk asks if he can hire him to paint a new design on his shield.
His faltering confidence crumbles when he realizes he hasn’t thought of a design yet, but Egg steps in to help shape the idea: an elm tree with a shooting star on top. Dunk introduces himself as “Ser Duncan the Tall,” and reveals his name is Tanselle, adding, “The boys used to call me Tanselle Too-Tall.”
Dunk, of course, turns this into a backhanded compliment. After a while, he asks his young wing, “Wasn’t that handled well?”
His trauma was eased when Ser Lyonel—the good-time guy we met last week—took over indeed light on Dunk—appears and causes the two to engage in a frenetic, automatic tug-of-war game. Dunk, as big as a small egg, helps lead their side to victory.
After that, Dunk wanders around the makeshift village until he finds an armorer, who says he can dress him for 800 deer. It’s a steep climb. Very steep. But he cannot fight without weapons. This man—his name is Steely Pate—speaks harshly, but with a reason. He agrees to let Dunk trade in some old weapons (Ser Arlan’s, no doubt) and lower the price a bit.
He also accepts Dunk’s two nomads (that’s all he has) as a deposit, but the generosity ends there. We see Dunk reluctantly sell one of his beloved horses to make more.
“Is there a measure of stupidity that I fail to meet?” he moaned bitterly. He promises the pony that he will buy him again if he wins.
In a depressed mood, he tells Egg that maybe if he becomes a champion in Ashford, another great house will want to take him into their service. Maybe even House Targaryen. Egg doesn’t think much of that plan, but the moment is interrupted when the horn sounds: time to watch the opening night performance!
What appears to be Tully from Riverrun sets the tone by biting the head off a fish and shouting “To the new gods… and the old!” popular approval; his opponent is “Prince Valaar, son of Baelor. Second in line to the throne,” Egg explained.
Then, as the crowd falls silent and waits for the cheering to begin, one of the crowd’s comedians shouts, “KING ASHIFORD IS PUTTING HIS SHEEP,” which goes even better than the fish.
Dunk lifts the Egg onto his shoulders so he can see above the crowd. The action is loud, electric, and… scary, at least for Dunk. The egg cries as if in a wrestling match. But Dunk’s face as he watches the riders get hit and the horses fall shows that he knows this is what he will be doing when he is called to the ring. Flashes back to burying Ser Arlan, and it’s a difficult moment.
With the fire burning in the background, Egg is still amped, but Dunk shows up. We get a nice, thoughtful glimpse as he reflects on what’s happened so far—and what’s yet to come.
“Do mighty warriors sit on the fence and die by the side of the muddy road? I don’t think so.”
Ser Arlan was “a hard man to get to know,” Dunk admitted. “He had no friends either. He lived almost 60 years and never became a champion. What chance do I have, really?”
But all is not lost. There is still hope for this young knight of the fence. “But he was good to me. I was not his family. But he kept me as we were. He raised me to be a noble man, and all these nobles cannot even remember his name. His name was Ser Arlan of Pennytree, and I am his inheritance.”
“Tomorrow we will show them what his hand has done.”
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms debuts new episodes Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.
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