A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: In the Name of the Mother

I was slightly disappointed in this episode, but I watched it a second time and it really grew on me. Not going to lie, I definitely wanted a full view of the entire trial. I wanted to see Lyonel and Prince Baelor reeking havoc upon their foes. I wanted to see Raymun face off with his cousin. But, this is not the story of those guys, it is the story of Dunk & Egg, and it makes sense to see the battle from Dunk’s perspective, which is usually on his back after getting in the head with…well everything. 

Most of the episode ends up being a flashback to Dunk’s youth. After Daemon Blackfyre is defeated, Dunk and Rafe are snagging loot from the dead bodies to try and earn some money to escape Flea Bottom. But a couple of Gold Cloaks hassle them and steal their money. Rafe tries to fight back, but gets her throat slit. Ser Arlen comes out of a tavern and defends Dunk. The boy then follows the knight, who barely notices him. 

The best part of the episode ends up being Egg screaming GET UP SER! And then WAIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!! Dunk finally gets up after getting his ass kicked, multiple times, and attacks Aerion. Eventually beating him down, and forcing the little asshole to yield. The trial is over. People come to help Dunk, and then Prince Baelor comes in, complains that his fingers feel weird, and asks for help removing his helm since Maekar hit him with a morning star. When the armor comes off, we see that Baelor has a nasty head wound, and his brains are being held in by the metal. He drops almost immediately and dies in Dunk’s arms. One of the last things he says is that he needs good men to protect the realm. 

Daeron’s prophecy comes true. Dunk survives, but a great dragon has died. 

Okay, a few interesting bits here…

-I wonder if we get little flashbacks of the trial from other characters in the next episode as they tell Dunk what happened. 

-It should not be shocking that we did not get a huge melee. The show had a limited budget, and something like that would have been insanely expensive. I wish we got to see the full battle, but whatever, it worked for the narrative. I should probably warn people, Ser Duncan the Tall is not the greatest knight in the land, but what he lacks in skill, he makes up for in determination and spirit. He is a tank, he does not quit (which we saw in this battle). Aerion was more skilled, and yet…Dunk could take a beating and just keep going through it. 

-For non-book readers, do you understand the Blackfyre Rebellions? Let me explain them very quickly…
So basically…King Aegon IV had a bastard son named Daemon Waters and a trueborn son named Daeron Targaryen. Daemon wins a squire’s tournament at the age of 12, and Aegon decides to knight the boy, and give him the sword, Blackfyre, which had belonged to Aegon the Conqueror. Many people considered the sword to be the symbol of kingship along with the crown. As such, Daemon decides to take Blackfyre as his last name instead of the bastard’s name Waters. Many people thought Daemon was to be the heir, but eventually Aegon died, and Daeron became king. After a few years, Daemon decides that maybe he should be king, and leads a rebellion which almost succeeds, except that Prince Baelor and his brother Maekar end up winning a decisive battle against Daemon Blackfyre (this was the battle at the beginning of the episode where they are heard saying Daemon Blackfyre is dead). Daemon and one of his sons were killed by Brynden Rivers (you may remember him, he was the Three-Eyed Raven that Bran met–he will play a big part in the story of Dunk & Egg–in these stories he is known as Bloodraven). 

Anyways, the rest of the rebellions all stem from this, and in the current books there are still pieces of this. The show cut out the story of Aegon and Jon Connington. Aegon is supposed to be Rhaegar’s son, who Varys smuggled out of King’s Landing, and Connington has been training him to be the next king. He looks like a Targaryen, but as many astute book readers have pointed out, Varys and Illyrio may have pulled a fast one on Connington…giving the Lord a Blackfyre child who had been living in the east. If you ever stumble upon theories about the upcoming books, you will see things about f(Aegon). That is who they mean (Aegon is either a fake Targaryen altogether, or he is a Blackfyre). 

THE MORE YOU KNOW!