53 pages • 1-hour read
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of animal death and death.
Swords, Armor, and Horses
When Ser Arlan dies, Dunk is left with his armor, his sword, and his horses, which become, to him, a symbol of knighthood. Just as much as the ritual of being knighted, these possessions make Dunk feel as though he is a knight. Without any great deeds to his name and with many people doubting whether he is even truthful, the swords, armor, and horses take on an even greater importance in Dunk’s life because they are the only reliable, outward expressions of knighthood. For a knight who is not famous, physical objects such as a sword or armor become their only evidence of their knighthood; no one would believe Dunk were a knight if he did not have these items, which is why he is risking so much by taking part in a joust where he may need to surrender his armor or horse.
Knights are so closely wedded to the idea of combat that the weapons and armor of a knight are intrinsically, symbolically linked directly to their identity. In The Sworn Sword, Dunk has internalized this symbolism, worrying that “a knight without a horse [is] no knight at all” (123). Over the course of the novellas, Dunk slowly comes to terms with the hollowness of the idea of knighthood, connecting this symbol to the theme of The Disparity Between Noble Heritage and Personal Virtue. Part of Dunk’s coming of age is his realization that few knights uphold the idealistic notion of chivalry that Ser Arlan taught him. Yet every knight has his sword, his armor, and his horses, which only strengthens the significance of these physical expressions of knighthood in Dunk’s eye. He comes to understand that to be a knight is to be equipped for battle. Anything else is just lip service to a code that no one truly cares about.
Swords, in particular, take on added symbolic significance, especially against the backdrop of the Blackfyre Rebellion. In their discussions about the rebellion, Ser Eustace uses possession of a certain sword as a signifier of the right to rule. King Daeron may have been the rightful heir to the throne, he says, but the Blackfyre sword was given to his half-brother, Daemon. Since the sword once belonged to Aegon the Conqueror, the first Targaryen ruler of Westeros, it represents a royal lineage that—Ser Eustace believes—is more relevant to the line of succession than the circumstances of birth. By giving Blackfyre to Daemon, King Aegon IV was symbolically endorsing him as the kingdom’s ruler, circumventing the traditional line of succession. For Ser Eustace, the symbolism of the sword is strong enough to merit a rebellion and ignore centuries of tradition. Yet the sword is also a convenient symbol, an excuse for those with a self-serving motivation for overthrowing the current regime.
Horses differ from swords and armor in that they are living creatures. Knights require a squire to care for their horses, a skill that even a prince like Egg must learn. These rituals of care are an important part of a knight’s training, fostering a bond between riders and horses. Some knights don’t even name their horses lest they become emotionally attached. That Dunk is conscious of this behavior—and that he names all his horses—shows his awareness of the emotional bond between rider and horse, adding extra jeopardy to each joust. In The Hedge Knight, one of the first jousts involves the brutal death of a horse, a timely reminder to Dunk to take extra care of Thunder. Knights engage in combat as a living, yet the threat posed to their horses is far more emotionally resonant than the potential death of an opponent. As such, horses represent the raw emotion of knighthood.
Heraldry
Heraldry is the art and system of designing and regulating coats of arms and related insignia. It is found on armor, shields, and flags throughout the Seven Kingdoms, and its symbolic use in the collection highlights both the importance of aristocracy and lineage to this particular society as well as the individual characteristics of the families they represent. Each noble family has their own coat of arms: The Webber family’s sigil, for example, is a spider on a web, displayed by Lady Rohanne throughout her castle, on her weapons, and by her bannermen. People are cautious around Lady Rohanne, referring to her as the Red Widow, with the symbolism of the spider functioning as shorthand for her reputation as “a witch, a poisoner, and worse” (129). Similarly, the shifting dynamics of the Blackfyre Rebellion are consciously reflected in the symbolism of the various sigils. The Targaryen house colors are inverted by the rebels, who show their divergence from the Targaryen family through this display. In a society where not everyone is literate, the use of popular symbolism not only reinforces social order and reminds the people of where their loyalty lies but also fosters a secondary system of folkloric legends based on the symbols themselves. The rebellion is seen as dragon fighting dragon, for example, which can cause problems like the puppet show that features a dragon’s death. Tanselle is persecuted by Aerion because she dares to engage in a symbolic heraldic death, demonstrating how seriously those in the society take the symbolism.
For an aspiring knight like Dunk, heraldry is a problem. He comes from a poor background, and though he is Ser Arlan’s squire, after his mentor’s death, Dunk is warned that “by law, only a trueborn son is entitled to inherit a knight’s arms” (48). The warning from Prince Baelor is a coded reminder of Dunk’s lowly status and a symbolic illustration of the difficulties that lie ahead for him. Dunk must find a sigil for himself, one that represents his own quest and identity. His attempts to find his own sigil are a symbolic extension of his attempts to form his knightly identity. He asks Tanselle to paint a unique design for his shield, but her attempt does not align with his intent; the star is falling, rather than shooting. It does not match his chosen identity and seems to be “all painted up like death” (91). Later, he fights under the name the Gallows Knight, borrowing an identity from a secondhand shield. He does not fight under his own name with another man’s sigil, aware of the tension between his own identity and that of the shield’s previous owner. Dunk’s quest to find the right sigil is a symbolic journey toward better understanding himself and shaping his identity as a knight.
Egg was raised as a Targaryen prince, and for a young royal, heraldry performs a social function, allowing him to quickly identify and categorize his subjects. Egg’s knowledge of heraldry also performs an important function in the collection. In The Mystery Knight, Egg surveys the knights’ banners, and while to Dunk, they seem like the normal assembly of knights and lords, to Egg, the sigils represent “rebel lords.” He cannot shake the feeling that something is amiss, a feeling that is vindicated when they uncover the Second Blackfyre Rebellion. Egg’s knowledge of heraldry underscored the unease surrounding the tournament. Heraldry plays an important symbolic function in this regard, not only representing Egg’s privilege and education, but also Egg’s innate understanding of politics.
Illustrations
Throughout A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Gary Gianni’s illustrations highlight certain elements of the story. The collection features more than 160 illustrations, bringing Dunk and Egg’s relationship to life. While the duo are the most common subjects of the illustrations, the pictures also help create visual imagery of the busyness of a tournament or the brutality of battle and executions. The castles and their interiors provide a literal glimpse into another world, situating the audience in the Seven Kingdoms in a way that expands upon the prose of the novellas. The contrast between Coldmoat and Standfast illustrations, for example, highlights the comparative fortunes of the Webber and Osgrey families.
The illustrations also situate the novellas in the broader canon of traditional fantasy literature. Illustrations in Western fantasy function as paratexts that anchor imaginary geographies, creatures, and magic systems, guiding and sometimes constraining the reader’s imagination. From J. R. R. Tolkien’s maps and Alan Lee’s paintings to contemporary cover art, images signal genre, bolster world coherence, and ease reader entry while fueling transmedia adaptations. They also negotiate authority by fixing definitive looks that canonize particular interpretations, shape later creators’ visual vocabularies, and intensify the texts’ commercial appeal. Dunk and Egg are both given faces, for example, so their appearance remains fixed even across the long gap between their stories. In this sense, the use of illustrations helps to symbolically tie the Dunk and Egg novellas to traditional fantasy literature in a way that is not found in Martin’s unillustrated work.
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