A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
53 pages • 1-hour read
George R. R. MartinA Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence and death.
Loyalty and Mentorship Across Class Divides
The Hedge Knight begins when Dunk becomes a knight, and this moment also marks a departure point for Dunk’s developing understanding of social class. His childhood is related only through snippets of dialogue and unwelcome reminiscences. When Egg is criticizing children born outside marriage, for example, Dunk points out that he “might be a bastard” (195), and he shares his memories of selling rats, cats, and pigeons to Flea Bottom’s restaurants just to survive. Dunk means this to be a lesson in privilege for the young prince, but it also reveals the abject poverty of Dunk’s childhood. Ser Arlan plucked Dunk out of this poverty, and Dunk models his relationship with Egg similarly, even if the class differences are reversed. Ser Arlan helped Dunk to see a world beyond the slums of Flea Bottom, while Dunk gives Egg a new understanding of the world beyond the castle walls. Through these relationships, the novel illustrates how loyalty and mentorship cross class divides when bolstered by sincere and intimate friendship.
As Dunk and Egg travel together, the novel highlights how their class differences create different experiences for each of them. When they watch the knights arriving at Whitewalls for the tourney, Dunk studies them with the eye of a potential opponent, evaluating them based on martial prowess. Egg’s royal education has equipped him with a set of tools that allow him to see the same scene with a different understanding. He finds it interesting that the passing sigils all belong to “rebel lords,” tipping him off to the underlying rebellion being planned. For Egg, raised as a prince in a world where heraldry is a prominent marker of status and relationship, reading the sigils is like a shorthand social diagram.
Their differences also emphasize the significance of their relationship. They unite their subjective experiences of the world to build a common understanding, learning from each other. Through Egg, Dunk gains insight into the courtly world that comes naturally to many knights but is alien to a boy from Flea Bottom. Egg can prepare Dunk for a meeting with Lady Rohanne, for example, even if the meeting is not as successful as they would have hoped. Likewise, Dunk can coach Egg in empathy for the poor, reminding him that the severed heads of the criminals—after two weeks in the stocks—look exactly the same as the severed heads of lords. This empathetic perspective equips Egg with a humanity that is lacking in Aerion and Valarr, suggesting that he will be a better prince in the future, thanks to Dunk’s tutelage.
However, the implications of social class in the novel go beyond the relationship between Dunk and Egg. In the narrative’s reality, social class governs many interactions. Even in the world of knights, where skill on the battlefield is the most important factor, there is an implicit social hierarchy in which aristocracy is at the top while hedge knights are at the bottom. They may compete in the same tournaments and fight on the same battlefields, but they occupy different social strata. Lords look down on hedge knights, who sleep in the woods rather than a pavilion, creating a physical marker of the differing social classes within the knightly world. Even a tourney knight like Ser Uthor considers himself to outrank the typical hedge knight. For an aspiring knight like Dunk, coming to grips with this internal hierarchy is difficult. Whereas Dunk has pledged himself to the code of chivalry, other knights remained too occupied with social standing to pay attention to honor or duty. The narrative places this restrictive social structure alongside the fluid power dynamic between Dunk and Egg to highlight that by learning from one another, the pair is able to both transcend the limits of their social classes. With their more open perspectives and what they’ve learned from each other, they team up to successfully stop the Blackfyre rebellion, demonstrating how powerful loyalty across class divides can be.
The Disparity Between Noble Heritage and Personal Virtue
Chivalry was the code of conduct governing medieval knights, blending martial duty with moral obligations and aristocratic honor. Chivalry demanded courage, loyalty to one’s lord, defense of the weak, and refined courtesy in both warfare and courtly life. More ideal than real, the chivalric code helped legitimize knightly violence, organize social hierarchy, and shape the rituals and literature of knighthood. For Dunk, a youngster from a poor background, knights represent an aspirational ideal, and he romanticizes the chivalric code. When Ser Arlan dies, Dunk, left alone with only his mentor’s possessions and a romanticized understanding of the chivalric code, swears to pay honor to the memory of a “true knight.” Chivalry becomes the guiding principle of his life, and to Dunk, this means that he has a duty to protect the weak and to uphold the chivalric values taught by Ser Arlan. Dunk’s life becomes an expression of personal virtue, as understood through the chivalric code, but over the course of the novel, he comes to understand that, in reality, noble heritage is more important to society, regardless of virtue.
Almost immediately, however, Dunk comes to understand that his understanding of the chivalric code is naïve. He was knighted by Ser Arlan, but few people are willing to accept his word. They take a cynical view of the world, in which a killer would lie to rise up in the world. Furthermore, Dunk’s interactions with lords make him feel just as he did when he was a poor orphan, and the Targaryen princes are worse, with Valarr mocking him and Aerion revealing himself as a dishonorable fighter. Contrary to everything Dunk has been taught about how a knight should fight, Aerion lowers his lance and kills Ser Humfrey’s horse in a brutal fashion. The idea that a knight—and a prince, at that—could act in such a fashion is “hard to accept” (67). Their noble heritage does not compel them to follow the code of chivalry, much to Dunk’s horror. Yet this disregard for chivalry is not universal. After intervening to save Tanselle, Dunk stands trial against Aerion, and the commonfolk show their support for Dunk, the “knight who remembered his vows” (92). Dunk’s personal virtue becomes public virtue, and his willingness to follow the chivalric code distinguishes him among the knights. Lady Rohanne is stunned that he is so selfless and chivalric, and she admits that she would marry him if he were “better born” (218). His personal virtue captivates her, yet this is not enough to overcome his lack of noble heritage. Dunk comes to understand that although his adherence to the chivalric code makes him unique and virtuous, in reality, heritage matters more to people than chivalry.
In the kingdom of Westeros, noble heritage is preeminent, but throughout A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Martin explores the tension between noble roots and noble behavior. The question of inheritance brings these two concepts into direct conflict in The Mystery Knight, in which the Second Blackfyre Rebellion happens as Ser Glendon Ball tries to show himself to be his father’s son and Egg comes to terms with his Targaryen responsibilities. The rebellion is framed as a question of personal virtue versus noble heritage, with Blackfyre supporters like Ser Eustace arguing that martial prowess and skill as a knight (though not necessarily adherence to the chivalric code) are the most valuable skills in a leader. The king should be the greatest warrior, as signified by possession of the Blackfyre sword. However, in Westeros, children born outside of marriage can be legitimized, like Bloodraven, but the question of whether they can rule remains. Noble heritage remains the most significant consideration in any political decision, from Lady Rohanne’s potential marriages to the succession to the Iron Throne. While the characters speak often of the importance of personal virtue, their actions show that they remain beholden to the idea of noble heritage as supreme above everything else. As Dunk travels throughout the kingdom, his sense of chivalry comes into direct conflict with society’s preoccupation with noble birth, highlighting the fact that being highborn doesn’t necessarily equate to true nobility.
The Quiet Shaping of History Through Small Acts
A Knight of the Small Kingdoms explores a version of history that is shaped as often by small acts as by decisive battles or a king’s proclamations. Whereas the novels in the Song of Ice and Fire series often focus on the most powerful people in the Seven Kingdoms and beyond, the Dunk and Egg novellas operate on a significantly smaller scale. Dunk is lowborn, and Egg is deliberately removed from his association with power. As such, their stories portray the smaller acts and events that alter the course of history. In The Hedge Knight, this quiet shaping of history is seen through an unremarkable puppet show. Dunk passes the puppets several times and grows fond of the puppeteer, but the content is unremarkable enough that he does not linger on it for long. For Aerion, however, the puppet show makes Tanselle a “traitor” because she portrayed the death of a dragon. Aerion takes offense to the symbolism of the puppet show; soon enough, he is calling for a Trial of the Seven, which ends in Prince Baelor’s death and Aerion himself being sent to Lys. The royal Targaryen family tree is forever altered by a puppet show, in turn altering all future developments in Westeros.
Dunk’s understanding of the power of small acts is transformed with this incident, and he asks Maekar how the world might be different if he—an unremarkable hedge knight—accepted the loss of a hand or foot rather than the combat trial. His small decision led to several deaths, including a prince. While Dunk cannot reverse his decision, the effects leave an impression on him, instilling the belief that his job as a knight is to make these small acts meaningful. The chivalric code he adheres to becomes important guidance, as by operating in accordance with the code, he can at least justify his actions. His newfound perspective is juxtaposed against Bennis, a knight of similarly low birth who does not operate according to the code. In The Sworn Sword, he also demonstrates how one small act can reshape history when he cuts the face of one of Lady Rohanne’s men. This small act of violence leads to Lady Rohanne seeking retribution, and once again, people are killed as a consequence. In the end, Lady Rohanne and Ser Eustace use the moment to put aside their old rivalry, and Bennis’s moment of violence leads to the union of their two houses, and again, regional history is shaped by a small act.
Whereas the stories of Dunk and Egg focus on the small acts that shape history, the ominous presence of Bloodraven in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms suggests that events are becoming increasingly captured by national politics. Unmentioned in the first story, Bloodraven is omnipresent in The Mystery Knight. Dunk and Egg feel responsible for the successful defeat of the Second Blackfyre Rebellion, as, with Ser Glendon, they are responsible for defeating the enemy in single combat and alerting the royal family to the rebel threat. At the end of the story, however, Dunk realizes that Bloodraven had arranged for the dragon egg to be stolen. In addition, his army was already stationed nearby, far closer than they could have been if Egg had sent for them. In this case, Dunk and Egg’s small act seemed to shape history, but Bloodraven’s far quieter acts control the ebb and flow of history to a greater degree. His anticipation of the rebellion allows him to make small moves that resonate to stymy the rebels and secure his victory. With these events, the novel argues that small acts, whether perpetrated by powerful beings like Bloodraven or small forces like Dunk and Egg, can shift the course of history just as effectively as large ones.
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