A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Finally Solves The Mystery Of Dunk’s Knighthood – Or Does It?
It doesn’t take that much time to knight a guy.
The Season 1 finale of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms casts doubt on its very premise. In the last moments, Egg corrects Dunk when he mentions “the Seven Kingdoms” — apparently, there are nine kingdoms. But while that was a last-minute kicker, the “Knight” in Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has also always been in question.
In a show full of flashbacks, we never saw one of Ser Arlan of Pennytree knighting his squire. A key flashback scene seemingly confirmed that Ser Arlan passed away without ever knighting his squire, but was this the reveal actually the answer fans were waiting for, or simply another bait-and-switch?
Warning! Spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 ahead!
A flashback shows Ser Arlan in his final moments, and Dunk asks why he was never knighted.
In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1 Episode 6, “The Morrow,” we see some of Ser Arlan of Pennytree’s final moments with his squire, Dunk. Ser Arlan is clearly veering in and out of consciousness while telling the story of how his hometown of Pennytree got its name. Dunk suddenly asks, “Why did you never knight me? Did you think I’d leave you? I wouldn’t have. Or was it something else? Ser? Ser? Ser?”
Ser Arlan doesn’t answer, leading Dunk to think he’s gone. However, he suddenly comes back to life, saying, “And that’s why they call it the Pennytree. A true knight always finishes a story.”
Many reports claim this scene is the confirmation fans were waiting for about this mystery, but despite being a longtime Dunk knighthood truther, I remain unconvinced. If Arlan is still alive at the end of the flashback, then there is still time for Ser Arlan to do a knighting from his deathbed.
Crucially, it was raining when Dunk was supposedly knighted, and that was after Episode 6’s flashback.
The show even underlines this in the flashback. In Episode 1, Dunk is seen burying Ser Arlan during a thunderstorm, and he later tells the Games Master that the only witness to his knighting was a songbird in a thorn tree because it was raining. But in this flashback in Episode 6, we hear thunder and see a storm rolling in, but crucially, it’s not raining yet. That means this scene is set before Dunk’s account of when he was knighted, moments before Arlan’s passing.
Of course, this doesn’t rule out the possibility that Dunk is lying, but it’s definitely not a confirmation of it. The books never confirmed Dunk’s knighthood, and that’s part of what makes them great: by never finding out whether or not Dunk is a real knight, it just highlights how a knight isn’t made by a few words, but by proving their honor and defending the innocent. Dunk may or may not have been formally inducted, but he definitely is a knight in the true sense of the word.
Maybe one day we’ll learn the truth — after all, a true knight always finishes a story — but so far, we’ve only seen implications, no real confirmation.
