Dunk’s Trial In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Just Changed History Forever
It’s the Westerosi Butterfly Effect.
It’s no secret that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is more important of a story than we realize. In fact, the first time we heard Ser Duncan the Tall’s name was in Game of Thrones, when Joffrey remarks that Ser Duncan had four whole pages written about him in a history book. So we know he goes down in history, but at the beginning of his spinoff, he’s just a big guy whose former boss called him “thick as a castle wall and slow as an aurochs.”
But by the end of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 5, Ser Duncan’s actions have indirectly caused a seismic shift in history — one that would eventually put his squire, young Egg, onto the Iron Throne. Here’s how.
Warning! Major spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 5 ahead!
The Trial of Seven quite literally pits brother against brother to fatal results.
After Aerion requests a Trial of Seven to settle his dispute with Ser Duncan, heir to the Iron Throne Prince Baelor Targaryen shocks everyone by taking Dunk’s side instead of his nephew Aerion’s. Baleor has an advantage, as the Kingsguard are unable to harm him, but he is still facing off against his nephews Aerion and Daeron, his brother Maekar, and Ser Steffon Fossoway.
While Dunk manages to defeat Aerion and get him to withdraw his accusation, his allies are beaten down badly, with Lord Humfrey Beesbury and Lord Humfrey Hardying both succumbing to their injuries. When Dunk is finally brought off the field by Raymun and Steely Pate, he’s approached by Baelor, who tells him he’s the kind of knight the realm needs. He then requests Raymun’s help in taking off his helm, revealing a gruesome injury to the back of his skull, probably due to Maekar’s mace. Unceremoniously, he falls down dead.
This isn’t just any Game of Thrones casualty. Prince Baelor is first in line for the Irone Throne, currently held by his father, King Daeron the Good. With him gone, that bumps up Baelor’s son, Prince Valarr, to be the heir.
After his father dies, Valarr is heir to the throne until he succumbs to the Great Spring Sickness.
However, later the same year that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms takes place, a massive plague would sweep Westeros, taking the lives of Valarr, his younger brother Matarys, and their grandfather, King Daeron. With the throne empty and the next two heirs dead, the crown would go to Baelor’s next younger brother, Aenys.
Aenys would name a bunch of different heirs, but they all seemed to meet unfortunate ends. First was his younger brother Rhaegal, who fatally choked on a pie. Next in line was Aelor, Rhagal’s son, but he perished in an accident caused by his twin sister, Aelora, who was next in line until she took her own life out of guilt. That left the throne to a candidate nobody could have predicted: Maekar, the fourth son of Daeron the Good. With Maekar on the throne, his sons became heirs, paving the way for Egg, aka Aegon Targaryen, to take the throne in a few dozen years.
So while Dunk may be wracked with grief with the results of his actions, this is how the Seven Gods saw fit for the trial to end, and while it is tragic, it also ensures the crown will eventually go where it deserves to be: on the no-longer-bald head of a former squire.
