Any lingering doubts, as to whether A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms would deliver on everything it promised viewers, were laid to rest in the show’s Season 1 finale. In this universe, we’ve become quite accustomed to explosive endings, usually involving dragons and their unhinged riders. This time, though, it ends with just two people riding horses down a road, with one of them stepping into a new role as a mentor.
Maybe, just to remind you that you’re still watching a George R.R. Martin story, this finale also throws up a bunch of hand grenades. We’re talking about a couple of “well-intentioned” lies, royal offers, and the cost of victory in a world where being a good person or a “good knight” doesn’t protect you. In fact, it’s the one quality guaranteed to paint a target on your back. Let’s get into it.
The Aftermath of the Trial of Seven in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
Let’s start with the most obvious. Dunk (Peter Claffey) emerges as the victor in the much vaunted Trial of Seven. But did he really win? Just watch his reactions after the chaos, and you can tell that, given a choice, he would trade that hollow victory in a second. Prince Baelor “Breakspear” Targaryen (Bertie Carvel) is dead. Remember him? He’s the one Targaryen who seemed like he actually had his stuff together, the guy who showed up for Dunk when all seemed lost. And for what? He stepped in to do the right thing and ended up with a bashed-in skull by accident. To make matters worse, his own brother delivered the fatal blow during some dumb ritual in which everyone agreed to “let the gods decide.” Needless to say, the gods decided brutally that day.
You can still hear the audible gasps from the people around Baelor when they removed his helmet to reveal his fatal injury. And you can also see how much it affects Dunk afterwards. All in all, this is the part of being a good person in Westeros no one warns you about. You can do everything right and still end up watching the only decent royal in the kingdom go up in flames. The whole thing really highlights the “Hedge Knight” struggle of being a small fish in a pond full of very dangerous, very heavy-handed sharks.
RELATED: Was Lyonel Baratheon Right About Baelor in the Finale of ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’?
Did Ser Arlan Ever Knight Dunk?
Now let’s get down to perhaps the juiciest part of the finale. And of course, it all has to do with everyone’s favorite tall fella. Remember how Dunk had been parading himself as a knight the entire season? This finale presents a sad scene between Dunk and Ser Arlan (Danny Webb).
The latter fell ill and was fading fast. Smack in the middle of Dunk questioning why he hadn’t been knighted yet, Ser Arlan seemingly died before he could perform the whole sword-on-the-shoulders ceremony that would have legitimized Dunk’s claim to knighthood. However, he then wakes up and continues with the story he was telling. What’s interesting is that show never confirms if Ser Arlan knights Dunk or not, and that is entirely by design. In fact, it was even requested by George R. R. Martin himself. This ambiguity is consistent with the show’s overall direction. Showrunner Ira Parker notes, “This whole journey is going to be about what makes a true knight, whether or not you’re given the title, or if you have to earn the title even after you’re given it. Can you earn it, even if you’ve never been given it?”
Dunk is easily the most honorable person in the show, the entire GoT franchise, even; yet the legitimacy of this knighthood is up in the air. Meanwhile, you’ve got the so-called “true” knights like Prince Aerion (Finn Bennett) out there being absolute monsters and making a mockery of an institution built on a specific honor code. Whether or not Ser Arlan eventually knighted Dunk, he is a knight because he keeps choosing to do the right thing even in situations where it’s likely to cost his life.
Dunk Is Faced With Royal Offers in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Season 1 Finale
In the days following the trial, Prince Maekar (Sam Spruell) tries to assuage his guilt. Perhaps feeling responsible for his noble brother’s death, he offers Dunk a job at Summerhall. The job in question wasn’t just any job. He was going to get the chance to improve his skills under veteran warriors, eat steady meals, sleep under a roof that doesn’t leak, get regular pay, and then a chance to keep training Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) somewhere safe. On paper, it’s the dream. Any hedge knight would bite off your hands for even half the terms.
To be honest, the Dunk who started the show might have accepted the offer. But with everything he’s seen and knows of the royal family, he knew he would just be a glorified bodyguard who has to look the other way whenever the royals do royal stuff. And let’s be real, they always do royals stuff. So, at first, he turns it down, the easy life, the security, all of it. After conversations with both Egg and Prince Daeron Targaryen (Henry Ashton), he reconsiders the offer to train Egg. But on his own terms.
He knows Egg needs to see how regular people actually live. Not the palace version where everyone wears silk and smiles while stabbing each other in the back. He also figures you can’t teach someone like Egg how to be a decent person when you’re both still stuck in the same toxic environment that just killed the nicest guy in the family. Overall, it takes some serious guts to pick sleeping on the floor over a steady paycheck. But that’s Dunk.
Egg’s Big Lie in the Finale of ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
This brings us to the end of the episode, where Egg shows up and claims, “My lord Father says I am to serve you.” It was a bald-faced lie, as his father refused Dunk training him on the road; but again, you see just what Dunk is trying to save him from. If it’s so easy for Egg to tell a lie this big, even for what is essentially noble reason, imagine what that instinct could become if it were shaped by home comforts instead of resistance. If he grew up spoiled, that same ease with lying could turn into a weapon. We already see a version of that in his older brothers, when they lie about Dunk kidnapping him, and well, we all saw how that ended. Still, you have to give the kid some credit. That move makes it clear he’s already fed up with the dull, predetermined path his family has laid out for him.
Crucially, that lie also changes the dynamic between Dunk and Egg. At Summerhall, Dunk would have been forced into occasionally taking orders from Egg, due to his princely status. But now? They both have to rely on each other to get through the day. Egg is choosing to follow Dunk because he trusts him more than any member of his family, and it sets up why these two end up becoming such legends. They’re not just master and squire anymore. They’re “partners in crime” about to see all the weird and gross parts of Westeros that most Targaryens wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.
What that Final Scene Really Means?
The finale ends with Dunk and Egg riding off together. It’s a perfect way to wrap things up. No throne-melting scene, no dramatic speech about Bran the broken. Just two people moving forward with their lives. Also, when Dunk hammers that penny to the tree, he’s finally letting go of Ser Arlan, of the guilt from watching a prince die for him, and just… hiding in someone’s shadow. He’s his own man now, even if that man has zero clue where his next meal is coming from or where he’s going next.
Also, there’s a fun detail you may have missed. That shot of Ser Arlan riding alongside them, then splitting off down a different path. Parker also revealed that it’s basically a goodbye to a mentor and a nod to found family. Fans have also added that it’s similar to the Paul Walker tribute at the end of Furious 7. While there’s no official confirmation of this fact, it’s the weirdest crossover ever. And honestly? It was beautifully done.
And that little bit about the “nine kingdoms” at the end? Perfect. Westeros technically has nine regions now, even though everyone still says seven. It’s this quiet nod that the world is bigger and weirder than the fancy lords in King’s Landing realize. When the title card changed, it felt like the show was saying the real story is happening right here on this dusty road and not in some throne room.
To catch the whole Westeros vibe sans incest and… dragons, stream A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on HBO Max.
