A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Time for another prequel series to Game of Thrones, and this time it is based on the novella's of The Tales of Dunk and Egg, often referref to as "The Hedge Knight" after the first book.

 

Guess a bit everyone calls Game of Thrones after the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series...

 

The series follows ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall, and a boy he squired called Egg.  Who is actually prince Aegon Targaryan, and yes, we are getting close to the main time line, these stories taking place around 90 years before the main books and series.

 

The series follows how our hedge knight, a low born knight who sleeps in the open skies, wants to register for the tournament at Ashford.  But to do so, he needs to find a lord that wants to vote for him, as he goes unknown through the lands.  This brings him in contact with amongst others Lyonel Baratheon, who he befriends.

 

But as he can't find a voucher for him, none other then Baelor Targaryan votes for him, as he is impressed by the pure and true values of a knight he holds high.  But after he got in a fight to save a performance girl with prince Aerion, he must fight in a Duel of the Seven.  He manages to find allies, but is betrayed by lord Steffon Fossoway.  However, right before he would be disqualified and found guilty, Baelon himself joins as the seventh knight on his side.

 

Dunk is victorious, sparing Aerion, but Baelon is fatally wounded by a mace swing from his brother.  Dunk is however freed of charges by prince Maekar, as they both understand history will remember them as the reason Baelon fell instead of becoming the future king.  Egg joins Dunk as he rides away, stating that his uncle send him to squire and learn the ways... which turns out not to be true as they ride into the horizon.

 

This truly was a great series to watch, highly enjoyable and the "low stakes" settings of a tournament and a false accusation stands out against the big politics and wars of the two other series in the setting.  And that is in a good way very refreshing, as you bond on a more simple level with the heroes, and even the machinations of the "bad guys" make more understandable sense.  

 

Definitly one of the better series I saw so far this year!