Knight of the Seven Kingdoms slashes through the common Game of Thrones TV tropes to massive success
By Iain McLean
★★★★★
Finale of Knight of the Seven Kingdoms released [Image: Unsplash]
The Finale episode of HBO’s latest Westerosi adventure landed on Sunday to widespread praise.
The series focused on the events of George R.R. Martin’s The Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, set 75-80 years after House of the Dragon and 90 years before Game of Thrones.
The series follows a Hedge Knight down on his luck following the death of his mentor, Ser Arlan of Pennytree, and his struggles to participate in a royal tournament.
It’s on his way to this tournament that he meets a young bald squire, simply named, ‘Egg’.
The pairing between these two characters was champagne casting. Dunk, played by Peter Caffey, who you might know from Vikings: Valhalla or Bad Sisters had immediate chemistry with young up-and-comer, 11-year-old Dexter Sol Ansell, who played Egg.
Ansell showed remarkable acting chops in this role as his comedic and dramatic timing were spot on and didn’t feel out of place, which can usually be an issue with some young actors.
On the other side of this coin is Peter Caffey, a towering, 6’5 ex-rugby player who managed to show vulnerability, lightness, courage and humour which only made the episodes all the better.
This new era in time allowed us to meet entirely new characters from Houses we were familiar with. Instead of the head of the Baratheon House being stoic and stern, like we saw during both prior series, we were introduced to Lyonel Baratheon, the Laughing Storm.
Lyonel Baratheon, played by Daniel Ings, came out of the series as one of the fan favourites due to his outgoing, confident and light-hearted personality. A highlight of his performance is his introduction episode where he engages in a dance off with Dunk as a test of his worth.
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premier [Image: Getty Images]
The series solely revolves around one location, with Dunks backstory flashbacks being the only exception. Towards the end of the tournament, Dunk ends up facing a ‘Trial of the Seven’ after his chivalry lands him in trouble with the ruling Targaryen’s.
While there was very few battle scenes, they were used incredibly well. The best of these being the Trial of the Seven which we saw solely through the eyes of Dunk. It was perhaps one of the best point of view battle scenes since The Battle of the Bastards in Game of Thrones.
Another character fans took quickly too was young Raymun Fossoway, present at the tournament acting as his cousin, Steffon Fossoway’s, squire.
Raymun builds a solid friendship with Dunk over the course of the series and his actions during the Trial of the Seven truly cemented his position among the fans.
The series also managed to outshine its predecessors with its costume design, with all of the armour’s designs being significant improvements. The Baratheon, Kingsguard and Fossoway sets being among the most impressive.
The series was a complete shift from the standard set by House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones with the episodes being lighter in tone with shorter runtimes.
This gamble paid off however, with each episode reaching IMDB scores ranging from 8.7 to 9.9.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is exactly what HBO needed to recover from any Game of Thrones fatigue that built up after the poorly received finale of the titular show.
House of the Dragon managed to rebuild some trust, with most fans getting behind the show in its spectacular sophomore season, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms managed to win back the praise in its majority.
In fact, it was so praised that Breaking Bad fans went to war on IMDb after the series began rating almost equal to their show and began review bombing episodes of the Game of Thrones spinoff, in a bid to protect its record and keep Walter White at the top of IMDb.
This battle is still going on now with each ‘fandom’ continuing to review bomb the other in hopes of their show being the victor.
HBO made a massive gamble with this show, the complete difference direction from the standards of the previously built TV universe could have easily backfired for the show and drove fans away from the product but it was a well needed, new and refreshing take on the source material.
They even made a joke about George R.R. Martin not finishing his “Winds of Winter” book with a cheeky line from Ser Arlan of Pennytree said in a flashback: “A true knight always finishes a story.”
So, dust off your Game of Thrones shirts, get the house banners out of storage and get ready for the laughs this cinematic masterpiece of a series delivers and catch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on Sky now.