We're back in Westeros to talk about the adventures of Dunk and Egg. Andrea and Paul dive into a quieter Westeros as they cover HBO series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Welcome back to Kinfo 4.

Today we're stepping into a quieter Westeros, without the dragons, without the world ending prophecy, and without the elegant rooms where history is supposedly made. I'm Andrea.

And I'm Paul. And without the dagger. Without the dagger. What happened to the dagger? Sorry, I had to show you.

I think the dagger's kicking around somewhere. It's a stupid dagger. I've been trying to escape that dagger for years.

You know, the Laughing Storm had a freaking dagger. And I was a little bit worried for a second. I was like, no, no. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms asks us a deceptively simple question.

What does honor look like when no one is watching and no one is keeping score? This is a story not about kings. It is a story about the road between castles and the people who live and die on it.

Today we will be discussing the first episode of A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms, HBO's newest spinoff set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. During this conversation, we will not be spoiling the book series which it's based on.

However, when relevant, we will be bringing in details from the greater A Song of Ice and Fire television universe. And I think the gate, the. The. The books are. Are fair game. Yeah, we've been waiting for not Fire and Blood.

We won't spoil anything from Fire and Blood, but I think the OG series is fair game.

I'm with it.

And we will bring in anything from seasons 1 and 2 of House of the House of the Dragon and what's.

A podcast about a hedge night without adult content? It's like a podcast about a hedge night with adult content, but sadder. Kin folklore will have adult content for that exact reason.

If you are here for a Nightfall dance off that only a Baratheon could make a confrontation, you have come to the right place. Let's go.

All right, let's get into this brief summary. Episode's kind of short, so.

So after the death of his knight, Sir Arlen of Pennytree, Dunk buries his mentor alone and decides to continue on as a knight himself and head to the tourney at Ashford Meadow. Despite lacking any formal proof that he is actually a knight other than his.

The sword that he jacked from that man, he just took that. He didn't even bury it with his sword. He was like, yo, he need.

But he.

The. He did need a long sword. He did.

Somebody else was going to steal it. Somebody else was going to steal it.

Dun travels to Ashford Meadow intending to compete in the tournament, seeing it as his Best chance for coin and legitimacy on the road. He stops at an inn and he meets a young boy named Egg, a sharp, bald boy who insists that he wants to be his squire. And Dunk says, absolutely not.

And bringing no kids along, there will be no belts. There will be. First of all, you're. You're a rude kid. So. Definitely not. Definitely not.

Once at the tourney, Dunk meets with Plummer, the master of the tourney list, and is initially rejected because no one's ever heard of him.

Yeah.

And there are Targaryen princes about.

And you may get the princess.

That guy was so disgusting. So disgusting.

Oh, my God. Okay. Dunk sets off to find Ser Manfred Dondarrion, who may remember Ser Arlan from that time he helped Dondarrion's father in the Dornish Marshes.

But Ser Manfred is indisposed. You remember that time when you did that thing for that one guy that you may have met back in the day for, like, two hot seconds? Yeah.

He meets the Fossoways, Raymond and his cousin Ser Stefan. That evening, while wandering the tourney grounds, Dunk finds himself delighted by a puppet show. Is it the puppet show, or is.

It the puppet show? More like the lady I know.

And is invited into the feast hosted by Lionel Baratheon, best known as the Laughing Storm. They have a grand time dancing, laughing, and getting to know each other. He gets to wear the stag crown. Unbelievable.

That was so funny. That was so funny.

But Lionel tells his new friend he's unlikely to best the more privileged knights at the tourney. He stands no chance, is what he says. When Dunk returns to his camp, he finds Egg there, still insisting on being his squire.

Dunk agrees, and the two fall asleep under a shooting star. Perhaps a sign of good times to come. Really love that scene.

I love that Dunk really thought through that he didn't want to not be able to pay him and give him what he would need and be able to provide for him as his squire. That's why he was like, no, I'm not gonna do it at first. So that shows a little bit more why he turned him down, which is cool.

It's a cool little wrinkle.

Yeah. No, Dunk is like. And we'll talk about this a little bit. But Dunk is like, all of the things you need to be a good knight.

He has all of the characteristics of a good knight. He just doesn't have any money. He hasn't been knighted, and we don't know if he can fight.

He has all the Characteristics. Except none of the characteristics.

No. Because what does it mean to be a good knight? And this is a question that George probes a lot.

Yeah.

In his storytelling, this comes up all the time.

100. No.

Is sir crispy a good night? No.

No.

Right. But he has all the things he needs. Right?

Yeah.

So, yeah.

No, I agree with you. I think. I think, like, it's for sure. Like, just because you don't have all of the.

The stuff that you would normally associate with a knight doesn't mean that you're not. So, yeah, I'm with you. I'm totally with you. I like, I love dunk. So let's talk. Let's. Let's set the stage. Where are we right now in Westerosi history?

Like, where. So people who are, like, coming to this show, they're wanting to get into it. It's in the Game of Thrones world in Westeros.

Where are we in the time frame?

Okay, so we're going to keep this pretty tight to essentially two generations, I guess, three generations. Because if we go back any further than that, we will spoil House of the Dragon.

Yeah. That's fair.

So this story is in between House of the Dragon and the main show, Game of Thrones. So we're almost 100 years in between both of those stories. Not exactly, but a little.

Like, I think we're 70 years after House of the Dragon, 90 years before the main event. Well, before, I think. Yeah, no, no, before the main events.

So I'm gonna stick to Aegon IV and the absolute insanity that he unleashed upon his family.

Oh, my God.

If you are not someone who has read Fire and Blood, do not Google this, do not go. Because it will. You will absolutely be spoiled. For House of the Dragon, we are not that far removed from the dance.

So I'm just giving a warning to folks. I do not want to spoil that for you, but if you try to look up any of these people, you will be spoiled.

That Targaryen family tree is not that complicated.

It's a reef.

It's a reef. Yeah. They all just marry each other. So the current king is King Daeron ii, son.

Son of Aegon iv, who is known as Aegon the Unworthy, and he is known as the Unworthy because He was the 11th Targaryen king. He had a lot of children. The vast majority of them were born out of wedlock.

I mean, let's just stop at the fact that his name is the Unworthy and Aegon the Second exist in this world. Like, right.

Like the fact that you are Aegon the Unworthy, and you after Aegon the Second, which we are witnessing in the House of the Dragon and the fuck boy that he is. It's pretty rough stuff. I'm sorry.

I just want to say, for the record, we are Team Black on this podcast.

Yes.

So we will routinely dunk on Team Green. And if that upsets you, then this is probably not the podcast.

Yeah, no, it's definitely, definitely not.

But I agree. Because Aegon II is trash. And so the fact that this guy is the Unworthy will just tell you what type of king he is.

So, on his deathbed, because he wanted to go out with a bang, he legitimized all of the male children that he had out of wedlock. The eldest of whom was Daemon Blackfyre, who challenged Daeron, Who Dae Ron II, for the throne about 13 years after Dayron took the throne.

And that was the first Blackfyre rebellion. And there will be several more. These Blackfyres, dope name, right? They picked the best name.

But they will be haunting the main line, the main branch of the Targaryen family tree, for another hundred years. Like, they just. They pop up every so often. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's a Blackfyre in the main story as well.

Let's just say that Bobby B, even as shitty as he was, didn't do this fuckery. Like, he had bastards out here in the world, as we know. He could have been like, I'm legitimizing everybody. Let's go. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, he could have done this fuckery. Like, even Bobby B had restraint to this nature. It's crazy.

Yeah, totally. So at that point, so.

So where we are now, we don't have to go into the Blackfire Rebellion, because also, I think at some point, HBO is going to want to adapt that. So I won't go into the details of that. It's pretty, pretty cool. If you want to read.

Yeah, if you want to read A World of Ice and Fire, there's a whole section on the first Rebellion. So this story that we're in right now starts in 209ac, which is after, like, it's 25 years into the reign of Dayron the second.

Darren the second, sorry. And he's known as Daeron the Good, amongst his accomplishments. He finally bought Dorne into the kingdom through his marriage to Meria Martell.

And he established the very important secondary Targaryen estate of Summerhall, which, if you know the series, you'll know that That's a very important event happens there in a few years. And he built Summerhall because it was assigned to the. The kingdom that this is a peacetime estate. Like, we don't. We don't need any more fortresses.

We're going to build this estate because the Targaryens are flourishing, robust, and so, you know, the realm is in peace. I will say that he treated his half siblings, who had been legitimized, with honor as long as they weren't part of the rebellion.

So he was kind to them. And here's where the details that affect this story come in and are important.

He has four sons, Baelor, who is also his Hand of the King and is his heir, Aerys. Not. Not Aerys, the Mad King. I believe this Aerys is three generations removed from that mad King, Rhaegal, like the dragon. And Maekor. Maekor.

I'm only going to talk about Baelor and Maekar because from what I understand of the story, those are the two who matter the most. So Baelor has two sons, Valar and Matarys.

Mataris. Matarys. Mataris.

Maekor has five children. Daeron. Darren. I keep doing that, and I actually think, from what I understand, people who took High.

Valyon using Duolingo, it's actually supposed to be Dairon. But anyway, that's a whole other thing. I love that, Darren. Aryon. Aemon. Yes. That. That Aemon. I don't think we need to keep that a secret.

This is Maester Aemond. Master Aemond, Daella, Aegon and Rhae. So we will see some of these kids at the tourney. I don't know if we'll see Maester Aemond.

That would be kind of cool to see him as a little. He would be very young. He would be like 11 years old at this point. Like, very young. But maybe we'll see him.

Maybe they'll figure out a way to sneak him in there. And then the other important thing to know is there's no dragons. The last dragon has been dead for 50 years. 60 years, something like that.

A long time. So the Targaryens are flourishing in terms of they have the numbers, but they don't have the might anymore.

They don't have these weapons of mass destruction that they use to essentially conquer the entire realm.

Yeah. So this is all good context. So that's like, this is where we are in the world.

It's honestly, I would say, perfect, but a pretty close to perfect midway point between the events of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. I Think they chose well in pursuing this as a way that it would inbox them into certain kinds of lore later on in the world. And also.

So I like, they did that. And it's really. It feels like a story that's about the small folk in some way, like the. Like.

Cause right now, Dunk is not, you know, the dunk that we hear referred to in the Book of Knights later on. He's just getting started, right? Like in Game of Thrones. So, like, what. Let's talk about that a little bit. I guess, like, you know, episode one is.

Is really challenging.

I think the idea that Tyrion put forth in a quote, and I think you put the quote here, it's that a wise man once said that a true history of the world is a history of great conversations in elegant rooms. And as you said in the opening, these are not happening.

Remember who you said that to, though?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so, like, even Tyrion, a character we love, is, like, being very privileged. Right. He's talking to two former slaves when he says that.

Right?

So he's saying that to Missandei and Grey Worm. And I understood what he was saying.

He was saying, like, the decision makers, the people in those elegant rooms are the most important people because they make all the decisions. But this story is just, like, throwing that away. Like, we're not paying attention to those. I mean, obviously, there's a Baratheon.

I just went through the whole Targaryen family tree for this period. So, like, obviously, we will have. Those characters will come in and out of the story, but this story is focused on small folk. And Dunk is.

Dunk is from Flea Bottom.

Yeah. And this is what makes.

I think this is what makes George's world so great and expansive in the angles and the perspectives that he tells in the story, is that you could have a character say that and really believe it. And we know one of our favorite plays is Hamilton or one of the things I like. And they talk about the room where it happens.

And that's what I think Tyrion's talking about is the room where it happens. This is the room where big political decisions are being made. But then George flips it on its head and says, yeah, that's true.

And we know it to be true that big decisions are made in those rooms, but also somebody of, like, noble stock and of, like, good character, or not noble stock, but good character can also. Can also make their mark in this world in a way that doesn't require title or money or any of those things.

And this is the beginning of that origin story for Dunk. But I think it just makes George's world really, really interesting. You know what I mean?

Like, yeah, and like, Dunk is a. Is a hedge knight. Hedge knights are knights for hire, basically, right? They're not part of anyone's household. They're not quite Sell swords, right?

They're, you know, they're not the type of person who just goes from place to place and joins whatever lord's army is paying the best. But they. They don't, you know, have pavilions when they go to these tourneys. They're. They're the type of people who sleep in the hedges.

Like, they're. And. And it's obviously they do a good job of making it clear that. That it's not a place of honor.

That, like, even though we, we, the audience who have watched the original show know that to be a knight is a. Is an honorable position, they're making it perfectly clear. This is like the lowest of. Of a knight.

You don't get a lot of respect from other knights or from even the small folk, right? They have these women, the sex workers, who, like, are clowning him right away, like, not taking him seriously.

And obviously Egg does not take him seriously. However, the. The. They can still. They still take the same oath to protect the innocent and do all of these things that knights are supposed to do.

And there's. It's still a position of honor and it has an oath to. That they swear to.

And we have seen before another knight make his name right through the more traditional path who didn't have any honor, and that's Bronn. Bronn in the original show had no honor. He just did whatever. Whatever, whatever. Whichever Lannister paid him the most, he was happy to do it. Right?

I mean, I. I think he would have protected Tyrion as much as he could. Cause he. He. He came to love, I think, both Tyrion and Jaime. But, like, that didn't mean that he wasn't completely in it for himself.

What I think is cool about the way they're presenting Dunk to us is he does. Even though Dunk clearly wants the money, he clearly wants a reward. He clearly wants to make a name for himself.

He doesn't feel like Bran to me at all. I'm Bronn. No, don't even get me started on Bran. But he doesn't. He doesn't feel like Bronn. Like, he's a person who lacks morals. Like, he's.

He feels like a character who wants to be a Good person, but like, has to meet his basic needs first. And he's ambitious, but I don't think that he's so ambitious that he would, like, step on other people to meet his ambition.

He wants it fair and square. He wants to earn it. And so I think that they've positioned him that way.

And it's not like super clear how they've done that, but that's the vibe I get off of Dunk. It's like he wants to just do well. He doesn't want anything handed to him.

I would agree. I like the way they've done that. It definitely reminds me, you know, speaking of another person who became a knight, it reminds me a lot of Brienne.

And it's obvious, like tie ins.

I think it's been confirmed somewhere that Dunk is related or an ancestor of Brienne's, But I think regardless of that, just of their any sort of relation, the way that they comport themselves with honor, so far, it's calling back to that type of person who they're not a knight yet, but they still have. They live by the code.

And I like this idea of, like, him not being confirmed, that nobody can confirm it, but that he's just claiming who he is in the world and saying, this is who I am and living by that code. And I think there's something in that for all of us to say. You know what?

Sometimes it's about just being in your truth of who you are and walking in the world and claiming this for yourself. So I think it's like a real cool way they're setting that up. Let your character speak for you. Let the way you comport yourself speak for you.

Like, it's really cool. I love that.

Yeah, and I love that, you know, it's posing the question of, like, what matters most. Is it the titles, titles, titles, or is it the way you comport yourself?

I mean, I immediately thought of Brienne and Jamie really interrogating this when they were traveling together. And you know, all the oaths they make you swear, right?

Well, Brienne, when she's telling Jamie that he violated his oath, she's not just talking about his kingsguard, she's talking about as a knight, that he was supposed to protect the innocent, that he didn't do all those things. But Jamie sees that he did protect the innocent, that he had to do what he did. But he still sees he still acted dishonorably. Right.

And so what really matters? Does it matter if you kneel down and someone knights you, or does it and you say the words.

Or does it matter if you live like Brienne as a knight by that code, even if you don't have the title? You know, the show gives Brienne that title in the final season, and it's a beautiful moment. I don't think Brienne gets that title in the books.

And I think that that's the point. She won't get the title, but she'll still be the most honorable knight that we ever meet.

And I think that's the same type of question that this show is asking, like, does the title matter? Does it matter if Ser Arlan actually knighted him or not?

Or does it matter that Dunk is going to do honorable things and maybe heroic things just like. Like the. The knights that we imagine, the knights of the stories, the knights of the legends. So I think that's more important than actually did this.

The old bastard say you can be a knight now.

After he smacked him up. And only, like, it's crazy. Those. Those montages were nuts.

They were nuts. I was really surprised by them, actually. And this might be because I was kind of speed reading.

I didn't get the impression that Sir Arlen was like a nice guy, but I didn't get the impression that he was abusing him on a regular bas. Like, damn.

Yeah, I think. I think it's. So that adds to what we're talking about too, because, like, that he was harsh with him, you know, many times.

And still there's Dunk who could have just like, let the man die on the side of a road, picked up his stuff, got on his horses and left him there, burying him, giving him a proper burial and like, saying. Not even knowing the words to say. He's like, you know, and. And still trying to find the best way to.

To give him an honorable burial, which I thought was cool. He loved him.

I mean, he. He tells Ag I was an orphan until. Right. He saw him as a. As a parent.

Yeah. Yeah. So let's. Let's talk about this tourney. I think.

So.

Ashford Meadows, Ashfrometto. I don't really. You know, I don't. I've not really don't know much about this. This particular spot. Do you know a lot about Ashfa Meadow?

They're in the reach. The family is a. Is Bannerman. See, we've been out of this world too.

Yeah, we've been. We've been really.

Is it me when you swear to somebody, your banners, they're better men to the Tyrells?

Okay.

So it's interesting to me that There's a. That Lyonell Baratheon is even there, right? Because the tourney. This is like not a big family. This is not like the Tyrells are. Are holding a tourney.

The other family we meet is the Fossilways and then the Dondarrians. All of these people are for the most part bannermen to other larger families. Maybe, maybe not larger, but maybe older, but. Or. But more prestigious.

Lionel Baratheon is really the only, you know, of the big family, you know, Lord Paramount of. Of. Of a kingdom. And I think that that's interesting to. Because, like, every night doesn't go to every tourney.

But in addition to that, the princes are on their way.

Yeah.

Like, Plumber is like, we can't just have any old body showing up right now. Like, the princes are on their way. Like, what are we doing? Like, my lord thinks of himself as important and he. He. The targs are gonna be here.

We can't just have any old dusty.

Yo Night the Shade. I don't know why he thinks he's important, but he does. He does. Fen.

That was so funny. I really liked Plumber, by the way. Like, I thought he was great, and I felt like Velik Dunk ended this episode with three allies.

He started with nobody.

He ends this episode with Egg, Lionel, the Laughing Storm, Lionel Baratheon and Plummer, who I think are all, like, trying to work with him, you know. And then in addition to that, I think that the women that he encounters are also sympathetic him. So he's likable. People like him.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He seems like he has, like. Yeah, he has. He has the vibes. He's got. He's got. The aura is on. The aura's on 10. He's like. He's going.

Yeah, they want. They want him to succeed. They, like, know. They feel that he's a good person. They know he's a little misguided, but.

Yeah. And he has a.

They want.

Who's the. One of the fossil Ace too. One of those guys is actually really Raymond. Okay. Yeah, he likes him too. Yep. Raymond likes him too.

Yeah. And he likes. He takes a shining to him right away.

And I. I think it's because Dunk treats Raymond with like they're equals because technically they are. Right. They're both technically squires, but Raymond is used to his own blood treating him like he's less than.

Yeah.

So I. I think that, like, he. I forgot about. That's a fourth ally. So he starts.

He starts the episode with no one and then he ends and he's got, like, four allies, and it's only been one day of the tourney. That's pretty good.

That's pretty solid. I'm not gonna lie. And he's out here with the three horses, too. Like, listen, Geralt couldn't keep up with one horse and he's got three.

I do like that he's. They're taking Dunk's internal monologue from the book and making him say it to the horse.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I love that because it does remind me of Geralt, of Rivia and Roach. Rest in peace.

Yeah.

But it reminds me of how Geralt used to, like, when he first was learning how to parent. A teenager was like, venting to Roach.

Yeah, no, this. This show has a lot of Witcher vibes. You know what I mean? Like, and I like that about it.

Like, actually, I like the tone that they're striking with that. For sure.

I totally agree. I feel even the scene with. With the Laughing Storm was giving, like, season one witch 100%. No, 100% in the best way. Like, not in a shady way.

Like, in a good way. It's what made the Witcher fun.

Yeah, I was. And I was like.

I was happy to see, like, some levity in the dance off and some of the questions, like, you know, and he's like, have you ever been punched in the face? Like, most. Most tall men get punched in the face. I'm like, what? Even. Even Duncan's like, what are you talking about? Oh, man.

None of that is in the book. So they created all of that. And that's like, exactly. What you want to see in an adaptation is this is an extremely faithful adaptation to this point.

We don't know what will happen in the next few episodes, but almost all the dialogue is pulled directly from the book. But they added this scene with the Laughing Storm, this introduction to a character who's an extremely minor character in the book.

And it was beautiful. Like, it added so much life to a story that's essentially just kind of setting up at the tourney. So I really, really love this scene.

And also, it gave. The Laughing Storm is such an incredible title and nickname that it gave us a reason to understand why he got that moniker.

So I really like this scene.

No, it's great. I love it. I like Lionel so far, and I think it's going to be. He's going to be an interesting character. The Fossilways, I didn't like the old.

I didn't like the Stefan Fossilay. I wasn't A fan. I was like, oh, God. He's, like, ready to, like, let's go, let's go. Let's fight. Like, come in. I was like, come on, my guy. Right away.

Like, you just see this guy walking down, and also, Dunk's pretty damn big. So, like, he's got to be feeling himself in a way that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

He's very arrogant.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah, I like Raymond a lot.

I like him, too.

Like, a lot. He just seems like a genuinely nice person who doesn't. Honestly doesn't seem to care what Dunk's status is or where he comes from.

He just, like, is friendly to him off the bat, and he feels like he insulted him, so he has to apologize. Stefan, not so much. And while we're on families that I don't care for right now.

Yeah, here we go.

I do not like the Sir Dondarrion. What's his name again?

He's whack. But all the people, like, there's been one good Dondarrion throughout this whole freaking series that you're really like, oh, yeah, yeah, that one.

I know. But Beric is so peak. I know you can forgive his ancestors.

How many generations did they have to get to get to Beric? Because that is the Dondarrion of the, like, even the people who, like, are spawned off from the. Wasn't like, Ser Crispy.

Like, did he serve with the Dundarian? Like, wasn't he a vassal house to the Dundarians?

It was, like, a very similar situation where they fought in the Dornish marches marshes against some, like, ran. Like, Sir Crispy's also experience sounded extremely, extremely similar. Similar to.

To Sir Arlen's experience and also similar to Sir Crispy. The fossilways are. We're loyal to House Green. Oh, I know. Rough.

I know Rough. Look, it's. It's rough. It's a tough look.

Oh, yeah. No, So I. So I think that there's some. There's some real crossover stuff I really like that are, like. It's like. It's meta.

Like, not meta, but it's, like, super deep cuts. It's, like, things that you got to really, like, have been reading and paying attention to. So this. This. Things that are cool.

Like, I think, like, and.

And I like that, like, they sprinkle. Well, both the fossil ways and the Dondarrians are in the book, right? The Baratheons, the. The targs are in the book quite a bit.

But, like, the Baratheons are, like, A minor character, but I like that George focused on these two smaller houses, the Fossilways and the Dondarrians, because these other families take up so much oxygen. Like when there's Lannisters in the mix, everyone just pays attention to what the Lannisters are doing. Everyone.

Just like any, any Game of Thrones fan can name the seven core families, right? But can you name these smaller families?

And sometimes they are just as important, if not more important because these are where the, the fighters come from. These are where the bannermen are. The, when there's a war, these are the guys who are going to fight it, right, and lead the battle. Right?

It's not just the, you know, it's not just the Starks who died at the Red Wedding. Lots of their bannermen died there, too.

And so I like that it's not just taking us to the small folks level, but also taking us to the families that are closer to the small folks just by the, the virtue of not being the Lord Paramount of, you know, whatever region we're in.

They're just, you know, these are the people who work on their farms and these are the people who, who they have to protect if they're the way that the Starks thought about their bannermen and they thought about the people in the village outside of Winterfell, these families also have to protect the small folk who live in their villages and work on their farms and do their trading.

And so I think it's great to see that these smaller families too and many of these smaller families are very established and they've been around for a thousand years.

It's not to say that they're like the up and coming, they just happen to not have been kings in most cases previously or in the case of some people had been friendly with the right Targaryen at the right time where you could get a title.

But no, I really like the smallness of the story and I also like as a podcaster, it's not that much lore I can just watch this show, I can just enjoy.

It is nice.

It's nice because we've been in some pretty lore heavy worlds as of late and especially one, the last one we just were doing like there's so much like almost like almost too much. But yeah, no, I agree. I really like that piece of it and I just think that we give George a lot of shit.

Some of it earned, well earned only look no further than the most recent article and interview he did.

But some of it, you know, I think one thing that we have to give him credit for is his ability to take these little tiny parts of his world and his story and spin them out into these, like, really meaningful and robust stories and stories that connect pretty big events later on or earlier in his work.

I think this was a thing that was kind of part of an anthology, the first one in the middle of the first two books, like we were talking about before we started potting today. And I think it's really fascinating to see how much he gets into. While there's not a lot of lore, there's a lot of connective tissue to other things.

And I think that's really cool.

And I think it's so cool, too, because the story wasn't fully fleshed out yet. You know, there are some inconsistencies in these novels because he was still working on the main story. And it kind of.

It's kind of a reminder of why George.

I mean, George essentially, like, admits this in the interview that he did with the Hollywood Reporter, which is that the story has become so intricate with so many. So many threads that if you pull one thread too hard, the whole thing can unravel. And so.

But.

So that's both, like, a really cool thing, but also, I'm sure, as a writer, a really hard thing to deal with because he could deconstruct his whole thing by having the wrong Baratheon do the wrong thing at the wrong time. You know what I'm saying? So it's such an interconnected story that he's gotta keep track of all those details, too.

And it's very impressive that this. This story, which was written in between the first two books from the main series, mostly works.

Yeah, No, I agree. I totally agree.

Like, it mostly works. There's. It's mostly.

There's, like, a couple of little things that I'm like, it's weird that no one is acknowledging this, but it's because he hadn't written that piece of the history yet. It's not. Not a big deal.

Yeah. No, I agree. I agree. Well, and I guess the last thing we'll say is just the pair themselves. Dunk and Egg, they have decided to.

He has a squire, Dunk has a squire, and Egg has decided to follow him and go and be a squire throughout the tourney.

And it's interesting the way he made that pledge throughout the tourney because, you know, he doesn't know whether he's going to lose his armor and everything else if he loses. But I love this pairing. I love that Dunk obviously has the physical skill. The physical Size.

He's really honest, but he's still trying to figure himself out to be asking Lionel, hey, do you think I have a chance? Means he's not quite sure. And I love the line when he's like, I feel like I always agonize over things.

And then I get into my head, I start agonizing over the fact that I'm agonizing over things. Like this is like, he's like, who can't relate to that? It's deeply relatable. Right.

And I think Egg is going to help him with that because I think Egg has a quiet. I feel like, I would say a quiet confidence. Right. Maybe it's because he's who he is and he's observant.

He's definitely, I would say, stubborn, but also, I would say resilient. Is he showing that? Also he's like, hey, I hopped into the back of a freaking wagon and still cave. And now I'm back here trying to be your squire.

So I like him. And I love that last scene.

That last scene really was one that I love with him trying to give him a little bit of hope, just knowing that he had to be doubting himself about the star. So I think they're going to be a good pair. It's going to be fun to watch. Yeah.

And like, I have one. I like both of the actors a lot. I think the kid who plays Egg is great. He's so adorable. But he also has a very smart face.

Like, he looks wise beyond his years. And Egg is clearly a kid who, like, knows how to figure things out when he needs to. And so. And he's a good problem solver.

And he's already solved a few problems for Dunk because he basically gave him the name Duncan. I don't think Dunk knew what his name was. He's just always been called Doc. Right. Duncan sounds a lot better than dumb. Right. I'm Sir Duncan.

Yeah.

And then Lionel Baratheon is like be tall. So he's now he's Duncan the tall. Right. Which I love that he kind of cobbles together that identity. The one complaint I have about the show is.

And I understand why they aged him up, they often age up the main characters for. Cause George makes everyone so young that you have to kind of age up the characters for television.

But Dunk is only supposed to be like 16, 17, maybe 18. We don't really know how old he is because he doesn't know when he was born. But he's a. He's an older teenager.

I wish him and Egg were a little closer in age because it is weird that Egg seems to, like, be more worldly than he is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's a little bit strange. I mean, I think. I think we will figure out why. But even.

Even with knowing, like, Eggs, like, full history, I still don't think that's gonna explain it. And I think it works in the book because there's only a few years between them. And, like, Dunk's whole experience is flea bottom.

Yeah.

And then following around Ser Arlan like, that's it. He has no further experience. So he just doesn't have a lot of exposure to a lot of things.

And it also sounds like Ser Arlan stopped competing in tourneys, so. Because he was old. And so his exposure to this type of. Where you meet a lot of different people from different stations.

I don't think Dunk really has that. It seems like what he has is, you know, he. Whoever Sir Arlan was serving at the moment, he probably would know, like, their household, their.

The other squires, the stable boys, the. But I think this is his first time kind of being exposed to.

A.

Wide variety of people at one time. So I. I would. The age thing is a little bit of a miss for me, but I think both actors are great, so maybe the trade off will be worth it.

Yeah, for sure. And depending how. I don't know how long they're going to go with this. If they. If they. Because he still hasn't. There's still some other.

Stop me if you've heard this before. There's still some books that need to be finished in the Duncan Egg series, but I.

But he has. He gave them notes for the two novels that he's essentially, like, finished. I don't know what he means by finished. If he's.

They're fully written and edited and he just hasn't published them or if they're. He just has like an outline of what he wants to be in them. So I think. I think at minimum they could go five seasons if they wanted to.

The thing that worries me is if he gave them just notes, I think we're gonna have kind of a dialogue problem, which is the problem from House of the Dragon is that the dial, because that's adapted from a story that has very little dialogue.

I think most people's biggest complaint about that show is it doesn't feel the way that like, as lived in as Thrones did because the dialogue is often very, like, wooden and like, overly trying to be overly Symbolic. And so I think. And they also just speak funny on House of the Dragon. They're, like, more British. And so.

And not to say that British people speak funny. My mother has a British accent. But, like, they speak funny for this world.

Like, they're just like, more the way, like, I think about the way that Alicent and Rhaenyra speak. And it's not like anybody else in this world really speaks. It's just like very, very period piece.

It's very true. It's very true.

So I do worry that if we run out of George's books, is the dialogue going to struggle? Because the dialogue in these books is very funny. But by then they will have had some practice.

And, you know, they wrote all of the Lionel Baratheon stuff themselves. That's not in the book. So I think we're gonna get three seasons. Maybe we'll be lucky to get five.

But give me the. Give me, give me. I know it. I know it's a stretch. And there's all her. Give me some more stuff about Summer Hall. I just want to see Summer Hall.

I actually want to be around Summer hall and see what, you know, like, so that. That'd be. That'd be cool. That'd be really cool to, like, see it.

I would. We talked about what adaptations we want to see, and we're on the record. Hbo. Call us.

Yes.

If you want to make the Alysanne and Jaehaerys Downton Abbey like show.

We are your people.

We have ideas.

Yeah. We are your people. Yes. Call us. We are your people.

We have ideas.

Yes.

And we will promote and watch the hell out of that.

Oh, my God.

We love us a good, like, Upstairs, downstairs.

Unbelievable family drama. Yeah.

Relative peace. We would. We would love that. But I too, would love to just know what the heck happened at Summer Hall. So maybe we'll get some hints.

Maybe. Maybe.

No, this is. This is way too early.

Way too early.

But maybe we'll get some hints. Maybe. I'm hoping that they'll give us some, like, cryptic hints about some of the lore.

Yeah, I like it. All right. Well, that was episode one. We are excited, man. We're back in Westeros, man. We just left Hawkins and we're already back in Westeros.

Two worlds we like quite a bit. So, yeah. Hit us up on kinfolkloremail.com kinfolklore pod on Instagram Threads.

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Bye, everyone. It.