Ahead of the final episode of the first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, we want to tell you about the main differences between the HBO television series created by Ira Parker and George RR Martin’s original story, entitled The Hedge Knight, part of the Tales of Dunk and Egg series.
After the various disagreements that led Martin to distance himself from House of the Dragon, the series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was an extremely faithful adaptation of the first story in Tales of Dunk and Egg, but naturally, it features some minor changes and/or expansions that were necessary to cover the six episodes of the first season (and which Martin himself, co-author of the series, approved).
The main differences that have emerged so far, in the first five episodes (at the time of writing, the sixth and final episode has not yet been released), concern Dunk’s past in Flea Bottom: in the story, the protagonist’s childhood is only briefly mentioned, while, as we saw in the acclaimed fifth episode, the series devoted a long flashback to recounting that period. Furthermore, Dunk’s friend Rafe is a male friend in the book, with the series changing the character’s gender from a boy to a girl (thus also introducing the element of a tragic love story cut short). Her death at the hands of the City Watch is also an addition to the series, in order to give Dunk a traumatic reason to leave King’s Landing and follow the knight Ser Arlan.
Regarding his apprenticeship with Ser Arlan, in the book Dunk is taken on as his squire at the age of 5-6, while in the series he is much older, roughly a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old teenager, and pursues the knight for some time before being accepted.
Another difference is the role of Lyonel Baratheon, which is much more prominent in the series than in the book. In this regard, the scenes in which Dunk eats and drinks at Lyonel’s court or Raymun Fossaway’s invitation are not present in the book. Similarly, during the scene of the Trial of Seven seen in the series, some of Lyonel’s dialogue has been exchanged with other characters (e.g., Ser Robyn Rhysling) or created by the series to deepen his relationship with Prince Baelor. Similarly, since the story is written from Dunk’s internal point of view, the series has transformed his thoughts and inner monologues into spoken dialogue or physical scenes: pre-tournament anxiety, for example, is recounted in an internalized form in the book, while in the series we see him shaken and tense to the point of feeling sick.
Other significant changes include the first meeting between the two protagonists, Dunk and Egg (faster in the series than in the slower dynamics of the book) and the puppet show, given that in the story, Tanselle’s performance is very modest in terms of theatrical production, while in the series we see an impressive show complete with a large mechanical dragon. Finally, the scene where Dunk awkwardly tries to buy goose eggs to flirt with Tanselle was created specifically for the series, as was the prophecy of the seer who predicts the future of Dunk and Egg, which is absent from the story.
Speaking of the future, the Game of Thrones spin-off The Mad King has just been announced.
