Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) may be a fledgling hedge knight in HBO‘s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but he’s destined for greatness. Those who have read George R.R. Martin’s Hedge Knight novellas know this already, but Game of Thrones TV viewers have encountered Dunk, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), and more before, even if they didn’t realize it. That’s thanks to their significance in Westeros history.
The new HBO spinoff, airing Sundays at 10/9c on HBO, tells the story of how Dunk went from being an unknown squire to a famous knight through the first trial by seven seen in Westeros in 100 years.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms characters were mentioned in Game of Thrones as early as Season 1. Here’s every time those characters are mentioned in the original series. We’ll continue to update this list as more figures from Westerosi history are introduced throughout the spinoff.
Ser Duncan the Tall
HBO
Game of Thrones Mentions: Season 1 Episode 3, “Lord Snow”; Season 4 Episode 1, “Two Swords”
Dunk is mentioned when Old Nan (Margaret John) tells the injured Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) a story about his favorite knight, Ser Duncan. He’s mentioned again in Season 4 Episode 1, when Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) reads from the pages of the Book of Brothers to torment his uncle/father, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), about his track record as a knight.
Egg
Steffan Hill / HBO
Game of Thrones Mentions: Season 5 Episode 7, “The Gift”
Egg is seemingly mentioned when Maester Aemon of the Night’s Watch (Peter Vaughan) cried, “Egg!” before he died. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms takes place 100 years before the plot of Game of Thrones. Aemon was alive during this time period. Season 1 could explain their connection.
Lyonel Baratheon, “The Laughing Storm”
Steffan Hill / HBO
Game of Thrones Mentions: Season 1 Episode 6, “A Golden Crown”
Ned Stark (Sean Bean) mentions Lyonel by name when reading through the Baratheon family lineage. He’s trying to find out if Robert Baratheon’s (Mark Addy) children with Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) are bastards.
“Lord Orys Baratheon, black of hair. Axel Baratheon, black of hair. Lyonel Baratheon, black of hair,” Ned said of the Baratheon family tree.
House Dondarrion
Steffan Hill / HBO
This is more of a general Easter egg, as the Dondarrion family has appeared in every Game of Thrones adaptation so far.
Daniel Monks plays Ser Manfred Dondarrion in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (he debuted in Episode 1). Paul Leonard played Ser Beric Dondarrion in House of the Dragon Season. David Michael Scott played the other Beric Dondarrion in Game of Thrones Season 1 and was replaced by Richard Dormer for Seasons 3-8.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Sundays, 10/9c, HBO
