A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms/The Hedge Knight by George RR Martin

I’m not usually much of a TV guy. I don’t do a lot of streaming, I don’t have cable, and our main television isn’t even hooked up. Typically, I watch movies on my computer and that’s about it. But I had a good feeling about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms so I figured I’d give it a go. Needless to say I enjoyed it because I followed my watch up by immediately buying a copy of the novella The Hedge Knight. In my opinion, it wasn’t as good as the show (something we’ll get into later) but it was still very good.

The premise is, Dunk was the squire to a hedge knight named Sir Arlan of Pennytree. A hedge knight is a sort of roving mercenary who pledges their loyalty (and weaponry) in exchange for money and lodging. If you’re Lord of Winterfell and you’re about to go attack the King beyond the wall, you’d probably hire on some hedge knights to help with the fighting. The difference between a hedge knight and a sellsword is they’ve sworn to defend the innocent, women and children, and generally be a good, upstanding person.

Anyway, we open on Dunk burying Sir Arlan, who died of an unspecified illness. Deciding to try to make a name for himself, Dunk goes to a local tournament to try to win at jousting. This would give him a sizable amount of money (Dunk is pretty much broken) and maybe build his reputation enough that he could get hired on to work for one of the Lords present. If he loses, he’ll be ruined because he’ll lose his horse and his armor. He takes on a squire, a local stableboy named Egg, and tries to join the festivities. Things go sideways when he finds himself on the wrong side of the law, and he has to take part in a 7 vs 7 trial by combat to prove his innocence.

I don’t want to ruin any of the twists and turns. If this sounds like your thing, stop reading the review and go watch the show/read the book. Both were a lot of fun, and they avoid the nonstop doom-and-gloom you get with a lot of Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire storytelling. We like the heroes, we hate the villains, there are some twists and turns, and ultimately we feel pretty good at the end.

So why did I like the show better than the book? Surely I’m not cashing in my book nerd cred. The answer is a pretty simple one: Lyonel Baratheon.

One of my personal bugbears regarding fantasy is a lack of personality. So many characters in so many fantasy stories are noble, quiet stoics or grumpy, dark villains. If you’re lucky, they have one “funny character” who defaults to deadpan sarcasm, but that’s the most you can hope for.

Lyonel Baratheon is so much fun. He dances, he sings, he’s playful, he’s sincere. He cares about his friends, he has a great sense of humor. The look on his face when he realizes Dunk is just some dude trying to make his way in the world is priceless. There is a palpable sense of “Finally an honest man!” Daniel Ings’s performance is up there among my favorites. He should be the next big movie star to come from Game of Thrones.

Other characters also have more personality in the show. Dunk is less sure of himself, more awkward, more “fish out of water” than he is in the book. He’s clearly doing his best, but his best isn’t all that great. He does learn fast though, and by the end he’s ready to give life his best shot. His back-and-forth banter with Egg is funnier, more interesting, and better realized. Again, this isn’t to say Martin missed the mark. The book is good. But the show is amazing.

I don’t want to spoil. I personally recommend watching the show first, but that’s me. Either way, check these out. They’ve reignited my love of fantasy, and I’ll be reading the other Dunk and Egg novellas. Definitely worth your time.