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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Biggest Book Change Gives the Show Its Best Character & Scene
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms might be the most faithful adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s work in the entire Game of Thrones franchise so far. Every show and season has had to make its own deviations, some of which have certainly proved controversial (see: Martin’s critiques of House of the Dragon Season 2, and Thrones‘ struggles in Season 5, before it ran out of source material). However, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1, which adapts The Hedge Knight novella, very closely sticks to the story and spirit of the book.
Dunk and Egg feel like they’ve been directly translated from the page to the screen, the tone and scale is exactly what it ought to be for a smaller, lighter story, and there’s a lot of dialogue that’s exactly what Martin had written. At the same time, some expansion is still necessary. This is a different medium, and so it needs to fill its runtime, and give its actors more to do, especially the supporting players.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ cast is one of the best things about the show, but a major highlight, if also a deviation, is Daniel Ings as Lyonel Baratheon, who brings a fun character to life in an even bigger and better way than imagined. Warning: Contains minor spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ premiere.
Lyonel Baratheon Steals The Show In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms
In the book, Lyonel competes in the tourney at Ashford Meadow that is central to The Hedge Knight‘s story, but we don’t actually get to spend too much time with him. He does play an important role later on, but in these early stages Dunk watches him from afar. He’s someone who delights the crowd, his booming laugh – which has earned him the nickname The Laughing Storm – as he faces opponents winning their support. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms takes a different approach with a scene that’s invented for the screen.
The moment in question finds Dunk in Lyonel’s tent, drinking his ale and eating his food. Lyonel spots him as someone out of place, and is confused and surprised when it turns out that the hedge knight isn’t there for his help, nor for his head. From there, they drink together, laugh together, and most surprisingly, dance together. It’s a sequence that feels fun, silly, a little bit chaotic, a tad surreal, and rather unique in the franchise, with Lyonel at the very center of it. It’s an absolute delight, and all thanks to the writers and actors.
Ings’ performance is truly wonderful, as is Peter Claffey as Dunk alongside him. The dancing is a little odd, but also very funny and fits with the pair getting uproariously drunk. But what’s best is how much Ings conveys about the character: he’s able to flip, almost effortlessly, between making Lyonel charismatic and charming, to someone who clearly carries power and could be dangerous. He’s bizarre, enigmatic, a fantastic drunk, endlessly captivating to watch, and feels like getting to watch Robert Baratheon in his pomp. It’s the standout scene from the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premiere, and feels true to the spirit of the book while expanding upon it.
This is the key to getting A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms right. The novellas are so short that it has to take some plot points and characters that aren’t given much time and expand them outward, while also looking for things that could be happening at the tourney but happen in the margins, between the paragraphs, that we didn’t get to see.
The scene in Lyonel’s tent is the perfect way of doing this, because it so seamlessly fits in and brings an already entertaining character to life in a way that’s guaranteed to mae him a fan-favorite. With Lyonel set to get more important, it’s brilliant to become so immediately attached to him, and it also bodes well for similar happening with other supporting characters as the season goes on.,
New episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms release on Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.
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