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Egg’s Real Identity in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Explained & What Happens to Him Before Game of Thrones
The mystery of Egg’s identity in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has finally been cracked open. Ok, it might not quite be the stuff of hard-boiled detective fiction, but the question over who he really is has certainly left more than a few brains scrambled, although the show has given us a few clues. There were teases there was more to this orphan boy, with his bald head and accent that didn’t suggest he was as lowborn as Dunk from Flea Bottom, and now the series has laid the questions to rest.
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 3, The Tales of Dunk & Egg books, and Egg’s future.
The reveal of who Egg is comes at the very end of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1, Episode 3, and not by his own design. After Aerion Targaryen attacked Tanselle for putting on a puppet show that depicted a dragon being slain by a knight, Dunk responded in kind by attacking the prince. One of those carries a much higher price than the other, and it looks as though Ser Duncan is about to have to pay up, until Egg arrives on the scene and audiences learn that he is actually Aerion’s brother, with some almost sitcom-esque reaction shots to go with it.
Egg Is Aegon Targaryen – Real Identity Explained
Although Egg doesn’t say his name in this episode, we have already heard it in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Being Aerion’s brother means he is another one of Prince Maekar’s sons, and we heard in Episode 2 how two of them – Daeron and Aegon – were missing. Given that Daeron was supposed to be taking part in the tourney, something Egg obviously wouldn’t be capable of given his age and size, then you don’t need to know Game of Thrones history to realize this is Aegon Targaryen (yes, another one).
Aegon is Maekar’s fourth and youngest son, aged just nine during A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ Season 1 timeline. He was supposed to be serving as a squire for Daeron at the tourney, but his eldest brother is a drunk with no interest in taking part in a joust (or doing much else, for that matter). Thus, while Daeron was off getting drunk, Egg stole away to Ashford Meadow to become the squire for a knight who would take him on instead, Ser Duncan the Tall.
Why Egg Ran Away From The Targaryens & Lied About His Identity
Egg says that he shaved his head because he didn’t want to look like Aerion, which both is and isn’t true. In the book, at least, it was actually Daeron who shaved Aegon’s head so that Maekar’s men wouldn’t be able to find him. Nonetheless, it is correct that Egg despises Aerion, who has been monstrous to him throughout his life, including making vile threats towards him and throwing his cat down a well.
Egg running away makes sense in that regard, then: with one brother a drunk and the other cruel, he had no hopes of being a squire for either. He had long harbored dreams of being a knight of the Kingsguard, and so serving someone who is honorable and true like Ser Duncan is a decent start in his young eyes. This also gives him a newfound sense of freedom, the chance to experience a different side of life that he would never otherwise have been allowed to taste.
After that, he had no choice but to keep his Targaryen identity a secret, which explains some of his actions in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – in Episode 2, for instance, he looked visibly worried when the family turned up at Ashford. Anyone finding out the truth would’ve taken him back to his father, and that includes Dunk, which is why he continued to lie until there was really no other choice.
Does Egg Become Another King Aegon?
At this point in the timeline, there have been four kings named Aegon in Westeros:
- Aegon I, aka Aegon the Conqueror, he’s the Targaryen who led the family from Dragonstone to invade Westeros, unifying its kingdoms under his rule.
- Aegon II, aka Aegon the Usurper, he’s the king that we see in House of the Dragon, who was installed on the Iron Throne by the Greens despite his half-sister, Rhaenyra, being named the father’s heir.
- Aegon III, aka Aegon the Younger, is the king who follows Aegon II onto the Iron Throne after the Dance of the Dragons, and it’s during his reign that the Targaryen dragons die out.
- Aegon IV, aka Aegon the Unworthy, was a selfish ruler who legitimized his bastards on his deathbed, leading to the civil war known as the Blackfyre Rebellion.
After all of those, yes, Egg will eventually become King Aegon V Targaryen, aka Aegon the Unlikely. The moniker comes from the fact that he should really have no chance of sitting on the Iron Throne. Aegon is the fourth son of a fourth son, so his father shouldn’t even become king, let alone him. And yet, after several years and his brothers’ passing, Maekar does ascend to the throne in 221 AC, around 12 years after A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1.
By the time he himself dies in 233 AC, Daeron and Aerion have both died, the former from the pox and the latter from… drinking wildfire. A Great Council was convened after Maekar’s death to choose the new king, and with Aegon’s other brother, Aemon, a Maester (the very same one from Game of Thrones), Egg ended up taking the Iron Throne. He reigns for 26 years, dealing with several uprisings in that time but proving popular with the smallfolk, with Ser Duncan becoming a member of his Kingsguard and eventually Lord Commander, until their deaths in 259 AC.
Was Egg In Game Of Thrones?
No, Egg was not in Game of Thrones, having died almost 40 years before the events of the show, but he is mentioned and his legacy is still felt. Aegon is mentioned on a few occasions by Maester Aemon, who tells Jon Snow of him when revealing his own identity. Later, when Aemon dies, he thinks of Egg and speaks his name in one of the show’s most poignant death scenes.
How Is Egg Related To Daenerys Targaryen?
Daenerys Targaryen is a direct and very close descendent of King Aegon V Targaryen, even though she was born years after his death. The relationship differs slightly from the book to the show, as the latter cut a generation out (Egg’s son, Jaehaerys II, isn’t part of the show’s history). So, in A Song of Ice and Fire, Egg is Daenerys’ great-grandfather, and the grandfather of the Mad King. In Game of Thrones, he’s Dany’s grandfather, Jon Snow’s great-grandfather, and the dad of the Mad King. So while he might not have appeared, he does still have an impact.
New episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms release Sundays at 10pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.
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