A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Meaning of Dunk’s Flashbacks & Why So Little of the Battle Is Shown

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Around three minutes into the episode, just after the fight has started, it cuts away to a flashback of a younger Dunk (played by Bamber Todd) and his friend, Rafe (Chloe Lea) on an almost completely empty battlefield, save for the falling soldier they’re stealing from. It sticks with this story for the next 20 minutes or so, before returning back to the trial of seven.

Part of this was a budgetary trick: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms isn’t as costly as House of the Dragon or Game of Thrones, and this is a way of keeping the price down. Speaking in a roundtable interview that included ComicBook‘s Chris Killian, prior to Season 1’s release, showrunner Ira Parker explained the decision to shoot the battle with so much fog and keep it focused on Dunk, saying:

“A lot of the fog was to hide… we didn’t have a lot of money on this show. We have about a quarter for every dollar of a Westeros minute of previous shows, and so we had to be careful about how we hid things, and how we made it feel like we weren’t hiding things. How we put you in Dunk’s POV, and we let you focus on things we want you to be focusing on, rather than not having a 10,0000 crowd like you probably would have at a Coachella/Glastonbur type tournament situation. It’s funny how not having any money just forces you to find cool, creative ways that maybe you wouldn’t have come to completely if you’d just had the ability to spend, spend, spend.”

That’s not dissimilar to how Thrones Season 1 cleverly avoided showing the Battle of the Whispering Wood and the Battle on the Green Fork because of budget constraints. The more action they show, and the more epic they make it, the higher the price, so keeping it to a few minutes that are mostly focused on Dunk and Aerion having a muddy fight makes a lot of sense, but it also serves the story as well.

The Meaning Of All The Young Dunk Flashbacks In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms

Image via HBO

The flashbacks of Dunk and Rafe serve a few purposes. Firstly, it’s worth noting where it begins: this is seemingly the Redgrass Field, where the final battle of the Blackfyre Rebellion took place and the Targaryens won a decisive victory against the Blackfyres, a conflict that both Baelor and Maekar Targaryen played a key role in. This was around 13 years before the events of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and the rebellion has been mentioned several times throughout the show so far (and will be in Seasons 2 and 3, based on the book), so this provides more of that important backdrop.

The flashbacks are also a means of showing us how Dunk, an orphan boy from Flea Bottom, came to find himself fighting against a Targaryen prince. It creates a key parallel with Dunk and Ser Arlan of Pennytree: the former rescued Dunk when he had no need to get involved, but did it because a knight protects the innocent.

Now, Ser Duncan carries on the legacy, fighting a battle he didn’t need to end up in, but did so because he was doing what was right and remembering a true knight’s vows. Likewise, there’s a clear connection between Dunk not being able to save Rafe, an innocent girl he cared about, and then making sure he saved Tanselle, an innocent woman he cared about.

This reminder of where Dunk is, and how much he lost to get here, fuels him in the fight, but so too does his experience in that environment. He may not be as skilled with a sword, but he knows how to fight dirty. When it comes down to him and Aerion having a good old-fashioned brawl in the mud, he has the advantage because he grew up fighting for his life in those kinds of environments. This is the kind of struggle he’s overcome before, so he knows he can find the strength to do it again, and it’s a neat expansion on a line from the book:

“He could vanquish Ser Duncan the Tall, but not Dunk of Flea Bottom. The old man had taught him jousting and swordplay, but this sort of fighting he had learned earlier, in shadowy wynds and crooked alleys behind the city’s winesinks. Dunk flung the battered shield away and wrenched up the visor of Aerion’s helm.”

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms’ Trial Of Seven Was Still Great

Image via HBO

There may be some consternation at the trial itself only being around 10 minutes of screen time, but it’s actually a perfect decision that fits with the show, and keeps the story focused exactly where it needs to be. You can argue for it showing a little more of the action going on around Dunk, but there’s a real sense of tension by keeping the attention so squarely on him. It makes the fight with Aerion feel more personal, and that gives it an incredible intensity that makes it so gripping to watch.

There’s nothing pretty about it, but that’s the point. This isn’t a battle won with fine swordplay or jousting skills, it’s pure survival instinct. It’s ugly, it’s gritty, it’s dirty, and it’s thrilling – the closest Game of Thrones equivalent is Brienne vs. the Hound in the Season 4 finale and, given Brienne is a descendent of Dunk (though we don’t know the specifics of how), that feels very fitting indeed.

Not seeing the ongoing battle also makes the final twist much more impactful. We have little idea of what’s been going on elsewhere on the battlefield, so it seems like Dunk’s victory is very much something to celebrate. That then allows for the reveal of Baelor Targaryen’s death, which wouldn’t have landed in the same way if we’d been able to clearly witness it as it happened. By combining the battle with the flashbacks, we get an episode that doesn’t lack for stellar action (and some of the POV shots through the visor are truly stunning), a battle that’s exciting and atmospheric, but also fantastic character work alongside it.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘ Season 1 finale releases on Sunday, February 22nd at 10 pm ET on HBO and HBO Max.

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