A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight takes place sometime between Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, but what can we expect to see in Westeros through that specific period of Targaryen reign?
Game of Thrones was an ambitious series. House of the Dragon could be even grander in terms of the overall conflict and how it’ll affect the future of Westeros. The two shows chose to cover the most important storylines of this fictional universe, one depicting the main series of books — which are as of yet unfinished — while the other dealt with the cataclysmic Targaryen civil war that had been hyped ever since the pilot episode in 2011.
To constantly have to play in the big league must have really wearied HBO, because for the third live-action television show set in Westeros, George R.R. Martin and the rest of his creative team are opting to go for something smaller, perhaps even more manageable considering the busy schedule of the Westerosi crew. The Tales of Dunk and Egg is what they’ve settled on, a story that’s otherwise known as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
When does A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms take place?
These three novellas follow the exploits of the legendary Ser Duncan the Tall. He starts his tale as a lowly commoner with high ambitions, and manages to realize some of those ambitions by becoming a knight and going on missions as a wandering adventurer. Accompanying him on this quest is an esquire called Egg, who is in secret Aegon V Targaryen, rightful heir to the Iron Throne. The bond these two develop in their journeys and the hardships they endure lead to one of the best character dynamics in all of the Seven Kingdoms, though it should be noted that they start on this path at a relatively troublesome period in history.
The Hedge Knight begins some 89 years before the events of Game of Thrones, which means that by the time the story passes the mantle to the Starks and the Lannisters, Ser Duncal the Tall will have been long dead.
At the same time, since the story officially starts in 209 AC, there won’t be anything linking it to House of the Dragon (which begins in 103 AC) and its characters. We’ll probably see the ramifications of the Dance of Dragons on the Targaryen dynasty, perhaps some cheeky references to their diminishing strength, but in the interest of not spoiling anything significant, The Hedge Knight will propably skirt around the most important details, like who dies and who lives by the end of the conflict.
In essence, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is here to bridge the gap between House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones, though how much the spinoff would rely on the continuity of the HBO live-action universe to tell its story is something that we’re just going to have to wait and find out for ourselves in the coming years.