“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is HBO’s latest spinoff series that fleshes out the sprawling fantasy world created by George R. R. Martin.
The new show, which premieres on Sunday, is set in peacetime Westeros about a century before the first events of “Game of Thrones” — long before Jaime Lannister killed the Mad King Aerys, ousting the Targaryens from power and triggering a war for the Iron Throne.
However, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is not the oldest Westerosi tale that’s been brought to screen. It takes place several generations after “House of the Dragon,” another prequel series focused on the Targaryen dynasty, which is heading into its third season later this year.
Keep reading for a breakdown of where these three series fit on a timeline and how the main characters are connected.
Warning: Light spoilers ahead for the George R.R. Martin book, “Fire and Blood.”
‘House of the Dragon’ tells the story of a Targaryen civil war
“House of the Dragon” is adapted from “Fire and Blood,” a fictional history book about the Targaryen family, sourced from various scholars and firsthand accounts that often contradict one another.
The show focuses on a particularly fraught and bloody period in Targaryen history known as the Dance of the Dragons.
At the beginning of season one, King Viserys I sits on the Iron Throne. He canonically ruled from 103 AC to 129 AC during a peaceful and prosperous time in Westeros. (The abbreviation AC denotes “after conquest,” meaning the number of years after Aegon I conquered the realm and became the first Targaryen king.)
After the deaths of his wife and newborn son, Viserys broke with patriarchal traditions and named his firstborn daughter, Rhaenyra, as his successor. However, Viserys later remarried and had more children with his second wife, Alicent Hightower.
Upon his death, a civil war broke out between Rhaenyra and Alicent’s eldest son, Aegon II, both of whom believed they should ascend to the throne. The war was fought between 129 AC and 131 AC.
At this point in history, many of the royal Targaryens were dragon riders, meaning their armed conflicts were particularly deadly — for the humans, of course, but in a war between kin, for the dragons too.
“House of the Dragon” season three will continue to explore the escalating violence between the half-siblings and their factions. The showrunners plan to wrap up with season four, and viewers will discover which Targaryen ends up on the Iron Throne — and whose lineage continues to rule Westeros for generations to come.
‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ introduces Rhaenyra’s descendants
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” season one is adapted from “The Hedge Knight,” a novella set in 209 AC, nearly eight decades after the Targaryen civil war ended.
It’s the first in a trio of novellas about Dunk, the titular hedge knight, and his young squire, Egg.
Dunk is not a land owner, let alone a lord or a dragon-riding royal. He’s an orphan from Flea Bottom — the poorest area of King’s Landing — who was raised by Ser Arlan of Pennytree, serving as his squire. The pair did not have a permanent home, but rather roamed Westeros offering their services.
While the new HBO show and its source material both focus predominantly on Dunk and other common folk, a few characters with familiar surnames help place the story in time.
At a jousting tournament in Ashford Meadow, Dunk crosses paths with Prince Baelor Targaryen, heir to the Iron Throne and Hand of the King.
Baelor is the great-great-grandson of Queen Rhaenyra and her husband-slash-uncle, Prince Daemon. (There’s a lot of incest in the Targaryen lineage. It’s best not to dwell on it.)
Dunk meets other members of the royal family at the tournament, including Baelor’s son, Valarr; Baelor’s younger brother, Maekar; and Maekar’s second son, Aerion.
This is an awkward time in history for the Targaryens. Although the family still holds its seat of power in Westeros, it no longer has dragons. The population was severely diminished by the civil war, and over time, dragon eggs stopped hatching.
Aegon I and his sisters conquered Westeros using dragons, and House Targaryen’s connection to the magical beasts helped legitimize their claim to power — as if they were ordained to rule by divine right. Without dragons, the family lacks firepower, both symbolically and literally.
Not to mention, their history of incest has led to a phenomenon known as Targaryen Madness. Some of them turn out to be disproportionately, inexplicably cruel. As Cersei Lannister later says, “Every time a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin.”
In “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” we see how the common folk have begun to question the royals. Raymun Fossoway, a squire whom Dunk meets in Ashford Meadow, privately describes the Targaryens as “incestuous aliens, blood magickers, and tyrants.”
“They find themselves finally without the thing that put them in power, which is such a precarious position to be in,” showrunner Ira Parker explained to Entertainment Weekly. “Fifty years on from the dragons, people are starting to ask the question, ‘Well, why are we still letting them be in power?'”
‘Game of Thrones’ season one is set about 100 years after Dunk and Egg’s first adventure
“Game of Thrones” begins with King Robert Baratheon on the Iron Throne.
House Baratheon managed to seize power from House Targaryen in 283 AC following Robert’s Rebellion, sometimes known as the War of the Usurper. By the time the show begins, about 17 years into Robert’s reign, there are only a few Targaryens left alive.
The oldest is Aemon, who’d long ago renounced his royal title to become a maester. He’s Maekar’s third son and Aerion’s older brother, though he never appears in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” Viewers finally meet Aemon at Castle Black when Jon Snow joins the Night’s Watch.
Maekar’s great-great-grandkids, Daenerys and Viserys, are living in exile in Essos following their father’s murder.
It’s later revealed in season seven (spoiler alert!) that Jon Snow is a Targaryen as well. He’s the long-lost son of Daenerys’ other brother, Rhaegar, and Ned Stark’s sister, Lyanna. (Yes, that means Daenerys is Jon’s aunt.)
One of Dunk’s descendants also appears in ‘Game of Thrones’
“The Hedge Knight” begins with Ser Arlan’s death, leaving Dunk to make a new life for himself. He begins introducing himself as Ser Duncan the Tall and adopts a personal sigil for his shield: an elm tree and a shooting star at sunset.
In Martin’s main book series, Brienne of Tarth recalls seeing a similar shield in her father’s armory, leading fans to speculate that Dunk is Brienne’s ancestor.
Martin confirmed this theory in 2016 at a sci-fi and fantasy convention in Baltimore. In his writing, he has also described both characters using the same phrase: “Thick as a castle wall.”
In addition to their hulking frames, Dunk and Brienne are both renowned for their loyalty and honor. Brienne became a fan-favorite character in “Game of Thrones” after swearing her allegiance to Lady Catelyn Stark, an oath that sends her on a quest to find and protect Catelyn’s daughter, Sansa.
Despite the rampant sexism she faces as an unfeminine woman in Westeros, Brienne perseveres and forms important bonds. She’s rewarded in the final season of “Game of Thrones,” when she’s officially knighted by Jaime Lannister. She ends the show as Lady Commander of the Kingsguard.
Attentive fans will know that Dunk had a similar rise. Despite his lack of wealth and status, he’s still remembered a century later in “Game of Thrones” season four, when Joffrey is thumbing through a written history of the Kingsguard. “Four pages for Ser Duncan,” Joffrey says. “He must have been quite a man.”
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