Dunk And Egg's Entire Game Of Thrones Story Explained

If you watched "Game of Thrones," the massively successful HBO series adapted from George R.R. Martin's fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire" — and based on just how popular this show was, you probably did — you actually knew about Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Aegon V Targaryen without even realizing it. Ser Duncan is mentioned in Season 1 during one of Bran Stark's (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) bedtime stories, and in Season 4, the bastard king Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) reads some of Ser Duncan's accomplishments out of the White Book, which chronicles the deeds of the men in the Kingsguard of Westeros. As for Aegon, his brother Aemon Targaryen, portrayed by Peter Vaughan, is part of the Night's Watch alongside Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) and is the group's resident Maester. When he dies in Season 5, he has an imagined conversation with his younger brother, whom he lovingly calls "Egg."

All of this is to say that the legend of Ser Duncan and his squire Aegon, affectionally called "Dunk and Egg," has come to the small screen with the HBO spin-off "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," based on Martin's series of novellas titled "Tales of Dunk and Egg." So now that we know the legacy they leave behind, what's the entire story of Dunk and Egg — played on the series by Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell, respectively — in the "Game of Thrones" universe? Oh, obviously: massive spoilers ahead!

Before we get into the weeds about Dunk and Egg specifically, we need to discuss House Targaryen and its line of succession when the story of this hedge knight and his squire actually begins, which is in the neighborhood of 209 AC. (In the larger "Game of Thrones" universe, "AC" refers to "After the Conquest" — specifically, Aegon's Conquest, which essentially created the continent we now know as Westeros.) Though Daeron II Targaryen is king by the time Ser Duncan's story properly begins — we haven't seen him on-screen in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" as of this writing, meaning during the show's first season that aired in 2026 — he's the successor of Aegon IV Targaryen, and that guy is important.

See, Egg's great-grandfather Aegon IV was kind of a huge jerk, and Daeron was the only one of his kids who routinely resisted some of his father's worst impulses (like, say, attempting to invade Dorne for no reason). Because of this, Aegon started randomly musing about disowning Daeron entirely and ensuring that one of his many illegitimate children moved up in the line of succession, but when he died without managing to actually do that, Daeron became king. This was not, however, easy, thanks to a bastard named Daemon Blackfyre who tried and failed to challenge his half brother for the throne. Daemon lost and Daeron held onto the crown, but again, it's important to consider that the Targaryen line of succession was shaky at best around this time.

Now we get to the beginning of "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," where we watch as Duncan buries his former mentor, the Westerosi hedge knight Ser Arlan of Pennytree (played in flashbacks by Danny Webb). Like Ser Arlan, Duncan wants to be a "hedge knight" — which describes a knight who's not sworn to any one house, sort of like a freelance knight of some kind — and as such, he hops on his loyal steed Thunder, grabs the other two horses and Ser Arlan's leftover weapons, and heads to Ashford, located in the region known as the Reach. 

In Ashford, the seat of the aptly named House Ashford, Duncan hopes to enter a tournament — but in the meantime, he tries to fend off a young bald boy who introduces himself as Egg and hopes to be his squire. Even though Duncan is determined to make it on his own, Egg ends up swaying him, and by the end of the show's pilot, the two are cozy by a campside fire watching shooting stars, which Egg insists will bring good luck. Still, at this point, Duncan — who decides on the full name "Ser Duncan the Tall" for his hedge knighthood — has only agreed to let Egg work temporarily as a squire, giving the young boy a chance to prove himself.

As Egg quietly tries to learn how to be a better squire, Duncan begrudgingly agrees to teach the young boy basic tasks like sewing and cooking — and along the way, they gather a few allies. After a cheeky game of tug-of-war where both Dunk and Egg get involved, Dunk's new buddy Lyonel Baratheon (played perfectly by an impish Daniel Ings) starts believing that this knight might be able to prove himself in a tournament, and when Dunk sneaks into Ashford's castle and overhears a conversation between high-ranking Targaryen princes, Prince Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel) takes an interest and tells him he needs to get a shield with his own sigil on it. Encouraged but nervous, Dunk asks a local artisan named Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford), also a talented puppeteer, to paint a shield for him, a task she accepts.

All the while, the bond between Dunk and Egg just gets stronger and stronger. This is true of George R.R. Martin's novellas, of course, but watching Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell perform together is genuinely sort of magical; after a while, it becomes pretty clear that the two are inseparable. The tragedy that happens next definitely tests the bond between Dunk and Egg, but still, it proves that the duo have a basically unbreakable bond at this point.

Unfortunately, partway through "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," everything changes when Duncan royally (pun intended) ticks off Prince Aerion Targaryen, Egg's cruel brother played by Finn Bennett. (Again, as a reminder: at this point in the narrative, Dunk doesn't know Egg is a Targaryen at all, but just thinks he's a funny little bald kid named Egg.) When Aerion sees a puppet show that depicts the Targaryen symbol of a dragon in a way he finds distasteful (in that it's slain), he breaks Tanselle's fingers, and Duncan comes to her rescue. Unfortunately for Duncan, rescuing Tanzelle in this moment means beating up a Targaryen prince, and when Aerion gets his butt kicked, he wants Duncan to pay for his transgressions.

The only reason that Duncan is even allowed to live immediately after punching Aerion is because Egg reveals that he's Aegon Targaryen and demands that Duncan's life be spared; the problem is that Aerion demands a Trial of the Seven, forcing Duncan to assemble an army of seven to fight against Aerion's to prove his innocence. Though Egg's father Maekar Targaryen (Sam Spruell) offers his sword and shield to Aerion, Baelor switches camps and backs Duncan ... only to be fatally wounded in the trial. Though Duncan emerges victorious, losing Baelor is a massive loss for the Targaryen family, and what it means is that Maekar, the younger brother of Baelor, is back in the royal line of succession.

Remember how we said that the Targaryen dynasty is crucial to understanding Dunk and Egg's full story? Let's circle back to that. Sometime between 209 and 210 AC, a disease referred to in George R.R. Martin's books as the "Great Spring Sickness" came to Westeros, and it ravaged royals and peasants alike ... including Daeron II Targaryen, ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Because the sickness also kills Baelor's eldest sons and the heirs apparent, the princes Valarr and Matarys — and we briefly see Valarr in Season 1 of "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," where he's played by Oscar Morgan — Aerys I Targaryen, the second son of Daeron II, takes the throne. (Baelor was Daeron's eldest son, so issue passed through him, and then to his younger brother Aerys.)

How does Aerys I Targaryen do as king? After Daeron II — whose royal nickname was "Daeron the Good" — the standard was high, and Aerys was, according to various writings by Martin, just sort of aloof and odd. (In "The Sworn Sword," the second book in the "Tales of Dunk and Egg," there's a joke that Aerys would sooner bring a book into his bed than a wife.) Here's what you really need to know about Aerys, though: his heirs keep dying on him. Aerys' brother Rhaegal and Rhaegal's kids — twins and lovers Aelor and Aelora — all die before him, which means the throne passes to none other than Maekar Targaryen, Egg's dear old dad.

So what are Dunk and Egg up to while Egg's uncle Aerys I Targaryen is running the Seven Kingdoms? The two travel away from Ashford, which we see in the finale of "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," and if the show follows the trajectory of Martin's books, they'll likely stay in the Reach ... where they'll meet Ser Eustace Osgrey, to whom they pledge service. Alongside Eustace and his buddy Bennis of the Brown Shield — who also worked with Ser Arlan and Duncan before — the gang positions themselves against Rohanne Webber, the Lady of Coldmoat known as the "Red Widow," because she put a dam on their water supply from the Chequy River after Bennis was rude to her.

The funniest possible thing does, in fact, happen here ... which is that Dunk and his squire Egg work really hard to broker an uneasy peace between Rohanne and Eustace and it literally works too well, because the two end up getting married. Unfortunately for Duncan, who was grievously injured and nearly killed by Rohanne's chosen champion Ser Lucas Inchfield, he's not super thrilled about this news based on the fact that he fought an entire battle for Eustace against Rohanne, but he accepts it, and he and Dunk keep traveling onwards.

After dealing with Eustache and Rohanne, Dunk and Egg travel onwards to the riverlands of Westeros, and an ongoing theme by this point is that Dunk feels increasingly aligned with the Targaryen household despite still not officially declaring any sort of alliance as a knight. What happens in Whitewalls, though, changes everything. Basically, Dunk and Egg meet another hedge night, Jacob the Fiddler, who invites them to join him at the wedding between the Lord of Whitewalls, Ambrose Butterwell, to the daughter of Lord Frey of the Crossing. (Yes, that Frey family. At this point in the story, future villain Walder Frey, played by David Bradley on "Game of Thrones," is just a little kid.) Not only that, but the wedding tourney offers the prize of a dragon egg, so Duncan gets on board.

While he's there, though, Duncan does a major favor for House Targaryen when he sort of accidentally helps arrest Daemon Blackfyre, who's at the wedding to try and start another Blackfyre Rebellion to take the throne from the Targaryens. (The whole thing is wildly complicated and John the Fiddler is essentially a bad guy, to sum it all up.) Because Egg rings the alarm about the sheer number of Blackfyre allies at the wedding, Duncan, who enters the tourney as the "Gallows Knight," ends up backing a fellow knight named Ser Glendon Ball who defeats Daemon and also aids in his escape. This undeniably bonds Duncan to House Targaryen, and with Aegon on the cusp of becoming king himself, you can probably see where all of this is going.

So how does Aegon Targaryen, the squire known as "Egg," even become king in the first place? Well, when Maekar dies, his eldest son Daeron — who's dead by this point — only has two small children unable to rule, and so a council approaches the aforementioned Aemon Targaryen who becomes a Maester at the Wall with the Night's Watch. Aemon, as we know, turns the throne down and says it should go to his little brother "Egg," earning King Aegon V Targaryen the pretty unflattering nickname "Aegon the Unlikely." (To be fair, while it's not flattering, it's definitely correct.)

One of Aegon's first good moves as the new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms is that he makes Duncan a member of his Kingsguard, and ultimately, Duncan rises through the ranks of the storied organization and becomes its lord commander. Because Aegon married his wife Lady Betha Blackwood while he was still barely in the line of succession, he didn't get any pushback, but the two did go on to have some royal sons ... including a boy that Aegon named Duncan, presumably after his friend, who earned the nickname "Duncan the Small" (which we learn in "A Storm of Swords," the third book in "A Song of Ice and Fire."

Aegon's rule went okay, all things considered — though he was forced to quell a number of uprisings, he made sure that he kept the poorer denizens of Westeros, commonly referred to as the "smallfolk," well-fed whenever possible. So how did his reign end? In fire, which is honestly pretty on-the-nose for a Targaryen.

In 259 AC, Dunk and Egg are hanging out at Summerhall, a Targaryen palace located in a southern region of Westeros known as the Dornish Marches, when tragedy unexpectedly strikes. Within George R.R. Martin's writings, the context surrounding the fire at Summerhall is unfortunate but clear: Aegon, who's having trouble dealing with lords that want him to prioritize their needs over those of the smallfolk, wants to try and raise dragons from the proverbial dead to put more power and weight behind his rule as king. As he tries to put dragon eggs into a fire and get them to hatch — like Emilia Clarke's Daenerys Targaryen does in the Season 1 finale of "Game of Thrones" — the palace catches fire, and Egg, Dunk, and Prince Duncan Targaryen all die. Or do they?!

In a video interview with Decider, Dexter Sol Ansell got just a bit ahead of himself and may have shared information — that he says was provided by Martin himself — that's not yet public knowledge at all (or, potentially, not true). "I do know a bit about when Egg is trying to make dragons in the Summerhall and then there's a huge fire," Ansell told the interviewer when he was asked about Egg's full storyline. "And we know from George..."

Peter Claffey, who was sitting alongside Ansell for the interview, tried to interject saying they don't really know what's coming, but Ansell forged ahead. "We know Dunk survives but we don't know if Egg survives yet," he concluded. Again, we have no idea if that's true, but it definitely plants a big seed of doubt about how the tragedy of Summerhall turns out.

Here's the best part about "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" and its future trajectory — the show is set to return for a second season in 2027 based on "A Sworn Sword," and showrunner Ira Parker has an amazing idea for an even more involved future. As he told TheWrap, he wants to mimic the way Richard Linklater shot "Boyhood," meaning that he returns to this story over the years and lets the actors age along with it. As he said:

"I would love to make 12 of these. I'd like to do four with Egg the boy, four with Egg the Prince and four with Egg the king — but do them every 10 years. So do a pocket, Peter and Dexter can go off, have their careers, everybody goes and then in ten years we'll come back and we'll do another four of these. Just chart them through their whole life, because they do have such interesting lives. It does marry up with the flagship show so well at the end."

Though Parker said he also worried that the show might not get this opportunity, he's fine with that. "Honestly, there's a decent chance we do just two of these and that's it. And people say, this isn't the 'Game of Thrones' that we love," he admitted. "There's a decent chance we do three of them, and we just say, 'OK, thank you very much.' But I love these two so much, so we'll see." So far, the show is great, and Parker's plan sounds phenomenal ... and for now, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" is streaming on HBO Max.