How Many Episodes In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms: Finale 'The Morrow' Unpacks Maekar, Dunk and Egg
The question how many episodes in a knight of the seven kingdoms is answered by a six-episode first season that closes with the finale "The Morrow, " a chapter that rewrites Dunk and Egg’s relationship and leaves Prince Maekar’s actions at the center of the fallout.
How Many Episodes In A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms
Season one runs six episodes, ending with episode six, "The Morrow. " The finale ties together the jousting at Ashford Meadow, a Trial of Seven, and a flashback that throws Dunk’s knighthood into doubt, while also forcing Prince Maekar Targaryen to confront a fatal turning point for his family.
Maekar’s fatal blow and the Trial of Seven
At Ashford Meadow, Maekar and his son Aerion discover that Aegon and Daeron did not arrive at the tourney as scheduled. A confrontation escalates after Aerion assaults a puppeteer and Ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall (Peter Claffey) clashes with Aerion. Aegon (Dexter Sol Ansell) intervenes on behalf of Dunk; the drunken Daeron then appears nearby and falsely accuses Dunk of kidnapping his youngest brother.
Aerion challenges Dunk to a "trial of seven, " in which the accused and accuser each recruit six champions for combat. Prince Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel), heir to the Iron Throne and Maekar’s more popular older brother, joins Dunk’s side. After a hard-fought battle, Dunk compels Aerion to withdraw his accusation and then bends the knee to Baelor—moments before Baelor unexpectedly drops dead from a fatal head wound that he received at the hand of Maekar.
Maekar insists the Gods know it was an accident. Actor Sam Spruell, who plays Maekar, called the prince "so susceptible to self-delusion" and said invoking the Gods is "very handy" for rulers who want absolution. "Kings and rulers of lands have been doing that for years, saying, ‘Well, God thinks I’m innocent, ’ when clearly they’re guilty, " Spruell said, calling it "a very good depiction of corrupt power. "
Dunk’s knighthood flashback and the Arlan scene
The finale includes a flashback to Dunk’s recent past as a squire for Ser Arlan of Pennytree. In that scene Arlan is propped against a tree, pale, babbling and apparently dying; Dunk asks, "Why did you never knight me? Did you think I'd leave you? I wouldn't have. Or was it something else?" He receives no answer. That flashback is filmed on the same hillside where Dunk later buries Arlan's body.
Book readers have long suspected Dunk of lying about being knighted. Dunk has told people that Arlan knighted him just before Arlan died, with "only a robin, up in a thorn tree" to bear witness. When Dunk tries to enter the jousting tournament at Ashford Meadow, he is told to find a lord or another knight to vouch for him; no one can verify his claim and hardly anyone remembers Arlan existed. The show drops subtle hints across season one that Dunk might only have been a squire.
Moments that test Dunk’s identity
From the premiere onward the series presses on Dunk’s uncertainty: when he first meets Egg, the boy flatly tells him, "You don't look to be a knight. " In episode four, Raymun Fossoway asks to be knighted so he can fight in Dunk’s Trial of Seven; Lyonel Baratheon urges, "Go on, Ser Duncan. Any knight can make a knight. " Dunk still does not draw his sword. The finale and prior episodes offer possible reasons for that hesitation—he might not want his friend to die, he might not know the words for the ceremony, or he might fear risking Raymun's honor—and the context is unclear in the provided context on which reason is definitive.
Maekar’s offer, Summerhall and family pressure
Acting on Egg’s fondness for Dunk, Maekar offers Dunk a home at Summerhall where Dunk could train Egg as his squire and finish his own training under the castle’s master-at-arms. Dunk, citing royal exhaustion, rejects the offer and later asks to take Aegon on the road with him. Maekar refuses to let his royal blood live like a "peasant. " A fragment in the provided context reads: "[Aegon] is his last chance to have an heir that’s worth anythin"—the line cuts off and is unclear in the provided context.
Sam Spruell’s casting follows an indelible turn on Fargo season five; he also appeared in a couple of episodes of Dune: Prophecy, which he shot before his portrayal of a "500-year-old sin-eater" on Fargo. The original coverage of the season-one finale included subscription prompts reading "Subscribe for full access".
The season was adapted from George R. R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg and was widely praised; the finale contains two scenes that do not exist in Martin’s novella The Hedge Knight, and those new moments have major implications for Dunk and Egg’s future. Ira Parker, the showrunner, said he wanted the Arlan scene to be open to interpretation and noted that much of the exposition about whether Dunk was knighted lives in Dunk’s internal thoughts—"it's just like, what else could he be thinking of?" Parker said, adding that it's "not said in black and white. "
An unrelated site error in the context carried the line, "Short and stout, this is my handle, this is my spout. "
The series closes season one with "The Morrow. " The only forward checkpoint referenced in the provided context is whether Prince Maekar will return for season two; the context states Sam Spruell "answers whether or not his Prince Maekar Targaryen will return for season two, " but the provided context is unclear on what that answer is.
