The Mystery Knight (Part 1)

Greetings fellow acolytes. Welcome to another episode of The Westerosi Primer. My name is Liz. If you’re new to this podcast, welcome! I hope you enjoy this journey of all things Westeros. And in this episode, I’ll be talking about The Tales of Dunk and Egg. In this case it is the third of the three released stories titled “The Mystery Knight.”

Originally I had planned to just do one episode like I did with the other novellas. However as I worked on the script for “The Mystery Knight,” I realized there was way too much to talk about. That’s why I decided to split the script into two episodes. So congrats everyone instead of just doing 10 episodes, this will be an 11 episode season! I picked out a logical stopping point in my story recapping and I’ll be continuing the rest of the novellas next week!

As I’ve been reminding listeners, I am running a very important survey. I’d like more of you listeners to participate. Let your voices be heard! You can help me pick the concept for a future season of the podcast. There are currently 5 choices you can choose from. So far there has only been 1 response voting for me discussing book theories that you show watchers don’t know about. Whether you agree or disagree with that vote, fill out the survey and let me know what you would like me to talk about next. The survey will be up until February 22. I’ll be announcing the results on February 25, which is the reaction to the tv show finale. After that episode airs, I’ll be going on another hiatus.

As I mentioned in the previous 2 episodes, the first story George wrote was released in 1998 as part of an anthology titled “Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy.” In the last episode I talked about “The Sworn Sword,” which was published in 2013 as a part of “Legends II: New Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy.” And this time, I’m talking about the third story, “The Mystery Knight,” which was part of the anthology “Warriors” in 2010. “Warriors” was co-edited by George R.R. Martin.

Now that you know a bit about the publishing history of the novellas, let’s get into the basic plot. The second half of the episode I’ll be talking about some of the context of the story’s events and some thoughts I had about the story.

Our favorite duo is leaving Stoney Sept. By now Egg is riding a horse named Rain instead of Maester. Maester is now just used to help them carry their belongings. As they ride, they see a head on a spike. Dunk recognizes the head is a septon he had seen street preaching days before. The septon was speaking out against Bloodraven and advocated for the Blackfyres. Why? The septon believes they were better than a puppet king controlled by Bloodraven. By this point you should have already gotten the idea that’s a bad idea to be openly stating based on the last novella. It’s especially bad if you know the whole story about the Blackfyres.

The wandering duo continues traveling when Egg complains a bit. Why can’t they stop at an inn for the night? Dunk says he wants to save as much money as possible. Egg says he could use his boot to help them out. Given how there are people now openly saying pro-Blackfyre things, it’s probably not a good idea to potentially show off that ring again. Then they hear the sound of horses heading towards them. They try to hide in the bushes quite literally when they’re told to come out.

They get accused of being bandits. Dunk turns around and argues that they’re the ones who outnumber him and Egg. They could have been a party of bandits. Dunk had to buy a new shield at Stoney Sept. It replaces the one that Ser Lucas Inchfield smashed up in the previous story. Dunk notes that he didn’t have time to get the shield repainted and it has the image of a hanging man on it. The shield is what makes the party of men even more suspicious of Dunk. There’s this back and forth by the head of the group referred to as “Gormy.” The man referred to as “Gormy” has a sigil with three castles on it.

A younger man with black hair approaches from the back of the party to find out the cause of the delay. There’s more bantering about who Dunk is and whether or not he’s a bandit. It’s kind of comedic and silly if I’m being honest. A snarky boastful knight referred to as Alyn is pretty insulting and arrogant. The black haired man is far more polite and asks Dunk if he’s also heading to the wedding. What wedding you might be wondering. Well we’re about to find out of course!

Dunk replies that he and his squire were just heading off to a ferry. The black haired knight says his name is John the Fiddler and claims to be a hedge knight too. He explains he and his party are off to a place called Whitewalls. It’s the home of Lord Ambrose Butterwell and he’s getting married. Naturally there’s a tourney to celebrate the wedding and they’re off to celebrate and fight. Ser John tries to persuade Dunk to come along though the man called Gormy just replies Dunk has his own travels to get to.

Ser John handwaves this and just says he’d love to have a chance to cross swords with Dunk. He’s being super chatty trying to get to know Dunk. Dunk is asked if he got his height from his father and Dunk just replies he never knew his father. John replies “Mine own sire was taken from me too soon.” There’s a whole conversation where John really wants Dunk to come along. He’s of the opinion that Dunk’s size could be highly useful to them, whatever that means. “Gormy” and Alyn are highly dismissive of this idea. Ultimately John can’t get Dunk to come along and they part.

Dunk is honestly relieved about not joining them and so am I. Basically everyone except John is a jerk to Dunk. Not a pleasant time. And there’s just something weird about this group. In fact I’ll discuss this more in the next episode. As soon as the group are gone, Dunk and Egg talk about the group. More importantly Dunk is quizzing Egg trying to figure out who these lords are since they have sigils. Ser John’s sigil is unknown to Egg. Not too surprising that Egg would have knowledge of sigils. It’s standard education for nobles to learn about the sigils of other houses. It’s especially important for a prince to know this stuff.

Dunk then wonders if “Gormy” is a Frey since House Frey has castle towers on their shields. However Egg points out the Frey sigil is two towers with a bridge connecting them. The shield in question is three castles black on orange. Egg states the man was Gormon Peake, the Lord of Starpike. Dunk is wondering if the Peakes really have 3 castles. Egg said they used to and now only have one. Dunk wonders how a lord loses two castles and Egg replies when you fight for the wrong dragon. Conveniently, we get a reminder of what the Blackfyre rebellion is about. We also get a reminder of Redgrass Field, which ended the Rebellion. Hm… there can’t possibly be a reason why George wrote about this again. Nope!

As I mentioned in a previous episode, Arlan’s previous squire was his own nephew. Arlan never really wanted to talk about Redgrass Field. However one time, Arlan was drunk and talked about how his nephew died. Young Roger was killed by a mace wielding lord with three castles on his shield. It can be presumed that Gormon Peake killed the squire. Dunk’s inner monologue tells us that it’s been 16 years since the battle happened.

Dunk wonders where Whitewalls is located. Egg explains the castle is on the other side of the lake. They were actually planning to take a ferry to cross the lake and get to the Kingsroad. Dunk thinks to himself that maybe they should make a pitstop at the castle for this wedding feast. They would be able to get a stop to eat and rest. He might even try competing in this tourney after all. He fantasizes about defeating Gormon Peake and forcing the man to pay him ransom on Arlan’s behalf. Egg questions this idea and Dunk argues they may as well go. They would need to ride by the castle anyway.

They try to catch the ferry, but find out it already left and won’t start again until the morning. Ser John and company were on the last ferry to leave. Dunk wants to get a room at the nearby inn, but he’s shooed off. He’s travel dusty and looks like possible criminal like Lord Gormon thought he was. The innkeeper tells him there are some hedge knights camping by the lake before shutting the door in his face.

Dunk and Egg find them easily enough since they already started a small cookfire by the lake. They all introduce themselves. There’s a trio of hedge knights. They are: Ser Kyle aka The Cat of the Misty moor, Ser Glendon Ball, and Ser Maynard Plumm. Egg eagerly asks if Maynard is related to Viserys Plumm. The man claims to be a distant relative, but Viserys would probably not admit to the connection.

If you didn’t listen to the episodes from last season, you might be wondering why would Egg be interested in this. Viserys Plumm is the son of Princess Elaena Targaryen. How does she fit in the Targaryen family tree? She’s the youngest sister of King Daeron I and King Baelor. She’s also the first cousin of Aegon IV. Egg is the grandson of Daeron II, who is the son of Aegon IV. There is some indication that Princess Elaena was still around at court throughout the years. So it’s quite likely Egg has interacted with her on a few occasions.

This group of five have a modest dinner together and basically gossip. Lord Butterwell had three sons. He sent one son to fight for Daemon and one son to fight for Daeron just to make sure his family will win no matter which son of Aegon the unworthy is on the iron throne. Of course both of those sons die and the third son died in the Great Spring sickness. Now Butterwell has to remarry and hope for a son. It’s indicated that his bride is a Frey. They sarcastically refer to him as “lord of cows” and his new in-laws as toll collectors. Clearly, none of them are overly impressed with Lord Ambrose Butterwell. In particular Glendon isn’t impressed. Some of his dialogue gave me the impression he probably would have sided with Daemon Blackfyre.

The conversation continues and they explain aside from money, the prize for the tourney winner is a dragon’s egg! Obviously Dunk and we readers are wondering how the heck does Butterwell have a dragon’s egg. Unsurprisingly the Targaryens refuse to allow people not part of their family to have dragons or the eggs. It doesn’t matter that dragons are extinct now, it’s the principle of the thing.

The gossip says that the reason why Butterwell has an egg is because it was gifted to his grandfather by Aegon IV. At some point, Aegon IV had been traveling and stayed at Whitewalls. Technically the egg was a thank you gift for hosting him, which is absurd. It was also said that Aegon slept with Grandfather Butterwell’s three virgin daughters and allegedly they all got pregnant. So the egg could have been a bribe or a low key insult like paying for sex. Regardless it’s a pretty ridiculous situation. If you haven’t listened to my episode about Aegon IV, you should. You’d hear exactly why that King Aegon is known as Aegon the Unworthy.

The three knights are hoping to do well in the tourney and win prize money. Maybe they will get a job offer serving a lord. Dunk meanwhile is interested in heading to Winterfell and offering his services to Beron Stark, who is the lord of Winterfell at this point in time. Not too different from what happens decades later with Balon Greyjoy, his ancestor Dagon Greyjoy is leading a lot of raiding along the west coast. The Westerlands, Riverlands, and the North are dealing with the raids. This was actually referenced in The Sworn Sword.

Dunk’s fellow hedge knights debate about the Targaryens. They’re not too impressed with the Targaryens and their lack of action regarding the Ironborn. It is a serious problem when people from one kingdom is pillaging and attacking another part of the kingdom. It does seem like every few years there are problems with the Ironborn. The crown doesn’t do much unless a certain line gets crossed. They’re especially not impressed with how Bloodraven is ignoring the situation.

It’s a pretty well known fact that Aerys I isn’t much of a king. It’s not that he’s a bad man, but he’s a king who has little interest in actual ruling. He’s more of a scholar like his father Daeron II. However unlike his father, Aerys’s academic interests don’t really lend themselves to practical implementation of said knowledge. He’s more interested in esoteric things like prophecies and magic. He mostly leaves his Hand Bloodraven to do most of the work. Which is why in the last couple of episodes, we have grumblings about Bloodraven. There is suspicion that the king is his puppet. Rather than dealing with more immediate problems like these raids, Bloodraven is more focused on the Blackfyres and Bittersteel. In the off chance you don’t know who the Blackfyres, Bloodraven, or Bittersteel are, just listen to season 2 of this podcast.

The trio bring up the speculation that not only is Bloodraven pretty suspicious, but they also opine on the rest of house Targaryen. I’m going to be curious to see how they film this in Season three of the TV show. Egg is probably struggling not to react to people dragging his family like this. So far it’s not likely Aerys will have kids because he’s so interested in books, he probably has zero sex drive. There’s no evidence he’s technically consummated his marriage to his wife. This means when he dies his brother Rhaegel is his heir.

The problem with Rhaegel is he’s got very erratic behavior and he’s considered insane. Rhaegel has young children, who would need regents if something happened to their father. Maekar is the youngest of King Daeron’s children. Rhaegel and his children aren’t remotely considered as the next kings after Aerys because they’re probably going to have a Hand doing the ruling. There are speculations of a fight for the throne between Bloodraven and Maekar, who doesn’t like Bloodraven much either. When they speculate the chance of Maekar possibly killing Rhaegel’s kids in a bid for the throne, Egg protests this. Dunk manages to prevent Egg from talking too much.

[mid-roll]

The next day, they are waiting for the ferry to run again. Problem is a bunch of nobles are trying to cross and they love to use their privilege to get ahead on lines over regular people. A huge delay is caused by two lords with a lot of belongings and followers arguing who should go first. Egg complains he has his boot and could help them cross the lake before everyone. Dunk tells him not to even think about it. Egg observes how the arguing lords Costayne and Shawney were Blackfyre supporters.

As they wait on this endless line, Dunk thinks about how it would be pretty neat to see a dragon’s egg in person. He proposes to Egg perhaps they could take a side trip to the wedding feast. Egg explains he actually has a dragon egg and so does his brothers and cousins. Dunk is really reminded of the fact his squire is a prince of the realm. Egg talks about how he and his brother Aemon would fantasize about their eggs actually hatching. Egg tells him about how Daeron dreamt of the dragons returning. Aerys is also reading about different prophecies. Dunk isn’t so sure dragons returning would be a good thing. Of course there is a question to be answered, why would Butterwell give away a dragon’s egg as a tourney prize? Dragon’s eggs are worth a lot of money for the fact most people can’t own one.

Ser Glendon Ball claims that his father was Quentyn Ball aka Fireball. Age wise, it’s possible Glendon could be his son considering the rebellion was 16 years earlier. However there’s a glaring problem with this. Lord Butterwell’s steward is openly stating that it’s impossible for this random hedge knight to be that man’s son.

In the briefest explanation, Ser Quentyn Ball was the master-at-arms in the Red Keep when Aegon IV was king. In fact he personally trained, Daemon Blackfyre, Bittersteel, Bloodraven, and Daeron’s sons. He was promised the next open spot on the Kingsguard. When the spot opened, Daeron gave the position to someone else for reasons unexplained. Quentyn Ball joined Bittersteel in convincing Daemon to fight for the throne, but he also died during the rebellion.

You might be wondering why Glendon’s claims are a problem. Ser Quentyn was married and he actually pressured his wife into joining the silent sisters. He did that so he could be eligible for the white cloak. The problem is they had no children. This leads to a major question of this kid’s identity. Glendon nearly drew his sword when another knight named Kirby Pimm steps in and said something out of Dunk’s earshot. This apparently helped Glendon get in, but he’s red in the face in embarrassment. I’m sure some of you listeners might be wondering, why am I mentioning this detail. The answer is you’ll find out in the next episode!

The group of hedge knights are allowed in, but Egg isn’t because he’s a squire. Squires have to eat in the outside court area. Dunk warns Egg to be careful and not be too mouthy. He’s at risk of getting into a fight with people larger and stronger than him. While I get why Dunk is worried for Egg, I think the one who needs to watch himself is Glendon. He complains about where he’s sitting in the hall trying to use privilege. The understeward he’s complaining to couldn’t care less. He points out a large chunk of people in the hall have some kind of title. Glendon is really not in a position to complain if no one else is.

Dunk and his new acquaintances sit at the table they’re assigned to and greet their new eating companions. One of them is another knight called Uthor Underleaf. Dunk has been making note of the interior of the castle. It’s pretty much screaming “I have a lot of money” with descriptions of Myrish carpets and marble, etc. As a side note, Myrish carpets are supposed to be really expensive luxury goods. It’s probably the equivalent of how carpets from the Middle East have historically been luxury goods in Europe.

We have a small procession of the guests of honor entering the hall. Of course Lord Butterwell enters with his bride and her Frey relatives. One of the Freys that enters is a boy about 4 years old. It’s not explicitly stated in the novella, but George confirmed this kid is young Walder Frey. Yes the same Walder Frey who is the creepy old man with 8 wives and more children and grandchildren than one really needs.

Uthor must have been at the castle grounds for a while since he provides commentary on some of the favorites attending the wedding. Knights competing in the tourney would want to get a feel who their competitors are. He mentions that a top contender is Lord Butterwell’s son-in-law Black Tom Heddle. As they are still chatting, John the Fiddler approaches their table. He asks if he can basically hang out with them. He claims he was seated at the dais, but preferred to be around other hedge knights. I really wanted to snort when I read the part about Glendon telling John “Your boasting is unseemly.” That’s pretty rich of him when he’s been boasting about himself this whole time.

Dunk has been eating and drinking for a while now. So naturally you need to relieve yourself. But of course this is a medieval-esque place, which means just go outside and find a bush. He goes off and finds a convenient bush to pee at. While he does his business he hears two men talking. The mention of “Bittersteel” really catches his and the reader’s attention. It sounds like there’s some sort of plan being executed that Bittersteel isn’t involved with.

A man that Dunk doesn’t know seems to be unimpressed with something. The other man, who Dunk realizes is Lord Peake, says Bittersteel likely will make a move once this plan succeeds. The other man is skeptical and says that people expect “the boy” to have victories to prove himself. Having a charming personality won’t convince anyone. Peake is convinced that a dragon would impress people and “the prince insists the egg will hatch. He dreamed it, just as he once dreamed his brothers dead.”

It’s pretty clear to a reader whose been paying attention that Peake and this other person are talking about a Blackfyre. This is especially obvious when Bloodraven’s name comes up and the other guy is questioning Peake if “he is his father’s son.” There’s apparently another Blackfyre conspiracy happening involving one of Daemon’s surviving sons. But it’s implied Bittersteel, one of the most important people in the Blackfyre camp, isn’t involved.

Well people have called Dunk kind of dumb because unlike the reader, Dunk hasn’t quite pieced that together. Or maybe he’s been drinking too much at the feast. He thinks they’re talking about Glendon being possibly Ser Quentyn Ball’s son. This isn’t even me being rude when I say he’s kind of dumb. Even Dunk tells us in his inner monologues how people tell him he’s pretty clueless. This is just one example. He’s literally stumbled into a Blackfyre conspiracy happening and doesn’t get it. He doesn’t really have Arya’s excuse of being a child with no knowledge of stuff. There’s been grumbling all around him for months of people second guessing the Targaryens. I’ll be generous and say he’s just drunk and his brain has dulled majorly.

When Dunk gets back, it’s just a lot of wild partying at this point. His new friends share some interesting bit of gossip. Apparently snot-nosed Walder Frey is partially the reason why this marriage is taking place. Basically like a typical nosy kid, he saw his sister sneak around and followed her. She went to the kitchen where she was having teen sex with a kitchen servant. He shouted in confusion as to what was going on, which attracted a lot of attention. And in a medieval-type society, she’s considered used goods. The only type of man willing to marry a girl like her is a much older man desperate to find a young woman for heirs. This just brings up the question again, why offer a valuable dragon egg as a prize?

Soon it’s the call for the bedding ceremony, which literally is the party goers picking up the bride and groom and taking them up to their marital bed. Dunk wound up being the one to literally carry the bride to the bedroom. When he places her on the bed, he notices the dragon egg. It’s described as being red with gold and black scattered. This is a detail I’ll be discussing towards the end of the episode.

Dunk reaches out to touch the egg in fascination. An angry man yells at him to leave the egg alone. It’s then Dunk realizes this man yelling at him is the one Peake was speaking to, but Dunk doesn’t know who it is. Dunk heads outside to get some air. He’s feeling pretty low.

John the Fiddler finds Dunk and starts chit chatting with him a bit. John explains that he saw Dunk in a dream, which is why he recognizes Dunk. Dunk is reminded of Prince Daeron saying he’s seen Dunk in a dream before. John tells him that he dreamt of Dunk wearing white. In other words, Dunk will become a member of the Kingsguard. Dunk scoffs at this since he thinks of some day marrying. Not to mention common born men like him never get picked to be in the Kingsguard. John replies “I suppose that means I’ll have to take the throne then.” If you didn’t already figure out who “John” is, this should tell you something.

John further explains he also had a dream of an egg hatching. This really triggers warning bells in Dunk’s head as this matches that conversation he overheard. Clearly Peake and the other man were talking about John. Dunk wants to leave because he’s spooked and weirded out. John is really interested in Dunk and wants Dunk to join him. He clearly believes that seeing a vision of Dunk in white is a sign that Dunk will be a white cloak. A pretender to the throne would want someone apparently destined to be a Kingsguard siding with him.

Peake arrives looking for John. He tells John that he should go get some rest since tomorrow was the start of the jousting. Once John leaves Peake threatens Dunk to keep his mouth shut about his conversation with John or else. Dunk goes off to find Egg and sees that Egg has set up their tent in the castle grounds along with other people. Instead of sleeping, Egg is still awake and he’s flipping through a book of sigils. As a reminder that Egg is a sharper character than Dunk, Egg is confirming his suspicions that this is a gathering of Blackfyre supporters.

Dunk refuses to recognize what’s literally right under his nose or he’s just super drunk. Or maybe he’s honestly dumber than Egg in some respects. You can decide. He simply believes that because Daemon Blackfyre is dead, there won’t be any more rebellions. That’s utterly ignorant because Daemon has a bunch of kids including sons. There’s plenty of grumbling against the Targaryens since the first novella. So there’s bound to be another Blackfyre rebellion again as long as there are Blackfyres around.

Dunk notices that Egg has a bruise. Egg explains he got into a fight with another squire because the other kid called his father a kinslayer. Or rather called Maekar a kinslayer. Dunk tells Egg to make sure he’s registered for the jousting, but under the alias “Gallows Knight” considering the shield he’s currently using. Egg does as told, but he’s not too thrilled about this.

[mid-roll]

Before I end this episode, here are a few things I wanted to explain and bring to your attention. Beron Stark is obviously an ancestor of the Starks we know in Game of Thrones. For some context, Beron is the grandson of Cregan Stark. In fact Beron Stark is an ancestor of Ned’s on both sides of his family. Beron had seven children with his wife, Lorra Royce. Ned’s father Rickard is a great grandson of Beron through his son Willam Stark. Meanwhile Ned’s mother was Lyarra Stark, who was Beron’s granddaughter through his son Rodrik. Which means Ned’s parents are first cousins, once removed.

Regarding the egg, George describes what the egg looks like. There have been speculations about the origin of Daenerys’s eggs decades later. Some have suggested this “Butterwell” egg is one of them. House of the Dragon suggests the eggs were from Syrax. However it can’t be the Butterwell egg. One of the many flaws of Game of Thrones is that Daenerys’s dragons look pretty similar to each other. The books clearly describe Drogon as being black with some red highlights. This also matches the coloring of his egg. Rhaegal is green with some bronze coloring, and Viserion is cream and gold highlights. Incidentally, if you listeners participate in the survey, I may discuss this more if you vote for book theories.

We get another reminder that the Targaryens are in a very weak position not only among the nobles, but even among the common people. This is an observation that has come up through all three novellas. If George ever writes more Dunk and Egg stories, this is something that will come up again through those stories as well.

If you listeners didn’t already figure it out, this is the early stages of another Blackfyre rebellion. The clues are all there. And we can assume that John is a Blackfyre based on the clues. If you haven’t read the books, this is the sort of fun you get when you read the novels in A Song of Ice and Fire. It’s really well done storytelling that’s engaging and you also play detective trying to figure out what is really going on beneath the surface.

It's not a huge plot point, but there is a bit of a mystery with Glendon Ball. He’s claiming to be the son of Quentyn Ball. It’s strange to me that he would openly claim ties with one of Daemon Blackfyre’s strongest supporters. Or maybe it’s a reflection of how people are starting to care less about antagonizing the Targaryens, especially Bloodraven. But as I explained earlier, Quentyn Ball had no children with his wife before she was sent to become a nun.

So there’s really one of two possibilities. Either Glendon is a bastard son of Ser Quentyn, or he’s a liar. It’s possible Glendon isn’t consciously lying, but we don’t really know for sure. Regardless it’s strange how he could be knighted. It is possible for bastards to be knighted and there have been a few of them mentioned in George’s Westeros stories. The issue though is that bastards who get knighted usually have connections to a noble or a knight. With the exception of Dunk and Ser Arlan, squires tend to come from noble families or at least families with some money. It’s considered an honor to become a squire to a knight since the knight needs to spend time training and looking after this kid for years. Without too many spoilers, I will confirm we do get some answers to those questions in the next episode.

I think it’s really interesting that we get a cameo appearance of Walder Frey. Which really emphasizes how ridiculously old that creep is. Most of the characters are long dead by the time we get to Game of Thrones and here he is as a 4-year-old.

And that just about covers the first half of The Mystery Knight. If you’re interested in finding out more for yourself, feel free to go to the full show notes where I will have links. Though be aware there will be spoilers to the novellas and the TV series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. You can find out more by going to thewesterosiprimer.com

Thank you for listening and tune in to the next episode where I’ll discuss what happens at the wedding joust. Valar morgulis.