Be aware: This story accommodates spoilers from “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Season 1, Episode 5.
Tragedy strikes within the last moments of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Episode 5. As Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) recovers from the accidents he sustained preventing Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett), he’s interrupted by the arrival of Prince Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel). Dunk instantly kneels in entrance of Baelor, pledging his fealty to the inheritor to the Iron Throne. “I would like good males, Ser Duncan. The realm…,” Baelor softly responds.
The Targaryen prince asks Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas) if he would assist him take away his helm. “Visor’s cracked. My fingers really feel … fingers really feel like wooden,” Baelor murmurs. When Raymun and blacksmith Steely Pate (Youssef Kerkour) inform Baelor that the again of his helm has been crushed, he responds, “My brother’s mace, most like. He’s robust.” The blow seems to be far worse than Raymun, Pate or Baelor suspected, although. The second it’s eliminated, Baelor staggers and turns, revealing that his helmet was the one factor holding the again of his cranium collectively after a strike from his brother Maekar’s mace.
The prince falls backwards and lands in Dunk’s arms, who cries and begs for him to maneuver, all whereas repeating, “I’m sorry.” Baelor by no means responds. He by no means blinks or strikes once more earlier than the credit for “Within the Title of the Mom” roll. This second will not be solely lifted from creator George R.R. Martin‘s authentic “Hedge Knight” novella, however it additionally fulfills a prophecy recited earlier in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Much more importantly, maybe, it helps paves the best way for the occasions of “Sport of Thrones.” Main spoilers forward.
The way forward for Home Targaryen
Baelor’s demise in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Episode 5 is a pivotal second not simply within the present however in the whole bigger historical past of its fictional world. It’s the dream Baelor’s nephew Daeron (Henry Ashton) describes to Dunk within the present’s fourth episode, wherein he tells Dunk a couple of imaginative and prescient he had of the hedge knight crushed beneath the load of a useless dragon with “wings so massive they may cowl this meadow.” “It had fallen on prime of you. However you had been alive and the dragon was useless,” Daeron tells Dunk, unknowingly foreshadowing Baelor’s last moments falling into Dunk’s arms after the Trial of the Seven.
Daeron sees Baelor as a “nice beast” as a result of that’s what the now-perished Targaryen would have develop into. He’s a person, as viewers have come to appreciate, constructed of stronger character than most different Targaryens which have come earlier than him and most that may come after him. He is freed from the cruelty of characters like Aerion and the vainness of his brother Maekar (Sam Spruell), and he would have possible, by all accounts, executed extra to raised and solidify his home’s place atop Westeros than every other Targaryen ruler since, maybe, Aegon the Conqueror himself. That itself is noteworthy, provided that Home Targaryen’s downfall throughout Robert’s Riot comes simply three generations after him.
Much more importantly, it’s Baelor’s demise that — spoilers — results in his brother Maekar changing into king. This then results in Maekar’s son Aegon V “Egg” (Dexter Sol Ansell) changing into king after his father, which results in the additional weakening of Home Targaryen’s place, regardless of Egg’s finest intentions. It’s Egg’s son Jaehaerys II who then impulsively instructions his two kids, Rhaella and Aerys II, to marry primarily based upon a prophecy he hears in regards to the Prince Who Was Promised. Aerys II succeeds his father and never solely produces Daenerys Targaryen, but additionally oversees a rule so horrible that he turns into often called “The Mad King.”
Baelor’s demise, in different phrases, not solely results in his brothers Aerys I and Maekar taking the Iron Throne as an alternative of him, however it additionally permits Home Targaryen’s place to be additional weakened with out their dragons and for the Mad King himself to supervise their household’s destruction in Westeros. Consequently, whereas Dunk might consider himself insignificant proper now, Baelor’s resolution to defend him is among the most important moments in Westeros’ historical past.
The Season 1 finale of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is scheduled to premiere Sunday, Feb. 22 on HBO and HBO Max.
