A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – Seven review S1 E4

March 22, 2026 Jeffrey Lyles A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Bertie Carvel, Daniel Ings, Dexter Sol Ansell, Edward Ashley, Finn Bennett, Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin, Peter Claffley, Ross Anderson, Sam Spruell, William Houston

Seven was a phenomenal installment of a series that continues to get better each week. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has been a highly enjoyable and entertaining watch each episode, but Seven felt like an ideal blend of this happier-go-lucky show with the more diabolical aspects of Game of Thrones.

Dunk is sitting in a prison reflecting on his aggressive actions against Aerion that led him to this predicament. In fairness, Aerion has been an absolute jerk and fully warranted that epic beatdown.

Egg stops by for a visit, now fully decked out like a prince of the realm, to apologize for deceiving Dunk. Dunk isn’t interested in Egg’s tears alleging his squire is trying to play on his emotions by crying or at least shedding a few crocodile tears. That seems incredibly savvy of Dunk, who has not been shown to be particularly insightful in the ways of schemers and manipulators.

Apologizing wasn’t the only reason Egg stopped by as his uncle, Baelor, wants a word. Baelor also isn’t very interested in hearing Egg’s explanations for why he was on the run and went missing with his brother, Daeron (Henry Ashton). The future king understands the predicament Dunk was in and certainly gets why Dunk would go after his insufferable nephew. Still, there is some etiquette that needs to be followed when one assaults a member of the royal bloodline.

Baelor gives Dunk a temporary stay of execution and has him stand before him along with his brother, Maekar, Aerion and a pair of their advisors. Aerion clearly feels like he’s got the upper hand in this situation and seems to enjoy Dunk’s nervously standing before the Targaryen high command. What Aerion didn’t count on was Dunk knew one way to handle this issue, and the punk prince wasn’t ready for this one — a trial by combat.

Aerion has another solution — a trial of seven — where it’s a 7 v 7 battle. The trial of seven is so rarely invoked that Maekar has no idea what it means. Dunk and Aerion have to gather six other fighters to join them in combat. If Dunk can’t get six knights to join him, he’ll be considered guilty. Maekar does recognize it’s a cowardly means to settle the issue.

For Dunk, finding six other knights might be tricky, which is exactly what Aerion was hoping. While his pal Raymun tries to encourage him, Raymun’s mean cousin, Ser Steffon (Edward Ashley), offers his sword as well as some of his friends including a name drop of the Lannisters. Will that be enough for Dunk’s seven? It seems unlikely since Steffon hasn’t been portrayed as all that heroic and Raymun’s glance suggests he’s unsure of his cousin’s motivations either.

Dunk chats with Daeron, who wants to make some amends after lying that Dunk kidnapped Egg. He’s able to see visions that actually do come true and he sees Dunk standing victorious over a dragon. Daeron isn’t sure if the dragon was defeated by Dunk’s hands.

It’s time for the trial of seven. Naturally, with his friend in a bad way Ser Lyonel Baratheon was going to be by Dunk’s side. Dunk is surprised that Steffon was able to rally Lyonel, Ser Robyn Rhysling, Ser Crakehill, Ser Beesbury and Ser Humfrey Hardyng (Ross Anderson) who has a beef with Aerion for killing his horse in their previous joust. It wasn’t Steffon who made the recruiting pitch, but Egg.

And to the shock of no one who’s been paying attention, Steffon reveals he’s knight no. seven for Aerion in exchange for the title of lord. Dunk now has to get two more recruits. Raymun seeks to avenge his cousin’s honor and Lyonel knights him. Dunk makes an impassioned plea to the crowd. It’s a great speech, but it goes over like a wet fart. Literally.

After another desperate plea, a knight does ride up to answer the call — it’s Prince Baelor. Oh, this seven on seven just got really interesting. To really drive home the importance of this moment, the Game of Thrones opening theme kicks off.