|
|
|
||||||||
The Hedge Knight (summary)
By: George R.R. Martin
Summary by: Vincent Briscuso
Characters: Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk of Flea Bottom, a hedge knight, once squire of Ser Arlan, later takes Egg as his squire; eventually becomes Lord Commander of King Aegon V's Kingsguard; escorted Egg's brother Maester Aemon to the Night's Watch; perished during the Tragedy at Summerhall);
Ser Arlan of Pennytree* (a hedge knight, knighted his squire Dunk; died from a fever);
Ser Lyonel Baratheon (the Laughing Storm, of House Baratheon from Storm’s End);
Ser Otho Bracken (the Brute of Bracken, killed Lord Quentyn Blackwood in a tourney starting a long feud between the two houses);
Lord Quentyn Blackwood* (once Lord of Raventree, slain by the Brute of Bracken during a tourney);
Pate (called Steely Pate, an armorer);
Plummer (steward of Lord Ashford);
Ser Manfred Dondarrion (a knight of House Dondarrion of Blackhaven);
Prince Baelor Targaryen* (Baelor Breakspear, Prince of Dragonstone, Hand of the King, eldest son of King Daeron II, heir to the Iron Throne, brother of Maekar, Aerys, and Rhaegel, uncle of Aerion, Maester Aemon and Egg; referred to as the ‘Hammer’ during the Blackfyre rebellion as many attribute Baelor and Maekar’s flanking of Daemon Blackfyre’s army as the ‘Hammer and Anvil’ that won the battle of the Redgrass Field; unintentionally killed by his brother Maekar during Ser Duncan's trial of seven);
Prince Valarr Targaryen (eldest son of Prince Baelor; died during the Great Spring Sickness);
Prince Matarys Targaryen (younger son of Prince Baelor, Valarr’s brother; also died during the Great Spring Sickness);
Ser Roland Crakehall, Ser Donnel of Duskendale, Ser Willem Wylde (Kingsguard during the reign of King Daeron the Good);
Henly (a horse trader and stableman);
Ser Steffon Fossoway (Fossoway knight when the House consisted of one branch symbolized by a red apple);
Raymun Fossoway (squire and cousin of Ser Steffon Fossoway, later knighted by Ser Lyonel Baratheon; later still creates a second branch of House Fossoway, the green-apple Fossoways);
Ser Grance (a knight);
Lord Ashford (Lord of Ashford, lord of a minor house sworn to Highgarden);
Lady Ashford (Lord Ashford’s young daughter, the Queen of Love and Beauty during the tourney at Ashford);
The Vulture King (some wildling [?] who took up residence in the
Prince Rhaegel Targaryen (third son of King Daeron II, brother of Baelor, King Aerys I, Queen Aelinor, and King Maekar; mad, meek and sickly);
Lord Damon Lannister (the Grey Lion, Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West);
Tanselle (called Too-Tall, a puppeteer from Dorne);
Ser Androw and Ser Robert Ashford (sons of Lord Ashford);
Lord Leo Tyrell (Leo Longthorn, Lord of Highgarden and Warden of the South);
Ser Humfrey Hardyng* (a knight from the Vale of Arryn; slain during the trial of seven);
Ser Tybolt Lannister (son of Lord Damon, heir to Casterly Rock);
Ser Abelar Hightower (a knight of House Hightower from Oldtown);
Lord Pearse Caron (Lord of the
Lord Gawen Swann (Lord of Stonehelm, bannermen to Storm’s End);
Ser Joseth Mallister (a knight of House Mallister of Seagard);
Ser Humfrey Beesbury* (a knight sworn to Highgarden, brother by marriage of Ser Humfrey Hardyng; killed during Ser Duncan's trial of seven);
Ser Jon Penrose (a knight sworn to Storm’s End);
Ser Robyn Rhysling (a knight sworn to Highgarden, lost an eye in a previous tourney);
Wate, Yorkel (guardsmen from Summerhall [Prince Maekar’s seat]).
Legends: Nymeria (Warrior Queen of the Rhoyne, brought ten thousand ships to land in Dorne, married an Andal [?] lord named Mors Martell who then took control of Dorne; and ever since, the heir to Sunspear is the eldest child, an example of the Rhoynar influence);
King Aegon III Targaryen (the Dragonbane, the Unlucky, son of Princess Rhaenyra, nephew of King Aegon II; father of King Daeron I the Young Dragon and King Baelor the Blessed; some say he poisoned the last of the Targaryen dragons while King because he feared them since childhood after witnessing his mother being eaten by his uncle’s dragon during the war known as the Dance of the Dragons).
Dunk, once a poor boy from Flea Bottom, had been squire to the old hedge knight Ser Arlan of Pennytree for years. The old man had passed on, and apparently, on his deathbed, knighted Dunk. Dunk is considering what to do after he buries Ser Arlan, and decides to try out for the tourney being held in Ashford. He reaches a small village near Ashford, and gives his horses to a boy he assumes is the stableboy. Inside, Dunk buys himself dinner, and is accosted by a drunken lordling, who yells, "I dreamed of you. You stay away from me!" Outside, the stableboy is riding Dunk’s warhorse, and the hedge knight tells him to get down. The boy asks Dunk to take him on as squire, but Dunk thinks he’s the innkeeper’s son, even though the boy is bald and has indigo eyes.
Later, Dunk reaches Ashford Meadow and notes all the bright pavilions of the knights and lords, and makes camp by a stream in the woods. Dunk recalls the old man’s story of how he saw the last of the Targaryen dragons when he was a young boy, and Ser Arlan had mentioned, "The summers have been shorter since the last dragon died, and the winters longer and crueler." Dunk goes off to the merchants’ stalls to try and acquire armor. He passes two puppeteers from Dorne, one a tall, young woman whom Dunk takes a liking to. He barters with Steely Pate for a full set of armor, trading some of the old man’s armor to reduce the cost. He pays Pate in part, and promises him the rest on the morrow, after he sells one of the old man’s horses. He feels that if he can win even one pass in the tourney, he can buy back the horse and live on the coin left over for a long time, perhaps a year until he took service with a lord.
Dunk returns to his camp to find the boy, who names himself Egg. Dunk takes him on as squire, surprised at the boy’s persistence. The next morning, Dunk visits Lord Ashford’s steward to enlist in the tourney, but he is told someone will need to vouch for him. As he leaves, the Targaryen party is arriving with all their retainers. A ‘princeling’ mistakes Dunk for a stableboy, and insults him when he claims to be a hedge knight. On the way to pay Steely Pate, Ser Steffon Fossoway asks Dunk to spar, and the knight’s squire Raymun becomes Dunk’s friend.
The hedge
knight seeks out Ser Manfred Dondarrion, whose father
Ser Arlan had once taken service with. But Ser
Manfred does not remember Ser Arlan, and turns away
Dunk. On the way to speak with the steward, Dunk enters the great hall of
Later, Dunk finds Egg at the puppeteers’ booth, and asks the girl Tanselle to paint a new sigil for him. He chooses a shooting star over an elm tree. The tourney had five pre-chosen champions to represent the young Lady Ashford, and any challenger who won would join the five champions. Dunk watched the contests carefully, considering his odds of defeating any of the knights and lords present. He thought he could take Prince Valarr, Baelor’s eldest son, but he wasn’t sure how it would be taken if he chanced to injure the prince, especially since all who challenged him seemed to fall without effort. During the jousting, Maekar’s second son Aerion Brightflame challenges Ser Humfrey Hardyng. Aerion’s lance rides up and impales itself in Ser Humfrey’s warhorse. The dying horse falls on Hardyng’s leg, breaking it. Lord Ashford, at the behest of Baelor, awards Aerion’s charger to Ser Humfrey, and declares the injured knight the victor. Egg, who seems to know all the knights, insists that the mishap was done on purpose by Aerion.
That night, Dunk is invited to share wine with Raymun Fossoway, when Egg comes running for his aid. Aerion has knocked over the puppeteers’ booth, and has grabbed Tanselle. He is livid because the puppeteers showed a dragon dying in battle, and Aerion claims that they are traitors and that "the dragon ought never lose". When Aerion breaks one of Tanselle’s fingers, Dunk smashes the prince to the ground and kicks several teeth out. Aerion’s men grab Dunk, but before they can harm him, Egg tells the men to unhand him. Aerion asks the boy what happened to his hair, and Egg responds, "I cut it off, brother. I didn’t want to look like you."
Dunk, locked in a cell in one of the castle’s towers, cannot see the jousting the next morning, but he can hear it. Facing death or worse for what he did to a prince of the blood, Dunk feels betrayed by Egg, never suspecting that the boy was Maekar’s youngest son, and nephew of Baelor Breakspear. Later, Egg visits Dunk and apologizes, telling the hedge knight that his uncle wants to see him. Baelor tells Dunk that he might have done the same to Aerion, but he is a prince of the blood. For his actions, he will be tried before Baelor, Maekar, Lord Ashford, and Lord Leo Tyrell (Ashford’s liege lord). Baelor tells him that he will seek leniency, but even then Dunk may lose both a hand and a foot for striking Aerion. The Prince does explain to Dunk that it is his right as a knight to seek a trial by combat. The next day, Aerion demands a trial of seven, because Daeron, to make up for his absence, made up a story accusing Dunk of being a robber knight who had stolen Egg. Thus both brothers were "wronged" by the hedge knight. A trial of seven has not been invoked frequently in the last hundred years, it being a custom of the Andals that if there were seven combatants on both sides, the gods would be more likely to take a hand.
Dunk goes to the Fossoway tent afterwards, and Ser Steffon promises to find five more knights to take up Dunk’s cause. Raymun is less confident, feeling his cousin may know these knights, but they probably don’t know him. Later, Egg and Daeron arrive. They tell him that their father and all three kingsguard will fight in the trial. Egg promises aid in finding more knights, and Daeron tells Dunk that he will fall on the first pass and withdraw his accusation. Then he will only need to have Aerion withdraw his, or kill him. Both brothers hate Aerion, and name him a monster. Daeron then tells Dunk of the dream he had (this is the reason why he recognized Dunk in the tavern), and how his dreams often come true (he seems to have the greensight, like Jojen Reed). He dreamt of Dunk, fallen down but alive, and a great dragon fallen over him, dead. Steely Pate gives Dunk the shield Tanselle painted for him, telling the hedge knight that the girl had fled for Dorne. Pate helps Dunk, and when the commonfolk cheer him, Dunk asks why. Pate tells him that he is ‘a knight who remembered his vows’.
Dunk finds three knights waiting for him, ready to take his cause: Ser Robyn Rhysling, Ser Humfrey Beesbury and Ser Humfrey Hardyng, who seeks revenge for what Aerion did to him. Shortly after, Ser Lyonel Baratheon joins them. Egg was responsible for Ser Robyn and the Laughing Storm. However, Ser Steffon has changed sides, after hearing he may win a lordship from Prince Maekar. Raymun, angered by his cousin’s actions, changes his sigil to a green apple, and has Ser Lyonel knight him. The trial, near ready, is held up while Dunk desperately seeks a seventh knight. But no one in the stands will even look at him, and only the Brute of Bracken has the decency to answer him, saying that he knows him not. All seems lost, until Prince Baelor rides in, wearing his son’s armor. Maekar, stunned, questions his older brother, and Baelor responds, "This man protected the weak, as every true knight must. Let the gods determine if he was right or wrong."
Baelor informs them that he will handle the Kingsguard, since they are honor-bound not to harm a prince of the blood, and can only defend themselves against him. The jousting begins, and true to his word, Daeron falls and withdraws his accusation. The fighting is fierce, but Dunk, finally resorting to his base instincts, grapples Aerion and overpowers him, forcing the prince to yield. Dunk, badly hurt, sees that both Ser Humfreys were killed, and two of the Kingsguard knocked unconscious. Dunk falls down from his injuries, and sees Baelor standing over him.
The Prince summons his maester to tend to Dunk, and the hedge knight tells Baelor that he is his man. Pate and Ser Raymun try to take Baelor’s helm off, but the great prince’s head is caved in, and he falls atop Dunk, dead. At Baelor’s funeral pyre, Dunk tries to make sense of why the gods deemed that such a great man should fall and a hedge knight live. A couple of days later, Maekar visits Dunk, remorseful in his knowledge that it was his mace that killed Baelor. But Dunk feels he was as much at fault for Baelor’s death, saying, "How could my foot be worth be worth a prince’s life?"
Maekar tells Dunk that he
has sent Aerion off to
*The above painting is Copyrighted by Roman "Amok" Papsuev, the fantastic artist who has so perfectly captured many of the scenes and characters of ASOIAF. Please visit his website at amoka.net/eng/gal. Some of you will note that the image is actually from the Hand's Tourney in AGOT, but it was the closest image I could find that captured the atmosphere of "The Hedge Knight".