House of R - ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 2 Deep Dive

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

Mal and Jo are back with Dunk and Egg to dive deep into the latest episode of ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’! They talk about Dunk as Ser Arlan’s legacy, the Targaryens' arrival, and the start of the tourney. And, of course, they have plenty of thoughts about THAT Ser Arlan scene. (00:00) Intro (08:12) Opening Snapshot (21:45) Dunk remembers Ser Arlan. Does anyone else? (53:52) Egg gives Dunk a pep talk (58:09) The Targaryens arrive at Ashford (01:06:30) Dunk meets Aerion Brightflame (01:10:22) Dunk meets the Kingsguard (01:21:21) Dunk makes his pitch to Baelor (Maekar is also here) (01:50:09) Puppet shows and shield commissions (02:03:57) Egg has another pep talk for Dunk—but wants one too (02:06:30) Tug-of-war (02:08:40) Dunk seeks an armorer (02:11:51) Dunk says goodbye to Sweetfoot (02:16:35) It’s time for the opening joust (02:24:49) Dunk reflects on Arlan’s legacy and makes a pledge (02:28:13) Book spoilers! Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Producer: Carlos Chiriboga Social: Jomi Adeniran Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Greetings and welcome to House of Arc, a ringerverse podcast on the Ringer podcast network. I'm Mallory Rubin. Joining me today, she's not too tall for puppets or this podcast. It's Joanna Robinson. Oh, wow. Dunk doesn't have the words, but you definitely do. You have all the words, and I'm really excited to hear them. So many words coming today from both of us.

It is time for the deep dive, deep, deep, deep, deep dive into a deep. A Night of the Seven Kingdoms, episode two, right after this. This episode is brought to by Borris Head. What if we told you the taste of deep fried turkey is now available at your local deli? Well, Borishead just did that. Bursting with flavor, perfectly seasoned with that indulgent taste that usually means pointing your whole day around it, presenting the friars turkey breast only from Borrishead. The backyard tradition now available behind the counter.

Visit your local deli today. Discover the craftsmanship behind it. every bite, Boershead, committed to craft since 1905. This episode is brought to by Whole Foods Market. Spring is here, so celebrate it with fresh, juicy, seasonal produce and some very tasty limited time flavors. New Whole Foods, Market Peach, Apricot, Rose, Italian soda. Perfect for a picnic or brunch, as is their trending mango, Yuzu, chantilly cake.

But if you're on the go, new 365 strawberry pretzels make a great. sweet snack. That sounds delicious. Get savings with yellow sale signs storewide and everyday low prices on 365 brand items. Enjoy the fresh flavors of spring. Save at Whole Foods Market. Okay, Jill, let's refresh everybody on how we do this. How do we cover a night of the seven kingdoms? Wow, I'm so glad you asked. First of all, yeah, immediately after the episode ends, up on a video, video platform of your choosing, Talk to Thrones. That's right. Chris Ryan, Molly Rubin Joanna Robinson

Instant reactions to the episode immediately after delightful Right now we're doing the deep dive That comes a couple days later That's right You can email us Hobbiton Dragons at gmail.com

If you have thoughts on the episode That you would like us to address The inbox is always open We will be digging into text And lore and all of that But not Spoilers That's right

Until the very end of the episode And you will have a warning Right on the brink of the spoiler section You can't miss it Carlos is going to add in sound effects that scare the shit out of you. We did get an email from someone who said they got very scared by the spoiler warning last week. I think we are airing out of an abundance of caution that nobody can say I did not know what section of the podcast I had made my way to.

Spoilers will all be at the end. That'll be a brief little section. We're just going to spend a few minutes every week looking ahead. Book passages. I mean, we love to read them. But spoiler safe until the very end. Like, follow, subscribe. follow the pod on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast.

You can watch full video episodes of the House of R on the Spotify app, Incredible Stuff. You can watch videos on the Ringerverse YouTube channel, and you can follow the Ringervverse on the social media platform of your choosing. Later this week, we'll be doing the annual hype draft a little later than usual this year. Thank you to everybody for the patience. But we're drafting hype squads with Sean. It's definitely happening.

We already recorded it. So we can finally say with confidence that it will be aired. Yeah. Perhaps the only time we can say with confidence lately that things will be airing is after we have recorded them. So that's common. And of course, on the Night of the Seven Kingdoms front, the Midnight Boys. Pugh, Pew, Pew. Pew.

Also covering this wonderful show on Mondays. Chris and Andy are checking in on Mondays. Riley McAtee is writing wonderful pieces on the ringer.com. What a great website. The Ringer is hyped about a night of the Seven Kingdoms. It is a wonderful television program that we are having a blast watching and are very excited to talk about again today. before we get to it. Yeah.

Okay. So we want to talk a little bit about some things that are going on in the world really quickly. I know that some people listen to this podcast to escape that. And that is an absolutely fine way to listen to this podcast. So if you want to skip ahead, go for it. We did get a, this sort of speaks to that. We got an email from our listener, Elsie in Minnesota, living in Minnesota, who says, who wrote how you both speak about the hero's journey and the big stakes.

not just character death and paying attention to things, how we care. And every fucking thing a Hobbit ever said is really helping me get through this dark time and to find the courage and the strength to protest and donate and be active in my community. So that's something else he said that like our podcast was sort of a good escape for her. We got an email from our listener, Paul as well. And I can't really get into the specifics of what Paul wrote because it was about some things that we would only talk about in the spoiler section of this podcast. But I think I can say, you know, I think it's already clear if I

anyone has, like, watched the trailer for this show and out of the Seven Kingdoms, that this is a, this is a show about chivalry and standing up for what's right and, and defending sort of people against bullies and oppressors and all this sort of stuff. That is, that is the source of this story. And so thinking about that a lot when thinking about what's been going on in, in Minnesota, in Minneapolis in general and specifically what happened this weekend, which really hit me really hard. And I am going to wrap this up with, I mean, we don't always talk about politics, but sometimes we do as it pertains to like the story that we're telling. And I think this story really resonates with some things that people are feeling. But I thought I just go back to a classic, which is our dynamic from Andor.

who said in season one, The imperial need for control is so desperate Because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks. It leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

And then ellipses, remember this. Try. Try. So, you know, for everyone who's trying, we're thinking about you. Something I posted on social over the weekend And a pal of mine whose family lives in Minneapolis suggested a website called standwithminnesota.com Just to sort of send resources if you're feeling helpless and hopeless and want to put your energy somewhere.

But that's a place that you can put it. So standwithminnesota.com. We're thinking of all of our listeners everywhere and very specifically our listeners in Minnesota, Minneapolis. and yeah, I just thank you for giving me the time to talk about that. This is a truly appalling and abhorrent time in our country and obviously an incredibly difficult time for a lot of people. And if Elsie or Paul or anybody else we heard from or anybody else who's listening right now can find courage or comfort or strength in their community and the example that

anybody is setting in the words of a story that gives them. some sort of sense of purpose, then that is a beautiful thing. And this can be a completely deflating and helpless and hopeless time. We talked about this a lot when we covered Andor and heard from a lot of people about how, you know, as you said, sometimes for people, stories are escapes so that you don't have to think about the world. And sometimes when you fall into a fictional universe, you can find something there that helps you navigate the real world. And that idea from NEMIC that just, you know, one crack, one crack. One crack.

And then eventually the damn breaks gave a lot of people a sense that they could attempt to do something. And it can feel so hard to know how. Right. So hard to know how. It can feel so hopeless and so paralyzing. So, you know, that every step forward. like the small hands of the hobbits sort of like, you know, what can you do even on a small scale or even in a large scale to move things forward? And I think that I don't think it's wrong to take respite also in stories or in podcasts, wherever the case, maybe, because maintaining joy is a great weapon against tyranny in general.

So, you know, they're – The idea is to keep you helpless, hopeless, frozen, joyless, and that's, you know, that's worth pushing back on. So, beautifully said. Love you. I love you too, pal. Opening snapshot. We still don't have a ton of information about how a night of the Seven Kingdoms is performing,

but we did. We mentioned last week that there were no viewership insights at the time of that recording, and then some came out. Yes. So per HBO, 6.7 million people watched the first episode in the first three days. Right. Does it feel that way to you? Are a lot of people buzzing about the show in your life? We are obviously in our bubble of Thrones fandom and people who podcast about pop culture, so it's a little bit hard to tell. Does it feel like it's animating a lot of discussion in the wider world?

I don't get that sense. Do you? Not really, which is sad. I really want more people to discover the show and discover the joy that awaits them. You mentioned this when we recorded the hype draft that people have not seen yet. A little preview. But I think we both agree that there's a real opportunity for viewership to grow on this. That as a story, as this the greater story unfolds and this smaller story's greater relevance in the history of Westeros unfolds, then maybe people will feel like it's worth tuning in for. My dearest hope. Even if it is right before the finale. Yeah.

Six-episode season. They're half hour episodes. This episode of television that we are talking about today, hard salt beef, 33 minutes. I know. This is the shortest episode of Game of Thrones ever. It's a meaty one. It's a beefy one. It's a hard salt beefy one.

But people, if they're here in the buzz, they're going to be able to spend an afternoon catching up on the show, heading into the finale. You can't watch us in an evening, you know. Donald is here helping us out today. Shout out Donald. And before we sat down, he was like, you guys are, you're talking about a night of the seven kingdoms? I'm paraphrasing, but he was like, that show is dope. I'm loving it. Oh, nice. I was like, let's fucking go. The sea is dope and so has a 9-7 Kings games. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. No, I mean, HBO framed that number positively, right? They were saying, like, this is one of, like, the top three premieres we've ever seen on our streaming, like, a lot of caveats about, like, sort of the winds in the house to try to frame it. But, yeah, it's a muted debut. We want this show. I mean, the good news is that the show is cheap to make.

So they don't have to pull in huge numbers to prove their worth keeping around. That being said, Warner Brothers is headed towards a merger and we don't know what's going to happen on the other side of the merger. So it would be nice to feel like you're a bona fide hit going into the merger to secure your future. Because I think a Casey Blois under his own auspices would keep a show like this around. But it's not clear that that's going to be his decision to make post-Warner Brothers merger. So I'm just thinking about that.

I want all 13 seasons of an eye of the seven kingdoms. Same. Same. Same. I want it to do well. So that's just me turning on my like HBO go and just like letting it run to crank those numbers up. I'm willing to pay that electricity bill. You know what I mean?

It was just leaving on for the cat when I leave during the day. You know what I mean? Is Belg enjoying the season so far? She loves it. You mentioned it's a cheap show to make. How much of the budget for season one? Has there been any formal report? how much of the budget went to Sir Arland's giant cock.

You've been so restrained. I know you've already made a few references, but like, genuinely, this is demure for you. I was expecting wall to wall. I mean, it was the first thing I said on Talk the Thrones. So, you know, part of what we do here is try to make each podcast different. Every show should have a clear identity. Sure. The giant dick will be coming up plenty today. Yeah. Make no mistake. Will there be dicks? Will let me doves? Oh, man.

From cocks and boobs to poop. Well, so this is a thing that some people are citing. A lot of pearl crush clutches, I have to say, on the, I was on the Asong of Ice and Fire Reddit and just a lot. Who don't like the diarrhea? I was like surprised, not just the diarrhea and the Sir Arlin and all of his splendor. And I was just like very surprised by that because I was like, couldn't be me. We've seen so much violence on Thrones.

and, you know, just like horrifying, horrible extreme things. And a little bit of poop and a prosthetic cock are like driving people away in droves. I don't buy it. Anyway. Not all of us. On the poop front, we did. Did the bad babies rise to the challenge? Yeah.

So last week, Mallory dubbed the bird in the tree watching a dunk relief himself, poop robin. And I suggested he could use a better name. And the bad baby, we did, I would say. The highest percentage of emails we got were about poor poop robin and the naming debacle. Yeah. Has diarrhea dunk caught on in the last couple days since Talk the Thrones or? Nope. Okay.

That's a shame. Yeah. Got to work in your cultural penetration. Wow. That's what Sir Arlen is here for. I set that up for you. Okay. So several listeners want to let us know on a scientific front.

Uh-huh. Yep. Science Corner. With Amanda Dobbins. While the birding question is a European Robin, I think it's worth mention. that the American Robbins belong to a genus called Turtus. T-U-R-D-U-S. So poop Robin as a moniker is rather fitting.

And our listener, Casey, followed up to say, my childhood friend had a younger sister named Robin. The older sibling came across a burning book and looked up Robin as one would and ever since Robin has been known as Turtus. I mean, that's really brutal. It's really tough. That's brutal. If your childhood nickname is Turtis and your sibling has named you that.

Rough. And there's just like no, unless you pretend it doesn't bother you and they actually forget about it, but there's no way. Robin's a great name, though. My step-sister's name is Robin. I have a really good friend name Robin. Okay. Robin from Stranger Things.

Our listener Nathan suggested a very Montepython-esque brave-turred Robin. Bad I like. Bravely-Braved Robin, you know what I mean? Yeah. A listener, Robin with a Y, suggested shitbird. Mm-hmm. Our listener Jordan said, since anything French sounds sophisticated to English ears, how about Robin de Merre, or the more Quebequa sounding,

Robin de Shia? which basically means shitting Robin. In truth, though, you had me at poop Robin. Oh, there you go. It sounds to me like poop Robin really won over the masses. And said Sir Wing, which I like based on our like Sirwin conversation last. And last one at least, T.J. came through with a bunch of great options and I just want to run through them really quickly. TJ suggested shit sterling.

Yeah. Fowl movements. That's excellent. Bird of Spray. And song turd. Honestly, all great. bird of spray is excellent given the particular state the dunk is in in that moment. I like foul movement a lot.

When I worked at Sports Illustrated, we were in the Zog Sports Bowling League at Port Authority, and the team name was the bowl movement. It feels of a piece. We won the championship one year. Did you? Yeah, I mean, I had nothing to do with it. I participated in consuming the beer towers, but I can't say I contributed much. Oh, beer towers.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, the beer towers? Yeah. At the bowling alley? Oh, yeah. I mean, life in New York. You know? It's just a different thing.

Is it like a champagne tower? No, it was just like a giant. Just a giant. Like a beer bong sort of thing. Like a Sir Arlen-esque. Yeah, is huge. Okay, I was imagining like a structure and I was like with all those balls and pins knocking around, you wouldn't want to. Yeah, that would be too risky.

Okay, so like a beer bong like a. But gigantic. Yeah. Enough to fuel the entire team that contributed to the. the championship. Sure. Ben Glickson now here at the Ringer, a member of that championship squad. This is a different.

Ian Orifice, one of my great pals, wonder what he would think of poop robin. This is a different time for you where you were willing to put your mouth on the same receptacle that other people put their mouths on? How to comment how to answer that question? Sure, there was a time in my life when I did that plenty. You know, when I lived in New York, I got sick a lot. And I used to think it was different from now. Now I believe that I can do things to ward that off And then I'm constantly confronted by how false that is

But in New York, you know, you're right in the subways Oh yeah You're drinking from beer towers and Port Authority And your bowling league, you're kind of fucked. But here I'm ready to face the day. So we'll dream about like when I recount your many exploits when I'm going around making sure that people remember your legacy, as Dunk does here with Arlen. I will say, remember a time when Mallory Rubin used to put her mouth on things that other people put their mouths on.

Well, now it's time to talk about Sir Arlen. Let's do it. No, actually, before we get to the deep dive, quick table setting takes on the episode. Anything you want to say in just a big picture sense about how you found episode two, hard salt beef? We get so much more time, just time with Dunk and Egg, enjoying the tourney grounds. you know, tug-a-war watching the puppet show, watching the joust, and, you know, drinking beer cider with bugs in it or not, or whatever the case may be. And I just think their dynamic is so precious and so, you know, there are plenty of people that,

let's say the detractors of this show, the pearl clutches and otherwise, who are like, this is just another lone wolf and cub, and we've seen so much. of that with Last of Us and Mando and Grogu and the upcoming Starfighter Star Wars show and etc, et cetera, et cetera, we're tired of lone wolf and cub. Even though we talked about the Hedge Knight when we did our lone wolf and cub episode a million years ago. God. Yeah.

Jeez. Their dynamic is so different because in every lone wolf and cub story, ideally the two people are learning from each other. Yeah. But I think in no place is that more apparent than in this. story of just sort of dunk doesn't have the words. Yeah. Egg has the words.

Egg is puny. Dunk is tall, you know, and it's very much a, did you ever see a movie The Mighty? It's like a movie in the 90s, I think it was. Anyway, just like this, this sort of collision of like the small and, and fragile and super smart and the tall and like a little less, you know, intellectually sharp or whatever and sort of how they can help each other navigate the world. And I just think that that dynamic is so sweet. And they're just like, if, you know, it's early days.

But if Sir Dunk the Lunk came up to me and said, that kid, egg is my best friend, I 100% believe it. And I think it's just like really, really sweet. And you'd say, well, what about sweetfoot? Maybe like, sold him. Sad! I needed some dragons or some armor. I needed some coin. I loved this episode.

I thought it was just so charming and so delightful. I'm excited to go. We'll be going in our deep dive, beat by beat through every scene as is our want. And I really enjoyed all of it. And once again, I think the kind of like tonal blend, the humor, the heart, the thematic richness, the show, much like Sir Arland is packing a lot into a tight space.

Carlos, should we keep a runner, like a little like, ding on the bottom of life? Yeah, you can do a tail of the tape. Like, do I mention this? Sir Arlen's cock more than Lionel Barathean says cunt in his like 75 seconds of screen time. He only says it thrice and you've already outstripped him. He's already outstripped him. Oh, man. My guy Baylor Breaksvier is here. The Targs are here. Wonderful introductions for Baylor and Maker and Aryan is here. We've got so much to talk about. And I agree. I think the the Dunkin Egg dynamic is just captivating so far on the screen. Truly.

captivating and I love what you're identifying about how they're learning from each other. You know, we talked about this a little bit on Talk the Thrones, but I really loved the way inside this episode we built from egg citing, you know, you're both gigantic. Well, you are both gigantic. The commonality, as he calls it, that Duncan and Tanzil share. And then we have reminder after reminder that for Dunk and Egg, of course, there are things that Dunk is seeing an egg that soften him and make him think, oh, he says his mother is dead, and, oh, he's from Kings Landing, like things that allow him to see commonalities between the two of them. But that mostly it's about how they complement each other, right? Mostly it's about the things that are different

between them and how they can become this wonderfully mesmerizing, odd couple pairing who surprise each other and us. And it's just a great thing to be able to, like, read and part of why we love the story so much. And it's been really, really wonderful to watch it unfold through two episodes on the screen so far. And yeah, I just really, really loved this episode. It's kind of amazing, actually, how short it is, because I thought it was like, it moved with a quickness and with great pace, but a lot. There's a lot in. There's a lot in. All right, let's get to the opening of this episode in Sir Ireland's cock. Let's get to the deep dive. Deep indeed. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription

medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help a adults with obesity, or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zepound contains terseptide and should not be used with other terseptide-containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take of allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump

or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfoniluria or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit zepbounds.lily.com. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription

medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity, to help adults with obesity, or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zepound contains terseptide and should not be used with other terseptide-containing products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2.

Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonel urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor.

Call 1-800-545-99 or visit Zepbounds.lily.com. This episode is brought to by Paramount Plus. Beth and Rip are back in a new series Dutton Ranch. Kelly Riley and Cole has a return, and this time they're taking on Texas. As Beth and Rip build a future together, peace will have to wait as they face corruption, danger, and a ruthless rival ranch

willing to protect its secrets at all costs. Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives. Dutton Ranch starring Colehauser, Kelly Riley, Annette Benning and Ed Harris now streaming on Paramount Plus. Okay, deep dive. We're going to begin where the episode begins.

This remembrance. Dunk is going about Lord to Lord, and trying to find someone who will vouch for him, trying to find someone who remembers Sir Arlen. And we are pairing the sounds of Dunks' efforts to compel somebody, right, with these glimpses into the past. And there is a bit of a gap, a Sir Arlen cock-sized gap between what we're hearing.

That's a sizable gap. A sizable gap. What we're hearing and what we're seeing. Before we get into some of the particulars of Dunks' sentiments and what he is conveying and then the particulars of what we are glimpsing in these quick little rapid fire flashbacks. What did you think just in a big picture, like, tonal and structural way of this opening for the episode and the note it's set, but also the way it functioned as a bookend with the conclusion

of the episode. Yeah, I brought this up on Talk to Thrones as like my favorite part of the episode, that we get this sort of like opening contrast with the closing of. So we're watching this episode, Dunk go from, yes, like, booze. boosting Sir Arlen's rep in order to get someone to vouch for him. But also, I think this is how he thinks of him. He was a great night, right? And then by the end of the episode, he's like, well, great nights don't die in the dirt on the side of the road, do they? Oh, no. Was he not a great night after all? And, like, trotting around behind Sir Arlen my entire youth and thinking, I too can be a night. That's because I thought he was a great night. But now I'm learning that maybe he wasn't. So,

Can I actually be a knight if a real knight is more like the Kingsguard that I met or whoever else, you know, and not Sir Arlen himself, tales grow in the telling, which is the middle point of this story, right? We get the bookends of his memories, and then in the center, we get this line for Baylor, tales grow in the telling. And so is he talking about the size of Sir Arlen's cock when he's talking about that? I don't know. He didn't need to do much growing, honestly.

Well, if he grew in the... He's a shower. If he grew with... She's a frankly a little terrifying to figure out. One of my favorite recurring comments I saw around the internet was people like, how can Sir Orleans old frail heart pump that much blood in order to inflate that thing? There's a nude woman behind him and honestly he didn't last much longer after that, you know? He just kept on going and he kept on coming indeed.

And then he died. No, but I'm just saying, I know you're making just like tremendously. endlessly witty, perfect marlory jokes. But you're talking about the actual biology of how could a... No, but also, do we know that his unit was that size? Or is that just how Dunk is remembering it? Also, we have been told by Ira Parker that we are firmly lodged in Dunk's POV. I know.

That's a little worrying. Was Dunk sleeping under a tree outside of that cottage, had to listen to Sir Arlen, take his pleasure with this woman. Hopefully she took some pleasure, too. I hope that for her. And then watch him take a leak in the morning is that, you know, was Dunk there at that moment? I think we should assume that Dunk is very close by. You know, we'll hear him talk at the end of the episode about how Sir Arlen hoard, obviously in the text,

Sir Arland's commentary on the horrors of Westrose is a big part of Dunk's education. And, yeah, I think lamentably we are forced to deduce that Dunk is nearby. I don't know that this woman was a sex worker next. nexus necessarily. Could have just been a villager? She's got a little cottage. I don't know. It could be the brothel. Could be the local brothel. Sure. You know, in the episode of the text. It's true. All of his commentary. I also just loved the book on nature and how that functioned in the episode. And I think that idea of, you really heard the Baltimore there. Episode. I love that. Going down to the ocean,

hon, to watch the episode. Talk about Sir Arlen and his giant dong. We'll talk about old base seasoning today probably too when we get to the crab. commentary, so just a big time, a big time to be from Maryland. You know, this idea of like the reconciliation. We're talking a lot last week, this week throughout the entire, not only season, but covering this show for as many seasons as we're fortunate enough to get about the role that like myth and legend plays, right? Tales Grow and the Telling a tall tale that became legend.

This is present in every aspect of this. And some of that is about the stories that the puppeteers perform or the stories that are passed down from somebody in your life or across the realm. And some of it is like the story you tell yourself. right? And maybe part of that for Dunk, part of it for Dunk is reconciling, like, myth and fact and holding on to the things that he learned from Arlen that are good and are right and are just and that will help Dunk. And then also admitting to himself that it's not this like purely perfect thing. I think specifically when you live in a world where this idea of like the Chivalric Code exists.

But again and again, so there's not only the, what is the truth of my memory of Sir Arlen, and is it chivalry to have sex with a random woman in a cottage somewhere, you know, maybe she enjoyed herself. What a chivalrous thing to do. But, but has met all these nights so far at this tourney and they're real assholes. And so if, what is that, if that code is not real, you know, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. pointed out on our notes, and we actually noted this in the trailer, that when Dunk goes and meets the Targaryans, we see the seven-pointed star sort of behind that entire sequence. There's a, you know, there's a window, you know. The light pouring through. The light pouring through with the seven-pointed star. So like these are the codes, the codes of religion, the codes of chivalry, the codes of society. And if so many people, especially the British and the Powerful, are intent on just playing by their own rulebook, then sort of how do you know, know what is right. If you don't have a religious text to guide you or you don't, you know,

because no one's talking about religion here, which is, you know, you don't need religion for morality. And then morality has to come from somewhere inside of you. I need to figure out what is actually right. What did Star Island do that felt right? Right. Star Island giving some coppers away when you had barely any. Yeah. To the villagers. Sir Arlen taking on dunk in the first place from, you know, from the bowels of fleas bottom. Wow, whenever you say bowels, I think of.

I think of our guy Otto. Otto. Were you thinking about him when you saw the high tower just like on top of that guy's helm? Absolutely. A high tower challenging a Targaryen?

Feels right. I think of all the things to put on a helm. Like if you got a fish, sure, put a fish on a helm. If you got some flowers, sure, put some flowers on your helm. The tower, you're just going to plunk a little tower

on top of your helm like that? Well, we know what Steely Pete would say. I know, but like... Very showy. I would go for some sick flames You know, because like the Hyde Tower has the Like put some Maybe it's just like kind of functional as well

One more You think he's gonna joust with Like a woodpecker Okay You know All right Little Sir Arlen at the top of the helm Yeah I love what you're saying

And I think this idea too of like Romanticizing aspects of Sir Arlen's life Like part of that for Dunk is romanticizing the notion Of being a Hedge Knight And what I loved most about the end note of the episode, which of course we'll get to later, is like, he's not rejecting that, right? Like, we'll show what his hand has wrought.

There's an embrace of it, but a more complex nuanced embrace of who Arlen was and of who Dunk wants to be, the parts of Arlen's legacy that Dunk wants to continue to embrace and a spouse and inherit. And the aspects of his life that he wants to forge for himself. So it is this, and then you managed to make us laugh while you're telling us all this about the character. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's very effective illuminating but effective storytelling to have that sort of like moral clarity or or building of your of your interior moral structure. Yeah. Yeah. While also this thing we've noted in last week's episode on both Talk the Thrones is idea of building his name his sigil. Yes. You know, all the trappings that come with it. There's like the interior core, who am I? Right. morally at the end of the day. And then also, what's my name? Yeah. Forging all aspects of identity and legacy. What's the symbol that identifies me, you know?

Should we paint a shield at some point this season or a puppet? How, what are your painting skills like? I'm terrible. Yeah. I used to think that when I was young, horrible. I used to think when I was young that I, I like to draw. There was a brief moment where I thought I could, but then I had to confront the fact that that was not true. So again, we all must confront the truth.

What about you? Are you a deft painter? I bet you are. You strike me as a talented artist. I studied painting. I did. She studied painting. I did. Studied it and then successfully did it? Or studied it as an intellectual pursuit? But I would say I used to be pretty good at it. Water color? No. Oil? Like oil. Yeah. Why have you never painted me anything? Maybe a red apples in your future. Consider it commissioned. Here's what we hear Dunks say. He was a true knight, different than other men. He's talking about more than the giant dick, though different than other men, also because of the giant dick. Peaceable nature, quiet and humble,

a veteran of a hundred wars, but an enemy to none. I love the enemy to none. That struck me because it's like, okay, enemy to none, but friend to whom? Right. You know? And I think that's a subtle thing that this episode and story is asking us to think about,

like the next line, You know, as we hear, he never complained even as he was dying. It's like, maybe he should have, you know? Maybe you should have said. Makes a noise. Stir some shit up. Well, I was about to say, it's not like Dunk would have been like, yeah, you should wash that because Dunk never liked a bath.

But maybe some wood care would have saved Sir Arlen. Even Sir Donald has some commentary coming on how Dunk smells. It's very, very, very tough. He meant to be a benefit to those around him. It did not make him rich. He held no land, sired no children. Not sure about the sired. no children part, but we'll never know. Benefit to those around him. Benefit to those.

That's an example. That's emblematic of what we're talking about. There will be aspects of who Sir Arlen was. And not only what he taught Dunk, but that's a great flash of where we just, we like Dunk, are witnessing Arlen actually doing this thing, handing his limited coin, like you said, to the villagers. And there's a lesson there that Dunk can continue to carry forward. He wanted for nothing but the open air and a fire to warm his feet at. His skills as a warrior were unsung. See, he's a, See, that's the PR spin that Poop Robin needed. Unsung. Unsung.

Unsung. Unsung. The foul movement, you know? But he had a chin cut from granite. He was a doggen fighter. He kept on coming. Here's what we see. Here's a worry that I have for Duncan his training.

Yeah. Because he's tall. He says he's led on his feet. Yeah. But his training was with this old man. Yep. Sure. So has he ever fought someone, you know, his like?

his equal. Well, I think we know that Sir Arlen has some stamina. Do we? He got right back up and he gave dunk a little tap on the hip and he was like, come on, let's go. And also he was fucking up a storm until we don't know that he was literally dropped dead. We literally don't know that he was fucking up a storm. All right, here's some of what we glimpsed paired with those lines.

The giant cock. You think that's why this episode is called Hard and Salt Beef? Ira Parker did say Yeah, this is amazing That this gave Arlen his quiet confidence I loved the sentiment that This was in the inside the episode Where he basically is like, a lot of like shit to deal with

So we gave him a giant cock I'm paraphrasing, but that was kind of the gist of it Right? Yeah He might have lost his nephew and the red grass But see what he's packing? Geez. I saw the sun talk to throw as I'm standing

I'm standing by it Don't should just be saying to everybody as he's trying to get them to remember Arlen. Did you see this guy's shulong? I will just say, we got several emails about this. We got a lot of comments on the Talk of Thrones episode about it. Almost all of our listeners, I believe, thought of you immediately when they saw this giant cough. They were like, what a gift for Mallory Rubin specifically. How nice for her to have nice things.

You work hard. Yeah. You pour a lot into your craft. Yeah, yeah. And you just hope that you can make an impact and that you will be seen and known and understood. Do you think Arlen hope that he made an impact? You know, how attentive was he who can say? But I think he's got his toolbox.

You know, hammer and an infill indeed. We'll get to that later. Should he have gone with something other than Sir Arlen a penny tree? Sir Arlen of the Warewood? What Game of Thrones? long or tall or girthy thing does Arlen's cockermide you of most? Should we call it ice, you know, for the fabled great sword? Uh, the high tower, which we've already discussed. Maybe just Hodor.

Mm-hmm. Giants blood or I'm the queen. No, any of these? Nothing? Okay. Thank you for indulging me. I'm done. I promise. You're not. I think I might be. I mean, probably not. I don't think you are. I think I'm mostly done. I think high tower is what I would pick. High towers. Yeah, that would be good. That would be good. We don't just see the giant dick Tall as the Erie You know re-watching by the way Chris on 10. Give me 10 spikes

All impregnate the bitch Maybe we should pull some of George's descriptor of the wall to describe The wall was on my mind as well You know yeah I think that would be good This is definitely like it's a different vibe Not only just like an intimidating climb Yeah oh yeah

The climb is all there is But like the width is also something to think about I think that would be really good It's definitely a different energy than like cinnamon wind. Pink Mast, you know, different vibe here, for sure. Pink Mast is really an all-time George. Maybe the worst thing George has ever written. All-time George move.

We see more than the... What about Vagar? Yeah. I like it. I like it. A Vagar-sized unit on Saur Island. Very good. Yeah.

Do you have what it takes to claim and mount... To ride the dragons? Yeah. It's a great question. Chris said you couldn't see the sack, but you could. I checked back in. Oh, I'm so glad you checked. As you're talking to talk about what I just want to say, you can.

It's so important to have a scholar like you on the case. I'm taking Rob Mahoney's freeze frame title away from him, and I'm giving it to you for hopefully the hours you spent pouring over, you know, the freeze frame images of Star Island. You know, we're watching an HD, so. You have a massive television. I don't have seen how big Arland's dead. gloved on our TV. Huge. I don't even have a TV here.

I'm like watching on my laptop sad. Oh, oh no. That's not the way to experience this at all. We also see a lot of his scars. And I love this not just because like the passage of time and how you feel that, you know, pairing with this idea that the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, you know, last week, episode one, we talked about that cut to pulling out, right, right, right, pulling out, right. out the arrow from the bleeding wound that Sir Manfred can't remember. And this idea that he took all of these wounds, every one of those scars comes from something

Arland did for somebody who doesn't remember his name, doesn't remember who he is, doesn't remember what he did for them, except for the, the goat who we're going to get to, I was going to say soon, but not that soon, really. We'll get to him in lick an hour. Miles to go and many dick jokes to make before we get to Baylor and Briggs beer. That could be the log line for the pod. Miles to go and many dick jokes to make. Sure. We contain multitudes here at the House of Arr.

What does you think, Joe, a small little tweak or update here in the book, it basically seems that Arlen just dropped dead of a cold in the rain, right? And here he's got this like festering arm wound. Miriamazder not here to put a pulses on. That would have gone fine. It would have gone fine. Sure. Would have gone fine.

She's a renowned healer. You can always trust her, always. Another day done, he would sigh. And who knows what the morrow will bring? Aunt Dunk, well, one morrow had brought reins that soaked them to the bones. And the one after had brought wet, gusty winds and the next to chill. By the fourth day, the old man was too weak to ride, and now he was gone. Only a few days past he had been singing as they rode,

the old song about going to Goletown to see a fair maid, but instead of Goldtown, he'd sung of Ashford. I mean, some great bars on the updated Ashford lyrics from Arlen here. What did you think of this? Because, like, on the one hand, I used to have a running argument with my best pal, Allison, particularly in college, where I was like, we're in Syracuse, New York, it's cold. I have wet hair. I don't want to go outside.

I don't want to catch a cold. And she would say that's not how science works. You can't catch a cold from having wet hair and chilly weather. So I always thought, like, Arlen, just getting cold and wet and then dying was real fodder. in my few with Alice and Costco about this. But it seems that he rolled around in a sex bed with a gaping arm wounds and then died. It knows what he picked up.

What do you think? Which of these do you like more? Does it feel appropriate that Arlen would have just gotten old and died from an illness? Does it feel more appropriate that one of these wounds finally fell to him and caught up to him after all this time? I like the wound aspect. Yeah. It made me think of not the text, but I was thinking about,

I was thinking a lot about The Hound in this episode, and I'll bring it up a couple times. But, yeah, because like Brienne, another huge cock. Great. Well noted. But when he whipped that out to take, also to take a piss. But also, that's not why I was thinking about him. But I'm glad that that's why you were thinking about him. I was thinking about him as like, like Brianne, he is another sort of like famed fighter. on the road, but has, like, very anti-night sentiments.

Not, not like Brand, but just sort of like, he's like, fucknights. So we'll talk about that in a second. But I was thinking about him, because I was thinking about in season four, episode seven, when Thrones was so good, mockingbird. Oh, yeah. And Weiss and Benioff added this sequence with this, or the dialogue with this dying man that the hound and aria meet on the road, right? Which they took from Beckett, essentially, right?

The hound says, they meet a man dying on the road, he's got a wound. The hound says that's not going to get better. And the man says, doesn't seem so. A bad way to go, the hound says. Haven't you had enough? Of what? I know. Time to go.

Take matters into my own hands. The thought has occurred to me. So why go on? Habit. Nothing could be worse than this. Maybe nothing is worse than this. Aria says nothing isn't better or worse than anything. It's just nothing.

But that idea of like habit, I'm, continuing because of habit. And so Arlen just sort of doing what he does. Look at me. I'm, I've got a festering on my arm, but I'm going to keep fucking and, and giving some coins to the peasants and splitting salt beef with my squire under a leaking tree. That's just what I'm going to do. On the hound front, I've got a couple passages here at the hound talking about knighthood, right? Because like this is, you know, we get Florinian Johnquil, which of course makes us think about Sands and the Hound and we can talk about that later when we get there. But as George R. Martin has said, this story is so much about the idealism, the romanticism of knights and then the reality

of what knighthood actually is. We see some of the brutal sort of clashing of bodies and horses and lances and shields inside of this episode, right? This is one thing the hound said, just as if I was one of those true knights you love so well, yes. What do you think a knight is for, girl? You think He's all taking favors from ladies and looking fine and gold plate. Knights are for killing. I killed my first man at 12. I've lost count of how many I've killed since then. High lords with old names, fat rich men dressed in velvet, knights puffed up like bladders with their honors. Yes, and women and children too, they're all meat and I'm the butcher. Let them have their lands and their gods and their gold. Let them have their sirs. As long as I have this, there's no man on earth.

I need fear. There's a killer. Your brother's a killer. They're all killers. And also, he says, there are no true knights, no more than there are gods. If you can't protect yourself, die and get out of the way of those who can. Sharp steel and strong arms rule this world. Don't ever believe any different.

So, you know, the hound for all of his flaws, et cetera, et cetera, had this very cynical, clear-eyed view of what is knighthood and sounds of the dreamer. Right. And so that speaking for George in terms of George's ideas of like George who loves Ivanhoe, but George who also wants to paint a very real picture of the brutal nature of this like feudal system that he is covering. And I just, I don't know, I think it's so interesting. Like last week I was just, Jamie and Brand, Jamie and Brand, Jamie and Brann. And that is constantly what we think about Brand specifically when we think about Sir Duncan the Tall. But the hound just kept coming up for me in this.

And I have more moments that it made me think about. But I just think it's like interesting to think about everything that George has said across his many works about knighthood and his direction towards it. And also thinking about the hound and aria on the road and thinking about Brandon Pott on the road. And these like, you know, I recited the hound and aria. as sort of like these kinds of duos that he wanted to pursue. I love it. The hound is very present in my thoughts as well. And I love everything you just shared.

And the fact that, you know, he is a character who his origin story is betrayal, right? And being let down by a person, his brother, who should have cared for him, protected him, kept him safe. But what did he do? He pressed his face into the fire. Right. And so for so much of his worldview and perspective to have been shaped by the idea that the person who you might look to as big and strong and able to keep you safe might be the one to hurt you, that being the foundational text of your life. I think also it's Sir Gregor Kubei. Right? Yeah, exactly. And he's like, and the house is like, not me. If that's a night, fuck it. I don't want it. Yeah. Exactly. I love that. You mentioned the leaking tree.

I think we were both of all the visuals we get. Did she call Duncan the night of the leaking tree? Yeah, that would be great. That would be great. I was so touched by that little glimpse of them. And they're just like laughing together. Laughing and huddled. Yeah.

And the way that, you know, Dunk is really like the caregiver in that moment. He's providing the hard salt beef to Arlen to eat. But also he's like nuzzling him. He's kind of keeping him warm. and the way that Arlen looks up at him just with love and gratitude as he's in this weak kind of shrinking increasingly enfeebled state.

I just thought that that was so sweet, but also this idea of like, as Dunk thinks through all of the aspects of what does it mean to be a night, what makes a night a night, what does it mean to be a night, what makes a hedge night, what makes a hedge night a hedge night,

what part of that is pure and true and truer, actually, than the other glorious thing. This kind of moment that like, not just affection, but shared currency, right? The shared currency of the experience that you had and the life you lived and the memories you've formed and the decision you made every day to like go do it that way. And I think for Dunk, I love that he's a character who can say, I want more than that.

I don't want to just have somebody roll my body into a gently carry and place my body into a very shallow grave on the side of the road. I want more. I want to hassle. One day I want to be above the salt, right? Above the salt. At the table, yeah. And still hold a moment like that as a precious thing and it's hard.

I just love. What does it mean to care for someone? Yeah, right. And so to take them into your life. To have him lose Arlen and one of our listeners wrote in very beautifully about the way in which Dunk selling sweet food is just like losing another piece of Sir Arlen as he does so, right? So we'll talk about that when we get there. But, you know, a dunk all alone in the world is sort of how you started this idea of the story last week. But, like, he has egg.

That's right. And to watch them, like, watch the puppet show with shared wonder or to watch the tourney with delight and excitement. And even though they both – and then they, like, have anxiety attacks at the same time. Exactly. You know, but they're, like, enjoying. Yes. Like, playing tug of war together, you know what I mean? Just, like, enjoying their time together.

It's very important. And that's also part of what I loved about these visuals that we get to see whether it is to your training point from a few moments ago that Dunk is really the dominant one, even though he is the one theoretically being trained and taught. Here, he's the provider, the nurturer, that even though he is in these moments and these sequences still the Squire, these things are fluid. He had shifted into a different role before the end. Quick email from Ashley, longtime listener, she says, first time.

emailer. I would like to know Mal's Jerky Rex, please. I mentioned on Talk the Thrones. Sure. This episode is called named after jerky essentially. You love jerky. You eat it on the plane like a maniac. Yeah, we've always have it at home. Like to have it as a snack zone sometimes. I mean, no free ads. I like archers quite a bit.

Okay. Great turkey jerky. They have some nice flavors for some beef turkeys as well. Turkey to beef? Just depends. I like to have, no, not necessarily. That is my go-to on a plane, actually. I like that Archer's turkey jerky, that's a great one. You know what I had a week ago for the first time in years? Made me feel like I was Jim Hopper in season three of Stranger Things.

Slim Jim? How did you step into a slim gym? It was a, the reason is sad, so I won't go into the details, but it was a desperate moment where I really needed a snack, and it was something that was there in a place I was and I bought it. I'm glad. I'm glad to sustain you in your hour of me. I was sustained in a way that Sir Arlen is not.

When he droops on the horse, did you think of Drogo? You know, a cow who cannot ride is no cow? Like, what about a knight who cannot ride? All of these, like, associations with other moments from Thrones stories in the past and the future are our past, but canonically the future is great stuff. Here are some of the lords who Dunk is appealing to. House Florent, another House of the Reach. Thrones fans spent some memorable time with the Florent. Salis, Sanis's wife.

they love Salis. She's a serious. She's a shared favorite. House Hayford, a Crownland's house. Lord Hayford, he is one of many who died on the redgrass field. This is the moment where Dunk, one of the moments where, as you noted on Talk to Thrones, we hear in this episode these subtle allusions to the Blackfire rebellion, Dunk says here, Sir Arland fought side by side with your brothers at the Redgrass. His squire, his own nephew, was killed in the battle.

So Lord Hayford had been hand of the king to Darren the second, Darren the good, But that idea of the redgrass as shorthand, like we talked about on Sunday night, that there is not a person Dunk could be saying this to who would not know what that meant, that this seminal seismic, decisive, ultimately battle in the first Blackfire rebellion hangs over still, casts a shadow over all of Westeros. Would you also describe Sir Arland's unit as seminal, seismic, and decisive? Yes, I would. I would. I would. I would.

I would, yeah. Roger of Penitree. His squire, his own nephew, was killed in the battle. Roger of Pennytree, Arlenz, Squire before Donk, killed by a mace to the face. We'll talk about him actually a little bit more in the book section today. Later. Later. But the fact that Roger dies, very sad, does mean that Arlen needs a squire and this idea that we keep talking about of, like, chance meeting.

people come into your life, what is the circumstance that you find yourself in when they find themselves there? Dunk's inferiority complex, which is so interesting given like how large and imposing he is, but he is such like a humble, shy, nervous person. Part of that is he always felt like he was a usurper. Like it should have been Roger here. Roger would know what to do. What the hell do I know?

I'm just from Flewbottom. Like, I don't know how to be a squire. Roger would know better how to do this. And the reason he's not here is because he died. Took a mace to the face. Not because I was chosen instead. And then Leo Tyrell, House Tyrell, our old pals, obviously the Lords of Highguard and the Reach. So Ash, as we mentioned last week, Ashford, Ashford Meadow, they serve the Tyrells.

They're vassal lords to the Tyrells. The Lord's Paramount of the region. Leo Tyrell. We've been tracking the excellent monikers in this story. Leo Longthorn is a good one. It's about his lance. It is about his lance, but it could be also about his dick. He is described as a peerless jouster in the text.

One of the champions of the tournament. He will be one of the champions. How do you feel about meeting him sort of like Tywin Lanister-esque in an apron? Yeah. Like this, he's the Lord Paramount of the region. Yeah. And he's just like in the camp. Yeah.

You know, sharp like, you know. Chewing sour leaf and sharpening his tools. What do you think CR would do with? His tools? His weapons is what I meant. What do you think CR would do with sour leaf? How does it compare to the Zinn? I think now that we're on camera, he cannot go around with red-stained teeth all the time.

I like seeing the sour leaf on Leo Longthorn's mouth because like everything else, it gave me cause to think about Venice. Coming in season two, Venice of the Brownshield, big sour leaf guy. You feel like this sour leaf seed was planted here so that we can spend so much more time with sour leaf in season two? Exactly. Anything else on the opening there? No. Great. Just took us an hour to get through.

There was a lot there. It was like two minutes of the episode. I had like 18 pages of notes. I think I actually had six. Very normal. Love the show. Egg has some counsel for Dunk. He's got some ideas and he's just here to workshop them.

He opens, though, with a, I think, fair and reasonable question given what he has witnessed. Was he a shit night? Was he a shit night? Will that be boobs? Can't have been a very good one. will there be boobs? You know, we're going to get to that Tales Grow and the Telling idea from Baylor,

but it is interesting to think about the shape of your legacy or your impact or your hold on memory absent the kind of life that leads to Tales Grow and the Telling. It doesn't mean that you didn't do anything of consequence, but how do people think about that or feel about that? The fact that Dunk has to defend Sir Arlen

is such an affront when he did watch him do all of these things. But of course, Egg is like, I long when you say you have to suffer your master dying over and over again. He calls it undignified. Well, it's undignified. But he's like, I would not leave you, sir. Like, it's just very, it's very sweet and empathetic. Like, it's very, like, he's, he's being saucy and snarky and all the things that he is. But he's just like, he has empathy, real empathy. To be alone when you're the only one with your memories and you just have to keep repeating this horrible thing. I'm not letting you, sir. What did you think of his counsel to Dunk?

You are a knight of the realm, sir. You can say fuck their permission, ride into the list, call out Longthorne Tyrell, and turn his asshole. Spicy. Into a lancehole. Very spicy. What does it mean to be a knight? Does being a knight mean, you don't have to ask for permission, just do what you want? Well, it made me think about when Dunk was talking to Lionel Barathean last week.

And he's like, um, the stakes. are different for me than they are for other people. Some people have this worldview because they come from money and comfort and privilege and they can like sort of think themselves better than other people or whatever the case may be. I've got everything. I'm selling my horse to buy some armor. Don't worry. I do have some coppers for the puppet girl. But other than that, I'm pinching all the pennies just to be here. Stakes are different for me. No chance for a choice, you know. Yeah. So it just depends on your role view. It does. Why do you treat these royal lapdogs like they're your betters? This is something else that Egg says to dunk. And it's interesting to think about whether an idea like that can actually take root with someone like Dunk. Dunk of Flea Bottom, right? An orphan from Flea Bottom, squire to a hedge knight, nothing to his name who looks at it. these lords and these royals

as figures of heft and consequence, famous names. So what is required, these words from egg, other happenings in the story for Dunk to say, I belong here.

You know, the moment at the end when he's watching the joust and he flashes to Sir Arlen, the gap between Arlen and Dunk's experience and the big league all-star boys who are out there on the tourney field, even though Dunk understands rationally what he is seeking to do here, it is like a shock to the system to confront in real time,

the arena that he has entered. So I like that he hears this from Ag, and it's interesting to think about what his journey to embracing that might actually be. We talked a lot about this idea of upward mobility. We'll talk about it when we get to the Kingsgurth. that he meets and stuff like that. But like this idea of knighthood, hedge knighthood, tourneys, the Kingsguard itself when you think about Kristen Cole as an opportunity for upper mobility. Yes.

Yeah. Inside of a class system that is usually very rigid. Yes. You know, we've seen that there's so much about dunk that is like superior, better, morally, ethically in terms of his spirit, his disposition. Can he embrace that in full? The targets are here. Okay. Can I talk about this for a second, right?

Yeah. So they come in, the banners are flying. Both you and I and Georgia R. Martin are very happy that there are feet on the sigil, et cetera, et cetera. How much of George's embrace of this show is specifically about the updated targ sigil on banners with the proper number of feet? Can't you see the banners, you giant cunt, is a great line. Incredible. Okay, but think about this. Like they come in trumpets, banners, pomp and circumstance, Aryan Targaryen being as imperious as he can possibly be.

How sad is this compared to any dragon, let alone Caraxis landing when Damon shows up somewhere? Like previously, you're not asking who it is then. When the Targaryans showed up, they showed up on giant flying beasts and you were like, oh shit, Caraxis is here. Oh, no, Vagar's here. We had to park Vagar over in the forest because we can't even fit them on the tourney ground. And those Targaryians are not coming to this goddamn tourney because it's way, way, way beneath them. Sure. You know, but just like seeing those banners fly, it's just like such a sad, like visual echo representation of what they used to be, which was, you know, these mythic people, mythic godlike people showing up on these winged bees.

Now they're like, we've got banners. they still got dragons on them. Yeah, there's dragon right there. Respect us. With the right number of legs. That's a great shout. You know, obviously the retinue is larger. The procession is bigger.

There are more attendance and people. We'll hear like the master of horse bitch later about like how they can find room for all of these horses. But yeah, they are no longer in the era of the undeniable presence that defined their dynasty. It's a great show. One of our listeners in the comments for Talk to Throne said Targaryens in their flop era, which I just like really love. Oh, man. The good news is that while there is no dragon to spot, whether or not you saw and identified the banners, you get a handy aid here. We love a herald.

Little assist from the Ashford Herald. This was so iconic that we had to revisit it in real time. Carlos, can we see this clip? Our Lord of Ashford humbly welcomes the great and honorable Belor Tigarian, first-born son of King Darren the Good, the prince of rhinestone, hand of the king, and heir to the iron throne, and his brother, Mirka.

Incredible. Okay. Incredible. And Maycar is also here is really funny, but also his pronunciation of Miyaka. Miyaka is like truly psychotic. It threw me. There's some wild pronunciations. And his brother, Mirkaa. In this episode, just some great spare, not the air, energy in this intro. You know, we later in the, in the Great Hall scene that we're going to go through, in great detail, we get that line from Makar about how Father Bade us a tale. this miserable circus. We've been talking about this

from the beginning, the fact that, as you just said, this is not the place that the Targs of Old would have bothered to be. Do you feel like this is a little like and his brother, Faramere, is also...

Well, does that mean that you might one day be making a mead named after Maycar? Meadcar? Give it a go. It sounds delicious. I would make it. It's a little spicy,

a little sassy? Mm-hmm. Yeah? A little peppery. A little peppery. Little peppery. A little peppery. I like it.

Anything else that you want to add here, this post-Black Fire Rebellion, no dragon stretch for the Targs and the things that they are compelled to do in order to remain present, visible, and of consequence in West Roci history? Well, I do think it's interesting that Maycar, four son, you know, he doesn't look like the youngest son, but he is the youngest son. Sam Spruill, happy to have him here. Oh, man. He's just great. We love Sam Spruill. We spend a lot of time with him in Fargo. Dr. Who, some of us go way back with him on some other less advised projects. But he's great and so glad that he's here. And that's a reference to bastard executioner, a show that I watched in full even though it was really terrible. Sorry, FX, so I love you, but that show sucked.

Anyway. But the fact that his son's, like, that Darren is missing. And he's like... My older brother, everyone likes him better than me. Everyone thinks he's better than me. And his eldest son is here, riding in the tourney. And his shiny armor. And my son is just fucking missing.

Got to send the king's guard to go look for him. Tough. Egg asks to excuse himself back to camp. He's like, you know, maybe there's some thieves about I should go check him. And Dunk says, okay, go do that because I've got a plan. I've got an idea. Which, you know, given the context of what unfolds in the episode, certainly seems to be deliberately now that he has seen them arrive, heard them arrive,

and introduce seeking out Bailer Brakespeare. And this is a wild textual departure. You know, Arlen. So what do you make of this? Because in the novella... I actually don't like it. I... Okay.

We'll set the stage. So in the novella, basically, Dunk is like, I gotta go find Plummer again. Makes his way into the room. I guess I go back and say, hey, man. Yeah. All those nights are dead. They all suck.

And they've got some nasty sourly habits. What's Plan B, Plummer? And he finds Plummer. in a conversation with some other men and does not know who they are and he's producing in real time. Who are these guys in black and red? I don't know.

And makes a bunch of blunders in front of them because he doesn't know that they're the princes. Quite a few. It came to Dunk that he had walked in on something that he ought never have heard. Why don't you like this? It's a more active move from Dunk, right? Because it's just not who Dunk is.

Yeah. He's not a planner. He's not thinking ahead. He's not thinking strategically. And he's not thinking audaciously, which is like, I'm just going to go put myself in front of the heir to the throne. Right.

Is it a degree too bold at this point for dunk too? I'm not mad about it, but I just think it's like an uncharacteristic difference. I really love in the novella, dunk happening upon a circumstance. And especially because it really heightens this idea of like, I have wandered into a thing that I do not understand in a place that I do not belong and have to in real time kind of figure out how to navigate that circumstance. Also, I mean, I guess he doesn't in the book anyway, but I'm just like, where's the security for the air to the throne?

Like, we love a, I've wandered through a passage. And I think it is very funny that he basically overhears a couple of the women at Ashford say like, these fucking princes need to wash their hands. And, you know, we do see baler and do the little hand wash bowl. But, you know, we love a trip through a tunnel or a passageway. Yeah, your hero's blood and cheese. Where, where, exactly. I mean, blood and I stand by it too tame.

Blood and cheese was too tame. I stand by the take. We all stand by the take. He should not be able to just wandering. That's worrying. It's very, very returning. But the Roland really needed to take a shit, so I get it. There's still is the same vibe here.

There's still the same vibe in the show, especially like finding himself drinking with Lionel Barathean or whatever. There's a way in which Dunk is like the Forrest Gump of Westeros, where he's just like right place, right time in these moments of history. And here I am. and who am I? Oh, I'm talking to Baylor-Briggs beer and Lionel Barathean, like, no big, it's fine. I thought you meant couldn't wait to touch Jenny's boobs. Well, that'd be boobs.

But then immediately. All right. So I said I would stop talking about dicks. And you were wrong. So I will. Yeah, the show is slightly recalibrating Dunk's um, activeness and putting himself in those situations.

Obviously, Raymond brought him into the tent with Lionel, but then Dunk stayed. It made a night of it, etc. which, yeah, is distinct. He meets Aryan Bright Flame here. He's pulled out of watching this arrival by some of the very snide superior lines that we had heard in the trailers.

Boy, stop gaping, see to my horse. Clever enough, knighthood has fallen on sad days. Finn Bennett is here as the Bright Prince, Aryan. This is the stretch in the novella where we get the line that I've quoted a few times. He felt illities enough around the lords in their pavilions. He had no business speaking to princes. That's part of what makes, as we were

just saying the like, I am going to go appeal directly to the second most senior and important and powerful man in the kingdoms. Right. A little bit of a stretch for Dunk at this point. But the discomfort that he feels in this moment navigating this real-time exchange with Arian is significant for Dunk. Would you like to quickly take us to Whigwatch TM with Joanna Robinson CM Corner on the short-haired Targara that we're seeing? I'd be thrilled because this is a wig.

And it's a fantastic wig. If you told me that Finn Bennett had like fried his hair white blonde, I would have believed you. But this is a wig. And he is like, he is posted about it. And I'm just like, I'm really impressed. It's really, really good. Also, the way that they frame.

I feel like they made Finn Bennett like stand at a hole or something like that because he's not like a short dude. He's like about six foot, maybe a little under. It's the opposite of the kid Harrington, John Snow, Apple card for the Sons. He's like, we were going to just dig a little trick. Applebox, like, sort of a situation. But he's looking up to look down as the Kingsguard will mention later. But yeah, they just like, he shows up on his horse. He's so tall. He's so proud. And then he hops down and he's just like looking up and dunk. It's pretty great. Great stuff. We don't get a lot of Arian in this episode if you've seen any of the... But what a great impression. It's a great impression.

If you've seen any of the trailers for the season, you know, he's going to make his presence felt. He is going to be a figure in this story. This is Maycar. May car. I can't even say it the way that. Me, Carr, the Harold said it, and I frankly won't attempt to again. He said it like Mirkat, but like, Ka. Meika. So, Arian is Maykar's second son. He's got four sons. Some daughters, too, do they bear mentioning, you know? Do they have names? How happy were you when Lord Ashford's daughter got a name? Gwyn. Gwyn. Spelled very specially.

Gwen, Gwen. Gwen. Great stuff. So, Arion is like a little visually toned down for the show compared to how he is described in the books. He still looks great. He's definitely like Rocklandtark colors. There's the Papa Red with the black. Obviously, he's got the signature platinum hair. But in the book, he is described as very dragon forward in his visual identity. This guy loves merch and he loves to brand himself, right? The speaker wore a black cloak bordered in scarlet satin, but underneath was Raymond bright as flame, all reds and yellows and golds. And then his, elsewhere, his shield is described. Arien bore a three-headed dragon on his shield, but it was rendered in colors much more vivid than Valar's. One head was orange, one yellow, one red, and the flames they breathed had the sheen of gold leaf. This guy is like, I know that.

that every time you do a slight tweak, you break out an alternate jersey. More people buy it. More people buy it. They love the alternate jerseys. Arrian, we'll talk about him more in future weeks. We sure will. I'll get back to it, but I do want to talk about sort of like how dragony are these targs as we get into Baylor and Mika. Mika. Before Dunk makes his way to meet Baylor and Mayekar, he, he, has a moment with a horse and then a moment with the Kingsguard. One of him is very hot. So let's talk about this great scene. So like screen in the screenwriting shorthand for like you care about this character is have the character save the cat moment. Yes. Right. Have the character do something that is just automatically endearing so that people will care about that person. Save the horse.

I mean, it's great. We will get some comments from one of our listeners a little bit later about how he went about doing it, but very endearing. Incredibly sweet. Aaron doesn't give a shit about us. horse. He's like, I'm not a stable boy, but like no one's taking care of this horse, so I will. Yeah, exactly. Not a stable boy also, not here to get your wine or your wench. And the king's here to shit talk Targaryens. That horse did kick an actual stable boy right in the face. Right in the face. Right in the face. I like that we've talked a lot about how Dunk is speaking to Sweetfoot, speaking to his horses across these two episodes. And this horse who he just met,

he speaks to his well. He's like, I agree. You know, there are far too many people here like, I'm nervous too. I'm anxious too. It was so, so winning. Just lovely. Absolutely lovely. Then we get the kind of comments from the site. You know, we hear it before we see who the speakers are jokes about the pretty ones. Oh, he meant the princeling, not the palpherie on the subject of pretty ones. Sir Roland of Crick Hall. He loves him. He's entered the chat. Sir Donald of Duskendale is also here. And then Sir Willem Wilde is in the back. Willem Miles. And his swan brother. Willem.

He's also weird. He'll call Donald off later. Okay. So these guys, Oh man. Yeah. So they're all, you mentioned how hot you think Roland is.

You've mentioned it several times to me. You mentioned on top of the throne. You're back around. You look great. But both Roland and Donald look like cut from like the same sort of like prototype, right?

Which is just sort of like very handsome, neatly trimmed beard. Very, like, young Barrison Selmy or, like, you know, slightly older, older Jamie. There's just like this, like, we are Kingsguard. We're handsome. Yep. We're groomed. We're the ideal.

Our armor is so white. This is the whitest Kingsguard armor we've seen. I love this very canonically accurate. And it's very canonically accurate. And when you think about the Kingsguard and you think about the Knights Watch, they're like two sides of the same coin, right? Like, we will father no children. we will know, you know, on no lands, we will know no women. Some of us will fuck our sisters.

We will. Sorry. And father some children that will sit on the throne, but don't worry about it. So many mouths, don't they make you swear and swear. Allegedly, the Knights Watch and the King's Guard are sort of taking similar vows. The white and the black. Like this is sort of like what it's supposed to be. And so like this gleaming white, pure.

You know, it's bullshit. Exactly. Yeah, we loved the moment in House of the Dragon season two when they were talking about the white cloak and how then soiled and then sullied it was. And so when I said a couple minutes ago, as you're describing rightly how handsome and chiseled there,

the ideal, it's like, well, what have you been taught the ideal is supposed to be what it's supposed to look like? But then what is the reality behind that? This thing we keep talking about that George loves to explore so much. I mean, they're beautiful and they're also talking about where do we go take a shit? Yeah.

And you know who else is hot? Like, Kristen Cole. looks great. How's he doing on the nightly valor front? Who was most top of mind for you on the Kingsguard front? Eric and Eric? Yep. I'm literally never thinking about Eric and Arrace. Your first association? No? I do always think about Sir Barrison's all me. That to me is like the actual King's Guard. Obviously for us is like, yeah, top of the list. I loved that Chris was broke out, not, he did not get the name correct and that's okay. But I love that he went to, to, to, to Arthur Dane. Were you thinking sort of the morning when you saw Sir Arlen step out and you're like,

talk about sort of the morning? Yeah? See, you give me grief. And yet, you do it too. And look how proud you are of yourself right now. And guess what you should be. That's for you. It's a gift for you.

I wouldn't do it if you weren't here. You would do it if I wasn't here. You would just say it alone making a joke. In the microphone and just go. I would. I would. That sort of the morning was excellent. Excellent work.

Great job. There is no greater symbol of knightly valor to dunk than the Kingsguard. Right. This is the thing you strive for. Right. For anyone, and especially for Dunk who's like, I'm a squire. I'm going to be a night. I'm a knight.

I'm here. I'm at the tourney. I'm going to enter my name in the list. Holy shit, the Kingsguard are here. Oh, my God. I'm in a conversation with members of the Kingsguard. The seven champions of the Kingsguard were the most pleasant warriors in all the seven kingdom, saving only perhaps the crown prince, Baylor, Briggs spear, him.

And his brother, Miko. So again, what makes a night a night, right? Is it that you reach a certain... Is it how gleaming white your armor is? Yeah, is it the sheen of your armor? Is it that your crab daddy bought you a gig in the, you know, on the Kingsguard? Was it you or Chris who called him a Nepo baby on Talk the Thrones? I think Chris.

That was excellent. That sounds like a CRR. Well, it makes a night a night. Marin Trant was in the Kingsguard, right? Manden Moore. Was he a true fucking night? I've got a beloved character who would argue otherwise. So there are the Kingscars and Queensguard, of course, across our stories.

It's a fascinating group through which we can parse and assess these ideas. But it is also like the company Dunk is keeping at Ashford here. For history, we should say. Kristen Cole besmirches the Kingsguard with his actions. The Kingsard right now are like pretty good guy. Like they're doing their, like there's no scandal rocking the Kings Guard right now. Right. Yeah.

Their armor's gleaming. They just need to know where to shit. They're being, they're talking a little shit on the Targs. They're being pretty nice to Dunkin. Yes, very welcoming. These are like pretty good dudes. I agree. Would you on the take in a shit front, like the hay, I guess,

needs a must, but no extra cloth, like a bolt of cloth sitting around, take a banner. Who's washing that cloth? Do they care? Do they, the Kings card, care? They don't care. They don't care. I didn't really get a kid got to done being like a day and before the week is out. Oh, man.

I just don't think that... Diary and dunk. Diarrhea dunk. Sir Roland, just follow the poop robin and you'll find a great place to shit. I just don't think that, hey, is where I would go to. I don't think hay is where I would go to first. Yeah, it's just steamed.

You don't want poison oak, but there are other, there are other, there are other leaves around that one could use is what I'm saying. Such as? I know, elm leaves, probably. Not oak leaves, they're pokey, but, you know, that there are like. Yeah, hay sounds very pokey too, harsh. Hay sounds awful. Yeah, not a fan.

You mentioned that these are kind of show welcoming dudes, and I really loved this where we're going to talk when we get to Baylor about how one of the most. meaning things about that scene. It's not just that he remembers Arlen, but he's like, calling Dunk Sir and telling him to rise, and he's not like, Lord Ashford is one who is like, do you have anything written down? Not Baylor, not Baylor, not Baylor-Briggs Spirit, right? He's like, okay, here you are a night among me. Because Lord Ashford's power is insecure. Exactly. Exactly. And Baylor's like, I know who I am. Sir Roland and Sir Donald are very hospitable, very welcoming. They're like, well met.

Sir Duncan. Rollin a little less, though. Well, he's, the, the bells are stirring. You know, he has pressing business. Matt. Matters. of the hedge indeed. You know? We've been tracking these moments where we can just see the show tells us, finds a way to tell us how genuinely uniquely gigantic dunk is. Right. The bopping the head on the door frame, etc.

So Roland, who is supposed to be not only a handsome man, but a man of physical might. Poisson. One might say. Poisson. God's boy, do you ride your horse into battle or does it ride you? Like, this is just. Dunk's huge. Great stuff. Donald. I think we should make a super cut at some point of everyone giving Dunk elevator eyes because they all do. They're all like just. Jesus Christ. Donald asks where Dunk is from. No place really. I know it. My family's from there. So he's like, oh, you're not a Darkland? Shout out Stefan. Stefan Darklin. He's a crabber's son.

Prince Dreho! We talked about Davos. I didn't miss it. I love you. Dreo! I just love that stretch with David. It's so funny. We will learn later, and Dunk will learn later, from egg, fishing enthusiast. You know, a lot of ocean facts, a lot of fish facts from young egg. So my nephews, they know a lot of fish facts. Is that so? Yeah.

And did they also know that, yeah, sure, Donald. Sir Donald is the son of a crabber, but his father is a crabbing tycoon. They would have known that for sure. He's a mogul. They're from San Francisco. They know their way around a crab. He encourages Dunk nonetheless, right? Donald says, same way we became crappers.

I mean, a little riddle. Yeah, money access. And like, that's just one more thing dunk doesn't have, right? It's another way, whether it's your famous name or the power of your house or money that people have access to opportunity in a way that dunk does not. But despite the coded language of the riddle here, he's not like, get the fuck out of my sight. He's curious, he's interested. He's offering him hope, but it's bullshit hope. You too can do this.

Do you have piles of money? Is your daddy rich? Is your daddy rich? I got a kick out of the guy who, we had seen this in their trailer and it would me laugh then too, but the guy who comes up with the horse is like bailout or not? Would you move the fuck out of the way? I liked the randos in this episode.

I liked this guy. I liked the can't you see the banners, you dumb cunt guy. I liked the guy at the tourney who shouted Lord Ashford fucks his sheep. You could see Maker chuckle a little bit at that. Everyone had like a pretty. jolly reaction to that. Like, I wonder... Lord Ashford looked a little uncomfortable. But everyone else was like... Yeah, I bet. But it wasn't like... There are some Targaryans who would be like, kill him. Right. You know? Yeah.

Not these guys. And Aryan looked a little like, kill him. But Maycar and Baylor were like, that was pretty funny. You think this guy's ever been to the veil? You think that's why he's ready to make jokes about fucking your sheep? I know you never... A real folk to bear. Real Damon coded. Let's talk more about Baylor and Makar, who is also here. It's time for Dunk to make his pitch. I thought this scene ruled. This is one of my favorite stretches in any of the Dunkin' Egg novellas, the scene in the head show.

Failure's introduction is incredible. And really the scene in the TV show met and exceeded my already very high expectations. I thought this was just lovely. Are we going to kind of set the stage here? Then we're going to just talk a little bit more on the can in front about who these guys are, and then we're going to talk about why this scene worked and what it meant to us. Darren has done this before we hear. Dunk has made his way in.

He's listening. He's entered. He's eavesdropping into this conversation about how two of make our sons are missing. Darren has done this before, Baylor says, you should not have commanded him to enter the list. And then later we hear, no doubt, Sir Roland will turn him up at Egon along with him. So Darren and Egan are missing.

Yes. We see. And Lady Quinn's like, maybe they're dead in a dish somewhere. Real shitster. She lives in True Crime Podcasts. Yes. She's watched every season of only murders in the building. She's big Nancy Gracehead.

Like, she's dialed in. That move she made with Dunk. Yeah. So it seemed to me the first, like, she was kind of like flirting a little, but then she's really like talking her shit. I'm the queen of love and beauty. This is my name, Dayterni, and they gave me a fucking name. That's the other thing is like, and this is, he says it's in the book.

Yes. But he's like, Lord Ashford's daughter, who doesn't. have a name. Not so fair. I prefer the puppet girl. Right. It's a little weirder if like a grown man were to say that of a 13 year old girl. So we're like the ages are different in the book. Yes. But I like that like she's the queen. I like this like immaturity of her because like she's the queen of love and beauty. She is the reigning paragon of womanhood at this tourney. And she's just a 13 year old girl who wants to goss. She wants to gossip. She wants to talk some shit. She's like, you're no use to me. You're not, you're not willing to talk shit. This is terrible and leaves.

And so like, you know, the ideal versus the reality. What's the reality? She's just a 13-year-old girl who's like, did you hear that the prince that are missing? And maybe they're dead in a ditch somewhere. Wars have been started for less. What a gossip. Yeah, I love that. And that her birthday is her father's excuse for holding this tournament and bringing all of these powerful lords into his backyard to make them feel powerful and important. If you were to take one, image of one woman in this episode. Maybe it's the bare ass of the woman who has just enjoyed herself with Sir Arlen in the cottage. And I really do hope she enjoyed herself. But like, but I think it's, it's Tenzel as John Quill, like, high above everyone. Like, that is real Queen of Love and

beauty shit right there. Not too tall. Yeah. For puppets. For puppets. Incredible. Incredible stuff. My queen of love and beauty it's red bayony and Daisy for me. Missed him this up. Missed him. I thought you were to say it was the horse.

I mean, obviously. Sweetfoot is your queen of loving beauty. You know I feel about darling sweetfoot. We can see right away. Baylor, composed, proper, understands how to conduct himself with a certain level of decorum and graciousness. Make her pretty rude.

Mika? Mika! Do not curse our roots. host. Baylor says, I said, fuck me, not fuck him. It's just the brotherly energy. The inferiority complex from Maycar as the fourth son of King Darren II. So the family tree. They are, Baylor is the eldest son of the king. King Darren the second. Eldest son, Baylor, hand of the king, heir to the throne. Prince of Dragonstone. Aries Regal. Maker. Maker.

Prince Aries was bookish and Prince Regal mad, meek and sickly. Neither was liked to cross half the realm. To attend attorney. Prince Regal would prance about naked in the castle. So we're not saying mad lightly. We're saying we're the level of mad, what level of mad are we? We are prance about naked. Which is better than burn them all mad to be there.

If you're going gradations of mad, I would prefer prance about naked to burn them all. But maybe he just had a giant dick like Sir Arlen. and he wanted everyone to see it. Well, maybe they would praise him rather than to say Prince Regal, he's mad. Prince Ariz obsessed with his books, does he know something about the prophecy? How can it not be on our minds? Cats paw coming up in a second here. Stay tuned.

I can't wait. I love to talk about the cats' walls. It's the same. Here is a passage from the novella about just this chunk of the family tree in this period of Tigarian history. King Darren the Good had four grown sons. We just told you who they were. Three with sons of their own. The line of the dragon kings had almost died out during his father's day,

but it was commonly said that Darren the second and his sons had left it secure for all time. They hadn't. It's a Game of Thrones story. It's King Robert Barathean, not King Robert Targaryen. Bobby B. Hit him with a hammer. Also, actually, it's a problem when there are too many Targaryens running. around as we are currently experiencing in our house of the dragon experience. You might have overshot a little, King Darren.

Maybe he had like one good son and then two bad ones and then he was like, got to keep trying. And then he's like, all right, knee car. That'll do. And Darren the second had absolutely no experience with what happened when there were too many siblings and bastard siblings in the mix. He definitely didn't fight as the Red Dragon in the Blackfire Rebellion. I mean, it's weird to say. Of the Targs.

They love a Civil War. It's weird to say the line of the dragon. King's that almost died out. Does this feel like a contradiction from George to you? Well, as you've noted, George crafted the Hedge Knight novella before flushing out. Coming up with the Blackfire rebellion. The rest of the canon in this period of history. And as we've noted a few times, we're basically Blackfire is like a decade and a half

before the events of this novella. So recent enough history that it casts a shadow over everything still. Right. But it wasn't yesterday, 13 years. Right. Yeah, George had some lore to build out. So Baylor has two sons, Valar, who will meet in this episode,

and Matarres, Macar has four, as mentioned. Don't worry about Mataris. That's a solid name. I like that name. Valar's a good name, too. Valar two R's at the end, just in case you're wondering how to sell it. Of course. That's a great George spelling.

On the sort of like Gwyn and Lady Gwyn and Dunk sort of. of poking and sneaking around. Yeah. I think this idea of like who can go where is interesting, right? Like where can servants go where this is something that George is so preoccupied in House the Dragon. Yeah. Right. Like who could be my source on this? Right. Mushroom the fool. You know, servants, et cetera, et cetera. Who's who's sneaking and creeping and and in the room, but nobody noticed them. Right. So what is dunk here? What is Gwyn here? Where is you? Where? do horrors go, as George's is want to wonder. But like, who can sort of permeate the ranks

of society in this way? I think is really interesting. Yeah. I love this. Gwen. Gwen. She's not allowed in the room. She's just a girl, but she can listen. So can dunk. Boy, does he hear quite a bit. So who is in this scene? Who are we talking? Obviously, Lord Ashur is there. Plummer is there and his facial expressions are quite memorable. Baylor and Maker. Let's talk to a little bit more about who these fellas are and what their stature and standing in the realm is before we talk about a little bit of what Baylor and Dunk share. So, Bertie Carville is here playing Baylor. What a thrill. Baylor, as I've said, one of my favorite characters in the canon. Just a delight to have him on the screen. Name stuff, go. This is all going to be presented

as which stuff go. Name stuff, go. Baylor Breakspeer. Breakspeer, as you explained on Talk to Thrones. Sick moniker. One of my favorites. It's really good. Is it The Laughing Storm? No, but what is. Fear is awesome, and he got it from unhorsing at the age of 17 at his Aunt DeNaris's wedding tourney, another tourney. Damon Blackfire, we heard of him lots. People haven't heard of him yet, but they will. Damon Blackfire is a big deal. So to have the Blackfire Rebellion. Yeah. Damon Blackfire. Most people named Damon are people you want to pay attention to in this world. It's a great name. And Damon Blackfire is a big fucking deal. And 17-year-old, Bailor Breakspeer was like, fuck you did.

And it stuck. Yeah. And that name stuck and it should have. He is also referred to as The Hammer and the Hammer and the Anvil, a song in lore that lives in lore, a song about the two brothers here. Makar is the Anvil. We'll talk about him more in a minute. We are fittingly talking about Baylor first. The Hammer, Blackfire Rebellion.

Red Grassfield, as you described on Talk to Thrones, this move where Baylor's forces are the hammer, leading the enemy, the foe, crunch into. the wall of Makar's forces, the anvil. And a century later, in the events of a song of ice and fire of Game of Thrones, Barrison Selmy, who you just said is like the knight who pops into your mind first when we think about, what makes a night a night, the king's guard. He talks about this, still a century later, because it lives in legend. It lives in lore, Kellsrow and the telling, but also this was a legit. It helps if you make a song about it. It really does. It helps if you make a song about it. His actual name Baylor, Thrones fans, of course, have heard the name Baylor. before. It is the name of one of the most famous Game of Thrones episodes ever, season one,

episode nine, the great scept of Baylor. Those, the great sept of Baylor is not, this guy is named for the guy the sept was named for. So Baylor the first, Baylor the Blessed, a prior Targaryen king. The sept was named for him. That episode is named Baylor because it's obviously taking place of that sept in a key moment. So Baylor breaks fear, this bailer who's here is named for that bailer. That's named Stuffgo. Now it's time for Hare Stuffgo. Joanna, I'm not sure if you notice. This guy does not have silver hair. Close, cropped, dark hair. I love it.

We love a dark-haired dark. Spoilers, John Snow. What if you actually just spoiled someone on John Snow's identity? I mean, I guess it's possible, but I also feel that we... And it happened in this really creepy whisper thing that you just did. Listen, we talk about the entire canon. That's what we do here on House of Bar. Darren the second brought door nils.

into the fold. As we've mentioned, this was a massive moment and a consequential moment in Westeroce history. Part of cementing that is marrying into the Martel family. Right. Seven kingdoms. So Baylor's mother is a Martel. This is how he's got dark hair. So he's got no dragons. None of them have dragons as a symbol of power because the dragons are gone. But Baylor also doesn't have the signature iconic. I see it. You see Aryan's head. You know he is a tartarian. Even Mika has the silver hair. I mean, it looks. looks like he has like white hair. It looks like he's older, but he's actually younger.

That's Targary and Silver hair. Yes. Aryan silver hair. Even Valar, who has dark hair, has at least a little silver patch on the back of his hair. It's very Kai Grady. I don't know if you, uh, that's what Kai's hair looks like. Yeah, yeah.

Love that. Yeah. Shout out, Kai. Baylor does in the show get just the black and red targ colors. He's wearing different colors in the book. But still, it's a little, he's more understated. He is not near. as flashy.

This is what I wanted to talk about. Yeah. Both Makar Meika and Baylor are as described in the books, Baylor more than Makar, just like fairly understated. Like they're wearing black and red. And Baylor has the hand of the king pin on. And he's got this cool, like, sort of like dragon tail almost thing that sort of wraps around him.

But like, unlike some targs we've seen, we don't have like dragons stitched into sort of every thing. And then also compare it to the apples on the breastplates of the Fossaways or the suns all over Lady Gwyn's dress or like not to mention the antlers everywhere for a Lionel. I mean, when we get to the tourney, of course, part of the reason they're so ostentatiously dressed in their sigil markings at the tourney is so that we, especially at night, contract who the fuck they are out there. But like previous

targets that we've seen have been very dragon forward in their fashion, and these targs aren't. Yes, which is interesting because that would have been like one of the ways to compensate for the absence of... Maybe just seems to try hard. The literal thing, yeah, it might. I'm the dragon, actually. Yeah, but maybe so. He dressed far more simply than most of the other lords. This is about Baylor. He does not look at Targaryen in truth with that dark hair. Dung said as much to egg. It said he favored his mother. The boy reminded him she was a Dornish princess. There's a line in the world of Ison 5. about how, okay, so like, yeah, just like an every man, one of the dudes, one of the guys,

cool, great, winning, charming, love it. That's not how everybody felt about it. From the world of ice and fire. Yet too many men looked upon Baylor's dark hair and eyes and muttered that he was more Martel than Targaryen, even though he proved a man who could win respect with ease and was as open-handed and as just as his father. So again, in the shadow of the Blackfire rebellion, the wake of that civil war, anything, your absence of the dragon, the absence of the, silver hair. What blade did somebody hand you? Do you should try to bleach his hair?

No, I love this. I love that he's confident. He's like, this is who I am. You either fuck with me or you don't. But there will be people in the realm who use that as an excuse to say, why am I supposed to think that you're more God-than-in-Turgan again?

So it's just an interesting aspect of kind of where he finds himself. I love the description on the less flashy front of just this quiet confidence. He was dressed very plainly in Green Dublin, brown mantle and scuffed boots. There was a weight to him, a sense of power and certainty. And you can really feel that.

I think that was conveyed really wonderfully in this scene. It's how comfortable he is in his own skin. There's a couple things. Like the way he looks up from like eating is... The constant snacking. Is really good. Wonderful. But I think we also...

Oh, our listener Matt wrote in with this email. Matt wrote, I wanted to shout out my favorite line from this episode, quote, We are the Intruders Here, brother. Yes. From Baylor, when Dunk comes... to plead his case. This just shows what a quality guy he is. I can't imagine any other Targaryen we have met across any other Game with Thrones property saying that encapsulates his character in one line. I love it. So like that's true, but also just sort of like there's a confident,

like, we're the intruders here. Like I don't need to assert myself in every room. I don't need to be the most important person in this room. I am. Yeah. Because I don't know if you've heard about a unhorsed David Blackfire. I was 17. I was 17. Don't worry about. I was 17. Don't worry about. It's fine. Sword stuff. Go. Go. We get a couple, very clear, very good, very lingering looks at Baylor-Berkespeare's

sword belt, and we can see that he does not have the Catsbaugh dagger. Now maybe Daddy Darren, Darren the Good has it, or maybe. Is it possible that Egan the 4th, when he gave Blackfire to Damon, sparking eventually the Blackfire Rebellion, did he give his great bastard? So Blackfire being in the ancestral sword, which he gave to Damon Blackfire because he's a bastard, but he's very hot.

And he's like, you deserve a hot sword. Yeah. Did he give him the story dagger? What do you think? Blackfire, the sword, is canonically in Esos at this point in time. We don't know where the dagger is. As we've chronicled at length while covering House of the Dragon, And the dagger's, like, function and role as this scroll of prophecy is, was introduced to us via House of the Dragon.

So then now it has, you brought this up in the trailer when we first saw Baylor. Like, that's on our mind now is where is this across history whose hand is it in? When does the ruler? I confess I won't be too upset if we don't get the cat's ball in this show. Yeah. It feels overburdened and in a way that the show isn't, you know? Totally fair. Maybe they're just like, I'm not trying to like yuck or yum if you are on the lookout for it. No, I like the idea that it maybe is... Maybe it's already lost somewhere. Yeah. And on its way to... Maybe Darren the good does not happen. That would be really interesting, I think. It might get lost before the end of House of the Dragon. Like, we don't know. It's true. I can't wait to see what happens with it in Hot Day, genuinely. That is interesting to me. But I don't really need it messing with this show. Yeah. You just need it to make its way back in top. Because the Targaryans are here and they're important.

Yes. But they're not what the show is about. That's right. But they are what this section of the pod is about. True. Maker. Necast. Prince of Summerhall.

This performance was wonderful. Great stuff. Sam's rule. He's married to a Dane. You love a Dane. We love a Dane. Baylor's married to a Dundarian, as you've mentioned. Notably, that means they're not married to their own siblings, which is nice.

Nice change. We don't always get to praise the Targs, but. Shout out these guys for not marrying their relatives. A low bar, they cleared it. Joe, what's Macar like as a warrior? Listen, the Invil, Makar was said to be a redoubtable warrior in his own right,

though ever in the shadow of his eldest brother. It's tough. It's tough to, like, actually be good at things, but always be the second best. Like, if he sucked, that would be one thing. But he's like, I'm pretty great, too. Here's Raymond Foss away, right? Poor Macar, poor, said Dunk, startled,

the king's son? the king's fourth son, said Raymond, not quite as bold as Prince Baylor, nor is clever as Prince Arias, nor is gentle. What a great PR for Regal. Nor is gentle as Prince Regal, who likes to prance around naked, blah, blah, blah.

And now he must suffer seeing his own son overshadowed by his brothers, right? Brutal. Brutal. It did lead to a very amusing moment when he has to hear Dunk praise Baylor and we get just such an excellent bit of performance. Carlos, can we see this?

So good. So Arlen often told me that you were the soul of chivalry and that one day the seven kingdoms would be safe in your hands. I loved just his comedic impact. Who, what the fuck is going on, the rumpf when, just when Doug gets invited in in the first place, the whole, like, how can you possibly remember some fucking hedge knight who chanced on our Stam and Lannister six years ago? Why would you daint to joust with the hedge knight?

okay, well, you're grateful now. Fuck off. Like, all of it is just, you could really feel his plight, even though he is. His plight, the word he would use? The Prince of the Realm. Our listener and Dan wanted to chime in on the naming crowd, because as you rightly pointed out

when you were trying to explain to CR on top of the drones, who the derons were, who the bailers are, et cetera, et cetera. I was going to make this point. Dan made it with far more examples than I put together, so I will defer to Dan's email. Dan wrote, I would like to defend George R. Martin's persistent repeating of Targaryen names.

We must coddle Chris Ryan no longer. We all know how much George draws from world history as inspiration for his stories, also to ground his world building in realism. His use of repeating names is no different. Sure, it may make it confusing for a casual fan of this universe. It may be a bit of a nuisance for podcasting, but it must be applaud for how it echoes history in our own world. Let's do quick sample of off-repeated regnal.

Regal. Maybe regal, but regnal is a new word I would learn. dynastic names in history. France, Louis, 18 kings, including Louis the 17th, the uncrowned son of Louis the 16th. Charles 10, Philip, 6, Henry, 4. Those are French kings. England, Henry, 8 kings, Edward, 8, George, 6, William, 4. I always loved, you know, the Interregnum in English history when it's like,

by history teacher would go, am I getting this. James Charles. Charles James is how the Prince works. This is the interregnum in there. Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire, personal fave. 11 Constantine's, 8 Johns, 8 Michaels, 6 Alexioses, 4 Andronicos. 4 Romanos.

Andronicos would be a great name to introduce to the realm, George. Spain, 13 Alfonso's, 7 Ferdinans, 5 Philippes and 4 Charles's. So, you know. Look. Is it historically accurate? Yeah. Do I actually genuinely, in truth, love it? Yeah.

Not only because it is true to the spirit of the thing, but also because it allows us to have these moments where we say, why was this character named for this other character? Are they different from their namesake? Do they represent something about that person? At the end of the day, when House of the Dragon introduced the Egon Confusion moment, as a pivot point in the history of the realm, They open the door for us to make fun of this. That's all. That sounds like a Ryan Condal problem more than anything else, honestly. Yeah.

And we love right and we support him. Okay. Hot D season three. Can't wait. I think it'll be good. So that's who the brothers are. Why is what we're seeing here from Baylor so winning? Not only for Dunk, but for us.

You know, there's the warmth, the smiles. I love the number of moments where he smiles, as Dunk is saying. So there's the pride on display, the grace. The way that Baylor is treating Dunk is like the way that Dunk treats horses, right? Gentle. He's just gentle. Welcoming. He's nice.

Warm. Yeah. And he's like, it's scary here. I know. Let me provide some comfort. Would you like a snack? A napal. Some oats.

Yeah. What a wonderful comp. This is a huge deal. Like, Dunk is making this appeal to the heir to the Iron Throne. And Baylor breaks fear, who is the hand of the king. the Prince of Dragonstone, a fabled warrior, has absolutely no reason to grant, Dunk, this audience to treat him kindly to remember who Sir Arlen is. But every single other person, Dunk went to, said, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about and I don't really have time for you.

And Baylor Brakespeare remembered Sir Arlen, remembered his name, remembered facing him, remembered the specifics of their joust. The rest of the Targaryians have set the bar in hell. All the other lords have set the bar in hell. And so Baylor by merely looking up from his snacking for a second to be somewhat nice to someone. He never shamed himself. Yeah. Is like, wow, we're like, wow. I mean, listen.

A god among men. It left an impression. It left an impression. I like the intimidation that Dunk feels in the novella, right? Kind of rightly, honestly, dunk got to his feet wondering if he should keep his head down or if he was allowed to look a prince in the novel. the face. That's the headspace he's in. Am I allowed to look this guy in the face, right? And then to be met with a welcome, with an embrace. When we talked about this on Sunday, but like, it's so striking that Dunk is surrounded by people, plumbers, like, you're going to have to find somebody

who remembers who this guy is who can vouch for you. Were there any witnesses to your nighting? Lord Ashford's like, do you have anything written down? And Baylor's just like, sir, rise. He's not asking questions. He runs this little, like, a lay-up of- A quiz. Yeah, with the Damon Lannister. It's like you talked to someone on the street and you're like, what are the Stark house words? You know what I mean?

Can you get that one? Oh, you're an expert. You got it. It's like even Bill could get that. You know? Do you think Bill knows winter is coming? Yes. I do.

I actually do. How do you feel about the fact that as he's texting us as he's watching Game of Thrones from his sauna? He keeps calling him Eddie Stark. How do you feel about that? I feel really good about it. good about him saying Theon love joy instead of gray joy, but I feel good about Eddie Stark. Eddie Stark, I support.

Eddie Stark's pretty iconic. Eddie Stark is pretty iconic. This is just a lovely scene. And, you know, when Dunk says at the end, like, I will fight bravely, you'll see, it's obviously a very sweet winning pledge from Dunk, but you kind of, like, understand why he would want Baylor to see that in him and believe that of him. There's a number of, there's a few moments in this episode where he says something like, I will fight bravely, you'll see.

I will do this. They'll see. We'll show them, blah, blah, blah. And it's like he's talking himself into it, right? And it's very much the like, no chance, no choice, right? Like, that's the brand idea. Just sort of like, I have to show them. Right.

I will risk all. I must risk all. You'll see. You'll see. You'll see. You'll see. And like what I'll, you know, George is telling the story for a reason. We can't get into all the details in the, in the spoiler.

section, but like, this is a story worth telling for a reason. Yes. So this idea of you'll see what I can do or you'll see why this story matters is true. Dunk is speaking truth. This is a, the tourney at Ashford Meadow is a story that matters. Yes, absolutely. And you'll see. I love to that, yeah, like you're saying Dunk is kind of being his own hype man here

and trying to convince himself that he can do this thing that he feels he must. Do you have something that do you, I don't know, how nervous you get about things. I've never seen you get really nervous about something, but do you have like a pep talk talk to yourself into something? No, I do get nervous. Chris once described me before a live show. Human Valium. Yeah, final season of Game a Thrones is human

valium because I was so anxious, I made him calm just by being around. Yeah, you used to get that, like, talking from the first season, the last season we did of Talk the Thrones on the insert, inset stage. Like, you got really... Yeah, I do get nervous. It keeps me like, I kind of like getting nervous. Like it keeps me frosty. It keeps me on edge. I think the day that I show up, like, complacent is, it's not a day I want, actually.

But no, I don't have like a go-to, like, I don't have a creed or a mantra or anything I say to my. Maybe I should. Do you want to hear mine? Yeah, absolutely. When I'm about to do something that I find very scary and I don't want to do it. Yeah. I tell myself, no matter what, this will be over. That's what I tell myself.

Get through it. no matter what, at some point. And hopefully there's an end point. I'm like, in an hour, this will be over. Or like, you know, yeah. You just have to do whatever this is. And it's scary for an hour. And then you'll be done.

And then you do it again the next day. Or maybe later that same day. Busy weeks here lately. Well, this isn't as scary anymore. We just pretend that there aren't like all these lights and cameras and people here. And we're just like talking in a room. It's the same as a Zoom call. So, you know, this conversation.

in elegant rooms. Yeah, you do it enough time that you don't have to pep talk yourself anymore. Our version of Tyrion Lannister's life though, though we don't have as much wine here. You did bring us meat once though. I mean, we could have wine here.

We could, it's true. Guys, why don't we have wine? Should we go to a puppet show? What do you think? Yeah, anything else that you wanted to say on the tales grow in the telling since obviously we've talked about it already but this is where Baylor says it

on the like the four lances it was seven and Dunk is embarrassed and that's just that kind of sweet. Again, it's like, it's sweet. He's being nice. Don't get mad at Arlen for exaggerating Tales Grow on the Telling. But that's just like the thesis of this show. Yes, it is.

Just one more way to prove the kind of chivalry and wisdom that Arlen was always talking to dunk about. The tourney at Ashravemeadow matters. It sets some wheels in motion for history. Yes. But this humble Dunkin' Egg version that we are experiencing is not what the history books will say about the tourney to Ashra Meadow, right? What would they say about the Stokeworths? You get a mention here? Shout out Lawless.

Shout out Braun. Miss that guy. All right, puppets and shields. Tell me about it. Because Baylor says his dunk is leaving. He sees Sir Arlen's shield. And he's like, he's like,

he's like, He's like, I'm going to introduce the continuity error. I'm going to need you to get rid of that shield, which you will have in later scenes. He's not Sir Arlen's actual blood. And so he cannot. use his sigillie. He's just sort of like, you got to, hey,

hey, bud, you got to make your own, make your own kind of music. Tails grow in the telling. Make your own sigil. You're going to need to continue to flesh out your own origin story here. As we talk about, you know, Tanzel and the puppeteers are doing Flore and the Fool and we'll talk about the great significance of that. But as we talk about Egg and Tancel and Dunk sort of crowd, no bad idea in a brainstorm, sort of crowdsourcing the various elements. of the sigil, it's Baylor's idea that there should be a sigil in the first place. So Baylor has an impact here, too, in terms of the creation of the sigil, which I really like.

Beautiful. It's a tapestry. Forged by all those hands. Sub-creators, baby. Professor's always welcome. Yeah. Egg loves this puppet show. Dunk loves a puppet here. He's having a puppet here. He's, like, so cute. It's precious. You really feel that he's a kid. I rewound. Okay, so Like, his little face watching was so cute. But Peter Claffey's like, I've mastered the hard eye emoji. It's incredible. It's very endearing. He's, like, very just, like, goofy, boyish smile as he's just, like, staring at Tancel.

He just adores her. And he's having boyish glee in the puppet show as well. Like, it's very sweet. He's taking glee, that's for sure. You're trying to make it. I really do think when he's. says you're you're not too tall. For kissing.

For smooching. Sex. For smooching. For smoking. No. I mean, sure. Kissing will be involved and he does. I was thinking about kissing in that very moment.

The tavern was to sit at the table on the table and he was embarrassed that she had to sit there to kiss him. It's very sweet. It's not too tall for fucking. It's too tall for kissing for me. Everything aligns properly for. Dunk here. Here's some textual evidence. The puppeteer who worked the dragon

was good to watch too. A tall drink of water. Yeah. But the olive skin and black hair of darned, she was slim as a lance with no breasts to speak of. But Dunk liked her face and the way

her fingers made the dragon snap and slither at the end of its strings. Rejected. He likes her artistry. Hand job. He thinks she's an artiste. He loves her craft.

Yes. Crafts woman. Yes. A woman of many towns. And why not all of the above? You could be a great puppeteer and a wonderful painter and also give a hell of a blowjob. How dare you. All right.

This is pure. Savaric love. This is pure. Dunk is super horny and really wants to get laid. He's, he's like routinely like, I shouldn't be thinking about kids. I should be thinking about jouston. Kissing, not fucking. What do you think he wants kissing to lead to?

More kissing. He's very sweet. Oh my God, you're the best. All right, tell me about Florian the fool. Tell me about Florian the fool. Yeah. Speaking of beautiful love stories, genuinely. I just have to say,

The great Harry Lloyd, like I love him. Yeah. His Dornish accent? Brutal. Not my favorite. Okay. Because I was like, you are no knight. I'm not going to do his accent.

It's wild. Yeah. You are no knight. You are Florian the Fool. I am my lady. As great a fool as ever lived and is great a knight as well. A fool and a knight. I've never heard such a thing.

Sweet lady, all men are fools and all men are knights. Where women are concerned. I'm obsessed with the way that they. did like the paws for that and the puppets the puppeteers had him like waggle his little head as he said it. I thought that was great stuff. Dunk was also thinking about the waggling of little heads. Okay. I played with your,

I played along with your many Arlen dick jokes. Preserve the innocence of Dunk until book two is what I will have to say. Okay. He thought back in all the songs he had heard songs of Blind Simeon Star Eyes and Noble Sirwin, that's not Sirwin, but Sirwin of the Mirror Shield. And Prince Eamon the Dragon Knight and Sir Ryan Red Wine and Florian the Fool. They had all won victories against foes far more terrible than any he would face.

But they were great heroes, brave men of noble birth, except for Florian. And what am I? So here's Florian the Fool. Yeah. All men are fools. All men are knights. Who, in that sort of like upward mobility sense that we're talking about, can you be a fool and of humble birth and also be a knight? And this is sort of like a, as much as, as heavy as the text was in the last episode of making the comp between Sirwin and the Mirror Shield and Dunk, this is, flooring is the real comp here.

Dunk is like, I said, okay, that guy. That could be me. Yeah. More relatable than some of the other mythic figures for Dunk, certainly. And this is, you know, this is something that has come up again and again in a song of ice and fire. We've talked in our trailer coverage and stuff like that, Sansa thinking about Florian and Johnquil. Sansa's song for Sandor Sir Dantos pledging to be

Sansus Florian and Robin John pretending to be Florian. This is how Sandra Clegan received this. Florian and Johnquil a fool and his cunt spare me. But one day I'll have a song from you whether you will it or no. This is guy I think he is, Lionel Barathean?

Sandor. I have a lot of notes. Okay, so they go see Tanzao after the show. This is part of the whole. continuity issue, right? Yeah. Where, as we mentioned on Talk the Thrones, later when Dunk is talking to Steely Pate,

when he's selling his horse, all that sort of stuff like that, when he's looking at the empty tourney field, he has the shield on. They digitally erased the sigil, but he has a shield on. And that's because that's the order of the scenes in the books.

And here's another clue that this is why this is, it was shot out of order, or like they sort of cut it out of order. He gives money to 10. Here's another, here's one cop before, you and another. He's being very free with the pennies. Don't cast no game. Well, he's no game, but he has no money until he sells the horse.

Yes. And once he has the horse, then he has coppers to throw to the puppet girl, you know, so. Yeah. Just saying, it's fine. Egg's quite interested in the fire, how the fire tricks work. He's scientifically minded. Pollan. Did you know that pollen could be used for pyrotechnics? Do you think has bees burritos that pollen can be used for pyrotechnics? I mean, I assume so. If you're going to be the bee hell. you should probably know these things. This sounds like now my least desirable job in Westeros.

Pollin collector? My allergies. Oh, your allergies simply could not. Absolutely couldn't handle it. It's a no for me, and that's sad because I think the puppet show seems really fun. But if we're just flinging pollen about, it's not going to work for me. It's not going to work. Egg is like, I mean, Dunk is very embarrassed as he's like...

He does not have the words. He told us. Oh, boy, you must think I'm such a fool. Like, I'm here to ask you for this thing, but I don't know what it is. It's very charming. Egg is embarrassed. He's kind of like... huffing on the side trying to help out.

It's very sweet and very cute. As we've noted, Duncanka, Dunk had never been with a girl. And they made him nervous, Canonical Virgin. And you can really feel it in this scene. Perfect for kissing. And some other stuff.

Some hand and mouth stuff. Tanzel invokes this Florian line that we just saw and heard in the puppet show. Like, well, yeah, must think be such a fool. All men are fools. All men are knights. We loved in episode one that line

idea and that line of line of inside every man there are many men. And so this is another through line, right? Tales grow with the telling what makes a night a night inside every man there are many men. Every man is a night and a fool, like the multitudes that you contain, the contradictions that you contain. Will you allow me a moment? Please. To talk about Sept and Maribald. Oh, sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. What a thrill. From a feast for Christ. Yeah. So the broken man speech, which is like one of the most famous Game of Thrones speeches, which they gave to Ian McShane of Tits and Dragons fame in Game of Thrones. But Septin Maribald is his character in Feast for Crows, who talks about The Broken Man.

He talks about what it means to, like, thinking about the outlaws that are on the roads, right? So, like, we're thinking about outlaws a lot inside of the context of this story because the Hedge Nights are accused of being outlaws and stuff like that. So he's talking about the outlaws, and he's talking about, like, hey, how did you think they got this way? They were once men dreaming of valor and war, right? So he says, quote, there are many sorts of outlaws, just as there are many sorts of birds. Poop Robin. Poop robin, yeah. A sandpiper and a sea eagle both have wings, but they are not the same.

The singers love to sing of good men forced to go outside the law to fight some wicked lord, but most outlaws are more like this ravening hound than they are the lightning lord. Brothers march with brothers, sons with fathers, friends with friends. They've heard the songs and stories. So they go off with eager hearts. Dreaming of the wonders they will see of the wealth and glory they will win. War seems a fine adventure. The greatest most of them will ever know.

Then a little later, he's asked, like, how young he was when he went to war, right? And he says, too young for such in truth. But my brothers were all going. And I would not be left behind. William said I could be his squire. The will was no knight, only a pot boy armed with a kitchen knife he'd stolen from the inn. He died upon the stepstones and never struck a blow. It was fever did for him and for my brother Robin.

Owen died from a mace that split his head apart and his friend John Pox was hanged for rape. The War of the Nine Penny Kings, said Heil Hunt. So they called it, though I never saw a king nor earned a penny. It was a war, though. That it was. So good. So, like, that concept that George has been chasing of, I like this idea of, like, inside every man, there are many men, right? So, like, inside every outlaw in this context of what he's talking about, there are many stories of how they got that way.

There are many different versions of that. And it reminds me a lot of the part in a fellowship that we were talking about when Gandalf talks about pity. Yeah. Pity staying Bilbo's hand and how did Gallum get that way. who was Gollum. Right. And so Septim Maribald is sort of preaching this idea of like, think of the stories that drove these men to this desperation. Yeah.

Right. We find Dunk in a different kind of desperation, but in a desperate moment. Sure. What is the story that got him here? Right. And who are these knights? You can call any of these men with a sir and for their name a knight. Sure.

Yeah. But what makes a knight a night a night? What makes a Targaryian and Targaryen? And when we think about Septin Maribald into Feast for Crows, certainly thinking about Brianna. We're certainly thinking about the hound. Absolutely. I love it.

What would Gollum have put on his shield? A ring. Just the ring. My precious. Not a wriggly fish, Ron Wrigley? Maybe it's like the Tully trout, like sort of splashing up with a ring around. Yeah, so like that egg cloth at the Lord Tully ripping the head off the fish was disgusting, but Gala was like, that's my signature move.

Loved it. That is my signature move. Yeah. I love sashimi. I'm a big fan. Same. LA. Great city for sushi.

I've been having a lot of sashimi at my time here, actually. I mean, I should hope so. Wonderful stuff. Great stuff. We've already talked about this collaboration of forging the shield. Yeah. Forging the new sigil. This brainstorm.

Beautiful. And then Egg gets the puppet line instead of dunk. Not too tall for. puppets. I actually don't like that Egg got that instead of Dunk. I think it's so perfect that it's Dunk in the novella. I'm kind of of two minds about it. Tell me. You're a war with yourself? The dunk doesn't have the right words and Egg has the word that he needs there. But what proves not having the words as perfectly as puppets, he finished lamely? It's like the best. Do we want to talk about Briann and the in the sigil? I don't think we've read this passage in the

spoiler section because we didn't have the sigil yet. Right. We did that at the end last time. Yeah, let's hit it again. Absolutely. So in a Song of Ice and Fire, Brand finds a shield in her father's armory. We don't know any more about it, but we get a description of it, running her fingers over the green leaves of the tree and along the path of the falling star. So Bran of Tarth finds Sir Duncan's shield in her father's armory. How did it get there? Tune in to find out. Indeed. Indeed. The luck is ours and dunks and eggs and brands. And pods. We're all in the same story. It's the best. Yeah. Um, Egg has another pep talk for Dunk. But he also is kind of like, because you give me a Peptock. Aren't you supposed to be helping? Ill handled. Me. Was it ill handled? Dunk is very embarrassed. Was it ill handled with the puppet girl? This is where egg touts at they are both gigantic. Is that promising? It's a commonality. And love that. Love that. Dunk is looking to his 10-year-old squire for which.

So because sometimes Dunk is like, I'm the one in charge, remember? If you steal from me, I'm going to hunt you down with dogs. You don't have dogs. Well, I'll get them. Right. Yeah. Routinely throughout the novella egg is like, that's not someone you want a challenge. That's not someone you want to face.

He's a serious. And oh, that, that sigil is that house. And Dunk's like, I know, man. Like Sir Arlin and I served there. He taught me my heraldry. But then there are plenty of moments where Dunk is like, actually, you know, more about this than I do. Actually, I just learned something for you.

And one of the lines that I love so much is, Dunk, thinking of egg, he liked the boldness. He needed to be bolder himself. My squire is braver than I am and more clever. But here we have egg talking about how puny he is, right? Why ever be able to be a knight? I'm so small.

A puny. Rather puny for my age. Quote, growing was the one thing that Dunk did really well, the old man used to say. And you would know. And Arlen would know. Okay. I think this is very sweet.

You know, Egg has all of these bits of knowledge and he's bold and he's confident. It's a bug in my side. He's aware. Bug in my side are going to flick it out. But Dunk's size and his strength and his might. It's something that Egg genuinely admires and prizes. And I just loved this little moment. And I was very charmed by the comedy of Dunk saying, you know, well, like, people always tell me I'm stupid and egg waiting.

And you described it as too much sauce. Too much dip on the chip? Too much sauce for Meg in that moment. I was very taken by it. I think I said too much sauce on the hot dog for some reason rather than the actual phrase would just dip on the chip. See, the hot dog sounds delicious right now, actually. It is lunchtime. Also, we've been talking a lot about dicks. That's another thing, by the way, about Dunk and Danzel. He's like, can I, would you like a sauce? It's what they're eating. He's literally like, would you like, can I offer you a sausage? Yeah.

Yes. Oh, man. Dunk's like my problems are my own. And Lionel's like, would you like a tug? Right? Tug of War. So I feel like my takeaway from this because Lionel says, cunt three times, great stuff. Pisses off, fucks off in the middle of tug of war to go get a drink.

I'm thirsty. It's really good. Dunk clearly wins this on his own, right? It's another way of showing us his. size and his strength. They don't win until Lionel comes back on the rope. And he barely puts his hand on. But he holds it down. Absolutely.

And we should say. Squid game season one, Dunk would have made it out, I think. That's definitely what I was. I was dying to make a Squid Game comp. It's seven versus seven, is it not? I was counting because I assumed seven versus seven and then I thought there were eight. I think it's seven versus seven. Does egg count? He says we're saying it's like hanging on for dear life.

Dexter said that they just did whatever they wanted on that tug of war thing and that him going up on the rope was just something that he did so you know it was like it was just them fucking around

which is really really fun Lionel is like he's there for a good time have you ever heard anybody say Lionel only feels alive when he's at war so tough so he's like let's make a war

out of this drinking moment let's do a tug of war listen everybody has a pre-game ritual a pre-torney ritual and this is his this is his. This is his pre-game play mix. He's basically ready to do an advertisement for Bose. Fuck up their hands so that they can't hold a lance against me in the tour.

Yeah, exactly. Dry those palms, you clam-handed cunt. We're not in your sister's chambers now. We like to take people behind the curtain. First thing I texted you about was Sir Arlen's dick. And the first thing you texted me about this episode was that line. We can only be who we are. Have you ever heard anybody say, pull you cunt-strap?

I think we're not in your sister's chambers anymore is like one of the funniest fucking things. And I just think Lala Barathean is a real fucking treat. His, the full antler helm armor in the opening jouse. In the end of the episode was so sick. Very good. Dunk needs armor. Steely Pete, baby. I love Steely Pete.

You made fun of me once in the trailer because I was like, Steely Pete. Like, he was the most important character in the history of the canon. I thought this performance was great. He has a couple lines and moments that I just love. I'm pro-steely paid. It's too late. But you were like, where are the paint heads? Do you paint?

Do you? Oh, man. So Dunk seeks him out because Arlenz armors, we talked about last week, too small for Dunk. Right? How's he going to protect himself in the joust? You're a big one, but I've armored bigger. I love that line. We talk about Dunk.

Supposed to be 6-11. Not quite, but he's gigantic. But, like, he's not literally the big. biggest man who's ever lived like everyone else. He's part of a great span of history. Steeley Pay is supposed to be very small of stature. So I love how they just have this guy sit down and not get up. They're just like, we'll just have you down. I like to be comfortable when I work. And so does Staley Pay, you know, he is one degree removed from my signature move, which is pajamas, fleece, blanket, chaise. That's how I do the bulk of my work. That's true.

You forgot about the TV. The TV tray is there with your snacks. As you know, it's not just snacks. I eat dinner off that TV tray every night. Adam and I sit side by side eating dinner off our TV and watching television. It's the American dream. It's the American dream, maybe. We've found what works for us. Steely Pate, he's not really here to win any Fit Watch awards, right?

He is here to make sure that a lance doesn't explode your eyeballs. Just good steel, strong and plain. I make helms that look like Helms. not winged pigs and fancy foreign fruit, but mine'll serve you better if you take a lance in the face. Now, of course, as Thrones viewers, instantly this calls to mind so much of the flashy, ostentatious, showy, highly decorative armor that we've seen over the years.

But for Dunk, this is a great moment because it's like, armor is not a status symbol for him. I mean, in some ways it is, right? It's can you afford it? Can you enter the list with it on your chest on your back? It's practical. I need this on me to survive. But there's a very meta aspect to this too, right?

Like, Dunk is much like the armor that Steely Pate is describing that Dunk is there to procure. Plain. Strong. He's not flashy. Did he read Sarah Plain and Tall in school? Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Dunk, plain and tall. Dunk, plain and tall. Like, but can he serve as a better kind of knight? Another, what makes a night a night idea? What makes armor functional armor? Like, is Dunk a truer distillation of the essence of the thing? much like what Steely Paid is going to make for him. I love that.

And, you know, he has his name. He has his sigil that a Dornish puppeteer will paint for him that was crowdsourced from his little bald squire and inspired by the head of the king. And here's his armor. Yes. What makes a night a night? These are some of the things.

Unfortunately, this is going to cost 800 stack. Sword and shield don't make a knight, but part of it. Part of it. It is part of it. Dunk cannot afford this. Got to sell a horse. But Steely Pete lowers the price. This is what we got the beautiful email about last week,

and you were talking about last week. He kind of looks at him and he's like, there's something to you. We're going to figure this out. I want to help you figure this out, which is a beautiful response. And Dunk, this is a moment I love. This is in the novella.

This is in the show. Dunk's like, yeah, don't worry. You're going to get it all back. I mean to be a champion. Sure. And Steely Pete says, just do watch, no choice, no chance. Do you now?

And the others all came just. just to cheer you on. I really love the way that that one line concretizes and presents the sheer impossibility of what Dunk is trying to do, right? And a lot of characters have said things that, like, this is another version of vinyl being like, yeah, you have no chance.

And yet Dunk decides to plow on. Okay, can I... Sweetfoot. Dunk says goodbye to Sweetfoot. This is a very beautiful moment. Sad. is Sir Arland's horse. We see him writing it in the flashback, right?

So we got this really beautiful email, I thought, from Maddie, which was actually Maddie, who is a real horse girl, self-described, wrote an extremely, extremely long email. This is merely part of it. But Maddie wrote, I love that Dunk gets his ery-gorn horse girl moment with Valar's. It was Aryan Steed, right? But Aaron Steed, that kick knee-of-the-face was brutal, though he does say, easy girl when you can see in multiple shots that the horse is definitely not a mare. Maybe Dunk is too tall to see it down there.

The moment before Dunk sells Sweetfoot was so precious and definitely brought me to tears, though Sweetfoot was mostly Sir Arland's mount. Dunk was the one caring for her, brushing her, and feeding her, talking to her all the while. In a lot of cases, the bond between horse and groom is even stronger than the bond between horse and rider. It's very important to me that the person Dunk sold her to, gives her that apple dunk paid for. I think another level to Dunk's pain in this moment is that giving up Sweetfield is likely giving up another piece of Sir Arlen. We got several flashback moments in this episode of Sir Arlin riding Sweetfoot and singing

and having a great time. It's clear to see that Sweetfoot and the other horses are part of the family that Arlin and Dunk have formed. I'm the only horse person in my family, but I have friends who have had to decide what to do with the relative's horse after the relative has passed. You want to keep them and take a care of them and the thought of anyone else owning them or riding them is heartbreaking, but in a lot of cases it's not economical. Horses are just so expensive.

So this idea of like, on this idea that she's talking here that Maddie makes about being the groom, Sweetfoot's groom, and thinking about how we were talking about the sword, like the care that dunk took with Sir Island's sword, just carefully honing in it, sharpening it by the fire every night and just carefully caring for Sweetfoot. And we got, you know, in episode one, the sort of like, I could sell you all and eat like a king, but. Right. This is not what, A, what will that get me in the long run? And B, this is not what Sir Island. Sir Island taught me to care for these horses like their family. Yeah. And when he does end up selling Sweetfoot, it's not to eat like King. It's not for luxury and gluttony. It's because he genuinely feels like, I must risk all. I have no other choice. I love that line in the novella. Dung felt as though he was betraying an old friend, which is obviously about Sir Arland, but also about Sweetfoot because he does have such a genuine. in bond with these animals. And we talked about this last week, how like, seeing Dunk in conversation, and we talked about it earlier today with the horses, like, it is such a cheat code to, like, warm us to the character and show us what kind of hard he has. But that was, as we talk about the bookends of these episodes, and what is he seeing and new about who Arlen was, and what

is he holding onto and continuing to carry forward. Like, this is one of the things that Arlen taught him that was good and right, and that Dunk will continue to incorporate into his own life. So the old man always said that a knight should never love a horse, since more than a few were like to die under him, but he never heeded his own counsel either. Dunk had often seen him spend his last copper on an apple for old chestnut or some oats for sweetfoot and thunder. So when we see Dunk do that here, give one of the coppers that he just earned back and say, you know, that's for her, make sure she has some oats tonight.

And an apple, it's not only because he's a good person who cares about this animal and his pain, genuinely pain to have to say goodbye and pledges to her. Like, if I win, I'll come get you again, I'll buy you back. It's because that's a lesson Arlen taught him that he still holds deer. So it's a lovely little moment for a lot of different reasons. Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet foot. Time for the opening jowls. Egg drops the crabber facts, the Donald by Odietz.

And we already talked about that. Dunk is opening up here, though, to Egg. He's like, Sir Ireland lived for 60 years, and he was never a champion. We're not quite at the end scene where he's going to really stare all the facts in the face, but he's, like, starting to own a little bit more of the complete picture here, right? He was never a champion. Maybe if I can be a champion, Dunk says, the Targaryens will take me into their household. And Egg is like, you think the Dragon House employs hedge knights?

they don't have that checked off on their LinkedIn profile, right? A hedge knight must hold tight to his pride. Without it, he was no more than a self-sword. I must earn my place in that company. If I fight well, some Lord may take me into his household. I will ride a noble company then and eat fresh meat every night in a castle hall and raise my own pavilion attorneys. But first, I must do well.

So as we build toward the, they don't die, by the side of the road in a muddy grave, Dunk is already seeking to improve his circumstance. And I think it's very pointed, right, that he says, um, eat fresh meat in, not the hard salt beef. Not the hard salt beef. The horn sounds.

It's time for the joust. We see Baylor, Maker, Aryan, Lord Ashford, they're up in the box. Dunk and Egg take their place among the common folk, right? And here are the sides in the book, the champions. Andro, A-N-D-R-O-W, and Robert Ashford, two of Lord Ashford's sons, Prince Filar, Leo Longthorn, Tyrell, and Humphrey Harding. Humphrey Harding, yes. Is an absolute badass, right? So this makes a lot of sense, right?

Leo Tyrell, Lord Paramount of the region. Yes. Yeah. Two of Lord Ashford's sons, he's the host. Prince Valar. Yeah. And then what the hell is Humphrey Harding doing here? He's the biggest badass.

Best at Sir Donald. He's hardcore. And Royce. I really got excited when we picked up the There's like all this cool choreography in the joust. The picking up when you can see. That's that's a freeharding shield

the diamonds, the white and the red diamonds. That was very fun. Challenger, this is in the text. I'll be honest, I'm like, I need glasses, as you know. This is a night scene. even though it was, as you noted, on Talk to Thrones better lit

than some other Thrones' night scenes. I was like, are these characters that's exactly the same as in the book? It was I had to kind of really check. There's a lot of freeze framing involved. The challengers. Unmistakable with the antler helm, The Laughing Storm.

Lionel Barathium. In the text, he challenges Ashy the Younger. Tie-bolt Lanister, challenges Ashy the Elder. The Grey Lion, Baylor said he's going to be entering the list. Here he is. He challenges Leo. Longthorn. Lord Tully, biting off the fish,

challenges Humphrey Harding and then Abelar High Tower challenges, as we noted earlier. Prince Valar. The High Towers can only be the High Towers great stuff. So Dunk sees Valar and he's like, oh, I bet he's going to be the best. Bet he's the, yeah, he's going to be the best. I'll take that bet. So here's what's a little clearer in the books, right? This idea of like, I think it's less clear this idea of like picking who you're going to challenge

who the original champions are, that whole process, which George spends amazing. many pages describing in the book. But what's clear in the book is that everyone is pulling their punches when it comes to Valar. And that's, they made that clearer in this line, right? That when eggs like, Valar, I doubt it. Not so hot. But he's, right. He's Prince Valar. Right. And Dunk's, like, would I even be able to, like, challenge the prince? Would they let me do that? Right. And they start with, like, the biggest fucking deals get to go first. So, Dunk challenging. And this is what, when he and Raymond were talking last week about, like, who she shields. are you going to pick?

Like, who are you going to challenge? Right. He's like, it doesn't matter. And he's like, that's what you're supposed to say. It really matters. But like, who is, who is Dunka to challenge among these people? Because, like, the way you stay in the tourney is you win. Yes.

So the challenger can become a champion. They, so what we watch here, five against five, they ride against each other. All 10 lances smash. That's what happens in the book. And that's what happens here. And everyone freaks the fuck out because this is going to be sick. Sick. Yeah.

All 10 lances. smash, great. But whoever wins in this is going to like advance, advance, advance, you know, and so it's not going to get easier. It's only going to get harder as we go. Yes. So what is Dunk going to do inside of all of this is the realization that he is having as he's watching this, right? And I think that like there's this really cool moment that I think is worth calling out, which is Leo Longthorn himself. Basically, when someone gets unhorsed, he, like, pulls up. Yeah.

And then he, like, he falls off and eventually gets, I think he's the one who, like, pulls himself up on someone else's horse, essentially. But, like, you're not trying to kill anyone. Right. It's his, like, play acting war. It's pageantry. Yes. So though we've seen things go poorly in tourneys before.

Right. These five champions and their five challengers are all playing by the rules, which is, like, we're here to. You know, we're here to smash up each other. shields and lances, but we're not here to, like, actually fuck each other up. Like, that's not the point of what we're doing here. Right. So that's important that they showed us this year.

Yeah, absolutely. I thought this was really fun. Really fun. Very cool. The decision to make it a night joust in the show was I thought a nice Friday night lights energy. Sure. You know? Oh, yeah.

If someone had started singing Devil Town, I wouldn't have been surprised. Explosion the sky starts playing. Exactly. Buddy Garrity would love a joust. Oh, my God. He would want to jubble. trying to put it on, but he would love a job. Which house is Buddy trying to be a booster for, though? I mean, frankly, probably the Targs. I would say the Lannisters. You're right.

Absolutely. I don't know money. You're right. All the gold. We talked about the anxiety that both Egg and Dunker experiencing Egg when he sees the squires for all of the challengers and champions alike, running out, lances in hand to arm their riders anew, he looks down at his tiny little hands. He's like, am I going to be able to do that? I'm going to have to do that. And it's fun because there's this line in the novella about how I, you know, it's one of a dozen forms attorney can take. And Chris was asking us on Talk to Thrones in episode one. You know, attorneys in the role in the story. And we talked about the president in every show, obviously crucial moments in history. They can't, they vary setting to setting. And so this particular mode, the five champions,

the five challengers, there is like a heightening of the theater right away that really kind of of like makes it all feel more keen for viewers but for egg and dunk as well. I loved the fish bite from the tully because a lot of people have been asking what relation does this story have to something like a Knight's Tale, the Heath Ledger film. And, you know, sure you can see comps. That film came out after this book was written. So, you know, and then they all are related to either like Chaucer, Chaucer, Ivan or whatever you prefer.

But speaking of Chaucer, speaking Paul Bettney, the way that Paul Bettney, my introduction of Paul Bettney, one of my favorite things that he's ever done, like just calms out and amps up the crowd

as he is announcing Heath Ledger's character, like that pageantry, that theater. We're not like stomping and clapping, we will rock you as they do in, but the energy's there. No question.

The energy's there. People are having that. Mm-hmm. Great time. Egg. Dunk is, he's flashing to Arlen. He's going through it as we already talked about, this kind of clarity of this fork in the road moment and the circumstance that he has found himself in and the distance from the humble roots. Egg gets back to camp and he's like, die, you blackfire pretenders who's plagiarcing.

He is still enraptured by just the euphoria of that experience, even though he obviously was like, I got some. But then he understands that that's not the vibe at camp. He sees that Dunk is going through it. He notes the pensive mood. he asks if he's okay, and this is when Dunk says, the line we've referenced a few times, do great knights live in the hedges and die by the side of a muddy road? I think not. This is yet another moment line that is pulled basically right from the book. Sir Arlen had taught him as best he could, but the old man had never been the greatest of knights,

even when young. Great knights did not live their lives in the hedges nor die by the side of a muddy road. That will not happen to me, Dunk vowed. I will show them that I can be more than a hedge knight. I will show them. I will show them. This idea, I will be more than a hedge knight while holding on to the fact that the hedge knight could be the truest and purest kind of night. The dunk is evolving in embracing kind of the totality of that. I really, really, really loved this scene. I loved the way that Peter Clafayas dunk, like, bit the hard salt beef, even just that the ending note is like it's Hedge Knight's food. You know, as he's making this pledge, this decoration.

He shared with Arlen. Yeah, exactly. Like, it's another tie to the past. Does he have the coin or the opportunity to feast in some grand fashion? No, but it's like, this can fuel me. But, I mean, he ate, like, he ate high on the hog with Lionel Barath, and he could have, like, you know, asked for another pastry. He could have snuck his way into another tent. This is going to get me ready.

I'm eating the hedge night meal. Sir Arlen wasn't gifted with Sordor Lance, and he drank and he hoard, and he was a hard man to know. He made no friends either. He lived nigh on 60 years and never was a champion. What chance do I have truly? So what chance do I have truly is a repeating refrain? He was a hard man to know really hit me. I thought that line and that delivery was great because, first of all, it's sad.

This idea, as we've talked about, that this is the person Dunk spent, the bulk of his life with, and the horses. And he was a hard man to know. How much is that for other people, but how much of it was for Dunk? But also, like, egg is such an easy. boy to know, you know what I mean? Like, he's so open and so like talkative and all these other things. So like for Dunk to have this new experience. Yeah. I love that. This like more honest accounting that he has of confronting that Arlen wasn't always maybe honest or kind or the, the hero that he wanted to be or that Dunk wanted him to be what makes a night a night, but also that

he's like pairing it with the pledge, but he was good to me. I wasn't his family, but he kept me like we were, he raised me to be an honorable man. And all these noble lords can't even remember his name. His name was Sir Arlen of Pennytree and I am his legacy. On the morrow, we will show them what his hand has wrought. There is not a story where like the idea of legacy is more central than Game of Thrones. Tywin Lannister. I don't know. Are you watching the season of industry? I'm one episode behind, but yes, I am watching and enjoying. So I just loved this final note. I loved this idea that Dunk is like finding the aspects to hold forth and prize and cherish and also updating what to keep and what to... His view of the thing.

What to leave. Book spoilers. Let's do it. If you don't want to hear us talk about things that are happening in the future and the book, this is where you leave. We will see you for episode three. Okay. Have you left? Are you gone?

Goodbye. All right, egg. Do you think that people could watch this episode of television and not know that egg is a target? Because some people watch shows so casually. Yes. Okay. He does make a little gasp when he sees the Targary. He's like, I need to leave right now.

I think if people don't know and they're close watchers, they probably figured it out. Yeah. Hopefully. Yeah. But I think there are plenty of people who will be surprised. One of Maycar's missing sons is named Aga. They're plenty of people who watch things casually. It's true.

I thought that they amplified the clues in this episode. Don't go on the internet. I thought even more than the just direct. is egg a secret targ? You can say fuck their permission and the royal lap dogs, all that. It was just real princely vibes. That's what I was trying to like. Real princely privilege vibes.

Yeah, exactly. I think on the, just, it's painful to go through the whole pod on the make our front and not be able to say that his third son is Mr. Amon. I can't wait to be able to do that very soon in this story. It's very hard to not be able to do that. Can I shout out a line I really loved? Please. When Dunk says to Egg, you're a likely lad.

because Egon will become Egon the unlikely. Yeah. Very fun. Fire stuff. It's worrying. Yeah. So if people here are in the spoiler section and they don't know, so egg is Egonne Targaryen who will become Egonne the unlikely, the king. And he also, in pursuit of maybe rebirthing the dragons, is responsible for the great fire at Summer Hall.

Yeah. How responsible, perhaps we will find out if we get there on the show. But his interest in how did you make that fire is. It's worrying. It's tough. On the Baylor front, I make it a practice to learn all I can in my foes. A nice little just like,

I'm tactically minded. I am strategic as a setup for Kingsguard. They're on the other side of the trial seven. They can't touch me. I'm a prince of the realm. Kind of just liked a little bit of set up for how his mind works on the strategy front. Obviously, most importantly,

just setting him up as an honorable guy who will make the decision to stand with dunk. Arian quickly established as a douche. Yeah. So that's effective. I think also in the scenes for next week they just show him saying the dragon must never lose

and as we talked about last week in the scenes for the season they just totally gave away everything that Arya does which I don't understand how Aryan conducts himself in the joust if they're doing that you know all that sort of stuff

yeah I think that's really interesting um Makar yeah I do not need to be reminded of my son's failings he can change he will change God's be damned, or I swear I'll see him dead. Yeah, Darren dies. I like this is like set up for Dunk at the end when Maker's like, okay, he can, you can take

him as the squire and the novella, Dunk is like, it's the, he's like, I'm not going to go to Summer Hall. Yeah, he's like, you can come to Summer Hall where I live and he can be your squire there. And Dunk's like, no, I'm going on the road, dude. Like, Darren and Ariane, like, did they ever have any steak that wasn't like soft and bloody, you know? Look at those guys and look at where it led them. I thought that was well set up here too. Kingsguard. They will be on the opposite side of this fight. The Trial of the seven, which is Duncan and his allies, which includes Baylor and Lionel and a Beesbury and

a Harding and a Fossoy against Aryan Mika. Yes. And the Kingsguard and a Fosway and, you know, Will you forgive Sir Donald for killing Beesbury? I shall not. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. I would like to spend more time with his Beesbury before we lose him. It would be nice. The mustache dance in episode one wasn't enough?

No, it's never enough as far as Beesbury's are concerned. But yeah, here's Duncan. He's like, here are my honorable, you know, bright white heroes. And they're going to be on fucking Arian side in this fight that we have at the end of the season. It's brutal. I do like when Sir Rowling comes back around. in the third novella and the mystery night when he arrives as part of the blood raven crew. I am excited for that.

But obviously, mostly on the Kingsguard front, you know, Sir Duncan the tall, future lord commander of the Kingsguard. So this stuff is meaningful. The most like four pages for Sir Duncan. I say Barrison Selmy. The epitome, the platonic ideal of Kingsguard is Sir Duncan the Tall. For all of the Kingsguard that come after. For all of the knights that come after, for all the boys of the realm and, and, and, and, the brands of the realm who come after, right?

It is Sir Duncan the tall. The best. On the Steely Pate front, in the novella, I always love that he is the one when Dunk is like, they're for me? Like, why are they for me? And Steely Pate is the one who's like, because you like stood up for them

and you did the thing a night is supposed to do. Yeah, so just seeing him and kind of in this tender, open-hearted place felt like a good setup there. What else? We got a nice good look at the Vilar's armor, presumably to set up the iconic book moment when Baylor is initially mistaken for the young prince when he comes in in his armor because he has to wear his son's armor.

What else? Roger of Penny Tree, the maze to the face delivered by Gorman Peak, who is a key figure in the third novella and the third season, presumably of this show. And that is a really great aspect when Dunk is like, you're a piece of shit, but also I have personal reason. Yeah, to hate you.

And it is what you did to Roger of Pennyton. tree. Anything else on the book's spoiler front? I mean, I do think that tug of war was seven on seven. I do think it was. And I think it was just like a little, a little mini preview. And even though Lionel like comes back in Lionel will be on Dunk's side in the fight, Lionel wanting a fight at all time, spoiling constantly for a fight is a good reason to have him in the final mix. But also Lionel leaving like is very Stefan Foss away. I just sort of like, don't put your stake in these lords. They are mercurial. and they will just fucking, they will stir up a fight and then leave you, you know. You said you'd stand for him. Now, did I? I'm sure I mentioned it at the time.

Yeah. All right. Oh, Stefan, he sucks. Can't wait for episode three. I believe episode three. They said that episode three is when the reveal happens. Yeah, and the New York Comic-Con panel, Dexter, was like, episode three is my favorite episode. So we'll be much freer to talk about why this story matters next week, which is exciting.

All right. Thank you. Thank you to our squad today. Carlos Chiroboga. The greatest. Arjuna Ramgapel. Even though he's a Patriots fan? Yeah. I can't believe he gets to see his team in the Super Bowl. He was at the AFC championship game. He's like from you, Joanna, who knows nothing about football? Why? Joe Mia Dena on the social. And Donald, as mentioned, Donald Lobionco here with us today, helping us out.

Thank you, Donald. Wonderful stuff. We will be back Sunday night with CR for Talk Thrones right after episode three, and then we will see you next Tuesday evening for the House of Our Deep dive on episode three. And for that, I'm gonna be draft. Hi, drafts. Did someone draft a night of the seven kingdoms? You'll have to find out. Tune in. Bye. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at yamava Theater.com. Only at Yamava Resort and Casino,

celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. You can't reason with the sun. Trust us. We've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute. Columbia's Omnishade technology is engineered to protect you from the sun's harsh rays that can burn and damage your skin. The sun is relentless, but so is our gear. Level up your summer at Columbia.com to spend more time outside and less time slathering on allotion. You're welcome. Columbia. Engineered for whatever.