‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’: What is a hedge knight?

HBO’s new Game of Thrones spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, features more knights than you can shake a lance at.

The House of the Dragon sequel takes place at a tournament (or “tourney”) in The Reach’s Ashford Meadow, where only knights are allowed to enter “the lists” — spaces for publicly demonstrating their combat and jousting skills. But what of Ser Duncan “Dunk” the Tall (Peter Claffey), who is constantly scorned as a “hedge knight” rather than a “true knight.”

What exactly is a hedge knight, and why does it matter?

Firstly, knights. Westerosi knights are like real knights from medieval history, a well-armed warrior class who serve a lord or monarch and are bound by a chivalric code to protect the realm and defend the innocent. Kings, princes, and lords can also be knights. They’re skilled at horseback combat and the brutal art of jousting, and they bear a coat of arms on their banners and shields to show off their lineage — all the great houses of Westeros have knights. And they usually have a squire to attend them, because that armor’s not going to polish itself.

As Master of Games Plummer (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) explains in episode 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, “Any knight can make a knight.” Jaime Lannister also famously says this line in the Game of Thrones series when knighting Brienne of Tarth. This means anyone can undergo “the accolade” — bending the knee, having a sword touched on either shoulder, and being dubbed a “Ser” — as long as it’s done by another knight or a monarch. But you absolutely need witnesses. This is tricky for Dunk, as he explains in episode 1. His master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), knighted him with his longsword before he died, but unfortunately, the only witnesses were a thorn tree and a robin, so he needs a knight or lord to vouch for him to enter the tourney.

Knights also need money. As Plummer explains to Dunk, you need ample cash for armor, horses, training, and men to help you with all of that. Like a modern equestrian, it’s not a cheap life. Plus, in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (and also in history), if you lose in the tourney to another knight, they get all your gear, which you must pay a ransom to get back.

But what’s a hedge knight?

Essentially, hedge knights are the same as true knights, except they don’t serve a lord, master, or great house — very much like the masterless samurai known as ronin. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on George R.R. Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas including The Hedge Knight, in which Martin describes Dunk like this:

“The only life he knew was the life of a hedge knight, riding from keep to keep, taking service with this lord and that lord, fighting in their battles and eating in their halls until the war was done, then moving on. There were tourneys from time to time as well, though less often, and he knew that some hedge knights turned robber during lean winters, though the old man never had.”

Both Ser Dunk and his master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree, are hedge knights — and Dunk gives us tiny scraps of his master’s history serving various lords in battle, but not permanently. “Ser Arlan always said a hedge knight was the truest kind of knight,” Dunk remarks to his horse in episode 1, constantly keeping sight of the sacred oath of all knights: serving the realm and protecting the weak and innocent.

However, hedge knights have a bad rep, seen by most people of Westeros as less important, less formidable knights, first described by Red (Rowan Robinson) in episode 1 as “like a knight but sadder.”

“Got to sleep in the hedges ’cause no lord’ll have it,” she continues, referring to the fact that “true knights” who serve the great houses and palaces of Westeros live among the aristocracy or on their own awarded lands. Dunk sleeps under the stars camping each night, while the likes of Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) has a whole luxe pavilion set-up and lands to return to.

If Dunk manages to be victorious at the tourney, could he land himself a sweet position in the house of Baratheon or the like? Or once a hedge knight, always a hedge knight?

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is now streaming on HBO, with new episodes dropping Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.