The Hedge Knight

The Hedge Knight
Graphic Novel (Second Edition)
Author	George R. R. Martin
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	A Song of Ice and Fire
Genre(s)	Fantasy
Publisher	Voyager Books; Dabel Brothers Productions
Released	August 25, 1998; March 25, 2005
Media Type	Original novella in Legends anthology; standalone graphic novel
Pages	160
ISBN	ISBN 978-0785125785 (Graphic Novel) ISBN 978-0785127246 (Graphic Novel, Second Edition) ISBN 978-0006483946 (Legends Paperback, 2011 Edition) ISBN 978-0553385694 (Dreamsongs Vol. II Paperback) See the References and Notes section for additional editions and their respective ISBNs.
Followed by	The Sworn Sword

The Hedge Knight is a short story by George R. R. Martin that first appeared in the Legends anthology, a collection of stories by various fantasy authors such as Stephen King, Robert Jordan, and Terry Pratchett. It was edited by Robert Silverberg. The story was later adapted into a graphic novel by Mike S. Miller. It is the first of the "Dunk and Egg" stories.

The story takes place in 209 AC, some 90 years before the events in A Song of Ice and Fire. It tells the tale of how Dunk took the mantle of a hedge knight and met his squire, a young boy named Egg, on his way to compete in a tournament at Ashford Meadow.

Plot Summary

A hedge knight, Ser Arlan of Pennytree, has died during the night. His squire, a large young man named Dunk, buries him and pays his last respects. After considering several options, Dunk decides to continue his journey to Ashford and compete in the tourney as a knight. He adopts Ser Arlan's armor as his own, as well as his equipment, three horses, and remaining monies. At an inn on the road, he meets a boy with a shaved head named Egg who secretly follows him to Ashford. Impressed by the boy's spirit, Dunk takes him on as his own squire for the upcoming tourney.

At Ashford, Dunk sells one of his horses to commission armor, then attempts to enter the lists of the tourney. Without proof of his knighthood, he is nearly barred from competition until Prince Baelor Targaryen vouches for him. Dunk watches the first day of competition amongst the commoners, with Egg on his shoulders. After several spectacular tilts, the day ends when Prince Aerion Targaryen disgraces himself by killing Ser Humfrey Hardyng's horse.

That night, Egg informs Dunk that a puppeteer girl he had met earlier is being beaten by Prince Aerion. Dunk leaps to her defense and attacks Aerion, striking him in the face. As the royal guard arrests Dunk, Egg reveals himself to be Aerion's brother, Prince Aegon Targaryen. In jail, Dunk chooses to take a trial by combat rather than lose his hand. Prince Aerion demands the combat to be a Trial of Seven, as his brother, Prince Daeron, also accused Dunk of kidnapping Aegon from his charge. Dunk must find six champions to fight with him against seven accusing knights, or he will forfeit.

Steffon Fossoway is the first ally Dunk finds. He promises to bring Dunk more champions, as does Steffon's squire and cousin, Raymun Fossoway. Egg also promises to bring more champions for Dunk's cause. Raymun returns with Ser Humfrey Hardyng and Ser Humfrey Beesbury, good-brothers seeking revenge for the grievance Aerion committed against Hardyng. Aegon brings Ser Robyn Rhysling and Ser Lyonel Baratheon, the Laughing Storm, both eager for the glory of competing in the first Trial of Seven in a century. Steffon returns only to say he has decided to fight with the accusors for the reward of a lordship. Angered by his cousin's treachery, Raymun begs to be knighted and fight in Steffon's place. Dunk hesitates, but before he can give his answer, Dunk is called away by Lord Ashford, and Lyonel grants Raymun his knighthood. Still needing a seventh champion, Dunk appeals unsuccessfully to the crowd. Finally, Prince Baelor announces that he will champion Dunk himself, though the accusers include three of his family members and three of his father's Kingsguard.

The fourteen champions line their mounts along opposite sides of the tourney grounds and charge. Dunk tilts against Aerion, but is quickly unhorsed. Though nearly defeated, Dunk manages to grapple Aerion and use his size advantage to pummel Aerion into submission. Aerion recants his accusation, ending the Trial. The fighting costs the lives of both Humphreys. Prince Baelor, who had not brought his own armor but instead wore armor made for his son, took a blow to the head from a mace. After the battle, Baelor approaches Dunk to congratulate him, and begins to act drunkenly. When his crushed helm is removed, it is shown that the weaker armor made for his son did not protect him from the blow which has crushed in his skull. Aerion's father, Maekar, meets with Dunk after the funeral, revealing that it was his mace that killed Baelor. He regrets Aerion's behavior and offers Dunk a position in his household to train Aegon. Dunk insists on being allowed to travel, and offers to take Aegon as his squire to learn to be a better knight than Aerion. Maekar agrees, making sure Aegon continues to use his alias of Egg to avoid scandal. Dunk and Egg set out to Dorne, in search of the puppeteer whom Dunk had saved.

Sources and Publications

The Hedge Knight was finished on December 31, 1997^[1] and published on August 25, 1998 in the Legends anthology.^[2] The original Legends has been on occasion divided into two, three, or four volumes, which has led to confusion with the actual follow-up, Legends II. The second book is a completely different anthology, albeit being by the same editor, having six writers in common with the original and including the second "Dunk and Egg" tale, The Sworn Sword. It is helpful to focus on the five writers that change between Legends and Legends II: Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan and Ursula K. LeGuin contribute to Legends but not to Legends II, while Robin Hobb, Neil Gaiman, Terry Brooks, Diana Gabaldon and Elizabeth Haydon have stories in Legends II but none in Legends.

The Hedge Knight was later also included in the 2007 collection of Martin stories Dreamsongs, Volume II and was adapted into a comic book mini-series later collected as a graphic novel.

A compilation of the four initial "Dunk and Egg" stories, including The Hedge Knight, was expected to be published by Bantam.^[3] Ultimately, a collection of only the three already published stories was released in 2015 as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. ^[4][5]

Editions

• 

  Legends, ISBN 9780312867874.

• 

  Legends, ISBN 9780002256674.

• 

  Legends, ISBN 9780006483946.

• 

  Legends, ISBN 9780765300355,

• 

  Legends 2, ISBN 9780812575231.

• 

  Dreamsongs Vol. II

• 

  The Hedge Knight (Graphic Novel)

References

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Tales of Dunk and Egg. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of Tales of Dunk and Egg. As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.