The lore behind A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: What George R.R. Martin hasn’t told us yet

The upcoming show A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is set to explore some of the most exciting and untold chapters of Westeros’ history. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, the show promises to bring iconic moments from the books to life. In a 2014 interview, Martin shared insights about the lore of A Song of Ice and Fire, revealing some compelling mysteries that haven’t yet seen the light of day. The interview, centered around his book The World of Ice and Fire, offered fans a sneak peek into the stories Martin has created, but hasn’t fully unveiled.

Two major topics from the interview were the tragic event of Summerhall and Ser Duncan the Tall’s legendary duel with Lyonel Baratheon. While these events are known in the books, much of the full lore behind them remains hidden. The show might offer some long-awaited insights into these untold details. Even more intriguing is the possibility that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will explore lore that Martin hasn’t written about yet. We could finally learn more about Aegon V’s backstory and how these hidden histories tie into the fates of the Targaryens.

Read More: Artwork revealed from upcoming graphic novel version of George R.R. Martin’s The Mystery Knight

The Duel Between Dunk and Lyonel Baratheon

Credits: Chase Stone

The upcoming show A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms delves into the story of Ser Duncan the Tall (played by Peter Claffey) and Aegon V Targaryen, also known as Egg (played by Dexter Sol Ansell). Egg would go on to become the King of Westeros, while Duncan would rise to become the Lord Commander of his Kingsguard. Their journey begins in The Hedge Knight, where Dunk and Egg meet for the first time during a tournament attended by knights, lords, and princes. This event sets the stage for the complicated relationship between the two, as well as Duncan’s first encounter with Lyonel Baratheon, the Laughing Storm (played by Daniel Ings).

Much later, Duncan and Lyonel would face off in a duel, an event already known to fans. In a 2014 interview, George R.R. Martin teased the details surrounding this duel in a 2104 interview, and while much of it is already written, he shared that he hasn’t fully revealed all the details yet. You can watch the interview excerpt here:

Martin explained:

“I haven’t really told this story yet, so, you know, we’ll get to it eventually in the seventh or eighth Dunk and Egg story. I still have mixed feelings about telling things like that duel with Ser Duncan and The Laughing Storm. But I’ll get to it eventually.”

The tension between Duncan and Lyonel goes back to a betrothal arranged between Lyonel’s daughter and King Aegon V’s son, which later ended in rebellion. Aegon V’s son, whom he named Duncan as a tribute to his friend, fell in love with the commonborn Jenny of Oldstones and broke the betrothal, leading to Lyonel renouncing his fealty to the Iron Throne. This resulted in a brief but bloody rebellion, culminating in the trial by combat where Lyonel eventually yielded to Duncan.

Read More: Who is Lord Lyonel Strong in House of the Dragon?

The mystery of Summerhall

Credits: Marc Simonetti

Another topic covered was the tragic and mysterious event at Summerhall, a Targaryen castle that played an important role in Westerosi history. Summerhall is a castle that is mentioned often in the lore of A Song of Ice and Fire. It is a ruined castle in the Stormlands. Formerly a lightly fortified castle used by House Targaryen as a summer castle and royal residence, it was destroyed in a great fire in 259 AC. While the heir apparent to the Iron Throne was known as the Prince of Dragonstone, a younger son could be titled the Prince of Summerhall. Before Aegon V became king, Summerhall belonged to his father Maekar, who we will also see in the upcoming show played by Sam Spruell.

The fire at Summerhall, which resulted in the deaths of King Aegon V Targaryen, his son Prince Duncan, and Lord Commander Ser Duncan the Tall, remains one of the most elusive and dark chapters in the Targaryen dynasty. While some details of the tragedy have been revealed, Martin emphasized that much of it would remain a mystery for now. As to this, the tragedy that happened here is very well known and is also the origin for the song Jenny of Oldstones that Podrick Payne sings in the last season of Game of Thrones. Regarding the event, Martin said:

“So it was like, you know, I suggested at one point—when we were dealing with one of the big mysteries that people want to know a lot about, was Summerhall— Summerhall was a Targaryen secondary castle that was in the border where the Stormlands, the Reach, and the Dornish Marches all come together. It was the home castle to Egg’s father in the Dunk and Egg stories and to some other Targaryen princes during a certain period of time. But it was destroyed at a certain point. There have been references to it in the books—something happened at Summerhall. Something dark and traumatic. And what exactly happened? The readers will want to know this, and I know what happened. But I don’t want to tell the readers yet because I want to reveal that in a later Dunk and Egg story.”

The cause of the fire is as yet unknown, but it was connected with King Aegon’s desire to restore dragons to the Seven Kingdoms. The last years of his reign were consumed by a search for ancient lore about the dragon breeding of Valyria, and it was said that Aegon commissioned journeys to places as far away as Asshai, with the hopes of finding texts and knowledge that had not been preserved in Westeros.

What we know about the tragedy at Summerhall

In 259 AC, Aegon summoned many of those closest to him to Summerhall to celebrate the impending birth of his first great-grandchild to Aerys and Rhaella, the children of Aegon’s heir Prince Jaehaerys.

Summerhall’s maester Corso sent a letter before his death, describing the tragedy, but a mishap led to ink blotting out much of the information:

“The blood of the dragon gathered in one … … seven eggs, to honor the seven gods, though the king’s own septon had warned … … pyromancers … … wildfire … … flames grew out of control … towering … burned so hot that … … died, but for the valor of the Lord Comman …”

Many died, and fire destroyed the castle, leaving it a ruin. According to Ser Barristan Selmy, sorcery was involved.

Aegon V spent much of his reign dealing with uprisings. On three occasions, the Iron Throne had to intervene in the Westerlands due to the inferior and inept leadership of Lord Tytos Lannister of Casterly Rock. Most of Aegon’s troubles resulted from his efforts to improve the lives of the smallfolk, whom he had interacted with while squiring for Duncan. Although the smallfolk loved Aegon for his reforms and granting of rights and protections, high lords felt their powers over peasantry were diminished and curtailed by these new reforms. Lacking the dragons controlled by early Targaryen kings, Aegon reluctantly compromised with the recalcitrant lords on several issues.

King Aegon remained intent on his reign and on dragons in particular. Against the advice of his friends and counselors, Aegon V became convinced that only with dragons could he force the lords of the Seven Kingdoms to accept his decrees that granted freedoms, rights, and protections to the smallfolk.

This eventually led to the tragedy of Summerhall in 259 AC. Aegon V ironically ended with a similar fate to his older brother Aerion, who we will see in the upcoming show as well, played by Finn Bennet. Aerion sought to become a dragon by drinking wildfire but died instead.

Read More: Everything we know about House Strong of Harrenhal

Martin’s Writing Process and the tension of revealing secrets

Credits: Bantam

One of the most fascinating aspects of the interview was Martin’s explanation of his writing process and how he decides which details to reveal in his books. He admitted that there’s always a tension between what he wants to share and what he plans to save for later stories. When asked about the difficulty of revealing such important events, he said:

“This was one of the hardest things about putting this book together—the question of how much to tell and how much not to tell. Because the readers, of course, want to know everything. And I knew some things. And, you know, I’d shared some of them with my editor Anne Groell and Elio and Linda. But there are things that I wanted to reveal in later books, in later novels, or, like in the case of that, in later Dunk and Egg stories.”

Martin went on to describe his approach to handling major plot points in The World of Ice and Fire that weren’t ready to be revealed. He recalled suggesting a creative workaround to avoid revealing too much too soon, particularly about the mystery surrounding Summerhall. He said:

“But how do we get around that? Because the maester is writing the history, and this is a very important event. So I suggested that since we’re doing this as a mock facsimile, perhaps Maester Yandel could write a detailed account and then accidentally knock over his inkwell, and there would be a big blotch on that page when you got to that part of the book.”

However, Martin shared that his editor, Anne Groell, talked him out of this idea because it could lead to a lot of customer complaints.

How Martin decided what details to share and what to withhold

Martin reflected on his feelings about withholding key details:

“We didn’t do a blotch, but we got around it in another way. But that was, unfortunately, my reaction to a lot of this stuff. ‘Whoa, wait a minute. I don’t want to reveal that—I’m going to use that in a later Dunk and Egg story. No, no, no. You can’t tell them that—that’s a good detail. No, no, no—bleep that out!'”

He continued to explain how Elio M. García Jr. and Linda Antonsson, who were deeply involved in the project, eventually convinced him to share some of the hidden details, leading to an influx of new material in The World of Ice and Fire. Martin added:

“And then Elio and Linda ganged up on me and said, ‘You have to tell them some of these things.’ So I did. There’s an amazing amount of new material in this book. And there are stories that I made up just for the book and stories that I eventually was going to include in the novels. And they’ll still be in the novels or the Dunk and Egg stories, but if you read this, you already know somewhat of what has happened.”

It’s interesting to note that the real-world book The World of Ice & Fire includes sections attributed to Archmaester Yandel, though much of what is written under his name was created by García Jr. and Antonsson. In the universe, Yandel persuaded Archmaester Gyldayn to allow him to use fragments of Fire & Blood, a history of the Targaryen kings that was still in progress at the time. These fragments helped shape The World of Ice & Fire into the detailed and expansive tome that it became.

Read More: George R.R. Martin ‘hopes’ to finish writing more ‘Dunk & Egg’ stories after finishing The Winds of Winter

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03/27/2025 07:17 am GMT