Jack Quaid as Ser Glendon Ball
In a story filled with backstabbing, Ser Glendon Ball stands out as one of the most straightforward people in The Mystery Knight. And as we should know to expect from Martin by now, that means he’s mistreated.
Ser Glendon claims to be the son of Fireball, a renowned hero who fought for the Blackfyres during the first rebellion. The truth is a little more murky: Glendon is the son of a prostitute who slept not only with Fireball, but also a ton of other people just before the fateful battle at the Redgrass Field, where the Blackfyre Rebellion was put down. She concocted the idea that Glendon was Fireball’s offspring in order to give her son more pride in his lineage. There’s no way to prove it though…or disprove it.
The lords at the wedding mock Glendon for this for pretty much the duration of the Whitewalls tourney. They even go so far as to have him announced as “the Knight of the Pussywillows,” thanks to a rumor that he supposedly traded his sister’s virginity so he could be knighted outside the whorehouse where he was raised, beneath a stand of pussywillow trees.
The one thing that is not up for debate, however, is Glendon Ball’s martial prowess. He quickly becomes one of the rising stars of the Whitewalls tourney, unhorsing knight after knight in the joust. He does so well that Gormon Peake offers to buy him off so that Daemon can win the joust (and claim the dragon egg that is being given as a prize). Glendon refuses, which leads him to being framed for theft and tortured. Yet when Daemon announces there will be a trial by joust, Glendon still climbs into the saddle despite his grievous wounds and manages to win.
The great irony here is that Glendon Ball would have fought for Daemon Blackfyre gladly, but he wouldn’t lose for him, as he says in The Mystery Knight. Glendon is a bitter, angry young knight with something to prove.
And that sounds exactly like the sort of thing Jack Quaid could pull off really well. The Boys star is great at playing conflicted characters like Glendon. Constantly mocked by others, he nonetheless grits his teeth and swears to show them what he’s made of.
Quaid has the look for Glendon, and the chops to play this complex character who ends up befriending Dunk as one of the only other “true knights” at the tourney.