A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 concludes tonight with what’s bound to be an emotional and satisfying conclusion, seeing the fallout of the trial of seven. In case you forgot (but how could you?!), last week’s episode concludes with Dunk winning the trial and Baelor Targaryen, sadly, dying after being hit in the head in combat by his brother, Maekar Targaryen.
On brand for the Game of Thrones franchise, the penultimate episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 delivers epic moments and a major gut-punch, setting up for one last episode to wrap things up. Before we get to see what happens in the finale, here’s our watch guide on when and how to tune in, along with what you can expect.
- Episode 6 release date and time
- Episode 5 ending explained
- Episode 6 synopsis and run time
- Episode 6 preview
Episode 6 release date and time
No more scheduling shakeups for the season finale! A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Episode 6, “The Morrow,” premieres on Sunday, February 22, at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Per usual, if you’re streaming the new episode on HBO Max, you can begin watching at anytime starting at the premiere time, though if you’re watching the linear airing on the channel HBO, you’ll want to make sure to turn on your TV at 10:00 p.m. ET so you don’t miss a second of the action.
If you’re watching on HBO and can’t make the premiere time, you’re in luck, because, according to HBO’s schedule, the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 finale will play again directly after its premiere, at 10:38 p.m. ET. It will air again at 12:57 a.m. ET and 2:36 a.m. ET early Monday morning for any night owls looking to watch.
Beyond HBO and HBO Max, you can also watch the episode through the HBO Max add-on through services such as Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.
Episode 5 ending explained
Without a doubt, Episode 5 is the most eventful episode of the season so far. Not only do we get flashbacks to Dunk’s youth—which includes a devastating and gruesome death and meeting Ser Arlan—but we also get to see the highly anticipated trial of seven play out. As we quickly learn, Dunk is not as skilled as we assumed he might be, and he’s beaten up very badly.
But somehow—maybe with Egg’s yells of encouragement—Dunk gets the upper hand against Aerion Targaryen and gets him to yield. It’s an epic moment, but at the same time, a sad one, seeing how badly injured Dunk is and considering that he almost died. Any small celebratory feelings are overshadowed, however, by the death of Baelor.
Baelor seems out of it, but it’s not until he takes off his helmet that we see how injured he is: there’s a big chunk missing from the back of his head. He doesn’t live long after this, falling onto Dunk and dying in his arms. This, of course, can be interpreted as the dragon that dies on Dunk in Daeron’s dream, though fans have speculated it could actually be someone else in the future.
Though Dunk gets to keep his limbs, is the cost worth it? Of course, he very much respected Baelor (who didn’t?) and wouldn’t have wanted him to die.
Episode 6 synopsis and run time
Tonight’s finale will wrap up the major storylines, so while we don’t expect much action this time around, we will be getting resolutions for characters as they depart from Ashford. Here’s the official synopsis, courtesy of HBO:
"As Ashford mourns a great loss, Dunk considers his next move...and whether to keep Egg as his squire."
The episode will run for 31 minutes, tied for the shortest episode of the season with Episode 3. I’ve seen people complain about the shorter episodes and season as a whole, but considering the novella it’s based on, The Hedge Knight, is so short (my version is 118 pages), this format makes sense. We wouldn’t want the writers to add a bunch of new plot points just for the sake of making it longer.
Episode 6 preview
If the synopsis isn’t enough to get you excited, watch the official teaser for the season finale below:
As expected, Dunk seems very regretful over Baelor’s death, while Lyonel Baratheon tries to reason with him by pointing out that Baelor knew what he was getting himself into. We also get a scene between Dunk and Valarr Targaryen—a standout moment from the book for me—along with Baelor’s funeral, and an important conversation between Dunk and Maekar regarding Egg’s future.
Plus, there’s also a surprising moment in the preview in which Egg seems to be walking with a knife toward a bedridden Aerion. Wait, what?! The finale can’t come soon enough!
Once you’re done watching the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 finale, be sure to check back with us at Winter is Coming for our additional coverage, as well as the new episode of our Take the Black podcast, where we’ll be dishing all about the episode.