A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' recent third episode, "The Squire," ends with a bombshell revelation. Up to this point, little was known about Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), the young squire serving Ser Duncan the Tall, also known as Dunk (Peter Claffey). Egg first meets Dunk at an inn in the series pilot, "The Hedge Knight," and sneakily follows him to Ashford Meadow in hopes of serving him for the tournament.
However, at the end of "The Squire," Egg reveals his true identity in order to save Dunk. Dunk attacks Prince Aerion (Finn Bennett) in order to protect Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford), a puppeteer with whom he's fallen in love. Aerion's royal guards apprehend Dunk, but before they can hurt him, Egg commands them to stop. Surprisingly, the guards listen, and Egg even refers to some of them by name. The young boy stares down the prince, revealing that he is Aegon Targaryen, Aerion's younger brother.
This twist shocked audiences (at least those who haven't read the source material, George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas), changing the nature of the story and Dunk and Egg's relationship. However, the most surprising element is how early this huge plot twist falls in the series. In contrast, it took Game of Thrones far longer to reveal its strikingly similar plot twist.
Game of Thrones' own Aegon Targaryen
One of the greatest mysteries throughout Game of Thrones is the identity of Jon Snow's (Kit Harrington) mother. As the bastard son of Eddard "Ned" Stark (Sean Bean), Jon never knew his mother, and constantly wonders who she is and where she could be. When Ned sees Jon off to join the Night's Watch, he promises to tell him about his mother when next they meet. The only hint Ned offers is that Jon "has his blood." However, Ned is beheaded before he can fulfill his promise to Jon, leaving him in the dark for even longer.
The mystery of Jon Snow's parentage is first teased in season 1. However, audience members don't learn any answers until much later on. In season 6 Episode 10, "The Winds of Winter," Jon's "half-brother" Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) sees a vision of Ned's sister Lyanna (Aisling Franciosi) giving birth to a boy implied to be Jon Snow. After 60 episodes, viewers finally learn some new information about Jon's mother.
Later, in the season 7 finale, "The Dragon and the Wolf," Bran revisits his previous vision in order to learn that Jon is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen (Wilf Scolding). With the help of Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), Bran discovers that Rhaegar annulled his previous marriage to Elia Martell in order to marry Lyanna, meaning that Jon is not, in fact, a bastard, but the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
Additionally, Bran discovers that Jon's true name is Aegon Targaryen, the same as Egg's. While "Aegon" is an incredibly common name among Targaryens, being the name of Aegon the Conqueror, the first Targaryen king of Westeros, it is still worth noting this extra similarity between the two.
Jon himself finally learns the truth from Sam in "Winterfell," the first episode of season 8, the last season of the show. After first teasing it in the series premiere, Jon Snow finally learns the truth about his mother, and his identity, just as Game of Thrones begins to wrap up.
How A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms handles its Aegon reveal
It took 67 episodes of Game of Thrones for audiences to learn the truth about Jon Snow's mother. In contrast, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms only kept its viewers in the dark about its own Aegon for two episodes.
This difference in build up illustrates a key distinction between A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and its predecessor. Game of Thrones, a high stakes series, structures itself around plot twists and build ups. Usually, the climax of a Game of Thrones season will take place during its penultimate episode, leading to many "episode 9's" standing out as the show's highest rated outings. As such, the final two episodes of the season tend to contain shocking reveals and plot twists, such as the death of Ned Stark, the Red Wedding, and Tyrion's (Peter Dinklage) murder of his father Tywin (Charles Dance) and escape to Essos.
Meanwhile, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is not as high stakes a series as Game of Thrones. Its episodes are half as long, it only features two leading characters as opposed to Thrones' sprawling ensemble, and, going by Martin's novellas, its seasonal storylines are mostly contained. As such, the newer series doesn't need to build up its plot twists as much, since its self contained nature and light hearted tone take center stage, rather than its scale.
Make sure to tune into A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which airs new episodes on Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ET on HBO Max.