It has been nearly a month since the A Song of Ice and Fire fandom’s newest favorite Targaryen prince was killed off in the fifth episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
When Baelor Targaryen (Bertie Carvel), the heir to the Iron Throne and Hand to King Daeron I, announced he was taking Dunk’s side in the Trial of the Seven, people—both fans and the crowd at the Ashford tourney—rejoiced. But the joy was short-lived.
The book readers knew what was coming. But for those uninitiated, the closing scenes of “In the Name of the Mother” came as an absolute shock.
Just as everything seems to have more or less worked out in Ser Duncan’s (Peter Claffey) favor, despite the blood, bruises, and near-death ordeal, Baelor falls dead in his arms with a chunk of his head missing.
Moments earlier, he asks Ser Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas) to help him with his helm after patting Dunk on the shoulders and acknowledging his plea to serve him as a knight. When Steely Pate (Youssef Kerkour) joins the effort and points out that the helmet has been crushed, Baelor almost proudly says that it must be his brother Maekar's (Sam Spruell) mace.
The viewers feel the strain of the moment build, but it isn’t until his helmet is opened that we realize what has truly transpired. Even though the scene does not dwell too long on the revelation, you are left with the implications of it.
In a behind-the-scenes series titled A Knight in the Making, shared on the Game of Thrones YouTube channel, the creative team revealed what went into bringing that scene to life, which remained faithful to George R. R. Martin's book almost word-for-word.
“Baelor’s helmet was very important. I wanted the eye drawn to it,” said showrunner Ira Parker. “The design has a very strange, almost alien look about it, which makes me attracted to it, but without telling me something is about to go down.”
"Baelor’s head had a section of skull removed, and we do see through to the brain,” offered VFX supervisor Arron Roebuck. “[We used] what they call an appliance, which would look photographically correct in the space in the lights.
Pippa Woods, the show’s hair and makeup designer, worked on creating the fatal wound on the back of Baelor’s head, which was then enhanced by the VFX team.
“[Woods] had kind of a brain matter and the skull missing. Our goal is to kind of sink that in, make it look deep,” said VFX producer Paul Russo.
The creators decided to focus less on the carnage of the moment and more on what it meant for the characters involved—a theme that continued in the next episode with Maeker’s conversation with Dunk about killing his brother.
“We were not going for gore in that moment, things like gushing blood; not cause the need to stare at this wound for too long. To get it quickly and get back to the characters, and what this moment means,” added Roebuck.
All episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms are now streaming on Disney+, with the second season expected to release in 2027.