Later this year, HBO will air the first season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, its next Game of Thrones spinoff. Like House of the Dragon before it, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a prequel series set long before the days of Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, and Daenerys Targaryen. But this one isn't set quite so far back in time; it's only around a century before Thrones, as opposed to two-ish centuries for House of the Dragon.
Since this is a big sprawling fantasy series with magic and mysticism, it's not out of the realm of possibility for these prequel shows to bring back characters from the original series. For example, House of the Dragon showed a brief flash of Daenerys during its second season finale. But any actual appearance in the flesh by a Thrones character still feels like a long shot in HOTD, since it's set so far back in time.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a different story. Yes, it's still set in the past, but in this case it's not only likely we'll see a few characters from Game of Thrones, it's pretty much certain. The show doesn't even have to deviate from the source material to do it, because these characters even appear in the original novellas. Read on for the details, but beware SPOILERS.
Which Game of Thrones characters appear in the Dunk & Egg novellas?
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on The Tales of Dunk & Egg, a series of novellas by George R.R. Martin. These short books each tell a standalone tale, which will make them perfect for a season of television. "The Hedge Knight" forms the basis for AKOTSK season 1, and will dramatize a tourney at Ashford Meadow where the knight Ser Duncan the Tall first gets tangled up with his mouthy squire Egg, who has more than a few secrets for a lad so small. The second book, "The Sworn Sword," takes place a year and a half later, and follows Dunk and Egg as they settle a border dispute between two petty lords in the Reach. The final published novella, "The Mystery Knight," puts our knight and squire smack in the middle of a political coup in the Riverlands.
When it comes to Game of Thrones characters in the Dunk & Egg books, the main one we need to look at is "The Mystery Knight." That's when a few familiar faces crop up. One of those familiar faces is just a toddler: none other than Walder Frey, the ancient, conniving old lord who arranged the death of Robb Stark and his mother Catelyn at the Red Wedding. Should A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms make it to season 3, it could very easily include a brief shot of a little kid with some kind of throwaway line about it being Walder, the new heir of House Frey. That's pretty much what Martin did in the book, anyway.
"Lord Frey of the Crossing was a lean man, elegant in blue and grey, his heir a chinless boy of four whose nose was dripping snot.""The Mystery Knight"
Walder Frey is almost 90 years old by the time of A Song of Ice and Fire, so the timeline lines up for him to be a snot-nosed four-year-old during "The Mystery Knight."
But for our concerns, whether or not A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms includes Walder Frey is just a passing curiosity. It'd be a fun nod to the original show, but it isn't necessary by any means. The other character from Game of Thrones who appears in "The Mystery Knight" is a different matter entirely, and he MUST be in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
The Three-Eyed Raven should appear in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 3
The main figure from A Song of Ice and Fire who shows up in the Dunk & Egg stories is none other than the Three-Eyed Raven, the elderly man who taught Bran Stark to access the memories of weirwood trees and control his warging abilities. In Thrones, the Three-Eyed Raven was played by Struan Rodger in season 4 and Max von Sydow in season 6. He also made a brief appearance in Daemon's final vision in House of the Dragon season 2, where he was played by Joshua Ben-Tovim.
Before he was known as the Three-Eyed Raven, this man went by a different name: Brynden Rivers. He was a bastard son of King Aegon IV Targaryen, known as "Aegon the Unworthy" on account of the fact that he legitimized all of his many bastards on his death bed, which led to the Blackfyre Rebellions. Brynden remained loyal to the crown during those rebellions, and eventually became Hand of the King to Aerys I Targaryen, and King Maekar Targaryen after him.
Brynden Rivers had an unnerving reputation in the Seven Kingdoms, with many believing he partook in sorcery. He also had an extensive network of spies, and was widely regarded as one of the true powers in the kingdoms, guiding the kings he served from the shadows.
Brynden had a striking physical aspect as well. He was albino, with a distinctive red birthmark on his face which was said to resemble the shape of a raven. It's from this birthmark that he got his nickname, "Bloodraven." During the first Blackfyre Rebellion he took a wound that left him blind in one eye. That, combined with his spy network, resulted in a common saying throughout the Seven Kingdoms: "Bloodraven has a thousand eyes and one."
Sound familiar? Yes, that's very similar to a line the Three-Eyed Raven whispered to Bran Stark in his dreams and visions.
What role does Bloodraven play in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?
If A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms sticks to the story laid out in the Dunk & Egg novels, it's pretty much certain we'll see Bloodraven during the height of his power. He's mentioned in "The Sworn Sword," so we may hear hints of him in season 2. But in "The Mystery Knight," Brynden becomes a key character who plays an important role in the story. I highly doubt HBO would adapt the tale without including him, especially since it would tie things back to an important figure from Game of Thrones.
There's another factor as well. To date, George R.R. Martin has only written three Dunk & Egg novellas; the logical play is for HBO to adapt those three, and then decide whether to continue the series past its source material. Unlike Game of Thrones, where David Benioff and Dan Weiss were in truly uncharted territory once they ran out of books, Martin has laid out the broad strokes of Westeros' history in other books, like The World of Ice and Fire. So while we don't know the exact details of every adventure Dunk and Egg go on, we do know how many parts of their lives unfold, especially the big dramatic bits.
In fact, Martin has written enough about Dunk, Egg, and Bloodraven's history that we even know how the enigmatic spy master ends up in the North, where he'll eventually go beyond the Wall and become one with the weirwood trees. I don't want to write it here because it's too large a spoiler for multiple characters in the television show, but suffice it to say that Bloodraven is eventually exiled to the Night's Watch, and Egg is involved in that decision. He eventually rises to become Lord Commander of that storied order, before he vanishes beyond the Wall. That'll be far down the line from the novellas Martin has written so far, but it's still enough to know that Bloodraven is so essential to the overall arc of Dunk and Egg's journey that HBO would be remiss to cut him from the TV show.
So for now, we can start preparing ourselves for the possibility of Brynden Rivers appearing on our screens in a future season of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. In the meantime, the show's first season premieres later this year.
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