It’s a big week for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, with Episode 4, “Seven,” showing us the consequences Dunk must face after attacking Prince Aerion last episode. No longer participating in the tourney, Dunk decides he will try a trial by combat to determine his fate, but Aerion has a different idea in mind: a trial of seven.
Instead of facing off against Aerion in a one-on-one fight, Dunk must enlist six other knights to face Aerion’s group of seven, with the winner determining whether he’s considered innocent or guilty of his crimes. And while it seems like an impossible task at first, Dunk gets support from unlikely places—including from Prince Baelor.
There’s clearly a lot riding on this trial of seven, but not just because it’ll determine what happens to Dunk. As Daeron Targaryen—who is officially introduced this episode—shares with Dunk, another person’s life is at major risk: one of the Targaryens.
Daeron’s dream explained
“I dreamed of you…”
— GameofThrones Quotes (@ASOIAFQuotesGOT) January 25, 2026
Daeron Targaryen pic.twitter.com/aTtWYuAW2Z
If you didn’t realize, the drunken man at the beginning of the show, who Dunk interacts with at the inn, was Daeron Targaryen, Aerion and Egg’s brother who’s been missing. Earlier on, he tells Dunk that he dreamed of him, and in Episode 4, we finally learn more about that.
Dunk is surprised to see Daeron enter his tent with Egg, and even threatens to hurt him for lying about him. Daeron says that he had to lie to protect himself and tells Dunk that he will pretend to get injured during the trial of seven, so there’s one less man he has to worry about.
During a moment alone, Daeron then revisits what he saw, explaining that his dreams are important because they actually come true. This is what he says:
"I have seen you, ser, and a fire, and a dead dragon. A great beast with wings so large they could cover this meadow. It had fallen onto you. But you were alive, and the dragon was dead."Daeron Targaryen
Of course, we’re years after the last of the dragons died out in Westeros, so Daeron is not talking about a literal dragon here, but rather a dragonrider. Targaryens believe they possess the blood of the dragon, so Daeron is talking about one of his family members. But which one? Of course, most might speculate Aerion, but the truth is…
Does a Targaryen die in the trial of seven? MAJOR spoilers are ahead
To reiterate, in case you didn’t notice the spoiler warning above, we are now going to get into book spoilers, so if you do not wish to learn what happens in the trial of seven, leave this article now. We will try our best to refrain from full spoilers of the fight and keep our focus on Daeron’s dream, which, as it’s revealed, really is a prophecy.
Note: The following spoilers are from The Hedge Knight, the novella that the show is based on. We do not know exactly what happens in the show yet.
At the end of the fight in the novella, Dunk takes stock of who’s still alive and who’s injured as he comes to, mistakenly believing that Daeron’s dream was incorrect.
“His dream was wrong, then. The dead dragon. Unless Aerion died. He didn’t though, did he?” Dunk asks Egg, to which Egg confirms that Aerion does not die.
Sadly, Dunk then realizes there’s another Targaryen in danger, and that’s Prince Baelor. Badly injured, Baelor ends up falling to Dunk, dying in his arms. It’s a huge loss to House Targaryen, as Baelor was, of course, Hand to the King and heir to the Iron Throne. Not just that, but he was widely respected for his honor, and, as The Hedge Knight says, he “had been the finest knight of his age.”
And though he had only known him a short period of time, it’s a heartbreaking loss for Dunk, too, who learned of Baelor’s honor firsthand.
It’s not surprising that the tourney at Ashford Meadow and the trial of seven go down in Westeros history as major events worth remembering.
There are two more episodes left of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1. Don’t miss them on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday nights. And keep up with us at Winter is Coming, where we break down each episode on the site, along with on our weekly podcast, Take the Black.