Did Ser Arlan Ever Knight Dunk In ‘A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms?’ Why Fans Are Wrong About That Flashback Scene

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Credit: HBO

There’s been an interesting response to the finale of HBO’s A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms and one scene in particular is responsible. Spoilers ahead.

In the finale, during a flashback sequence, we find Dunk (Peter Claffey) sitting in a wide field beneath a tree next to his master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb).

“Have you heard this story before?” Ser Arlan asks.

“Many times,” Dunk replies.

“From where?” the old knight says.

“From you,” Dunk says.

Dunk tries to ask a question, but Ser Arlan interjects. “When a lord calls his banners,” he says, leaning against the tree, “and sends us boys off to war, it’s custom for each to nail a penny to the oak in the square. And if we return, to take it down. Oh it’s a great oak tree. And yet, it was often hard to find a spare bit to nail a new penny.”

Ser Arlan is clearly talking about his own youth, and about the frequency of violence that occupied that time of his life, setting the stage for a life of violence to come.

“Why did you never knight me?” Dunk asks. “Did you think I’d leave you? I wouldn’t have. Or was it something else?”

But Ser Arlan’s eyes have gone blank and empty. He stares silently into the distance. “Ser?” Dunk asks. “Ser? Ser?” Tears fill his eyes. The old man appears to be very much dead. Thunder rolls in the distance, and clouds roil above. A breeze stirs the old knight’s robes.

Then the old man wakes, as though he’d drifted off with his eyes open. “And that’s why it’s called a penny tree,” he says, a glimmer in his eyes. “A true knight always finishes a story.”

Before we continue, I’d like to point out that this simply must be a little dig at George R.R. Martin and his seeming inability to finish either A Song Of Ice And Fire or the Dunk & Egg novellas. A loving dig, but a dig nonetheless.

Now, many viewers have come to the bizarre conclusion that this scene confirms that Ser Arlan never knighted Dunk. It’s true that Dunk asks the old knight why he never knighted him, and if Ser Arlan had then died moments later, it would indeed confirm that this was the case. However, Ser Arlan does not die in this scene. He smiles and makes an odd expression, but there’s no indication that he dies at this moment. In other words, while he had not knighted Dunk at the time of this flashback, the knighting could have easily taken place later.

In fact, we could have another flashback coming in Season 2 in which Ser Arlan stands and knights Dunk on the spot, and then keels over as the rain begins. Or we might never get that flashback, because the ambiguity keeps things interesting. (Indeed, one reason I didn’t love the ending of the finale was because I preferred Egg’s declaration that he had his father’s leave to join Dunk to be ambiguous – did his father truly give leave or was Egg making that up?)

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Credit: HBO

Fans who stridently claim that this proves Dunk was never knighted also bring up Dunk’s failure to knight Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas) as evidence. At the Trial of the Seven, when Dunk needs knights on his side to even join the fray, Raymun asks Dunk to knight him. But Dunk hesitates, and it’s Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) who ends up saying the words.

One way of looking at this is that Dunk didn’t know the words, having never been knighted himself, and thus could not say them in this moment. However, even someone who had never been knighted would likely know the words. Dunk was obsessed with becoming a knight. I find it unfathomable that he would not know the simple oath. He knew others, like the Shield Rhyme. He’s been around knights his entire life.

While it’s possible that Dunk didn’t feel comfortable knighting Ser Raymun because he himself was not a true knight, if this was the case, why is he comfortable claiming to be one? Why is he comfortable enough to ask other knights to fight beside him, including a prince? Why is okay letting Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) squire for him? If he’s fine pretending to be a knight in all other ways, why balk at this? It makes very little sense.

I think it more likely that he was either A) too overwhelmed by events to proceed or B) had genuine reservations about putting Raymun’s life on the line, especially pitting him against his brutal and mean-spirited cousin. Raymun was kind but didn’t seem like much of a fighter.

Perhaps Dunk forgot the words. Perhaps he just didn’t feel worthy, having never knighted anyone else before, to do so on the spot. There are many explanations.

As it stands, the show remains vague on the matter. Was Dunk knighted by Ser Arlan? Neither the novellas nor the show explicitly make that clear one way or another. I find it hard to believe that Dunk would lie about something like this, but then again, he wanted so badly to be a knight and really had no other way to make a living at this point. It’s possible he lied, deciding that Ser Arlan meant to knight him and just never got around to it. It’s just as likely that Ser Arlan knighted him in the end.

Some fans are now arguing that Ser Arlan himself was never knighted, and this is why he never knighted Dunk. That also doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny, though it’s possible. I suppose it’s possible that a lot of knights out there just claim to be knights, but Ser Arlan was clearly a man of his word. He shouts “In the name of the Mother, leave that boy alone!” when he rushes to young Dunk’s aid in Flea Bottom.

What is less ambiguous is the lesson this teaches us. It doesn’t really matter if Dunk was knighted or not. He lives by the vows. He believes that a knight’s duty is to protect the weak and innocent. He is a man of honor and humility and good faith. Knighted or no, Dunk is the very epitome of what a true knight should be.

The ambiguity, and Dunk’s own Imposters’ Syndrome, only highlight how much more this matters than a title. There are many bad, dishonorable knights. Dunk is shocked by Aerion’s (Finn Bennett) cheating at the tilts, still believing that being a knight must mean you’re honorable and uphold your vows. The tourney at Ashford Meadow disabused him of these naive notions, thankfully, but not his own determination to be a good man.

You can read my review of the Season 1 finale here. What are your thoughts on this dispute? Was Dunk knighted? I urge you to watch the scene in question again. It’s very clear that this is not the moment Ser Arlan dies, though I doubt he lives much longer. Let me know on Twitter, Instagramor Facebook.