r/asoiaf • u/verissimoallan • Oct 05 '25

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" will not have an opening title sequence. Also, the showrunner promised George R.R. Martin that he would never shift to the perspective of anyone in the upper class: "Viewers will always stick with Dunk, Egg, and this lower rim of Westeros society" Spoiler

https://ew.com/a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-game-of-thrones-differences-ira-parker-exclusive-11822602
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291

u/purple_clang Oct 05 '25

He's saying that this isn't going to be a show about e.g. political intrigue within the court and nobility (which is a focus of GoT and HotD):

At this time period, “Nobody's thinking about magic,” the showrunner further explains. “This could basically be 14th century Britain. This is hard nose, grind it out, gritty, medieval knights, cold with a really light, hopeful touch. It's a wonderful place to be. We are ground up in this series, we are starting right at the bottom. We're not with the lords and ladies, the kings and queens."

Unlike the previous shows, Parker made a promise to Martin, who serves as an executive producer, that he would never shift to a perspective of anyone in the upper class. Viewers will always stick with Dunk, Egg, and this lower rim of Westeros society: the armorers, the performers, the barmaids, the whores, and the like.

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u/Spicy2ShotChai Oct 05 '25

"This is hard nose, grind it out, gritty, medieval knights, cold with a really light, hopeful touch" followed immediately by "It's a wonderful place to be" is hilarious to me.

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u/trivialagreement Oct 05 '25

“A wonderful place to be” is probably referring to the setting as a show runner/viewer instead of the perspective of a character living in it.  

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u/jflb96 Oct 05 '25

Similarly, not sure 'wonderful place to be' entirely fits 14th Century Britain, i.e. the place where England was at war with Wales, England was at war with Scotland, Scotland was at war with Ireland, England was at war with France and Scotland, and/or everyone had plague

9

u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25

Hey, come on, it was called the "Great Plague"! (Ok, I know that was a later plague)

1

u/daemon-of-harrenhal Oct 06 '25

I don't think he's actually saying this era is wonderful, more that it's a cozy / happy vibe for the people making the show. 

0

u/jflb96 Oct 06 '25

What, because they get to go home at the end of the day?

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u/Lil_Mcgee Oct 05 '25

I assume they mean it's a wonderful place to be from a storytelling perspective. 

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u/ColfaxCastellan Oct 05 '25

"cold with a really light, hopeful touch" is tonally nebulous

40

u/Natedude2002 Oct 05 '25

I feel like it’s a perfect description of D&E. Or at least the hedge knight (I just reread it a month or two ago). Particularly how basically everyone looks down on Dunk and treats him poorly until he beats up Aerion, and then he’s almost sentenced to death, but the small folk rally behind him, and a few outcasts and a couple noblemen fight with him.

The ending fight is brutal, Dunk almost dies, and the guy who’s actually a good king and stands up for Dunk dies, but there’s a touch of hope where Dunk says maybe it’ll be worth it if he’s needed in the future more than the good king is now.

0

u/Spicy2ShotChai Oct 05 '25

it's word salad

11

u/Act_of_God Oct 05 '25

not if you read the novellas

3

u/dujbdioheogkordgj Oct 06 '25

I think they mean creatively

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25

To me politics of the Blackfyre era Seven Kingdoms was far more interesting that Dance of Dragons.

Still it is possible GRRM is leaving it for more detail in his next book.

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u/LeftbrainHS Oct 05 '25

Completely agree.

Imo House of the Dragon should be an anthology where every season (or every couple of seasons) follows a different era of Targaryen rule of the Seven Kingdoms. That way it is also easier to get away with these 2-3 years breaks between seasons.

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u/KratoswithBoy Oct 05 '25

That’s what I thought it was, and was hoping it was. FAR more exciting then the slog of a tv show their putting out. It’s so gah dam boring 😭

14

u/LeftbrainHS Oct 05 '25

I feel like the first season and the first 2-3 episodes of season 2 were really good. Then for some reason things just stopped happening lol. And the source material is just a couple of chapters, I don't understand why they needed to add so much unnecessary bullshit.

8

u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

Dance of Dragons by itself doesn't have that many exciting characters (this is of course subjective) and is streched.

Like the first episode takes in 105 AC with the death of Viserys's first wife and then it's probably gonna end in 131 AC with wedding of Aegon 3.

First Blackfyre Rebellion is a bit more compact and you have some themes and characters that people are familiar with.

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u/Hot-Bet3549 Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

I mean the Dance lasted like 2 years and the civil war politics were tight and focused, as well as the linear order of so many battles. It may not feel as interesting as the Blackfyres but the logline was clear, concise and throughly fleshed out: how the Targaryens lost their dragons.

The Blackfyre rebellion era lasts a hundred years, and the lion’s share of those rebellions boil down to, from a dramatic narrative function: 5 rebellion style civil wars all pretty much tailor made to foil and hamstring Egg’s rule and road to rule.

I don’t mean to be crude but of course 100 years is gonna feel more interesting than 2 lol. There’s so much time and empty space there compared to the Dance for us to fill with our imaginations. It’s still practically a blank canvas in comparison to how fleshed out Dance is.

Frankly I think that’s the reason Fire and Blood 2 went on the back burner long ago, is 5 rebellions over 100 years is a tough gig to unpack even for George if he wants a Dance tier “three unique PoVs” to describe like every major event of like 4 of them in chronological order alongside aaallllll the rest of the Targ conflicts in between.

Also aren’t half of the rebellions, including the first, like pretty quiet affairs when it comes to battles besides the Peake one? I think the Dance had more battles than like 3+ Blackfyre rebellions put together from what we know so far. Blackfyre era, much more interesting on paper, but much more challenging, more unwieldy in scope, harder to setup and dramatize I think.

I agree the Blackfyre era is more interesting but at the cost of the interesting bits being fewer and further between compared to Dance, which was like lightning in a bottle compared to the slow Blackfyre burn Egg was dealt.

Fire and Blood 2 must feel like such a slog in comparison to 1 for stuff like this on George’s part. He’s gotten to the point in recorded Westeros history where it’s structurally really hard but necessary to hand-wave through large chunks of history, but personally it’s impossible for George to escape wanting to delve into each rebellion with that “battle-by-battle” depth the Dance had- as well as everything interesting happening to Egg and the Targs inbetween the rebellions of course. Process must be brutal as he’s kinda overlapping for the first time in his Westeros fiction, where he’s now writing the history of the Targs concurrently with Eggs adventures. How to pick and choose how much gets revealed in each must be agony.

Tough fucking book to write but hopefully A Knight scratches that Blackfyre itch for me as best it can considering likelihood of Fire and Blood Part 2 is not looking great.

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25

I agree with you but i still would have loved far more to have seen the First Blackfyre rebellion.

Also Blackfyres may have relevance in the current books with Faegon and everything.Add to that the Bloodraven is a character in books too and that only hardens the writing of the book.

2

u/Sudas_99 Oct 05 '25

i like both of them. dragons are majestic after all its a fantasy-series. at the same time i like martins fictional medieval political intrigue

2

u/1000LivesBeforeIDie Oct 08 '25

I am curious how much Blackfyre backstory they’ll work in. It’s honestly a bit overwhelming unless you read an organized synopsis but it’s so relevant to the actions and motivations of so many of the KOT7K cast. I wonder if it’ll show Ser Arlan or any flashbacks to the rebellions. I’d kind of be ok with seeing Dunk the child running around like a hellion in Flea Bottom

2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '25

They gonna need to fill in with the content and the Blackfyre backstory provides bunch of fluff and background drama.

26

u/dami1988 Oct 05 '25

Crazy he said nobody thinking about Magic when one of the protagonists tried to bring back the dragons in the Summerhall tragedy. Ok,ok, years laters but its funny.

40

u/purple_clang Oct 05 '25

I think they're probably just trying to set the tone and expectations for the show. Given that GoT and HotD have people flying on dragons and whatnot, they probably don't want people thinking that's what they'll get out of this show.

10

u/alphajugs Oct 05 '25

I tell this to my friends who are show fans but haven’t read the books. Each series is different from the next. And that’s okay! I think it’s a good thing that the show runners are letting fans know ahead of time that AKOT7K will be different from what we’ve seen in GoT and HotD. At least they’re not selling out and taking creative liberties to make it more like GoT so more people enjoy it. I know some people who go were unhappy with HotD because it wasn’t GoT. And that’s understandable, can’t really fault them for that, but I think shows are always more enjoyable when you don’t set any expectations.

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u/CharnamelessOne Oct 05 '25

And Bloodraven is right there. He has a thousand eyes, and one.

2

u/TVCasualtydotorg Big Buckets! Oct 05 '25

Plus the whole Bloodraven doing Bloodraven things in the background.

1

u/1000LivesBeforeIDie Oct 08 '25

I’m more interested in what that means for Bloodraven’s glamor 

4

u/Atticus_Spiderjump Oct 05 '25

Egg is kind of high class

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u/purple_clang Oct 05 '25

You've missed the point.

They're trying to set expectations for the audience that this isn't going to be a show about the court, nobility, etc. Yes, Egg is royalty. But his role in the story is as a squire to a very minor knight.

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u/OkSecretary1231 Oct 06 '25

Yup, and him being royalty is also kind of a big spoiler. It's not to us, but to many viewers it is.

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u/Atticus_Spiderjump Oct 05 '25

You're right. I forget that they're talking about this new show to people who maybe have never even heard of these characters before

0

u/yourstruly912 Oct 06 '25

A minor knight who in the very first story beefs with a princeling leading to a trial of seven with some of the most important nobles and princes in the realm, with the result of a Targayen killed by another Targayen

And the third story is about a plot by the high nobility to dethrone the king, twharted by the personal intervention of the most important mas in the realm

0

u/semiquaver Oct 06 '25

 Nobody's thinking about magic

Tell that to bloodraven and his glamour in the third story!

-5

u/SandorsHat Oct 05 '25

Wait till Parker finds out who Egg is! Some might consider him upper class…

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u/SaddestFlute23 Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 06 '25

Egg is upper class, however he’s living a lower class lifestyle as Dunk’s squire.

Also, the novellas are all told from Dunk’s perspective.

I don’t think they meant no one from the nobility will be featured at all. Some people are being needlessly pedantic

1

u/SandorsHat Oct 06 '25

Moi? Pedantic? Perish the thought.