“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”
If you aren’t tapped into HBO’s latest installment in the ever-growing “Game of Thrones” universe, you are severely missing out. I’m not the biggest fan of the original show; I’ve seen it, sure, but could hardly recount most of what happens.
Every moment of “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” has had me compelled.
I find it easy to get bogged down in the lore and history of these big epic fantasy stories; it’s not really my genre. But the premise here is so simple, I love it. A tall, poor knight named Duncan wants to establish himself among his peers alongside his sassy little bald kid squire named Egg.
With just two central characters and a single location for the first season, “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” dives as deep into it’s characters and themes as “Game of Thrones” does, just on a smaller scale and condensed time frame. To me, that’s perfect.
While the huge scale end-of-the-world or kingdom conflicts in “Game of Thrones” can get monotonous — how many times can you say “Winter is Coming” before it gets stale — I remain hooked by “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” just by the characters alone.
Egg is adorable, Duncan is the coolest guy I’ve seen in my life, and Lyonel Baratheon is super goofy. I could watch these guys hang out forever.
While the show is still airing, with Season 1 set to end on Feb. 21, the end of episode four is already among my favorite scenes in any “Game of Thrones” series. In such a short amount of time, this show built to a climactic crescendo that rivals the most triumphant or shocking moments of mainline “Thrones.” I haven’t stopped thinking about it.
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” keeps its story simple in favor of compelling and rich character stories rather than CGI dragon spectacle and world-ending threats. It’s so refreshing to see.
“Game of Thrones”
Even if you haven’t watched a second of “Game of Thrones,” you’ve probably heard at least an inkling about the iconic characters, memorable dialogue, and political machinations that make the show one of the greatest of all time.
First gracing the small screen in 2011, “Game of Thrones” became so appealing through its complicated story. There is a reason that, years later, people are still arguing over actions made by characters such as Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow, and writing detailed dissections over plot twists like the “Red Wedding.”
“Thrones’” twists and turns have had such an impact that — as a writer interested in fantasy — it is almost impossible to escape its intrigue and impact, as so many shows are clamoring to become the next “Game of Thrones.”
Iconic moments, such as Dany hatching her dragons — the first in over a hundred years — have captured the popular imagination, bringing in a dedicated audience that stretches beyond fans of high fantasy, making “Thrones” a show anyone can and has enjoyed. Fantasy, realism, politics, and history lovers will all find something to live in the sprawling world of Westeros.
The show makes its name through its high stakes and kingdom-wide storylines that are shown through grounded and realistic characters we get to know over the course of several seasons.
So much of its runtime is dedicated to the maneuvering of different families, each of which wants to protect its own and position itself closer to power and the throne. Even with an admittedly poor ending, the show has still kept up enough of an interest that millions of people have tuned in to its two spin-off series, “House of the Dragon” and “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which, by the way, would not exist without the historical intrigue built up in the original.
The lore and characters presented in “Thrones” have pulled people back in again and again throughout the years, and its highs are some of the best in television history.