A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Is Unlikely To Solve Game Of Thrones’ Biggest Mystery

In theory, HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms would end by solving a massive Game of Thrones mystery, but, given the logistics, it’s unlikely ever to happen. This second prequel series in the Game of Thrones franchise is based on George R.R. Martin’s The Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, of which there are currently three. The author has plans for an estimated 12 installments, but as is pretty typical with Martin, progress has been slow. This means A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is essentially guaranteed to catch up with the source material.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 followed the events of Martin’s The Hedge Knight in its entirety, so we can assume that season 2 will tell the story of The Sworn Sword while season 3 details The Mystery Knight. According to showrunner Ira Parker, Martin has passed on all his plans for the subsequent Dunk & Egg novellas, likely going all the way to the Tragedy at Summerhall—the canonical event that serves as the definitive end to Dunk and Egg’s lives.

It would be fantastic if A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms were to adapt the Tragedy at Summerhall to the screen, since this event remains a significant mystery within the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Unfortunately, it’s looking very unlikely that the spinoff will make it that far.

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms Might Never Resolve The Tragedy At Summerhall

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 1 was a significant success, so there is little doubt that this Game of Thrones prequel has a promising future ahead of it. However, 12 seasons spread across what would easily be 15 to 20 years is a tall order for any TV show. The cast would have to essentially dedicate their entire careers to this story, and even then, recastings would be inevitable. If Parker and Martin remain steadfast in their desire for the show to be completely faithful to that 12-book plan, then it will surely never reach its canon ending.

The only real hope of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms ever reaching the Tragedy at Summerhall would be for the TV show to skip over Martin’s plan and head right for the ending. In this scenario, Dexter Sol Ansell’s Egg would have to be recast, at the very least, since his character is meant to be nearly 60 years old at that point in the story. It’s another solution that seems highly unlikely, especially since Martin surely won’t want the A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms show to solve one of his biggest mysteries before his books have a chance to.

The Tragedy At Summerhall Remains Game Of Thrones’ Biggest Mystery

The Tragedy at Summerhall is described in some detail in Martin’s Fire & Blood and A World of Ice and Fire, but the author very specifically avoided giving too much away. What we know for certain is that Egg, by that point King Aegon V Targaryen, called his family to Summerhall to celebrate his granddaughter-in-law’s pregnancy with Rhaegar. During the event, he tried to use pyromancy and wildfire to hatch petrified dragon eggs, but things went out of control.

Aegon’s Lord Commander, Ser Duncan the Tall, successfully saved Aerys, Rhaella, and the infant Rhaegar, who was born during the chaos. However, Dunk himself died alongside his king when he went back into the flames to save him. Nearly all the other Targaryens died as well, which is why there were so few alive during the events of Game of Thrones.

Much of Fire & Blood and A World of Ice and Fire are constructed as “found manuscripts,” so Martin pretends not to have written them himself. Instead, they are meant as collections of in-world records. The Tragedy at Summerhall is a mystery because so few survived the flames, and those who did refused to talk about it. Then, the document written by the surviving maester who witnessed the Tragedy at Summerhall was smudged with ink, so key details are left out:

“…the blood of the dragon gathered in one… seven eggs, to honor the seven gods, though the king’s own septon had warned… pyromancers… wildfire… flames grew out of control… towering… burned so hot that…“.

Given what we know about Daenerys’ later successful attempt at bringing back dragons, it’s often theorized that Egg had a dream about his great-granddaughter’s future, mistook her for his pregnant granddaughter-in-law, Rhaella (Daenerys’ mother), and tried to bring the future event to fruition at Summerhall. How it all went wrong, or even whether this is true, is still uncertain. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms may be our best chance at ever finding out, but even that seems unlikely. Said and done, we may just never know.