‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 3 Reactions | Talk the Thrones

Summary

House of R: ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 3 Reactions | Talk the Thrones

Podcast: House of R, The Ringer
Date: February 2, 2026
Hosts: Mallory Rubin, Joanna Robinson, Chris Ryan

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Episode Overview

In this lively, spoiler-sensitive discussion, the House of R crew—Mallory Rubin, Joanna Robinson, and Chris Ryan—deep dive into Episode 3 ("The Squire") of HBO's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The trio unpacks this pivotal episode, which features major reveals, character moments both humorous and heartfelt, and bold decisions in adaptation. The episode is notable for the long-awaited confirmation of Egg’s identity as Aegon Targaryen, while also diving into themes of honor, legacy, and the peculiarities of Westeros’s darkly comic medieval culture.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Recap and Opening Tone (01:44–03:15)

• The hosts begin with jest and banter, setting a relaxed and irreverent tone.
• Quick, reference-laden recap touches on highlights: Egg’s morning routine, the horse-loving squire activities, Robin Reisling’s memorable entrance, and the world-building around the knightly tourney.
• “I thought this looked absolutely delicious. And I think that Egg and Dunk should enter Top Chef.” – Mallory Rubin (03:34)
• The trio also pokes fun at the show’s Westerosi “farm-to-table” breakfast, sandwich critiques, and the daily life details that add warmth to the adaptation.

2. Jousting Ethics & Aryan Brightflame’s Notoriety (03:45–06:08, 23:03–28:09)

• Aryan Brightflame’s shocking act—killing an opponent’s horse during the joust—sparks impassioned debate about sportsmanship and brutality in Westeros.
• “Spearing a horse through the neck intentionally. How fudgeing dare you?” – Mallory Rubin (05:40)
• The hosts discuss the crowd’s intense reaction and what it signals about the waning Targaryen mystique, likening it to later Game of Thrones moments (“Joffrey taking a cow pie to the face” – Mallory, 25:06).
• “There is not a person in the realm who would have thrown a rock at Arian Targaryen’s head… if he had a fucking dragon.” – Mallory Rubin (26:07)
• The parallel to sports cheating (Plummer’s match-fixing offer to Dunk) ties into recurring series themes about honor versus pragmatism.

3. Egg’s Reveal & Reception (07:28–16:46)

• The major development: Egg’s true identity, Aegon Targaryen, finally revealed.
• The hosts share behind-the-scenes frustration at having to keep the secret until now, noting how widely “spoiled” it was for anyone online.
• “It’s the first sentence of every Wikipedia page. You Google one thing, you’re going to have it spoiled. It’s all over Instagram.” – Mallory Rubin (10:05)
• Debate on show pacing and whether the reveal landed for casual viewers (Joanna recounts real-life partner reactions at 11:19).
• Discussion of the midseason twist timing and whether a “mini-binge” or different weekly model might have served the story better.

4. Character Development: Dunk & Egg’s Relationship (17:10–21:12)

• Deep dive into the rapid bond formed between Dunk and Egg, and how brief their acquaintance is canonically—“mere days.”
• “He would have no one... The impact that they've made on each other is supreme.” – Mallory Rubin (18:45)
• Joanna draws parallels between Egg and Arya Stark’s “hidden noble on the road” journey, echoing the Hound/Arya dynamic.

5. Themes: Honor, Chivalry, and Perspective (21:53–39:36)

• Dunk’s unwavering moral compass contrasted with the cynicism, corruption, and performative nobility around him.
• The show’s lighter, more “assuring tone” compared to other Thrones entries is highlighted as a strength—“He just keeps being rewarded for making the right decisions and having a good heart, which is… a really nice side of this show.” – Chris Ryan (21:53)
• Musical moments and the “in-universe” songs (“Alice’s song,” “The Hammer and the Anvil”) praised for community world-building and tonal balance (39:49).

6. Targaryen Legacy, Rank, and Incest (28:40–38:09)

• Detailed breakdown of Egg’s Targaryen lineage and where he stands in the succession order.
• The Targaryens are in their “flop era”—the loss of dragons brings vulnerability and resentments to the fore.
• “These dudes want to fuck their sisters. That’s just like how it goes. They love it.” – Joanna Robinson (37:48)
• Lore drops about “Brightflame” and “the dragon ought never lose” attitude illustrated by Aryan’s villainy.

7. Prophecy and Fate (38:33–39:27)

• The fortune-teller prophecy is unique to the show, sparking speculation from the hosts about how prophecy shapes characters’ decisions in Westerosi stories.

8. Song, Myth-making, and Legacy (41:49–45:19)

• The communal act of song at the tournament (“Alice with three fingers”) is recognized as a Westerosi version of myth-making. The hosts examine how reputation grows, changes, or is forgotten—relating it to Dunk, Egg, and the wider legend-building of the series.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Egg’s Identity and Internet Spoilers:
  “I am sure that there are some casual viewers for whom this will be a reveal, which is great.” – Joanna Robinson (11:06)
  “It’s the first sentence of every Wikipedia page. …impossible to avoid.” – Mallory Rubin (10:05)
• On Aryan Brightflame’s cruelty:
  “Spearing a horse through the neck intentionally. How fudgeing dare you?” – Mallory Rubin (05:40)
  “For as sweet and lovely as this episode was, my favorite part’s Aryan… it’s an edge this show needed.” – Chris Ryan (22:40)
• On Dunk’s Virtue:
  “He just keeps being rewarded for making the right decisions and having a good heart, which is like, yeah, a really nice side of this show…” – Chris Ryan (21:53)
• Meta-commentary:
  “I’m really, honestly, I kind of blame Hot D for this.” – Chris Ryan (13:39), referencing franchise fatigue and comparisons with House of the Dragon.
• On Targaryen Succession:
  “He’s the fourth son of the fourth son.… He’s nowhere near the throne. But he is a prince of the realm.” – Mallory Rubin (28:46)
• Westerosi Music/Culture:
  “Alice’s song is just an instant banger, chart topping classic.” – Mallory Rubin (39:49)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |:--------------:|---------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:44–03:45 | Opening banter, episode recap, breakfast banter | | 03:45–06:08 | Aryan Brightflame’s horse murder, joust ethics and crowd reaction | | 07:28–16:46 | Egg’s reveal as Aegon Targaryen, spoilers, and viewer experience | | 17:10–21:12 | Dunk & Egg’s relationship, Arya parallels, squire dynamics | | 21:53–22:40 | Dunk as moral core, contrast with Thrones canon darkness | | 23:03–28:09 | Aryan’s villainy, Targaryen decline, repercussions | | 28:40–30:47 | Targaryen succession, lore, and mythology | | 36:46–38:09 | Incest as a running theme, commentary on Targaryen customs | | 38:33–39:27 | The fortune-teller, prophecy in the books and show | | 39:49–41:47 | Music, myth-making, “Alice’s song” | | 41:49–46:05 | Tournament shenanigans, culture, honor, Dunk’s moral testing | | 46:05–51:29 | Adaptation choices, secondary characters, Westerosi religion |

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Additional Highlights

• Adaptation Choices:
  The hosts praise showrunner Ira Parker’s expansion of minor characters and careful attention to novellas’ structure and pacing.
• Meta/Fandom Observations:
  The perpetual tension between “spoiler culture” and surprise is a running discussion, with the hosts attempting to balance both sides, drawing on their own professional difficulties.
• References and Easter Eggs:
  Several nods to prior Thrones lore and history (Maester Aemon, Arthurian legend, Arya/Hound), as well as inside baseball on character inspirations and roles for future adaptation.

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Conclusion

This episode of House of R thoroughly and energetically dissects A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 3, celebrating both its narrative surprises and the series’ ability to balance heart, humor, and high fantasy. With sharp insights into theme, character, ethical dilemmas, and adaptation choices, the podcast offers both a satisfying companion for invested fans and a clear primer for newer or more casual viewers. Expect more deep dives and spoiler conversations in their upcoming episodes.

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Next Up:

• House of R will soon deliver a three-hour deep-dive on this episode for those interested in the full lore, character futures, and spoiler-rich discussion.

Transcript

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[Chris Ryan]

Hello and welcome to Talk the Thrones. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an [e-mail] joining me in the studio, as always, is Joanna Robinson. And don't call her Alice. It's Mallory Rubin. We are about to talk about Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode three. Huge episode. We'll be back right after this.

[Joanna Robinson]

Wow. A fisting gesture from Valerie right out of the game. Really good stuff.

[Chris Ryan]

Yes. We have no idea what that was in reference to now.

[Mallory Rubin]

Oh, Chrissy was a special lad.

[Chris Ryan]

We're not putting our names in that song. No.

[Mallory Rubin]

Okay. Nobody else updated all of the lyrics to me about one of their co hosts. Interesting.

[Chris Ryan]

Alice earned it. Okay, we're going to do.

[Joanna Robinson]

Oh, Chris. He. I was like, who's Chrissy?

[Mallory Rubin]

Chrissy, Chrissy.

[Chris Ryan]

We're going to get into this episode. One of my favorites of this season so far. There's only been three, but it's pretty high up there. We'll do the recap.

[Joanna Robinson]

How about that?

[Mallory Rubin]

Oh, man, what a treat.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay, we're going to do the recap right about now. All right, guys, the recap for episode three of To Talk Thrones of Night of the Seven Kingdoms. What's this one called?

[Mallory Rubin]

The Squire.

[Chris Ryan]

I guess I know why.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

All right, let's get into it. Egg wakes up and turns into Bob Baffert, which is one of my favorite horse trainers, although he was brought down in scandal and disgrace. Right For.

[Joanna Robinson]

Did you know one of your favorite horse trainers? And you don't?

[Mallory Rubin]

I didn't know we were gonna have to fact check your horse takes live. I was just ready for you to make a reference, Silver hair. Now that we know who Egg is.

[Chris Ryan]

No Egg's out there. Horse whispering he's got Thunder ready for the dunk tournament appearance. And who should come upon this squire just doing on the drop training, but Robin Risling, a one eyed knight who really cares about horse horse ownership. Once Robin moves on Duncan, I get back to campsite stuff. Which essentially entails sewing patches, talking pubes, great moments and singing songs about the Targaryens. And since the first day of the journey is just for one Seeds. Knights of high birth and renown.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

So instead they head into town to get some ingredients for some sick Westerosi bacon, egg and cheeses. Hopefully they got the salt, pepper, ketchup.

[Mallory Rubin]

I thought this looked absolutely delicious. And I think that Egg and Dunk should enter Top Chef.

[Chris Ryan]

I mean they should just work at like a small farm to table.

[Joanna Robinson]

I think the bread to meat ratio is a little off.

[Mallory Rubin]

Sandwich looks a little dry.

[Joanna Robinson]

It was a chunky kind of thing.

[Chris Ryan]

The one thing that could top their sandwich getting blackout drunk while watching jousting. Breaking up this reverie is Plumber who tries to get Duncan to go in on a gambling scheme that would make Terry Rogier blush.

[Mallory Rubin]

You got a lot of sports references today, man.

[Chris Ryan]

Allegedly. Because nothing has been proven about our.

[Joanna Robinson]

Legal team advises Allegedly he wants Dunk.

[Chris Ryan]

To best lord Ashford's kid so that savvy betters can clean up on the upset. It turns out that Ashford is underwater with his daughter's pageant. Would that be Gwen?

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, Lady Gwyn.

[Mallory Rubin]

Gwen Gwyn. And his son is Andrew.

[Chris Ryan]

So Ashford needs to. Ashford needs to cash out. Mulling this over Duncan Egg, go to the joust to check out Aryan Bright flame, a goat piece of shit. Game of Thrones universe. Which is really saying something. He's competing in the first round of action against Humphrey Harding. Egg lets his Philadelphia Eagles fan out and shouts kill him. But key viewers will note he's cheering against Aryan on his second pass, Aryan, which I really pretty close to calling him Aryan and I might as well, right? Like, yeah, I think that's the point, right? On his second pass, Aryan kills his opponent's horse, leading to pandemonium in the crowd with the spectators turning on Aryan for being a horse killing son of a bitch. This is a party foul. In the Westerosi world, vibes are much different.

[Joanna Robinson]

Just in Westeros, generally, yes, but like, we're generally anti.

[Chris Ryan]

I kind of have a little bit of a zag on this one, but we'll get to that. Well, look, you're jousting.

[Mallory Rubin]

What?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

Okay. We will be preparing our normal reply and so will thunder and Egg.

[Chris Ryan]

You know how like in soccer, it's like hands part of the body, sometimes horse is part of the man?

[Joanna Robinson]

No, he dipped his lance too low on purpose.

[Mallory Rubin]

He was trying. He was trying to, I think, dare you.

[Chris Ryan]

I would want to see a booth review.

[Mallory Rubin]

Okay, you know what is permissible? I mean, the mountain didn't agree, but Loris, like, my mare is in heat. We're going to do a little bit of dirty pool. All in the spirit of good fun out of the tourney. I want to win. Okay. Spearing a horse through the neck intentionally. How fudgeing. Dare you?

[Chris Ryan]

I just. I just. I want to see Slow Mo replay. The vibes are much different in line.

[Joanna Robinson]

To you on HBO Go.

[Mallory Rubin]

My God.

[Chris Ryan]

On Lionel Baratheon's never ending Rave tent where a bunch of knights are singing about a poor girl named Alice who apparently had three fingers and probably never imagined such a fact becoming the stuff of pub anthems.

[Mallory Rubin]

And yet.

[Joanna Robinson]

And yet, how do you think you spell Al? Do you think it's a L, Y, S or a L I, C, E?

[Mallory Rubin]

The subtitling said A L, I, C E. But in Thrones I just always assume there's a Y in there. So I'm going to. I'm going to hope and assume that the property will be a L, Y, S. No, I can't wait to talk about this.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory Rubin]

Will you be doing a rendition Duncan.

[Chris Ryan]

Egg muse on the heroism of the aforementioned Alice and then have an impromptu visit with a fortune teller who tells Dunk he will be richer than a Lannister. An Egg, that he will be king and die in a fire.

[Mallory Rubin]

Very chill. Very chill encounter up.

[Chris Ryan]

And Dunk visits with Raymond Fossil, who expresses some anti target sentiment. This is about the horse. But you know, more broadly than that, at the puppet show around the way, Tanzel gets caught making light of dragons in her show in front of Aryan tough crowd who proceeds to start breaking her fingers. This is too much for Dunk, who throws Aryan off of her once Dunk is restrained. In one of the most sinister line readings of the franchise, Arian asked Dunk, why did you throw your away for this horror? Right before getting curb stomped or stage stomped, Dunk is saved by Egg, who is revealed to be. Drumroll. Aegon Targaryen Aegon Targaryen.

[Mallory Rubin]

Aegon Targaryen. We can say it. I'm so relieved.

[Joanna Robinson]

What a show.

[Mallory Rubin]

We can talk about this.

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[Chris Ryan]

[e-mail] Now Joe, is your favorite moment the last moment of this episode?

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah. So we can finally effing talk about it.

[Mallory Rubin]

It's not Lionel Baratheon dancing and singing shirtless.

[Joanna Robinson]

It might be Robin. Robin Reisling. Like I'm a big fan of this guy. No. Mallory and I have been so frustrated that we've not been able to talk about this. I don't know if you're have been frustrated at all that we've not been.

[Chris Ryan]

Able to talk about this. I'm still stuck on this horse stuff, but yeah, yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

Interest. Yeah. How did you feel about what Arian did to Tanzel. Any commentary there?

[Chris Ryan]

No, I think that was fucked up.

[Joanna Robinson]

But I think that's the price of being an artist, don't you think? In this modern world?

[Mallory Rubin]

No.

[Joanna Robinson]

But Molly and I were just exchanging some frosty texts about this last night because the Game of Thrones official Instagram has been like dropping these massive cheeky little hints where we've been trying to play by the rules and not reveal that this is Aegon Targaryen. But now we can talk about it, which is really exciting.

[Mallory Rubin]

We can talk about knowing who he is. We obviously still will not spoil all of future history. We're going to be behaving ourselves in that respect.

[Joanna Robinson]

I don't know what's a spoiler anymore. Now actually, I'm at sea.

[Mallory Rubin]

I remain. I've loved the show. I've loved all three episodes. I thought that this episode was wonderful. And the amount of delightful storytelling, humor, charm, big reveals that packed into this tight little package, really impressive. I do remain perplexed by the decision to not just say, this is who this story is about, you know, from the jump, not because it is invalid to in a six episode season, have the end of season three, mid season end on a big reveal on a big note. That's great. But because it was, I think, and maybe this is our bubble and our algorithm, impossible to avoid. Who egg really was. It's the first sentence of every Wikipedia page. You Google one thing, you're going to have it spoiled. It's all over Instagram. So I wonder how many people this was actually preserved for. I would be curious to know.

[Joanna Robinson]

I would be very curious to know. We've been having this debate on the deep dives where I'm just like, I am sure that there are some casual viewers for whom this will be a reveal, which is great.

[Chris Ryan]

Who is a casual viewer who really enjoyed this reveal? My wife.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah. Van said the same thing about Kalika. That Kalika like gasped and cried when this was revealed.

[Chris Ryan]

My wife Phoebe was just like, oh, shit.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah, that's him exactly. Wonderful.

[Joanna Robinson]

And so like they exist. Yeah. Whether or not they exist outside of. Because you didn't.

[Chris Ryan]

She was like, why does he shave his head? Is it because he's blonde at all? Like, she was like kind of getting there, but like it wasn't bothering her and she wasn't like, what's the deal? This kid just told me, little tougher.

[Mallory Rubin]

In the book when they have distinctly purple eyes. To accept that everybody is there.

[Joanna Robinson]

Doesn't show. Certainly some people for whom this will be A reveal. But the majority, if you spend any time online, how could you have avoided this information?

[Chris Ryan]

I think even in early I would. I think if I'm remembering correctly, the announcement of this series did suggest that a little boy who would become blah, blah, blah, was in there. I don't even know. I'm still like trying to keep it a secret. Zagar Targaryen. And I think in the initial announcement for the series there was a, like a declaration that that was the case, but I could be wrong.

[Joanna Robinson]

So here's my question, Chris. Like, this is something you run the notes on the show. And I put this in anyway because it's a question for you, which is that does. We were talking about this on the deep dive. Does this show feel like a hit? Like, HBO released some numbers. But I'm curious, sort of like, have you been hearing from people out in the world? They're watching the show. And do you think it can be boosted by establishing what the stakes of this sort of small scale story is? This is a, an origin story for. I guess, I don't know how much we can say, but figures, figures of consequences. An important Targaryen.

[Chris Ryan]

Sure. I think that it's doing fine. I mean like it's number one on max. I think it's like six and a half million. 6.7 million people watch the first episode. I think it's the kind of thing that will have some word of mouth because of its quality.

[Mallory Rubin]

That's my hope.

[Chris Ryan]

I always think it was going to be a challenge to sell the non dragon Game of Thrones show. Which is sort of strange because the first few seasons of Game of Thrones, the dragons are first an idea and then they're just like little cute little guys. Dashboard guys, you know, bobbleheads. So funko pops, essentially.

[Mallory Rubin]

Many a funko pop.

[Joanna Robinson]

And so those dragons.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I do think that it's been interesting to go around and have people be like, oh, right, is that good? You know what I mean? Like, instead of being like, I've been.

[Joanna Robinson]

Watching every Sunday, I'm definitely dialed in.

[Mallory Rubin]

Which is a bummer because it's great.

[Joanna Robinson]

So good. Delightful.

[Mallory Rubin]

It's so assuring tone of vision.

[Chris Ryan]

I'm really, honestly, I kind of blame Hot D for this.

[Joanna Robinson]

Well, for sure, that's a factor. But I'm just curious if. Yeah, people are a little burned off of like season two of House of the Dragon. But like, I'm very curious if word of mouth, as you say, like this is a show we all agree is great and, and, and then just Knowing that, okay, this kid is a. Or, or, or people say you have to watch through episode three and maybe people will binge the first three episodes and not have to like sort of sit in that suspense of. I don't know what the stakes of this show are.

[Chris Ryan]

I don't really. I mean I still am a little bit frustrated by the idea of a half hour week to week show. So like I think it works with sitcoms. I think it works when we were all like, it's Thursday, it's 8:30, I'll turn on this. But I do think there probably would have been a desire if you'd put the first three up and then did the last three week to week. I think that would have been interesting.

[Joanna Robinson]

The mini binge. Yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

My least favorite model is the hybrid model. Drives me fucking crazy.

[Joanna Robinson]

I don't mind like a two episode drop or especially three episode drop of 30 minutes.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah, you know, I don't like the, the Amazon model of like here are three episodes of the Boys and then five weekly. It's like confusing to me. But I do think you're right that having more story for people to fall into right away, frankly getting them to this point.

[Chris Ryan]

Because I think you're going into Game of Thrones, any kind of Game of Thrones story and you're expecting such a significant dense.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

Piece of like of storytelling. And this is so comparatively light. Even though it has a lot of information in it, if you're listening for it. I think that people are maybe a little bit thrown off now. I will say, tell me if you agree with this. This is the exact right time to drop the twist for how long the season is and how much time people have spent with it. We've basically been in this world for an hour and a half by the about give or take. And I think if they had waited. Oh yeah, to the end, if this was like the end of the season.

[Joanna Robinson]

Was this bad news?

[Chris Ryan]

Or if these episodes had been an hour long and people had been like, what is the show about? Like what is happening here? I think if it was the right timing in the season given how they've constructed the episodes.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah, I really agree. I think that this first novella and in general the novellas that this show is gonna be adapting are incredibly well paced and well structured. And I think that the show, in following that very faithfully, but picking spots to exp or add or tweak slightly has been really expertly paced. Whether it should have aired in this fashion, you know, that's. I think the debate is totally valid. But to put something that could have been a season concluding moment in the middle, my hope, like we've already talked about, is that that would just propel a lot of people to say, fuck, well, what's in the back half of the season?

[Joanna Robinson]

Sure.

[Mallory Rubin]

You know, and like, obviously this episode ends not just with the, you know, I cut it, I didn't want to look like you, brother. Moment of who is Egg? Egg is a Targaryen. But what Dunk has done. Dunk is in such a perilous place now. The thematic richness of him doing something that of course, feels like Knightly.

[Joanna Robinson]

Knightly, chivalric, honorable.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yes. Right. To him, this would be the right thing. But where does it leave him for the next three episodes of the season? So my hope is that people are, like, very excited to find out more about who these characters are and where they find each other moving forward.

[Joanna Robinson]

Can I ask you a question? Was there an opportunity, let's say, if they didn't want to do it this way. But Ira Parker is very, and I love this adaptation. I think it's incredible. He's very dedicated to directly adapting this novella. Was there a way to let the audience know who Egg was while it's still a mystery to Dunk or anyone else around him? Like to have this reveal for Dunk in this moment, but the audience gets even a little bit more information than we got.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, you could argue that with the mention of Aegon and Daeron have gone missing.

[Joanna Robinson]

Right. That an Egg gasping when he sees the Targaryen.

[Mallory Rubin]

I was like, go check on the camp. Yes.

[Chris Ryan]

His, his like, avoidance of the Targaryens and also his hostility towards him, his knowledge of knights, his knowledge of like the financial backgrounds of knights. Guard loves fishing. Yeah, exactly.

[Mallory Rubin]

Just loves fishing.

[Chris Ryan]

I think people probably were getting a little bit more clued in on it. But it's an interesting question. Like, if you basically do a two track story where it's like Aegon Targaryen undercover as a stable boy and this nice guy he meets who doesn't know he's Aegon Targaryen, like, it almost would be fascinating to shoot this more from the POV of Egg where he's like, now I have to step out and reveal myself to save this person.

[Mallory Rubin]

What's really interesting about that point and your question is, if you had asked that a couple weeks ago, I would have said, well, what they've told us about how they're making the story precludes that possibility. We are firmly, exclusively rooted in this episode. This episode opens with, we're in the fucking Egg and Thunder show, which, let.

[Joanna Robinson]

Me say, I buy a ticket for every day.

[Mallory Rubin]

I thought was just delightful and charming in every respect.

[Joanna Robinson]

But.

[Mallory Rubin]

But that did then, in hindsight, make me wonder, oh, could we have been with Egg in a couple other scenes where Dunk wasn't.

[Joanna Robinson]

Can I just say how. I mean, the Egg and Thunder show was so good, but how upset Dunk was when he came back because he was so sure that he had left him and taken the horse and he was just trying to be cool and then sort of is harsh with him because he was so nervous and upset.

[Mallory Rubin]

And sad and having to confront not only the. The fact that he's one theft away from having literally nothing to his name anymore, but what it would mean emotionally. He went from just having Ser Arlan and the horses to now just having Egg in the horses. And it's like, what would it mean if Egg left? He would have no one. And the way that he falls instantly back into performing a squire's duties in the absence of his squire. I'm sewing, I stoked the fire and got that going. Was a really subtle way to show us that he has made a lot of progress. And we should remember, like, this is mere days that they have known each other when Egg is saying, will you keep me on? After the. Before Dunk knows who he is. It's been a couple days that they've been in each other's lives and the bond that has forged and the reliance on each other. I love the moment with Thunder and Egg where Egg talks about his father. That, yes. But also like his father and what his father thinks about horses. And we can see that Egg already is adopting things that Dunk has taught him about the world in just a couple days. So the impact that they've made on each other is supreme. And obviously, we get a lot of lovely Egg moments in this episode before the big reveal. You know, sitting on the hillside, like, I could be happy in a place like this. Well, assess that scene. Now that we know that he's a prince of the realm, he grew up in Summerhall, he goes to visit his grandpa, the King at the Red Keep. Like, you think about that moment then in an entirely different way. I was, we're gonna talk about Maester Aemond and all these other characters. I was thinking a lot about Arya with Egg in this episode. You know, that real. Like, that's not me. Well, that's why.

[Joanna Robinson]

That's why Ira Parker has been, when talking about inspiration for the show talking about the Hound and Arya, because Arya in disguise on the road. Like, we couldn't really talk about why, but that's, like, why it's such a good comp here.

[Mallory Rubin]

Extra perfect to have that come to mind for us. While Egg is literally using a sewing needle. Given the, like, a needle of my own change for ar.

[Joanna Robinson]

I love that. I also think that, like, the move that Egg makes at the end of this episode. Egg does not need to do this for Dunk, right? This is. You know, he'll be fine because he's a Targaryen prince, but he is destroying his own little adventure because he has an honor code of his own. And he is. You know, he's like. Like, we're all Dunk has, and if he loses the tourney, he won't even have us.

[Chris Ryan]

Sure.

[Joanna Robinson]

And knowing that, like, Dunk is about to get stage stomped, as you put. And I was like, oh, my God, they're gonna cross the way with him. Like, I can't.

[Mallory Rubin]

Can't believe it.

[Joanna Robinson]

But you know that he puts himself on the line for Dunk. The way that Dunk put himself on the line for Tanzel is, like, he's already learning the lessons that his new father figure has taught him.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, if this was a sports movie, kind of Game of Thrones show, you would be just so anticipating Dunk's entry and then ro Hockey esque triumph in the tournament. But I think what we're getting is this guy is being tested the way knights are tested over and over again. And he's just passing flying colors every time, you know, like, whether it's his, like, kindness towards people or whether it's seeing, like, what's good about people or trusting, you know, like, he just keeps being rewarded for making the right decisions and having a good heart, which is like, yeah, a really nice side of this show and a nice side of this series because it's often mired in incest and inter family murder.

[Mallory Rubin]

We will get to incest today.

[Joanna Robinson]

Who knows?

[Mallory Rubin]

But.

[Joanna Robinson]

But I think I also just, like, want to talk about the mechanics of how that moment plays out. I love the way it was shot, like a sort of dun, dun, dun, like, mystery reveal moment where we're, like, zooming in on all these shocked faces. Raymond's there, Tanzel's.

[Chris Ryan]

He's like. He's, like, telling, like, very specific members of, like, the body.

[Joanna Robinson]

He knows their names, and he's like, get the off of him or you'll answer to my father, who's not here. But also, wait until My father hears about this, but also the music of this episode, Dan Roemer's music. Not just the songs that we get in this episode, which, as you know, I'm a huge fan of, but the music that there's this, like, fiddle jig that plays during the Thunder and Egg show, as you have named it, and the music reveal at the end here. I just love the tone it's setting for the show.

[Chris Ryan]

For sweet and lovely as this episode was. My favorite part's Aryan. Like, my favorite guy. It's not a guy. It's just, like, you love him. It's an edge this show needed. I sometimes wonder, like, oh, are we gonna get? Like, can they keep coming up with real asshole Targaryens? Like, can they keep manufacturing these guys?

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah, guess what?

[Chris Ryan]

And it's kind of like, you know, it's like the Dodgers never count them out.

[Mallory Rubin]

They can always spend what they need to spend.

[Chris Ryan]

Finn Bennett we've talked about a couple of times before, he got, like, one brief moment in episod, who gets a little bit more to work with here. I imagine we will see more of him now that his conflict with Dunk is sort of at center stage, but just an incredible, sadistic piece of shit. Agree to know I'm a fan.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah. Co sign. The performance is fantastic. The character is wonderful. The way that he is referring to himself as a dragon in this episode really calls to mind one of our other favorite piece of shit Targs, Viserys, from the beginning of Game of Thrones. And then you think of Jorah like he wasn't even the shadow of a snake, you know, let alone a dragon. So I think that the thing that I loved most about Aryon in this episode is the way that you take Arian's response to the puppet show, right? The dragon ought never lose. Okay? You take what he does in the joust against Sir Humphrey.

[Chris Ryan]

You know, there are other ways to express yourself.

[Mallory Rubin]

Express yourself in a different way. Work through the rage and the feelings in a different way. Let's find a productive way to process all of this, okay? He does what he does in the joust with. With Humphrey. There's the little. This is like a. There's a moment in the novella about this way. He kind of just like a little nod to Baylor, like a real. Like, I don't give a shit about. Who are you? Baylor's reaction, Incredible.

[Joanna Robinson]

Attorney Field, the fact that he goes.

[Chris Ryan]

After Baylor's son, right?

[Mallory Rubin]

Well, he. He basically mocks him, right? He's like. Makes him think that he's going to knock on Valar's shield and then doesn't. And he calls out, humphrey. Humphrey.

[Chris Ryan]

He's like, don't worry. I'm not going to embarrass you today.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah. And then what? It's not just what happens with the horse. Right. It is the response from the crowd.

[Chris Ryan]

Which there's still, like, some debate about. Yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

Among some viewers.

[Joanna Robinson]

Can we hear your hot take? Many people are saying, this is fine.

[Chris Ryan]

It's not fine, but it's. It is jousting.

[Mallory Rubin]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

Like, they're not playing pinochle. So it's like, bad things can happen. And, you know, I. I just. I just think that I. I would. I was surprised by the crowd's reaction.

[Mallory Rubin]

Did it make. So when the. I will not be facing you in the lists after you've revealed this. But. So a member of the smallfolk throws a rock at Arian's head. This, coupled with what we hear from Raymond, which is just downright treasonous and shocking, which we'll talk through the rock from the crowd, I thought was a great touch and fascinating because you tie that with the response Aerion has to the puppet show and what Raymond says, and it all falls under this umbrella. Baelor's face when he sees the rock thrown. And it makes you think back to, like, season two of Game of Thrones and Joffrey taking a cow pie to the face. But this is a Targaryen dynasty, right? And so the fact. What does it mean? It made me think of, like, Tywin saying to Jaime, we are no longer a house to be feared. If X, if Y, if they can take one of our members of our household. Right? So Viserys, Turanyra, and Hadi. Everyone says Targaryens are closer to gods than to men, but they say that because of our dragons. Without them, we're just like everyone else. There is not a person in the realm who would have thrown a rock at Aerion Targaryen's head in the middle of Ashford Meadow if he had a fucking dragon who could get on the.

[Joanna Robinson]

Dragon and torch them. Yeah, yeah. As we mentioned on our deep dive, one of our listeners called this Targaryens in their flop era. And that is like 100 here. But, like, Balor is. Is. He's doing all of this work to. To, like, fix their reputation.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

And then he's just like, look at this.

[Joanna Robinson]

This piece of.

[Chris Ryan]

Think about where they are. This isn't like, oh, my God, we're playing in the Super Bowl. Like, they're in, like, basically a Backwater Second City. Kind of.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah. They're at like a triple A Del.

[Chris Ryan]

Car in the beginning is like, I can't believe we're here. Like, this sucks.

[Mallory Rubin]

Dad made us.

[Chris Ryan]

Shana turns it into like an absolute disaster nightmare.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah. Yes, absolutely. And I think that. I think your point about the crowd turning on him undercuts what you're saying. Yes, it's a joust. But what we saw in the. In last week's episode about he shouldn't.

[Chris Ryan]

Be getting after them.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

But something that they went out of their way to show. Not 100% easy to follow. But in the night joust that we saw in episode two was Leah Longthorne. Like, once someone is in danger, he like pulled his horse aside, fell off his own horse to avoid hurting. And opponents, they're play acting war. They're not supposed to be actually injuring each other, you know. Yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

This is foul. This is abhorrent. Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

There are.

[Mallory Rubin]

There's decorum in the world of Westeros, believe it or not.

[Joanna Robinson]

I think also we talked about this on the deep dive, but I think also the way they've used. Used Dunk's relationship to horses and egg. Yeah. At the beginning of this episode, relation talking to horse as like, this save the cat. You love these guys. These guys are horses.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

They care for animals, you know? So this is like shorthand for these are good guys. They love horses. And here comes Aryan.

[Chris Ryan]

Right.

[Joanna Robinson]

Stabbing one in the neck.

[Chris Ryan]

Sure.

[Mallory Rubin]

No, he lost a lot of people. Not everyone.

[Joanna Robinson]

No. Chris is still.

[Chris Ryan]

Favorite genres of. Of Instagram videos. Is Tom Brady throwing hospital balls and guys getting, like, concussed.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah.

[Chris Ryan]

And it's like, I know it's bad.

[Mallory Rubin]

And we shouldn't be targeting, but it's your algo. It's your algo, baby, because you can't stop watching.

[Chris Ryan]

I just can't stop watching.

[Joanna Robinson]

This is like Bill Reville. Do you. Okay. Bill revealed to me that he gets, like, a lot of, like, bar fight or street fight videos.

[Chris Ryan]

I know that.

[Joanna Robinson]

And we determined that it was perhaps a result of being a football fan. Like.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, I think it's definitely that. It's just also built.

[Mallory Rubin]

I just never missed an energy there.

[Joanna Robinson]

And I was like, I don't understand. Understand that side of the algorithm.

[Chris Ryan]

How much can we talk about who Aegon is without having to talk about what happens to Aegon in the future?

[Joanna Robinson]

I actually don't know where the line is. I'm curious where you think it is, because I'm.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay. For instance, where is Aegon in line for the Throne.

[Mallory Rubin]

Nowhere close. He's the fourth son of the fourth son. So Daeron II is the king, as we've stated. He has four sons, as we've mentioned. Baelor, Aerys, Rhaegal, Maekar. Egg is Maekar's fourth son. His sons are Daeron, Arian, your favorite maester. Maester Aemon from Game of Thrones, finally. Now, talk about this is he's off at the Citadel.

[Joanna Robinson]

He's at the Citadel to learn.

[Mallory Rubin]

Raymond kind of changes the, like, time frame slightly with what he says, but he's. And he should be off of the Citadel learning already. And then Egg. So he's the fourth son of the fourth son. He's nowhere near the throne. But he is a prince of the realm. He's a prince of the blood.

[Joanna Robinson]

But here's what I want to say. Okay. I guess that's where Mallory is, is setting a line.

[Chris Ryan]

You don't have to.

[Joanna Robinson]

I'm gonna nudge it a little further and say.

[Chris Ryan]

If you wanna hit 10 seconds ahead, Jo will say this and keep it brief.

[Joanna Robinson]

I'm just gonna say an inspiration for egg is T.H. white's story of King Arthur and Wirt, who is a young prince who doesn't know he's a prince or whatever, but the point is that he grows up among the people and doesn't know what it is to be a prince. And what kind of ruler can that turn you into?

[Mallory Rubin]

Right.

[Joanna Robinson]

And I think that is, like, a really fascinating story to tell. And, like, I don't think this is spoiler to say. The novellas are called Dunk and Egg, so this is not the last Dunk and Egg adventure that we'll see. That feels like I can say that.

[Mallory Rubin]

Oh, yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

And so the point is, they're saying.

[Chris Ryan]

Like, we're going, you know. Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

Right. So the point is, many Targaryen leaders of whatever stripe, prince, princess, whatever, have toured Westeros on Dragonback. Some of the best leaders, you know, Jaehaerys and Alysanne, who were former king and queen, we talked about them when we talked about House of the Dragon. They cared about the small folk. They changed a lot of rules and laws and regulations to try to better people's lives. They still toured the realm from on high on Dragonback. Right. Egg's gonna do it on horseback, and.

[Chris Ryan]

That will hopefully inform who he becomes.

[Joanna Robinson]

Who he becomes. Sure.

[Mallory Rubin]

On the like, what's a spoiler and what isn't a spoiler front and mainstream is a good way into this. You know, again, this is kind of.

[Chris Ryan]

Arian Bright Flame really sees the error of his ways. He becomes a passionate advocate for animal rights.

[Mallory Rubin]

Exactly.

[Joanna Robinson]

Exactly.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yes. Found the good heart inside.

[Joanna Robinson]

Fabled loving leaders in all of Western.

[Chris Ryan]

Creating a strong governmental support for the arts.

[Joanna Robinson]

A real patron.

[Chris Ryan]

The Aryan Brave Flame Center.

[Mallory Rubin]

His hair, his fit watch like he likes to already to express himself in all sorts of interesting things whenever you're.

[Joanna Robinson]

On like the PBS drive. It's like Bright Flame is at the top of the donor list.

[Mallory Rubin]

Bright Flame is just a wonderful moniker though. It is the Bright Prince. Bright Flame. It's great. I want your moniker power ranking at the end of this season.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay.

[Mallory Rubin]

Breakspear, Bright flame, blasting storm, etc.

[Joanna Robinson]

Did Aryan name himself Bright Flame? Yeah. Do you feel like we can say why?

[Mallory Rubin]

Sure, yeah. Yeah, go for it.

[Joanna Robinson]

There's different kinds of Targaryen madness. This particular dude kind of thinks he's a dragon.

[Chris Ryan]

It's my kind of guy.

[Joanna Robinson]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

Self belief.

[Joanna Robinson]

So when he's like the dragon shouldn't lose, it's because he kind they don't have dragons. But he's like, but we kind of are dragons. As he says in this episode.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yes. He sees it as an attack not only on the idea of their power.

[Joanna Robinson]

But I am the dragon.

[Mallory Rubin]

So what he represents on the like.

[Joanna Robinson]

And he's like that blood confetti. Not on my watch.

[Mallory Rubin]

Once again, puppets. Just compliments all around to Tanzel and her uncle and the puppeteers because like it looks. Looks just.

[Chris Ryan]

Well, maybe he's just disappointed because VFX have gotten so much.

[Mallory Rubin]

He was never a fan of Sermon of the Mirror Shame.

[Chris Ryan]

Do you guys know what George Lucas did with so much less money?

[Mallory Rubin]

Bring back Florian the Fool on the Maester Aemon front. You know, it is a thrill to now be able to talk about this because you can think back to any number of moments from Thrones with Maester Aemon. Some of those, if you go revisit those scenes in full, we should say, will just contain full spoilers for the future of Egg's story. And who these characters are, just as was the case in Hot D, is just flat out stated across the shows. And so they've. This is a tricky spot to be in.

[Joanna Robinson]

This is why I'm a little confused as to what is a spoiler and what isn't because I think it's.

[Mallory Rubin]

That's why I said. I'm like. They should have just said from the beginning, this is who the story's about.

[Joanna Robinson]

I think it's even trickier than with House of the Dragon because the. What unfolds from the events of has such a direct direct a character who is alive now is alive in Game of Thrones bearing on what happens with Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, all that sort of stuff. And so what is happening here is so consequential to the Game of Thrones story that we are all the most familiar with. And so even more than Joffrey giving a tour of the sept and spoiling House of the Dragon job, it's a facts.

[Mallory Rubin]

I'm just a fan of history.

[Joanna Robinson]

Maester Aemon.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yes.

[Joanna Robinson]

When he dies. Maester Aemond dies in Game of Thrones.

[Chris Ryan]

It's okay. Most people do.

[Joanna Robinson]

Says Egg, I dreamed I was old. That's his dying word is eg. I dreamed I was old. Because he's thinking about his brother and he's like remembering when he was a boy with him.

[Mallory Rubin]

A moment like that I think you can talk about. And whether if you a viewer of this program or this television show or spoiler verse I don't think that spoils anything. I think that that Mr. Aon saying like when he's looking at at Gilly and. And little Sam. Right. Like there he is. That laugh. Egg laughed like that. One of the first things I remember. You can now feel those connections across time and across the tapestry of the canon. And moments like that that you can even think to the Jon point what the famous season one scene between Maester Aemon and Jon, the love is the death of duty scene.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

Maester Aon is talking about not only Egg, but Maekar.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yes.

[Mallory Rubin]

In other members of their family in that conversation. So if you want to better understand all of those connections and everything that they represent, we're going to have a three hour podcast coming for you in just a few days. But also you can revisit those scenes.

[Chris Ryan]

And to some extent House the Dragon exists in this kind of of funny newish micro genre where it's like Lucasfilm.

[Joanna Robinson]

Doing like we're circling the drain on.

[Chris Ryan]

So we're doing prequels because we don't want to change anybody's relationship to the mothership show and make anybody be like Jon Snow is not who I thought he was. You know, like they, they don't want to mess with that or Kit Harrington doesn't want to mess with that. And then. But it's also not Napoleon where you're just like, yeah, I know what happened to him. You don't. It's not a spoiler to find out. But it's not. Andor where it's purely imaginative and only Tony Gilroy knows the Roadmap of how that happened to get to the Death Star. You know what I mean? Like, it is in books, it is in novels. And those novels also have connective tissue to other novels and novels that have yet to be finished. You know, and that's a little bit more complicated to talk about, but we're trying to, like, let people enjoy it.

[Joanna Robinson]

I don't want to ruin anyone's enjoyment of what is hopefully 13 seasons of Dunkin. Like, I don't want that. And, like, that will go through, you know, into the future, into things that I could talk about. But I just. I think the reason I'm itching to talk about it, and which we'll talk about in the spoiler section of our podcast, is how consequential what happens.

[Chris Ryan]

And it also imbues the show with a lot more. Even more meaning. But you can watch it and you can still enjoy it. I have a couple more things from this specific episode I wanted to get to.

[Mallory Rubin]

Are we gonna talk about incest? Do you wanna do that? Do you wanna do it now? Do you wanna do it later?

[Joanna Robinson]

What?

[Chris Ryan]

Incest?

[Mallory Rubin]

What did you think of Raymond breaking out? Not only the blood magic, but, like the ins. What he says about the Targaryens? He says they' aliens, Duncan, Blood magickers and tyrants who've burned our lands, enslaved our people, dragged us into their wars without a moat of respect for our history or our customs. Then he has the great line about finishing on your wife's tits and then admits that he learned them from Stefan. Iconic stuff from Raymond. Very memorable start to finish. I thought this was interesting. Again, it's of a piece with what we were just talking about with Aryan, first of all, the whole doctrine of exceptionalism. Basically allowing the targets to continue to practice incest. Earlier in the history. We all talked about this during Hot Dig was just they got away with it because of the dragons. That's it. Keeping the line pure. They don't have that anymore. They don't have the dragons.

[Joanna Robinson]

Now.

[Mallory Rubin]

People can say things like this and challenge them. But also, as we've talked about the Blackfyre Rebellion 13 years ago, the wake of that war, the toll of that war, the dance, previously, incest had a pretty big role in the Dance of the Dragons being the war that it was. Right now, though, why I thought this was so interesting is like, this is actually currently, this exact moment. Not a very incest, heavy incest forward period for the target.

[Joanna Robinson]

We're marrying Martell.

[Mallory Rubin]

Darren married to Martell.

[Joanna Robinson]

We're marrying Danes.

[Chris Ryan]

We were looking abroad.

[Mallory Rubin]

Baylor's married to Don Darion, my girlfriend from camp.

[Joanna Robinson]

Yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

Aerys is married to a Penrose Maker's married to a Dayne. They're really trying to shore up alliances in Dorne or the Dornish Marshes or the Stormlands. It's much more about political might and reassuring the. The strength and. And the footing that the dynasty is standing on. But it was just recent enough. Darren II and Daemon Blackfyre are both children of Incense. So the. The war that still cast a shadow over all of this was very driven by the fact that these targets couldn't stop each other. Even the fact that Damon Damon Blackfyre was like in love with the family member was kind of a whispered. Is this what this was really about for a lot of people? So they haven't assumed that even though they're not currently fucking each other, they were recently. And they will again. Yeah, they will again.

[Joanna Robinson]

Not a spoiler. Just like these dudes want to fuck their sisters. That's just like how it goes. They love it. Can I share a tidbit with you that we can now reveal? So when Egg is talking about the shooting star at the beginning of the season, his mom is from House Dayne, where the sort of the morning Archdane Young Morningstar.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

This idea still gets me every time.

[Joanna Robinson]

This idea of the falling star is connected to his mother's house. So he has a personal reason why that would be such an interesting omen for him. And that's something we could not talk about because we couldn't talk about who his mom was.

[Chris Ryan]

Right now we're, you know, I mean, he's getting a lot of omens thrown at him.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah. What'd you guys think of that? The fortune teller scene?

[Chris Ryan]

It was awesome.

[Joanna Robinson]

Great. What can I say?

[Mallory Rubin]

Okay, here's what I think we can say. So the fortune teller stops.

[Chris Ryan]

If you're dunkening in the market, watch this franchise.

[Mallory Rubin]

Exactly.

[Chris Ryan]

You're conversant in prophecy.

[Mallory Rubin]

That's exactly it.

[Chris Ryan]

You're conversant in the importance of prophecy in this.

[Mallory Rubin]

What happens when Cersei hears Maggy the Frog's prophecy. Right. Obviously Aegon the Conqueror's dream. Look what prophecies and dreams did to Viserys. We talked a lot during Hot D about what Daemon hears from Alyssa. Alice's et cetera. So prophecy after prophecy, the substance of what is said here to Dunk and Egg. Interesting. The I think more interesting question is what do characters in fantasy stories in general, but in A George R.R. martin Story in particular, this is an idea that he's obsessed with. It's very central. What do characters do when they hear a thing like that about themselves? What decisions and choices does it lead them to make about their own life?

[Joanna Robinson]

And this is additive. This isn't in the books. This is show additive. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

Oh, Ira.

[Joanna Robinson]

Interesting.

[Chris Ryan]

Taking a. Taking a couple dollars.

[Mallory Rubin]

You were impressed with adding the song lyrics, but my God, how about this? How thrilled were you on the song front? Obviously, Alice's song is just an instant. An instant banger, chart topping classic, but you've been all season wondering, would we get the hammer in the anvil?

[Joanna Robinson]

I know.

[Mallory Rubin]

And it was great.

[Joanna Robinson]

It was so good. I could not be with Egg up in the tree.

[Chris Ryan]

Veiny spears.

[Mallory Rubin]

Exactly.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay, one more thing for.

[Mallory Rubin]

One more thing for Maekar to resent about Balor. Balor's song lyric is about his gigantic cock.

[Joanna Robinson]

Should we also talk about the standing room? So Maekar isn't here, right? Arian, bright flame piece of shit that he is, behaves himself a bit better when Daddy's here, but Daddy's gone looking for Egg, who's right under his nose. And Darren, who we met in episode one and we can now say that the drunken muddy lord who said, get the fuck away from me, I dreamed of you, is Daeron Targaryen another Targaryen prince.

[Chris Ryan]

Was there. Give me. Was there any super significance to Arryon challenging Baelor's son? Not in terms of, like, the show itself, but, like, in terms of, like, what would that do to Baelor and what would that do to Baelor's kid to have him kind of, like, taunted that way?

[Joanna Robinson]

Well, we already talked about how Valar, in the second episod episode, when he's jousting and Dunk's like, I bet he's going to be the best. N's like, I'll take that bet.

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah, right.

[Joanna Robinson]

Valar kind of sucks.

[Mallory Rubin]

And then Plmer popped up and he's like, you guys looking for some action? You talking bets, right?

[Joanna Robinson]

So I think that Valar is getting this, a very soft treatment at this joust and being put up against people who will not embarrass him. And so Aryan showboating around. Like, there are ways in which Maekar would be upset with what Aryan did, but there are ways in which he wanted Darren there, right? Because he didn't want just his brother better older brother's son to get all the Targaryen shine.

[Mallory Rubin]

We talked last week about Baylor's hair color and how for some in the realm they'd be like, you're not a real target. Aryan is also Mr. I'm a Dragon. Definitely looks at his uncle Baylor and at his cousin Valor and is like, check this out.

[Joanna Robinson]

Right?

[Mallory Rubin]

Right. Look at this platinum sheen. I'm legit and you suck. So he wants to embarrass them and he wants to prove himself superior.

[Joanna Robinson]

Ashy tone I got on my job.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah, it's very good. What did you guys make? Can we talk about this Alice's song scene a little bit more? There's a version of this where, like.

[Joanna Robinson]

Can I just say.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

I love that you put rave tent in. In. In your recap here. Really, really good stuff from you. Always when they talked about the vibe that they want to capture at this tourney.

[Chris Ryan]

Glastonbury.

[Joanna Robinson]

Well, they mentioned Burning man. And I was just like, lionel Bar. This, like, pan figure. Right? This horned God figure is just got Burning man going in his title time.

[Chris Ryan]

The. The subtle clues that this is kind. Not a joke because not the tournament is a joke.

[Joanna Robinson]

Right.

[Chris Ryan]

But that these guys are like, this is all bullshit. Let's just. This is an excuse for us to get loaded for like a week.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yes.

[Chris Ryan]

That the Targaryens are like, what are we doing in this backwater town? That plumber is trying to set up a throwing of the game.

[Mallory Rubin]

I want to talk about that.

[Chris Ryan]

And that's what we're dealing with. Like, everything that's supposed to be. Like, the only true person in this entire story is Dunk. You know, the only person who's just like, I am going to try and do things the right way. And I. I think I understand. What a night is supposed to be is Doug and everybody else is like.

[Joanna Robinson]

And Mallory's best friend, Steely Pate. I would say I do love Steely Pete. The armor.

[Mallory Rubin]

Dare you. The armor from episode two.

[Chris Ryan]

Okay. I just didn't catch his name.

[Mallory Rubin]

Everyone else just came to cheer you on. He didn't leave an impression on you? Did the lyrics of Alice's song leave an impression on you?

[Chris Ryan]

Do you. Do you want to do a textual breakdown?

[Mallory Rubin]

I'm just curious.

[Joanna Robinson]

Who do you think. How's the meter? How's the rhyme scheme?

[Mallory Rubin]

I thought it was very compelling.

[Chris Ryan]

Were you, like, more than one verse in there?

[Mallory Rubin]

It's like, we did.

[Joanna Robinson]

We did.

[Mallory Rubin]

Everybody was contributing. I mean, I thought that the Laughing Storm did great. Manford Dundarian redeeming himself a bit in my eyes with his contribution. The chorus.

[Joanna Robinson]

Wonderful.

[Mallory Rubin]

What a beautiful, like, way to capture shared community. Who do you think has made more of an impact across history. Westerosi or real world?

[Joanna Robinson]

Alice with three fingers. Give her three Finger full name.

[Mallory Rubin]

Three Fingered Hob or Three Fingered Brown.

[Chris Ryan]

The pitcher.

[Joanna Robinson]

Correct.

[Mallory Rubin]

You gotta pick.

[Joanna Robinson]

Do you want to tell him who 3Hob is?

[Mallory Rubin]

Are you a big dead ball era?

[Chris Ryan]

Baseball?

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah. Three Finger hobby. Remember him? Night's watch Chef?

[Chris Ryan]

I don't remember.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

No.

[Mallory Rubin]

Okay, so it seems like Alice is your winner. What did you. What did you make of the. Like, there's a version of this where they. The scene happens and we come on a podcast like this. The characters say nothing about hope or honor or the way that. Oh, and they don't even remember your name. And we come on a podcast and we textually analyze it and say those things, and people are like, you guys are crazy. Nuts. Yeah, right. But they incorporated it into the scene.

[Joanna Robinson]

Do you think that's what you do, or do you think you would make more fisting gestures?

[Mallory Rubin]

I mean, I like to think that ourselves can stay in multitudes and why not? But a lot of positive feedback on the House of Horror, episode two, thumbnail. I know. Great work, Carlos.

[Joanna Robinson]

Really good job, Carlos. The.

[Mallory Rubin]

Like, the question. This is obviously funny. It's goofy, it's silly.

[Joanna Robinson]

Tales grow in the telling.

[Mallory Rubin]

Tales grow in the telling. What is. What's in a name? Egg, who is currently still hiding who he is. The identity that you craft for yourself, who people think you are. Right.

[Joanna Robinson]

But like.

[Mallory Rubin]

Like, how does the myth and the legend, whatever it might be, build over time? And what do people remember about what you did? And I think also, like, it's interesting that for. I do. It's interesting. It's important. But I agree, like, for Alice and Dunk, this question. A different kind of show for Alice and Dunk.

[Joanna Robinson]

Tales of Dunk.

[Mallory Rubin]

I mean, I would watch, but it's like a very. Cripples, bastards, broken things like Game of Thrones idea.

[Joanna Robinson]

I wrote wearing, like, armor in my notes.

[Mallory Rubin]

But for Egg, it's the opposite.

[Joanna Robinson]

It's like, can you.

[Mallory Rubin]

You could you find the. The ability to live a little bit more freely and purely than you were brought up to. To live?

[Chris Ryan]

Sure.

[Mallory Rubin]

It's interesting.

[Chris Ryan]

I. I definitely.

[Joanna Robinson]

I don't disagree with you.

[Chris Ryan]

I think that's. I think you're onto something.

[Mallory Rubin]

Oh, Alice with three fingers.

[Chris Ryan]

Was there anything else on the other side you wanted to discuss before you get out of here?

[Joanna Robinson]

I do. I have a couple people I want to talk about. I want to talk about Humphrey Harding.

[Mallory Rubin]

Oh, yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

And why this matters. What. What Aran did here.

[Chris Ryan]

The guy whose horse got Killed the.

[Joanna Robinson]

Guy whose horse and his.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah, and shattered leg.

[Joanna Robinson]

Shattered.

[Mallory Rubin]

Ray's like shattered like a baking dish.

[Joanna Robinson]

So Humphrey Harding. We talked about this on the deep dive, but for context, when we had the, like, five champions who started the journey in the first place, it was Lord Ashford's two sons. So, like, he's like, nepotism, right? My two sons are going to be in here. Leo Longthorne, the Tyrell, the Lord Paramount of the region. Right?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

Prince Valar, the heir to the heir to the throne, and Humphrey Harding, because he's such a badass. So this guy was just like the hottest shit. Did not need a name or rank or whatever to get in there. He's just like the baddest bitch in the realm. And he's like, I'm gonna show you all what it means to joust. And that's who Aryan was. Like, I'm gonna take that guy now.

[Chris Ryan]

Do you think Aryan thought I could take this guy one on one?

[Joanna Robinson]

No.

[Mallory Rubin]

No. He didn't even try on the first.

[Chris Ryan]

He did one pass on him.

[Mallory Rubin]

Come on.

[Joanna Robinson]

He did like a faint.

[Mallory Rubin]

He had his plan.

[Joanna Robinson]

The whole bobbed and weaved.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah, the whole playing with him. And Egg knows right away. Raymond knows right away. Arian has a certain reputation, but also, it's clear. And Dunk is not prepared to admit it because as he says in both the novella and the book, he's like, well, he's just like, how could a knight do that? And how could a prince do that? Right? Like, it is such an affront to his ideal. But that's also a throughline of this episode. I thought that was present in the plumber scene too. On the like. I don't know what is a spoiler or what is not a spoiler front. I will say this very carefully. I will not give any specifics about the characters in question, the context. I'll just say in a future plot point, in a later novella, match fixing is a plot point. So I was baffled by this, the inclusion of this here, because I think that kind of makes. It's going to make it feel like a little less. Oh, I don't agree when that happens. But the flip side is it is maybe priming us for the fact that this happens, priming the characters for the fact that this happens. And there's like, I like the energy from Plumber of the like, you know, I believe we're both men of honor. Real. Like, like any must say, I am king is plumber was like, you're like Pete Rose.

[Chris Ryan]

You never. You never Bet yourself to lose, you know, but.

[Mallory Rubin]

So that was the genius part of it. Not asking him to lose, but asking him to win. It's such a subtler test of what Dunk actually wants and why. Right. It's like, it's not. Is it just about coin? Is it about renown? No, it's about proving something to himself. It's about real worth. And I spec. I really particularly love the mind your pride line at the end from Plummer because it's the. It's the inverse of what Sir Arlen has always said to Dunk. A hedge knight must hold tight to his pride. Without it, he's nothing more than a sell sword. So, like, Dunk has to confront Aryan. A knight, a prince would do this thing. Plumber, steward, and master of the games at Lord Ashford's meadow tourney would ask me to do this every encounter he has. Other than, of course, Baylor is like, wait, these people all suck. Like, what does honor mean? What is chivalry if this is how people behave?

[Joanna Robinson]

So also betrayed by Egg in this. You know, he's very like, yes, Egg comes in to save him, but the look on his face is not like, thank you for saving me. He's like, what the did you get me into?

[Chris Ryan]

Yeah. And he's also like, so I've been treating a prince like my squire for the last time.

[Joanna Robinson]

I'm gonna be in so much trouble.

[Chris Ryan]

I wonder whether what you're saying plays differently when you're. If. If the character had been depicted as being, like, 16 in the show.

[Joanna Robinson]

Oh, more in it.

[Mallory Rubin]

More. Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

A little bit less.

[Chris Ryan]

Like, more of a babe in the woods.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

Interesting. Can I talk about Robin Reisling?

[Chris Ryan]

Oh, yeah.

[Mallory Rubin]

Great walking stick.

[Joanna Robinson]

Great eye patch. Also is like metal augmented shoe.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah.

[Joanna Robinson]

So this is a. This is another example of Ira Parker expanding a character who has, like, a line in the book. Right. We know that he lost his eye in Attorney. That's all we know. We get a full. Like. We get to see it, like, dangling out of the socket. And then they give him this other part of his personality where he's like this. This deeply religious zealot. We are a vessel for the warrior. When it is madness bit, it is madness delivered. Like, similar to spending more time with Raymond Foss away or Lionel Baratheon. Like, this is just an interesting way in which he's making. Or Humphrey Harding, like, making these characters who will matter going forward a little more characters I just, like, loved. I thought it was.

[Chris Ryan]

So is Ira doing this in consultation with Martin or Is it have to imagine.

[Mallory Rubin]

So the way that George has talked.

[Joanna Robinson]

About it, you know, he's like the way his reaction to the. The scene. Ira's running these things by him and I think he's like, yeah, that sounds great. Make. Make Riesling a weird guy who loves talking about the warrior.

[Mallory Rubin]

That's like Thoros of Myr vibes from him. Obviously he's not serving the Lord of Light, he's serving the warrior. That aspect of the seven. But this idea of like some sort of guy keeps getting resurrected or righteous business. He's the one doing the resting. But like this idea of like if you are a warrior and you're out in the joust or an actual battle and you think that you are emboldened by something else driving you, that's the warrior.

[Joanna Robinson]

A reminder that the warrior God is. Is sort of.

[Mallory Rubin]

Yeah, the God.

[Joanna Robinson]

I mean the. It's in the title. Like the God of war and courage and strength and all of the sort of thing. And Jaime Lannister's favorite God. That's right.

[Mallory Rubin]

Is he.

[Chris Ryan]

Oh my guy. We can wrap it up there. I can't wait for next week's episode. I think we'll probably get a lot more post game reaction to Eggs Reveal. I would imagine we can listen to you guys on House of R do a deep dive on episode three. Eddie and I will hit it on the watch on Monday.

[Mallory Rubin]

Will you be talking about how episode one opened with a scene, episode two opened with a piss scene, and episode three opened with a scene. Thunder took a shot. What do you think we'll get in episode four? Will we just keep alternating? Will someone take a piss within the first few minutes?

[Chris Ryan]

I think I've never felt you more dialed in.

[Mallory Rubin]

I'm just observing the text. There's a pattern.

[Chris Ryan]

Mallory, thank you so much for joining me.

[Joanna Robinson]

Thanks. Thank you, Chris.

[Chris Ryan]

We will be back next Sunday.

[Mallory Rubin]

Sam.