"So I have to admit that I chuckled ruefully early in this week's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms when Ser Duncan suffered a grievous injury mere minutes into his trial by combat, then drifted into unconsciousness and a lengthy memory of boyhood. I know that last week I praised the ways that George R.R. Martin's plotting defies expectation. But come on. No big fight for Dunk? And a flashback?"
"I needn't have worried. For one thing, I've read The Hedge Knight. In the novella, Duncan also gets unhorsed right away and appears woefully overmatched, until he pulls himself together and bests Prince Aerion. No, the book doesn't pause mid-battle for "The Adventures of Young Dunk." But throughout this first season, the show's writers have added to and enriched Martin's material in ways that have deepened the characters and the meaning. The showrunner, Ira Parker, knows what he's doing."
"The flashback - which lasts about 20 minutes - ultimately serves two purposes. Primarily it's an origin story for Ser Duncan, taking us back to the moment when he began his journey out of the appalling squalor of King's Landing's poorest, dirtiest quarter, Flea Bottom, where orphaned urchins make money selling rat meat to stew shops. The other point of the flashback is to underscore this season's major recurring theme: The growing instability of the Seven Kingdoms after centuries of Targaryen dominance."
The episode opens with Ser Duncan being unhorsed early in his trial by combat and slipping into a roughly twenty-minute flashback to his childhood in Flea Bottom. The flashback functions primarily as an origin story that traces his escape from the squalor of King's Landing's poorest quarter and the harsh realities faced by orphaned urchins. The sequence also reinforces the season's recurring theme of political instability following long Targaryen dominance. The show's writers expand George R.R. Martin's novella material to deepen character and meaning, while retaining key plot beats such as Dunk ultimately besting Prince Aerion.
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