"Younger Dunk (Bamber Todd), as a tween, has crept out to a battlefield near King's Landing, along with his friend Rafe (Chloe Lea), and they are grabbing whatever they can from the corpses of the highborn. As Dunk tries to mercy-kill a red-bearded man who's desperately wounded, Rafe stops him, pointing out that they could ransom him if they can get him out alive."
"Because most of the violent deeds in the episode take place in the ring, where they're sanctioned by the bloodthirsty morality that governs Westeros, it's a little hard to assign blame to the combatants- even Aerion, that perennial brat. But when Dunk blacks out on the field after having been stuck with a spear, the writers grab the chance to stick in a little flashback to Dunk's origins in Flea Bottom, and we get a few candidates for this week's Worst Person in Westeros."
Dunk faces a Trial of Seven after defending puppeteer Tanselle from Aerion Targaryen and assembles a team of seven with his squire Egg. Most violent deeds occur in a sanctioned trial-by-combat arena, complicating moral assignments for participants. After Dunk is speared and blacks out, a flashback to Flea Bottom reveals his origins and a formative incident: young Dunk and his friend Rafe scavenge corpses, and Rafe prevents a mercy killing to ransom a wounded noble. The scene highlights how poverty and survival instincts produce morally fraught choices rather than simple villainy.
Read at Slate Magazine
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