‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 5 delivers a brutal death no one saw coming after Trial of Seven
There's no doubt about the fact that fate works in mysterious ways in Westeros. 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' harps on this brutal maxim, exemplifying the uncanny aphorism that one's life can be lost in the blink of an eye. The recently aired fifth episode of the HBO show illustrated this with the surprising death of a beloved character, one that neither Peter Claffey's Ser Dunk the Tall nor the audience could see coming. Spoiler follows.
Continuing the aftermath of the infamous Trial of Seven, the fifth episode began with Dunk overpowering Aerion Targaryen to the point that the latter finally opts out of the fight. While Steeley Pate and Ser Raymun Fossaway were tending to Dunk's injuries that he sustained from the fight, Prince Baelor walked up to them, offering his combat advice. In return, Dunk pledged his undying loyalty to the Iron Throne's heir apparent. Prince Baelor began by thanking Dunk and suggesting that the realm needed more knights like him, when, all of a sudden, he complained that his fingers felt 'like wood.' He also adds that he thinks his brother, Prince Maekar, might have struck him on the back of his head, and that is when it felt eerie.
Upon dislodging his helmet, Dunk and the others are horrified to gaze at Prince Baelor's skull, half of which has been brutally crushed. The Prince falls dead almost instantaneously, since it was really his steel helmet that was holding back the blood from flowing out of the wound. The tragedy was subsequently felt far and wide, with the succession line to the throne now being jeopardised. Author George R. R. Martin depicted in his literary source material, 'The Hedge Knight,' that Prince Baelor didn't bring over his own battle armour to Ashford since he wasn't looking for a fight. When prompted to join the ranks of Dunk, he borrowed his teenage son Valarr's armour, which didn't fit him properly.
Actor Bertie Carvel, who portrayed Prince Baelor on the 'Game of Thrones' prequel show, recently spoke about his own grisly death scene in an interview with The Decider. When asked about his experience of filming his character's death scene, the actor ruminated, "It’s great! Death scenes are great because there’s no hiding from the fact that you’re pretending. Most actors are terrified of people finding you out, that you’re not who you say you are, which is ridiculous. Because by its very nature, that’s what you’re doing. And so I find death scenes great because it’s very obviously acting and we still — if it’s any good — believe it. Yeah, somehow pretending to die is quite a profound thing to do.” 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' airs its debut season finale on February 22 exclusively on HBO Max.
