Tales of Dunk and Egg

Ninety years before the dragons returned to Westeros, a young hedge knight named Dunk rode into Ashford Meadow with nothing but a borrowed suit of armor and a bald, sharp-eyed squire called Egg. The tourney that followed would test his honor in ways he never imagined. The Hedge Knight (1998) introduces this unlikely pair, Dunk, a giant of a man with more heart than coin, and Egg, whose true identity as Prince Aegon Targaryen remains hidden from all but a few. The story sets the tone for the series: intimate, grounded, and steeped in the everyday grit of medieval life.

In The Sworn Sword (2003), Dunk and Egg find themselves in the drought-parched Reach, sworn to serve the elderly Ser Eustace Osgrey. A dispute over a stream pits them against the formidable Lady Rohanne Webber, leading to a small, bitter conflict where old grudges and faded glory clash. The novella digs into the cost of loyalty and the weight of memory, all while Egg's secret grows harder to keep.

The Mystery Knight (2010) raises the stakes. At the wedding of Lord Ambrose Butterwell, a dragon egg surfaces, drawing the attention of the Blackfyre pretenders and the realm's most dangerous players, including the one-eyed spymaster Lord Brynden Rivers, known as Bloodraven. Dunk must navigate a web of conspiracy while protecting Egg from exposure. The collected edition, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2015, 368 pages), gathers all three novellas with illustrations by Gary Gianni. The series won the Hugo Award for Best Novella for The Hedge Knight, and an HBO adaptation premiered in 2026.[edit]