We’ve binged KotSK this weekend, and now have only the finale.
It occurs to me that it fills a role in the greater GRRM universe that is analogous to the role the “street level” MCU shows filled in the larger MCU.
The large-scale shows Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are the giant tentpole productions here, like the Avengers movies, but the MCU also includes the smaller-scale “street level” stories told mostly on TV, like Jessica Jones and Daredevil.
That’s where A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms sits. It’s down at a lower level, with more or less regular people, and almost no geopolitical intrigue. Now, we all know Egg ends up on the throne, but at this particular time he’s the 4th son of a 4th son and is WILDLY unlikely to get that job.
After the show was over, I had questions.
How DID Egg end up on the Throne?
Who is Egg to the familiar faces of the original HBO show?
Who is Egg to the somewhat less familiar faces of House of the Dragon?
(Bonus): How the hell does the line of success work from the earliest show to the latest?
And so I went looking.
Where are we with Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?
At the time of the show (the year 209), Daeron II is king. He’s Egg’s grandfather.
Egg’s father is Maekar, Daeron’s 4th son after Baelor, Aerys, and Rhaegel. (Here casting misses the mark a little, since Maekar’s hair reads as aged-white and not Targaryen white, while his elder brother Baelor’s hair is dark. This makes it easy to misread their birth order, and makes it seem weird that that there are two sons BETWEEN them.)
Egg is also a 4th son; he’s preceded by Daeron, Aerion, and Aemon.
We see Daeron early on, but he isn’t initially identified; he’s the drunk in the tavern that Dunk meets in the first episode. In Ashford, his identity is clearer; he’s also the one who has the prophetic dream about Dunk.
The asshole who lanced a horse in a joust, and who forces the Trial of Seven in the climax of the show, is the second eldest brother Aerion.
Aemon is offscreen, already studying to be a maester; he surfaces again as a very old man in Game of Thrones, where he’s the maester at Castle Black who reveals his identity to Jon Snow. That’s a great reveal, but it’s even better now that we know who Jon is (it’s skipping ahead, but: Jon is his great-nephew).
Egg also has an older sister Daella (who appears in the show briefly), and a younger sister Rhae (who does not).
Now, what’s nuts and misleading is the degree to which discussions of this show about “preparing Egg for the throne” and whatnot, but that’s bullshit. Nobody in this show has ANY expectation that Egg will ascend.
When the show begins, Baelor is the clear heir, and already has children. Before the Trial of the Seven, Egg is TENTH in line to the throne.
Line of Succession in early 209 AC, in the reign of King Daeron II the Good:
- Baelor (Daeron’s 1st son)
- Valarr (Baelor’s 1st son)
- Matarys (Baelor’s 2nd son)
- Aerys (Daeron’s 2nd son)
- Rhaegel (Daeron’s 3rd son)
- Maekar (Daeron’s 4th son)
- Daeron (Maekar’s 1st son)
- Aerion (Maekar’s 2nd son)
- Aemon (Maekar’s 3rd son)
- Egg (Maekar’s 4th son)
To compare with another popular monarchy (ha), this puts Egg at the same position as Sienna Mapelli Mozzi in the UK. Right now you’re asking “who the fuck is that?,” and you’re right to do so. (The answer, btw, is “Andrew’s oldest grandchild.)
Now this DOES change quickly. The first big problem is that Bealor dies in the trial — but no problem, right? He had sons already!
Well, about that: later in the same year as the tournament (209 AC), there’s going to be a spring plague. And it kills a LOT of people, including both of Baelor’s children as well as King Daeron II himself. Oops.
But hey! Even then, Egg’s waaaaay down the line. The revised list, under newly crowned King Aerys I as of the end of 209 AC:
- Rhaegel (the possibly mad 3rd son of Daeron)
- Maekar (the 4th son of Daeron)
- Daeron (Maekar’s eldest)
- Aerion (Maekar’s 2nd son)
- Aemon (Maekar’s 3rd son)
- Egg (Maekar’s 4th son)
So even by the end of 209 with all that turmoil, it’s still fantastically unlikely that Egg will ever achieve the throne. To continue in Windsor terms, 6th in line in the UK is Harry’s oldest child Archie.
Now, it IS known that Rhaegel (whom we haven’t seen) is a bit mad, but Aerys is healthy and married; it was assumed that the line would continue from there.
Except, well, Aerys I was apparently Ace, and so that never happened. And he reigned until 221.
That put an increasingly bright spotlight on Rhaegel, obviously, who despite his condition DID marry and have children — a fraternal pair of twins who later marry each other (Targaryens gonna Targaryen) and, later, a daughter. That inserted another party in the line (Rhaegel’s son Aelor), so Egg dropped to 7th.
Ah, but this is Westeros. In 215, during Aerys’ reign, Rhaegel chokes on food and dies. This brings Egg back to 6th, but Rhaegel’s son is still there… until he dies in a mishap with his sister-wife just two years later.
So as of 217, during the reign of Aerys I, the line is like this:
- Maekar
- Daeron (Maekar’s eldest)
- Aerion (Maekar’s 2nd son)
- Aemon (Maekar’s 3rd son)
- Egg (Maekar’s 4th son)
In 221, Aerys dies, and Maekar ascends, and Egg is still fantastically unlikely to get the hot seat: he’s 4th in line, behind his three elder brothers. People in that position don’t end up kings normally.
In 221, under King Maekar I:
- Daeron
- Aerion
- Aemon
- Egg
Maekar would rule until 233, and during that reign both of his eldest sons die. Daeron is said to have passed form a pox caught in a house of ill repute, and dragon-mad Aerion (he of the broken lance stunt) became convinced that, if he drank wildfire, he’d become a dragon (again, Targaryens gonna Targaryen).
So that put Westeros in an odd position: the throne was empty, and the obvious choice (Aemon) has taken his Maester’s vows already. A council was convened.
The now 33-year-old Egg would be next, but he was distrusted by much of the nobility precisely because of the affinity for smallfolk he learned squiring for Ser Duncan.
There WERE some other claimants, including those on behalf of Aerion’s infant son who could been seen as having superior claim — except everyone knew Aerion was batshit, so there was legitimate worry about the child inheriting madness. Obviously & additionally, an infant king would require a very long regency, which is inherently unstable.
They still tried to tempt Aemon, but he refused the crown. And so the council crowned Egg as King Aegon V Targaryen in 233; he was known as Aegon the Unlikely for obvious reasons. He ruled a long time, and was broadly seen as a good king.
So who is Egg to the familiar faces on GOT?
Good question. GOT basically starts the year Robert Baratheon dies, which is 298 AC. The Ashford Tournament that is the stage for KOTSK takes place, as noted, in 209 AC.
Aegon would rule wisely and well until 259, when he perished in a fire attempting to hatch dragon eggs (even good Targaryens gonna Targaryen). Also killed in the fire were Ser Duncan, who by then was the commander of his Kings’ Guard, and his eldest child also named Duncan.
Aegon’s second son Jaehaerys would rule then from 259 until 262. Jaehaerys, contrary to his father’s far wiser preferences, hewed to the old family practice of incestuous marriage. He wed his sister Shaera instead of the Tully bride arranged for him (Targaryens gonna Targaryens). Their child was Aerys II, the so-called Mad King, who ALSO married his sister (Rhaella). (Do I have to say it?) Aerys, sadly, held the throne for 21 years from 262 to 283.
Aerys II had eight children, but after his eldest Rheagar — who, despite a double helping of incest, was somehow both handsome and honorable — FIVE were either stillborn or dead inside a year. Only then did the youngest pair arrive: Viserys, whom Khal Drogo “crowned” with molten gold, and Daenerys later called Mother of Dragons.
Around the year 280, Rhaegar went to a tournament. There he saw Lyanna Stark, sister to Ned from season one. And this kinda starts the war. See, Lyanna was promised to Ned’s BFF Robert Baratheon, and about a year later Rhaegar ABDUCTED HER!
Oh. Wait. While it’s still ambiguous in the books, the show’s version of events gives us a clear story. As related by Bran the Raven, there was no abduction. Rhaegar and Lyanna were in love and eloped. Rhaegar’s arranged marriage was annulled, and a maester properly wed the pair. Only then was their child born. Lyanna would die in childbirth, but begged her brother Ned to protect her child. Ned took the babe back to Winterfell to raise him as a bastard called Jon Snow who was, in reality, the trueborn son of Rhaegar and thus the heir to the Iron Throne (and also Daenerys’ nephew — but Targaryens gonna Targaryen, even accidentally).
Robert kills Rhaegar in battle during Robert’s Rebellion. Gregor Clegane, the Lannister retainer, dispatches Rhaegar’s first family in brutal fashion during the Sack of King’s Landing — an act that Elia’s brother attempts to avenge by volunteering to be Tyrion’s champion in a trial by combat against Clegane years later.
ANYWAY: Egg is the Mad King’s grandfather through his son Jaehaerys II, and is thus the great-grandfather of Daenerys and great-great grandfather of Jon Snow via Daenerys’ brother Rheagar.
So who are the Knight people in relation to House of the Dragon?
Another great question. As reminder,
- GOT starts in basically 298 AC.
- AKOTSK starts in 209 AC.
- HotD‘s events take place starting, roughly, in the year 129 AC — so 80 years before the Ashford Tournament in Knight and nearly 200 years before Robert dies in GOT.
Egg’s father was Maekar I, who rules from 221 to 233.
Maekar I’s father was Daeron II, who ruled from 184 to 209.
Daeron II’s father was Aegon IV (172-184), who was called the Unworthy and was basically the Westerosi version of Henry VIII.
Aegon IV’s father was Viserys II (171-172),
Viserys II’s parents were Daemon and Rhaenyra Targaryen, and uncle-nice pairing we see happen in season one of House of the Dragon. Daemon is played by Matt Smith; Rhaenyra is played by Emma D’Arcy. Neither held the throne.
Ergo, the Matt Smith/Emma D’Arcy couple in House of the Dragon are Egg’s great great great grandparents.
Bonus: What’s the sequence of rulers between House of the Dragon and Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?
I’m including this because it’s kinda nuts — the throne jumps back and forth down generational lines a little before settling. As we stopped watching House of the Dragon, I’m not sure how much of this has made it onscreen yet, or if any of it is different from what’s in the online sources based on the books.
Viserys I, as I said, ruled from 103 to 129. He’s the one who married his daughter’s pal Alicent and created the succession mess that drives the action of House of the Dragon. Alicent and Rhaenyra end up on opposite sides of the Dance of Dragons civil war.
Initially, Alicent’s claim “wins” for a bit; her son Aegon II rules from 129-131. (The dates are a little weird b/c the textual sources have Aegon and Rhaenyra closer in age.)
Aegon II doesn’t live long. When he passes, the other claimant party — his nephew, who is also Daemon and Rhaenyra’s son, and is also named Aegon (yes, there was drama about this) ascends as Aegon III. His reign is substantially longer (131-157 AC).
Aegon III’s eldest son Daeron I succeeds him in 157, but is killed in battle in 161.
Aegon III’s next son Baelor I rules for about 10 years, until 171, and was quite popular (the Great Sept of Baelor is named for him, though it was built after his death). Baelor was also absurdly pious, even to the point of having his marriage annulled, and died without issue.
This takes the line of succession back up a generation, to Aegon III’s younger brother (and Daemon and Rhaenyra’s younger son) Viserys II, brother to Aegon III and uncle to perished kings Daron and Baelor.
Viserys II rules for only a year, until 172, at which point his eldest son Aegon IV the Unworthy took the throne, as noted above.
Aegon IV’s eldest son is Daeron II, who is Egg’s grandfather and the king at the start of KOTSK.
Net it out for me, Chet
So, the tl;dr is that:
EGG is the grandfather of the Mad King, and great-grandfather to Daenerys, and great-great grandfather to Jon Snow.
Going the other direction, Egg’s great-grandfather was Aegon IV. His great-great grandfather was Viserys II, and his great-great-great grandparents are Daemon and Rhaenyra (Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy).