'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' Episode 1 Notes: A promising pilot - The Ringer

The latest Game of Thrones spin-off is off to a good start with some clever changes compared to the Dunk and Egg novels.

If there was any doubt that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms faithfully adapts George R.R. Martin's 1998 novel The Hedge Knight, the first episode of the series puts it to rest.Here are the opening lines of Martin's work:

Spring rains had softened the ground, so Dunk had no trouble digging the grave.The old man always watched the sunset, so he chose a spot on the west side of the low hill."Another day is over," he sighed, "who knows what tomorrow will bring, hey, Dunk."

Well, morning brought rain that soaked them to the bone, morning wind and morning cold.On the fourth day, the old man could not ride.Now he is gone.A few days ago, as they rode along, he had been singing an old song about going to Gulltown to see the fair maid, but he sang Ashford instead of Gulltown.Dunk thought miserably as he went to Ashford to see the fair maid, digging hey-ho, hey-ho.

Much of what happens in the episode's opening minutes leaps off the page - even the line where Donk claims he didn't eat that pie in Maidenpool.Some of Donk's innermost thoughts in the book are conveyed through conversations with his horse (a great way to deliver exposition without relying on the story), but for the most part these scenes are just the kind of scenes you'd imagine in your head as you read, as a fan of Martin's novels.

But there's a big problem with a faithful adaptation of Hedge Knight: the novel is only 30,000 words long.You can listen to the entire audiobook in three hours.The novel could have been adapted into a film, but HBO opted for six television episodes instead.The operating time during the whole season is only 3.5 hours.Think about it: How many adaptations take longer to watch than to read?

In order to make The Hedge Knight into a season of television - even a season with all the episodes in the 40-minute long show - Ira Parker would have to add in some places.At first, it's just the little things.For example, the story in which Plummer, Ashford's caretaker and games master, tells Dunk about "Ashford's Chair" is authentic.Next, we meet two sex workers outside Lord Manfred Dondarrion's tent.They are also new characters - in the novella, Dunk finds Manfred without much of a story.But Dunk's two conversations with those two women not only add some color to the world, but also give the audience a useful explanation of what makes a hedge knight different from the norm ("It's like a knight, but sad").The scenes also show Dunk's discomfort with women, which is important to his character, but in the novel it is mostly shown through his inner thoughts.

But these are relatively minor changes.The kind of transitions you'd expect from any story adapted from page to screen.Then, in the last third of the episode, the show takes a big risk with the party at Lord Lionel Baratheon's pavilion.From Martin, Dunk notices his flag as he enters Ashford Meadows."The Laughing Storm was Ser Lionel Baratheon's crowned stock," thinks Dunk.That was all for Lord Lionel long after.He doesn't show up in person until the match starts (and even then, it's remote).(And it does not reappear in any of Martin's other works).

This makes this scene a bit of a gamble in the pavilion.It's the first time the writers have deviated so dramatically from Martin's script.Get it wrong, and it could jeopardize the entire series and make HBO question whether they should turn Hayes Night into a movie.

Fortunately, they were not mistaken.The scene is true to the characters, tone and themes of Martin's story.And this conveys a lot of detail to the viewer.It's only when Lionel is properly introduced in the novella that we discover that he is almost as big as Dunk - here we immediately see this and see how intimidating and eccentric he can be, despite his almost violent dancing and the questionable conversation he has with Duncan.We see how completely clueless Dunk is in any setting involving aristocracy - he stumbles around Lionel's tent with a cake in his hand and dances like a schoolboy.(“Where I grew up, you learn to be invisible, that's all,” he explains.)

Finally, this look reinforces Dunk's proportions.She reveals that if he wins the next race, he can't free his hand or his horse.As Lionel said, "There is no knight without a horse at all."Games can be fun for a fallen hero or a great master, but everything is on the Dunk line.And as Lionel sees it, Dunk is next to him."Not a chance".

This scene may not be Hedge Knight, but it's an idea it conveys - over and over again.Take this quote from the novel, which shows Duncan's thoughts as he passes the stadium and sees the game:

Dunk stared at the grassy roster and the empty seats in the stands, thinking of his chances. All he needed was a win;One victory was enough. Then he could call himself one of the champions of Ashford Meadows, if only for an hour. The old man was almost sixty years old and had never won a championship. If the gods were kind, this was not too hopeful. He thought back to all the songs he had heard, the songs of Simon Stareye the Blind and Selwyn the Mirrorshield, Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, Ser Lime Redwyne and Florian the Fool. Both of themhas won, defeating enemies far stronger than he will ever face. But except for Florian, they are all great heroes, brave men of noble evil. And what am I? Flea down the slam dunk? Or Ser Duncan the Tall?

In the show, we see Dunk riding to Ashford Meadow and staring at the playground.But the audience can't fully get into his head.In the novella, he is tormented many times by the journey in his mind, but the show has to play it out as a dialogue.So that scene in the Laughing Storm tent doesn't just bring pizzazz and meat from the Baratheon character.good, but it also helps set up the stakes and suspense for Duncan.It's bright.

That is an important addition.But the episode introduces another change in the final scene.When Duncan and Egg see a star falling in the night sky, they comment on how it will bring him good luck.This plays out more internally in the novel:

Before long, you collapsed beside the dead fire.Dunk lay close behind her, his big hands behind his head, looking up at the night sky.He could hear the music far from the caravan park, half a mile away.Stars are everywhere, thousands and thousands.One fell as he watched, a bright green stream spread across the black and disappeared.

Dunk thought that a falling star would bring good luck to those who saw it.But everyone else is already in their booths, staring at the silk instead of the sky.So luck is mine.

It's a really great idea. And it's a great message to end the episode with. But it's another idea: it takes a lot of re-dialogue to translate it to the screen, and Egg is the only person here with Dunk, so Egg is still awake on the show. And Martin's prose flowed almost verbatim: "A meteor brings good to those who see it," Egg said. "The other knights were all in their pavilions. Looking at the silk, not the sky."

And the last message is now used simultaneously among our great things."So we're lucky?"Dunk asks Egg.

Martin's novels are already very good.But for the show to shine, it needs to prove its ability to adapt Duncan's inner monologues to the screen and adapt the characters to the runtime.After the first episode, there's no doubt it could happen.