ByErik Kain,
Senior Contributor.
The first episode of HBO’s new Game Of Thrones spinoff, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, put a funny thought in my head early on: What do Hedge Knights use as toilet paper? What do any of these people use?
An intrusive thought, and not my fault. The show’s premiere, “The Hedge Knight,” opens to Ser Duncan the Tall (just “Dunk” at this point) burying his dead master, giving him a proper send-off. He thanks Ser Arlan for not beating him unless he deserved it (and the show cuts away to several scenes of the old knight being rather free with his fists) and, when that’s all done, the familiar Game Of Thrones theme kicks on – only to be cut short by Dunk voiding his bowels rather messily behind a tree.
This sets the tone right away. We’re not dealing with any dread prophecies in A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms. There is no brutal civil war between dragon-riding branches of the royal House. No dragons at all, in fact. While there’s plenty of humor in Game Of Thrones, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms is taking an even more comedic approach. This is a good thing. One of my biggest complaints about House Of The Dragon is its utter lack of comic relief.
