‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 3: Egg’s Prophecy Explained

Note: This story contains spoilers from “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Season 1, Episode 3.

Prophecies do not always come true in the world of “Game of Thrones,” but unfortunately for young Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), fans know that the future he hears in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Episode 3 is already set in stone.

The episode, titled “The Squire,” ends with the shocking — or not so shocking, depending on how closely you have been paying attention to the “Game of Thrones” spinoff — reveal that Egg is not just some lowly young orphan with big dreams, but none other than Aegon V Targaryen, one of the four sons of Prince Maekar Targaryen (Sam Spruell). However, minutes before Egg reveals himself by stepping in to save Dunk (Peter Claffey) from his brother Aerion (Finn Bennett), “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” provides a huge hint at his royal lineage.

Near the episode’s midpoint, Dunk and Egg are stopped by a hooded fortune teller (Jenna Boyd) who offers to tell them their future in exchange for some coin. “You shall know great success and be richer than a Lannister,” she first tells Dunk, who brushes the fortune off with a roll of his eyes. But things take a dark turn when he directs her to predict Egg’s future next.

“You shall be king and die in a hot fire and worms shall feed upon your ashes,” she tells Egg. “And all who know you shall rejoice in your dying.” It is a jarring, unexpected moment, one that will likely confuse and concern show viewers and make book fans’ antennas start ringing.

For good reason. Major spoilers ahead.

Egg’s fortune, explained

As the fortune teller’s prophecy predicts, Egg does, indeed, become King of the Seven Kingdoms. After his father Maekfar dies, a Great Council is convened to choose his successor. By this time, two of Aegon’s older brothers, Aerion and Daeron (Henry Ashton), have already died, leaving just Egg and his other older brother, Aemon, as Maekar’s sole living male heirs. Aemon, a maester (yes, that Maester Aemon), refuses the throne and insists that the crown be given to Aegon instead of him, which ultimately happens.

So that completes the first part of Egg’s fortune in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Episode 3. But what about him dying in a “hot fire”?

Throughout his 26-year reign as king, Egg tries to do a lot and most of it is good. He begins enacting reforms, rights and protections for the smallfolk of Westeros, a campaign motivated by his years spent traveling with Ser Duncan the Tall. This makes him a number of enemies among the high lords of the Seven Kingdoms. Opposed to the Targaryen practice of incestuous marriage, Egg also attempts to end the tradition altogether by betrothing four of his children to members of different Great Houses.

All of Egg’s children break their engagement oaths. This leads to increased tensions between the royal family and the Great Houses, as well as at least one uprising, which Dunk plays a pivotal role in ending. However, the constant uprisings, rebellious actions of his children and the high lords’ many attempts to undermine his measures leave Egg convinced that the only way to secure his control over Westeros is to find a way to bring dragons back to the world and return House Targaryen to its once-unrivaled heights of power.

Unfortunately, his obsession with dragons, which goes against the advice of his closest advisors, results in Egg holding a ceremony at the Targaryen castle of Summerhall intended to hatch dormant dragon eggs. It is unclear exactly what the ritual that Egg oversees entails. Sorcery is rumored to play a role in the tragedy, as well as wildfire, pyromancers and at least seven dragon eggs. Regardless of the details, the ritual results in a massive fire that burns Summerhall to the ground and kills many of those gathered there that night, including Egg, his oldest son and Ser Duncan the Tall, who prior to that point had served commendably as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard for many years.

One of the only survivors of the tragedy is Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, son of the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen and the secret father of a certain “Game of Thrones” hero. He is born during the Summerhall fire and is said to later visit the castle’s ruins alone many times throughout his life. It is, consequently, Egg’s obsession with dragons, which includes commissioning entire expeditions in the hopes of learning more about the dragon breeding practices of Old Valyria, that leads to his and Dunk’s deaths, as well as those of others.

Hence why the fortune teller in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” predicts that Egg will die in a “hot fire.” As for why she says that “all who know you shall rejoice in your dying,” that is likely a reference to Egg’s unpopularity among the high lords of Westeros, as well as the alienation caused by his obsession. In case that was not bad enough, it is worth noting that most of Egg’s smallfolk-friendly measures are undone during the Mad King’s reign by his Hand, Tywin Lannister.

The prophecy uttered in “The Squire” is not, in other words, inaccurate. Egg’s ending is a tragic one and it, like a few other moments in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” Season 1, leads directly to the fall of House Targaryen and the events of “Game of Thrones.”

“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” airs Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.

The post ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Episode 3: Egg’s Prophecy Explained appeared first on TheWrap.