That was definitely a flashback. It was the same meadow/hill he buried Ser Arlan in.
I think it’s very strongly implied, both in the show and the text, that he wasn’t formally knighted, but this scene doesn’t let us know for sure.
9:49 Maekar: “You will hear them whisper as well, the king is old, when he dies each time a battle is lost or crop fails, the fools will say Baelor would not have let it happen. But the Hedge Knight killed him.”
Dunk: “If had not fought, he would have had my hand or my foot, as I sat under the tree this morning, I asked could I have spare one, I mean how could a foot be worth a Princes life?”
Maekar: (Spiteful)”And what answer does your tree give you?”.
Which seems absolutely and clear to me that Maekar thinks Dunk should have just submitted to mutilation and this was his fault.
Yes, but it also happened when Dunk was laying there heavily injured, and Arlan came across way too peaceful and seemingly unhurt (and also totally uncommunicative) for that scene to have been real. I guess it’s possible it was a real memory where Arlan was delirious and close to death, but my read was that it was Dunk who was delirious and imagining the scene.
When we saw Arlan early on in the season, he kept grimacing and checking his wound; here he just sat there grinning.
Also, I think when we saw Arlan in the first episode, it’s already heavily overcast, IIRC? And it’s raining until he is dead and buried? When would him and Dunk have sat around in the sunshine chatting?
The fact that Arlan appears riding his horse with Dunk and Egg reinforced the idea to me that the Arlan we see in this episode is not real.
I agree, he blames Dunk; but he also blames himself, and the asshole prince. He probably blames his brother, to an extent, too.
He’s probably very lucky that Dunk didn’t take him up on his offer though. The rumors about him killing his own brother and using a hedge knight as a cat’s paw to do it would be exponentially worse if he then took said hedge knight into his service and made his son squire for him. That would seem to confirm the quid-pro-quo.
He doesn’t think he should have done it - he thinks that maybe it would have been better if it had happened. Not the same thing.
And again, you have to take his mental state into account. People say things they later regret when they’re grieving.
The reality is that there was, and probably always is, a tear inside the targ family about some of them being psychos and those who apologise for them (Joffrey with Cersei), and others who really don’t accept their cruelty and have seen in many times. That’s what happened there. The fact Dunk was the trigger for the tear this time doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen the next time Aerion was going to take his cruelty too far.
Joffrey and Cersei were Lannisters, not Targaryens.
They had similar madness issues because in GOT it’s heavily implied that inbreeding leads to the Targaryen psychopathy and Joffrey was the product of inbreeding (spoiler alert for S1 of GOT I guess)
That’s not how I read it at all. Maekar is angry at the situation, and haughty towards Dunk, but I see nothing about blame, except how the “fools” will blame both Maekar and Dunk in the future.
Even if Maekar didn’t blame Dunk, others in his household may not feel that way, so if Dunk did go to Summerhall, it would be awkward for him to live there.
But for every person who blamed Dunk for Baelor’s death, many others (particularly the smallfolk) think of him as the “knight who remembered his vows.”
And I agree that Dunk imagined asking Ser Arlan the question he was never able to ask; the scene was not real (though it does settle that question once and for all).
It was clear they were angry and lashing out but did not blame him. If they did, the ending would have been much different.
Nah, even if they blamed him killing him after he won a trial that signifies the literal gods are on his side would not be a good move.
When it comes to Princes and blood of the dragons, they tend to not care about gods and taking the blame.
Now there’s a lead in. There is reasonable chance that Tyrion’s real father was the mad king (mother died in Childbirth, deformed child, signs of targ blood), after potentially raping or having an affair with Joanna Lannister (why people had Tyrion down as a “Dragon rider” in Game of Thrones), but also the circumstantial Targaryen indicators of blond haired lineages, without clear indication of the hair colour of Tywin himself (tends to present as grey to bald). Why, how or where is another thing. But that also does explain the cruelty of Joffrey. An online family tree doesn’t show any female married off Targaryens in the lineage, and any Baratheons weren’t on Tywins ancestory.
But point taken about the lack of even a connection to the Baratheon end of the targ lineage.
Then why did they grant a trial where judgement is passed directly by the gods?
Because Aerion wasn’t willing to face Dunk one-one-one in a duel.
You’re missing the point. If they didn’t care about the gods and taking blame they wouldn’t have granted him any trial by combat.
It’s not about the gods, it’s about the law and about self-preservation . If they had openly denied a knight’s legal right to trial by combat, it could have led to another rebellion.
Because he wouldn’t win. The kingsguard would tear them apart. He’d never get the supporters. And if he did they’d bribe one of his supporters to not let it go that far. And that looked as if it would work.
It wasn’t ever supposed to go that far. They backed the cruel targ and did not give a shit about Dunk. They cared a little bit as to how they were seen by the rest of the realm though.
This was absolutely a shitshow of their own making but I have absolutely no doubt that they blame the uppity little hedge knight who wouldn’t take his lumps he deserved for touching a prince. And you could absolutely see if in Maekar’s eyes, the one who was fine with chopping off hands and feet.
And I have absolutely no doubt the barely known knight that was Duncan the Tall would have fallen off a wall at Summerhall. Maekar isn’t that far off Aerion.
Wow. That’s totally different than what I saw. I saw a grumpy and exhausted but loving (and grieving) father legitimately worried about his boys’ development and maturation (and safety, for Aerion during the fight, as well as the possibility of Aegon wandering the countryside), only slightly tainted by the haughtiness and bubble of his high position. Not a perfect man by any means, but an exhausted dad legitimately trying his best in a tough and tragic circumstance.
I always took the idea that a trial by combat was the gods judgement to just be a bit of lip service. I imagine 99% of the time the accused loses and the lord gets to go “see, he’s proven to be guilty!”