The Hedge Knight: The Graphic Novel

The setting for this story is the same as that for George R. R. Martin's acclaimed "A Song of Ice and Fire" epic fantasy series. The time period is about 90-100 years before the events of the first book in the series, "A Game of Thrones". The main character is a very tall young man named Duncan, who was the squire of a hedge knight, Ser Arlen Pennytree. A hedge knight is a freelance fighting man. He makes his living by hiring out his services to lords of the land and also by fighting for the prize money at tournaments. A hedge knight is not beholden to any Lord, and can choose to accept only those jobs that they feel is morally right. However, a hedge knight is landless and must "scrape out" a meager living. Ser Arlen dies from a fever chill on the way to a tournament. Duncan buries his old master beside the road, says a prayer, and decides to compete in the tournament in the place of the deceased hedge knight. He packs the horses and takes the road to Ashford. On the way, he crosses paths with a bald-headed young man called "Egg" and agrees to take the youngster as his own squire. After much trouble, Duncan, who styles himself "Ser Duncan the Tall", finally gets his name on the tournament list. Unfortunately, trouble found him in the form of an altercation with one of the princes of the ruling House Targaryen. Ser Duncan intervenes while Prince Aerion Targaryen is in the process of beating a woman. For his crime, Duncan was to lose a hand and a foot. However, the good Prince Baelor Targaryen gives him a choice: Trial by Combat. After much negotiation with the accusing party, it was agreed that it was to be a Trial of Seven. Prince Aerion would pick seven fighters on his side, and Ser Duncan must find seven to stand with him. On the night prior, Ser Fossoway, promises to help Duncan. Egg, who turned out to be Prince Aegon Targaryen V, also promised to bring in honorable knights to help fight for Duncan's cause. During the morning of the tournament, Ser Fossoway tells Duncan that he has decided to fight for the other side, Aerion having made a promise to grant him his own lands if he were to do so. Meanwhile, Fossoway's squire, enraged by his master's treachery asked to be knighted so that he may fight on Duncan's side. Aegon also brings in four other knights, including two from the Hardyng family and one from the Baratheon clan. Still, they are one knight short. Duncan appeals to the crowd, asking them to fight for his cause. Not one of the noble knights present wanted to risk their lives, or offend their Lord, by fighting for him. However, at the last minute, Prince Baelor Targaryen himself decides to take Duncan's side and agrees to fight for him. During the fight, Prince Aerion unhorses Ser Duncan and proceeds to beat him with a morning star. Obviously at a skill disadvantage, Duncan relies on his great size and street fighting style. He manages to grapple Aerion to the ground and pounds the prince with his shield. The prince yields and withdraws his charge against Duncan. The fight claimed the lives of both of the Hardyngs, as well as the life of Prince Baelor Targaryen. Towards the end, Prince Maekar Targaryen offers Duncan a position among his household knights, and asked him if he would take his son, Aegon V, to be his squire. Aegon had declared that he would never squire for anyone but Ser Duncan the Tall. Ser Duncan agrees to take on Aegon as his squire, but only on the condition that he be allowed to travel and live the life of a hedge knight. And so begins the adventures of "Dunk and Egg". I highly recommend this book to youngsters. Lots of good, moral values there. Here are some that came to my attention: 1) There are good, and bad "apples", in every family. Witness the pettiness and cruelty of Prince Aerion Targaryen. Compared to the nobility and generosity of both Aegon Targaryen and Prince Baelor Targaryen. Prince Baelor, considered to be the greatest knight of his generation, willing to die so that a lowly Hedge Knight might prove his innocence. 2) Most times, we trade our personal code of ethics for a life of security and prosperity. The knights who refused to lend a hand were all beholden to the service of their lords. They live comfortably in their castles. And yet, it is the hedge knight, a landless knight, who is most true to the vow to "protect the weak" and to stand up for what is right. How many times have you compromised your ethics just to make a sale? As a manager, how many times have you fired employees, knowing they did not deserve it, simply because it served the needs of the employer? 3) How many times have we abandoned a friend, or a cause, just because the opposing side had more to offer us? These are just moral themes that came to mind as I was reading this terrific short story. I suggest that if you can afford it, buy a few copies and donate them to your child's school library.

Absolutely loved it. GRRM's plot of ASoIaF is so vast that it provides numerous story opportunities based on timelines and regions. This is a prequel story set in Ashford (within the seven kingdoms only) around 100 years prior to current ASoIaF events. An uncommon story of a common hedge knight "Duncan The Tall" and his squire "Egg". This is a graphic novel adaption of the novella by the same title, there are 2 similar sequel novella with Dunk & Egg's adventures and how it affected the entire seven kingdoms. This is the beginning of all that. A beautiful and almost perfect graphical adaptation which includes all the interesting points from the actual book with awesome illustration. I love the story, it's so simple yet interesting and since you know the entire history and traditions of seven kingdoms already so it picks up from the first page itself. The end had the scope of another interesting stories in the future, which turned out to be reality. Overall it's an awesome book for ASoIaF fans.

The paperback edition of this book is excellent quality considering the very low price. Solid story - I'll definitely be buying the follow-up paperbacks.

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I'm not sure why anyone would buy this thinking that its anything other than the comic; thats why we READ the product description first and/or/maybe the title? Anyways, I received this very promptly via Amazon Prime, and am much pleased by the purchase. The illustrations are beautiful and rich in colour and the pages are of good quality. Its an excellent graphic adaptation of GRRM's Hedge Knight and would recommend this product for those who are big fans of the Ice and Fire series as well as George R. R. Martin's work.