HBO's Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, has quickly become one of this year's best shows. Thanks to its heavier focus on levity and wholesome moments (it's not without its predecessor's violent moments, though), interest in the show's source material has skyrocketed since it premiered in January.
The Hedge Knight graphic novel adaptation, the first of George R.R. Martin's three Dunk and Egg short stories, is currently sitting at #3 on Amazon's Comics and Graphic Novels charts, even outselling Absolute Batman Vol. 1. The second book, The Sworn Sword, is at #7, while The Mystery Knight has yet to break the top 100.
The comic version of The Hedge Knight has been adapted by Ben Avery with illustrations by Mike S. Miller, and is a great way to experience the original story that found our two unlikely allies meeting for the first time. HBO's adaptation follows the source material very faithfully, while adding some of its own detail and character moments not present in the original text that still work well.
Set 90 years before the events of A Song of Ice and Fire/ Game of Thrones, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms follows Ser Duncan the Tall and his young squire Egg as they try to make a name for themselves at a jousting tournament. As the name implies, Dunk is a hedge knight and is on a focused mission to gain the respect of his fellow knights and live up to his mentor's legacy.
IGN's Jim Vejvoda gave season one of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms an 8 out of 10 overall in his review, saying that it "has plenty of heart, charm and humor -- and two endearing lead performances -- that make this a more than worthy watch".
Myles Obenza is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Bluesky @mylesobenza.bsky.social.
