The Hedge Knight
The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin
The Hedge Knight was first published in 2005 in the Legends anthology. It was a short story of only 160 pages written by fantasy writer George R. R. Martin.
The Legends anthology has several other stories from fantasy authors, such as Robert Jordan, Stephen King and Terry Pratchett, as well as Martin and others.
The story was made into a graphic novel by renowned comic book artist and writer Mike S. Miller. This is actually the first short story in the Dunk and Egg series. Dunk and Egg occurs 90 years before the events described in Martin’s bestselling fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.
The Story (Spoilers!)
The story is about how Dunk took the hedge knight mantle and met Egg, his squire. The story begins with the death of Sir Arlan of Pennytree, a hedge knight. Dunk was Sir Arlan’s squire at the time. Dunk is lost on what to do without the hedge knight and then comes up with the idea of taking Sir Arlan’s place at the tournament in Ashford. Even though he is not a hedge knight himself, Dunk decides to take up Sir Arlan’s armor, belongings and horses at compete as a hedge knight. On his way to the Ashford tournament, he meets a boy named Egg. The boy follows Dunk to Ashford and Dunk finally makes him his squire, because Egg impressed him.
This is where the adventures of Dunk and Egg begin. This first short story would eventually become many more short stories named The Tales of Dunk and Egg. This novella is everything that A Song of Ice and Fire is not. It is to the point, nothing horrible happens and it makes it a little more refreshing than the dark world and complicated story lines Martin has painted in A Song of Ice and Fire series.
Martin does a good job of utilizing the short novella to introduce his characters and make them believable. Even though it is a little strange read about Lannisters when they were actual people and not hated objects or where all the personalities of the Targaryens are revealed instead of having one characteristic that is portrayed in A Song of Ice and Fire.
The Hedge Knight is a good prequel to the bestselling series Martin has developed and it is light enough to get through in one evening and leads well into the other Dunk and Egg novellas.
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