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.

I have always been of fan of George R. R. Martin's Westeros even before the books were made into HBO series. But, I think these stories of Dunk & Egg are my favorite of all. Having read the book, I wanted to read the graphic novel, especially after seeing the colorful interior. At 184 pages, not a page disappoints. Attention to detail and artistic continuity continue from frame to frame (in some ways, I think it pays more attention to details than House of the Dragon). Obviously, the story is somewhat reduced for the graphic novel, but in no way does it diminish any of the key elements. In fact, it made up with the quality of the art. At the time I am writing this review, I am sitting in anxious anticipation of The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms series to debut. I only hope it can live up to the high bar this graphic novel has placed! For fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, this is a must-read. It offers a refreshing look at Westeros through the eyes of characters who are just everyday people —just a hedge knight trying to do what's right in a harsh world. Great for newcomers, and also appropriate for a younger audience.

This is a classic retelling of the book A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and does a very good job with the illustrations.

The Hedge Knight graphic novel is a well-crafted adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novella, set about a century before the events of A Game of Thrones. It follows the humble yet noble Ser Duncan the Tall and his quick-witted squire Egg as they enter a tourney that turns out to be far more dangerous than expected. The story blends everything fans love about Westeros—knighthood, honor, deception, and the politics simmering beneath the surface. Even though this tale is on a smaller, more personal scale than the main series, it still feels richly layered and impactful. The art is clean and expressive, capturing the gritty medieval tone of the world, with well-drawn action scenes and memorable character designs. Some may find the paneling a little traditional, but it serves the storytelling well and keeps the focus on character and dialogue. For fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire universe, this is a must-read. It offers a refreshing look at Westeros through the eyes of characters who aren’t lords or kings—just a hedge knight trying to do what's right in a harsh world. A great entry point for newcomers and a rewarding expansion for longtime readers.

I highly recommend this graphic novel. The artwork is stunning and beautiful. They did an excellent job keeping the story close to the book.

Highly enjoyable. The artwork was beautiful and really helped frame the story. Really easy for me to read, I am 60 years old and vision impaired, so it is very frustrating to read regular books. Graphic novels are great for helping me with this.

I loved the original comic but haven't managed to finish it on my tablet. Not all the pages are bad they are easy enough to read and great art. The problem I have found is that the original had a page set for landscape and has been shrunk to fit a portrait page for this. That has made some pictures small and the text very hard to nearly impossible to read and I haven't been able to enlarge or rotate this page. Having to have had to skip that page has made it a bit of a frustrating to read

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.

Die Zeichnungen sind dynamisch und klar. Der Zeichenstil ist eine Art idealisierter Realismus. Die Farbgebung ist recht bunt, vielleicht ein wenig zu bunt für diese Welt, aber schön gemacht. Insgesamt sind die Zeichnungen professionell und es mangelt etwas an einem eigentümlichen Stil. Die Comics sind offenbar von professionellen Zeichnern als Auftragsarbeit gefertigt. Das ist nicht negativ zu bewerten, lässt aber wenig Raum für individuellen Stil. Ich habe den Roman zuerst gelesen, danach die Graphic Novel. Daher habe ich mir die Figuren der Geschichte anders vorgestellt. Ich muss aber sagen, dass man sich schnell mit der Zeichnung der Charakter "einfindet". Die Geschichte selbst ist jedenfalls sehr gut übertragen. Die im Roman oft sehr drastischen und blutrünstigen Szenen sind in der Graphic Novel entschärft, wahrscheinlich hätte man sonst Probleme mit dem Jugendschutz und junge Leser sollen als Zielgruppe angesprochen werden. Ich finde die Graphic Novel eine schöne Ergänzung zum Roman (bzw. den Romanen, es soll ja Fortsetzungen geben). Die Originalität der Comics ist nicht vergleichbar mit Graphic Novels von z.B. Frank Miller und der Dark Knight Reihe. Bei letzteren waren die Graphic Novels zuerst da und es wurden Filme und Bücher daraus gemacht, in denen versucht wurde, die Stimmung der Bilder einzufangen und für den Film umzusetzen. Hier ist es eben andersherum, das Buch war zuerst da und die Zeichnungen müssen sich nun an der unbändigen Fantasiewelt von George R.R. Martin messen lassen. Das ist mehr oder weniger gelungen. Sehr schön sind die Sketchbook-Entwürfe auf den letzten Seiten, die die Entwicklung der Charakterzeichnungen widerspiegeln. Ich warte neugierig auf die nächste Fortsetzung, sowohl der Graphic Novel, vor allem aber auf die Fortsetzung des Romans.

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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.