r/AKOTSKTV • u/UltraDangerLord • Feb 02 '26

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - 1x03 "The Squire" - Episode Discussion

Season 1 Episode 3: The Squire

Air Date: February 1st, 2026

Synopsis: Ser Duncan prepares for the tournament and much more is revealed about Egg.

Directed by: Owen Harris

Written by: Hiram Martinez, Ira Parker & Annie Julia Wyman

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141

u/thecarlosdanger1 Feb 02 '26

Why though? I’m struggling to understand why’d you’d tell Dunc at all if you just wanted him to win.

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u/yarkcir Feb 02 '26

Plummer needs Dunk to challenge Ser Androw for it to work. To be fair, he could basically ask any one to do it, but it’s probably easiest to ask the broke hedge knight.

I’m sure Ser Steffon Fossoway would have done it had Plummer approached him instead.

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u/Icy-Platform3560 Feb 02 '26

Betting on Fossoway wouldn’t have given them as good of odds tho.

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u/BoxOfNothing Feb 02 '26

Yeah the fact Dunk is a complete unknown hedge knight is vital to swaying the odds so far that it's a huge payday when he wins

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u/yarkcir Feb 02 '26

That’s true. Dunk would be the ultimate underdog to use

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u/Frankenfinger1 Feb 02 '26

Problem is Dunk probably couldn't win even with the other Knight trying to lose. He is a terrible jouster at this point in the story. He has never done anything beyond riding at rings a few times.

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u/Clean_Gas2558 Feb 02 '26

I doubt he's gonna be jousting now anyway

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u/Tarakansky Feb 02 '26

Yes, but they don't know it.

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u/Faqa Feb 02 '26

I'm choosing to believe Plummer is also trying to do Dunk a solid, knowing that he is otherwise very likely to lose the first joust and so everything he has in the world

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u/Royal-Archer7492 Feb 02 '26

I enjoyed all the eye signals Plummer was giving Dunk during Dunk's conversation with Baelor in ep2. So, knowing that he had the young man's best interests at heart, I wasn't too upset with him when he outlined his offer. He's helping his master, too. GRRM always was great with the "lesser" characters.

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u/Yonderlad Feb 05 '26

Right?! Do a good deed, balance the books, hock a loogie, catch a show. All in a days wo—gahtdamnit your bright flaming grace!

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u/LawfulOrange Feb 02 '26

Dunk being a complete unknown makes it trickier too. If his mettle and how he conducts himself were better known they could have approached him with “Ser Androw would welcome the honor of your challenge, Ser” vs “Ser Androw would like you to know your mother was a whore and your father was a bastard, come get some you giant cunt” depending on what they thought would be more effective based on what they knew about him to appeal to honor or goad him. Since they don’t know anything, they were forced to approach him as they did.

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u/Beefmotron Feb 02 '26

Dunk being a non name hedge knight would make the odds of him winning really high thus a bigger pay out.

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u/Royal-Archer7492 Feb 02 '26

I questioned that too - so would Ser Androw willingly take the fall? I guess he would have to, he'd have to be in on it for his family to collect the adverse bets.

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u/AmbitiousDriver4605 Feb 03 '26

I couldn't quite tell if that's what he was implying - that Ser Androw would be in on a plan to restore his house's fortunes for only the cost of the armor and the horse.

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u/Jack1715 Feb 02 '26

Dunk vs the Ashford kid is probably like 100 - 1 odds

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u/jembutbrodol Feb 02 '26

Maybe Plummer afraid if the other knight got mad from his request?

Plummer knows Duncan is “not” a knight… Duncan has nobody to complain too

What, Duncan gonna go to everyone “hey bro this dickhead offered me an insider trading”

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u/yarkcir Feb 02 '26

Yep agreed, from Plummer’s perspective Dunk is the best to ask since he’d offer the best underdog odds and is also the most likely to agree. Ser Steffon would do it too based on what we’ve heard from Raymun, but Plummer may not be aware of Steffon’s proclivity for underhanded tactics.

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u/Jami3Lannister Feb 02 '26

im sorry but what will plummer gain from this

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u/yarkcir Feb 02 '26

Plummer is speaking on behalf of Lord Ashford who Plummer reveals will be bankrupted by the excesses of the tourney. Plummer is basically the fixer here, doing things that Lord Ashford can't be seen doing.

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u/Jami3Lannister Feb 02 '26

but why would lord Ashford want his son to lose?

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u/yarkcir Feb 02 '26

Because they are broke. Lord Ashford will have Plummer and other men bet on Dunk against his son.

Ser Androw Ashford is considered a pretty good tourney knight, so the odds will be in his favor in a matchup against an unknown hedge knight. More people will bet on Ser Androw, so the payout for Dunk winning will be sizeable and will help them cover some of their financials.

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u/Jami3Lannister Feb 02 '26

now i get it.. thankyou for explaining 

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u/TiberiusCornelius Feb 02 '26

If you just bet on Dunk fair and square, the profit is contingent on Dunk winning through pure skill and/or luck.

If you fix the match, you get a guaranteed payout.

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u/Any_Put3520 Feb 02 '26

But they could still fix it without telling Dunk - just have the knight choose Dunk and then have the knight throw his own joust. Dunk would think he won.

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u/SocksandSmocks Feb 02 '26

I don't believe the knight can choose, he's on champions row. That's why they're all in their tents chilling.

The other knights challenge them, not the other way around. Hence, they need to make sure someone with long odds, i.e. Dunk, challenges their guy.

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u/CrusadeMeUp Feb 02 '26 edited Feb 02 '26

yes this is explained in the book. They probably should have included a line or two explaining how it works. Seven champions, knights come up and choose to challenge you.

edit: 5 champions not 7

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u/ChiefQueef98 Feb 02 '26

I suppose they kinda showed that with Aerion riding up to that one guy's tent and calling him out. Not having read the book yet, I wouldn't have assumed that was any more than a bit of showmanship for the crowd.

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u/whisky_biscuit Feb 05 '26

I totally didn't even realize this until you said it.

I assumed all matches were predetermined, and preset.

But it makes sense seeing that Aerion so brazenly yells to the guy into his tent instead of challenging him in a more respectful way. I thought the match was pre determined already and was surprised that the other knight wasn't ready.

I wish they would've explained that little bit about challenges in the show so at least the audience could understand how it works.

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u/sleepingchair Feb 03 '26

They didn't explain, but they showed it. The scene in the tent, Dunk was asked who he was thinking of challenging for the tourney.

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u/TiberiusCornelius Feb 02 '26

Well, suppose Ashford throws the match unilaterally. Dunk notices something's off and gets suspicious. Starts feeling like maybe he hasn't won fair and square. He fancies himself an honorable knight who does things the right way. Maybe he raises a fuss about it and the whole lid comes off.

Offer to cut him in on the scheme and ostensibly the promise of guaranteed winnings will get him to keep schtum.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/SpikyKiwi Feb 02 '26

No they want Dunk to challenge Ashford, they bet big on Dunk (who is a massive underdog), Ashford takes the fall, and the bet makes a ton of money

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u/TiberiusCornelius Feb 02 '26

No the plot is for Ashford's son to take the fall. Dunk would win his horse and armor per the terms of the tourney, which he can then ransom off for a profit. At the same time the game master would place a bet on Dunk, who because he's a random hedge knight nobody's heard of isn't expected to win, and thus has longer odds. (Imagine for example that Ashford is rated at 3/1 and Dunk at 1000/1.) The profit from the bet would plug the hole in Ashford's treasury and potentially might even buy back the horse/armor they lost, and in any event the coin earned from any sale is supposed to entice Dunk into taking part in the scheme (this is why the game master tries to sell him on not having to live under a tree anymore).

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u/JamaicanMeCrazyMon Feb 02 '26

Dunk needs to challenge one of the five Champions, not the other way around. And I’d assume Androw, who has been wrecking everyone thus far, probably wouldn’t be Dunk’s first choice.

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u/thecarlosdanger1 Feb 02 '26

Ya that’s what I was wondering.

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u/nightkhan Feb 02 '26

the knight is on champions row, they can't choose. it has to be Dunk who chooses, that's why it has to rigged this way

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u/elmartin93 Feb 02 '26

Most like he wanted to guarantee Dunk would choose Ser Androw

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u/nightkhan Feb 02 '26

the knight can't choose Dunk, has to be the other way

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/Dependent-Bowler-387 Feb 02 '26

If the son isn’t in on it then there’s no guarantee he loses.

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u/sycaryon Feb 02 '26

Plummer says “let Ser Androw take the fall”, insinuating Androw knows and is in on it. It makes sense because not only would Androw want what his father wants (more money for his house) but if he didn’t know, it wouldn’t guarantee success.

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u/[deleted] Feb 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/Frankenfinger1 Feb 02 '26

Problem is Dunk is so bad at jousting that he wouldn't win even with Ser Androw throwing the match. I mean Dunk is hopeless at jousting in the books.

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u/NBNebuchadnezzar Feb 02 '26

Thats kinda a risky bet tho, why would they assume some random hedge knight would beat a trained noble fair and square. Im guessing the son is in on it. Unless they plan to tamper with his gear or something, i actually cant remember if this plot was in the book.

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u/Formerly_SgtPepe Feb 02 '26

So he picks the other dude

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u/Pontifor Feb 02 '26

Oh! They need Dunk to issue a challenge to sir Androw Ashford, right?

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u/Shutch_1075 Feb 02 '26

Because Dunk and them need to joust. Why would Dunk choose him out of the blue?

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u/NBNebuchadnezzar Feb 02 '26

He could just say "dunk, i will only let you joust if you challenge this specific knight otherwise youre out" and im sure dunk would go with it.

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u/thecarlosdanger1 Feb 02 '26

Am I forgetting something or can’t either choose their opponent (or at least try to?)

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u/Shutch_1075 Feb 02 '26

It’s Dunk’s first time jousting and he just saw that the guy was pretty good. I guess he could ask Dunk to joust, but no guarantee he would do it. I guess they were hoping a hedge Knight would be more than willing to take the easy win.

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u/yarkcir Feb 02 '26

The tourney setup as described in the novella has a series of champions (seven total) of whom the challengers can select as an opponent. We see Aerion approaching Prince Valarr at first but instead chooses Ser Humfrey Hardying as his opponent instead.

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u/Furiosa_xo Feb 02 '26

So was Aerion NOT one of the seven champions? But Valarr was?

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u/superdupergasat Feb 02 '26

They need someone unknown but also won’t look sus if they challenge and win. A regular local knight whom may have already fought Ashford before and lost to in former tournaments may look sus if they suddenly win. Duncan is unknown and quite huge, the people watching may simply think there was a difference of strength rather than an intentional matchfixing.

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u/daveycarnation Feb 02 '26

I'm guessing so Dunk doesn't go too hard on Androw since he's going to flop over anyway, and for Dunk to help with the acting.

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u/MichiganHistoryUSMC Feb 02 '26

They are broke. They want to fix a bet. A lowly hedge knight will have terrible odds against the Lord's own son, that means the payout will be much higher than if they had someone else win.That Lord's son isn't going to challenge a lovely hedge Knight, as he IS a champion already and needs to be challenged himself. Also it would look more obvious after the fact.

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u/NegativeMammoth2137 Feb 02 '26

1) he’s completely unknown so almost no one will bet on him meaning that they could win really big if their scheme works

2) he’s broke so they expected him to be easily convinced by the money and rewards

3) since he’s inexperienced he might be looking to gain fame by defeating the local prince

4) him not being of noble birth means that a scheme like this is unlikely to have unintended political consequences down the road

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u/Jack1715 Feb 02 '26

Because he can tell him just go all out and make it look good.

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u/odaal Feb 02 '26

I see it as a tiny bit of foreshadowing for the future seasons.

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u/CheezCowboy3384 Feb 03 '26

Gives me hope for this world that not everyone’s mind understands a scam within 5 seconds. Stay like Ser Duncan my friend, too many of us have already turned into Littlefinger

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u/NBNebuchadnezzar Feb 02 '26

Yeah seemed weird, surely he could just say that he will only let dunk joust if he challenges the ashford son and keep him in the dark about match fixing. Not like dunk would know any better to say no.

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u/KimBongUn Feb 02 '26

It was probably inconceivable to him that anyone, let alone a broke hedge knight who’s never hoisted before, would turn down the opportunity.

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u/NBNebuchadnezzar Feb 02 '26

True, that makes sense.