Last night’s episode of Game of Thrones was titled “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” The title, it turns out, refers to Brienne of Tarth, who achieved the one thing she’s wanted anything in her life.
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For most of her life, Brienne has had a hard time fitting in with society in Westeros. She’s not interested in the life of a noblewoman, and so she has pursued the life of a knight, even joining Renly Baratheon’s Kingsguard during the youngest Baratheon’s bid for the Iron Throne. But despite proving her loyalty, courage, and skill on numerous occasions — that Sansa Stark owes Brienne her life was relevant to deciding Jaime Lannister’s fate in this episode — actual knighthood has always alluded her due to the Westerosi tradition that only men can be knights.
But as Tormund GIantsbane says in the episode, “F**k tradition.” Brienne enjoys a bit of pre-battle revelry with some of the others who have assembled at Winterfell to defend Westeros from the Night King’s army. Brienne not being a knight comes up when Tyrion Lannister refers to her as “Lady Brienne.” Spurred by Tormund’s open disdain for such traditions, it occurs to Jaime that it does not take a king to make someone a knight, but only another knight. He takes it upon himself to knight Brienne there and then in the hall at Winterfell, allowing her to achieve her life’s passion on the eve of a battle that could leave her dead.
Bryan Cogman wrote “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” his eleventh episode of Game of Thrones. He spoke to Entertainment Weekly about giving Brienne her big moment.
“We wanted to take the audience by surprise,” Cogman says. “It’s not a ceremonial scene on a cliff at sunset with billowing capes. It comes out of a throwaway moment that even some people in the room think is a joke and then they quickly realize it’s not. It’s a monumental thing. It’s a moment of grace and beauty in the middle of a nightmare and the main reason I wanted to write this episode. The episode’s title, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,’ refers to both Jaime and Brienne.”
For Gwendoline Christie, who plays Brienne, it was her favorite scene of the entire season. “I think the knighting scene,” Christie said when asked by EW. “I thought about it so much and what it means to me conceptually. It’s so emotional for the character to get something she wants and to be acknowledged.”
What did you think of Brienne being knighted by Jaime on Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments.
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