When a fortune teller tells a bad omen, Westeros has taught us to prepare for the worst. Sox when Egg is told that he will be king, then he will die in a blaze of fire in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms‘, it is difficult not to hear the echo of insanity and dragon-fire. It’s the Targaryen family we are talking about, after all.
Dunk laughs it off, unaware that his squire is actually Aegon Targaryen. But Egg doesn’t laugh. He understands something Dunk doesn’t: in Westeros, prophecy has a nasty habit of coming true.
Egg’s Dark Prophecy In ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ Has A Tragic Twist
On the surface, the words seem to be a caution that Egg will repeat the path of the Mad King. It is easy to think of the worst with Aerys II and even Daenerys in mind. The greater lore of George R. R. Martin is a much more complex tale. Yes, the prophecy is correct in the most important aspects. Egg does become King Aegon V, even though he is way out of the succession. And he does indeed die in a disastrous fire in the Tragedy of Summerhall, an unsuccessful effort to hatch dragon eggs with wildfire.
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However, to be king and die in flames does not mean he is mad. As a matter of fact, Aegon V is remembered as one of the most humane Targaryen rulers. Being a squire to Dunk during his youth, he was able to witness the life of the smallfolk in the Seven Kingdoms. His reign was influenced by that view. He was a proponent of reforms that were aimed at alleviating the pressures of commoners.
The sadistic twist of the prophecy is that the people who know him will celebrate his death. The highborn who opposed his reforms? Certainly. However, the smallfolk he served did not know him well enough to know him personally, and many were very much afflicted at his loss. In the meantime, some of the people who were closest to him, like Dunk, died in the same tragedy. It’s not a prophecy of madness. It’s one of the tragic ironies.
Egg Became The King Who Accidentally Set The Stage For Disaster
Nevertheless, the Egg’s story is bitter but sweet. His ambition of reviving dragons turned out to be a disaster, and his death changed the Targaryen line.
His grandson would be Aerys II, the Mad King, and the events of ‘Game of Thrones’ would begin. It hurts to remember that good intentions in Westeros do not necessarily lead to good results.
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Egg attempted to break the wheel way before Daenerys uttered the words. However, history turned his legacy into a way that he could never have imagined. No, Egg does not turn into another Mad King. He, in fact, has an even more tragic fate: a good king whose choices helped light the fuse for generations of fire to come.
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