From a short season that is already near-perfect, this is the best episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and one of the finest in the entire franchise of Game of Thrones. It is also, without the characters realizing it, the episode that changes the entire course of the saga’s history.

Duncan is in his cell when Egg enters, now dressed as a Targaryen, bringing food and drink for the knight. “My uncle said I had to apologize for what I did,” he begins, repeating a line that readers and fans instantly recognize. Duncan does not make it easy for him.

Egg explains that the original plan was for him to be his brother Daeron’s squire. Daeron is terrible in combat and almost always drunk. His idea was to hide until the end of the tournament. When Duncan mistook Egg for a common boy, the young prince saw nothing wrong with following along and becoming his squire.

Baelor asks to see Duncan, and Egg leads him to his uncle. When Baelor is harsh with the boy, Duncan defends him. Egg had no ill intent. What truly angers Baelor is something else. Aegon should have come to him so that Aerion could be punished or restrained. Instead, Egg admits what he really wanted: that Duncan would kill his brother. Baelor scolds him immediately. “Brothers must love one another,” he says.

It is a curious speech coming from a direct descendant of Rhaenyra and Daemon, a bloodline marked by internal conflict and fratricidal war. Perhaps because he knows this better than anyone, Baelor insists so fiercely on a moral order that Targaryen blood rarely respects.

Ser Duncan’s problems only grow. Maekar found Daeron at the inn, still drunk. The prince defends himself by saying he did not look for Egg because “a thief took him away.” In other words, two crimes against House Targaryen have already occurred in a single night.

Baelor knows Duncan is not truly to blame. His nephews are irresponsible at best, Egg included. Still, everyone has plausible arguments against the knight. There are no witnesses to the abduction, and the only person who can save Duncan is Egg himself. The real problem is Aerion.

When Duncan asks about Tanselle, he receives another devastating blow. She will still answer for treason. Aerion argues that even using puppets, staging a dragon being killed is an affront to House Targaryen, bordering on insurrection. Striking a prince, as Duncan did, is a capital crime.

“Would you not have done the same?” Duncan asks Baelor, speaking of defending the innocent. Baelor answers yes, but reminds him that he is a prince. The silence that follows when Duncan innocently insists that every knight’s oath should make them equal speaks louder than any speech.

Aerion wants Duncan’s head and has clear legal means to obtain it. Baelor will not give his nephew what he wants, but he cannot prevent a trial. In the best possible outcome, Duncan would lose a hand and a foot for striking and kicking a prince. Faced with this, Baelor asks the decisive question: “Are you a good knight?” The alternative is to challenge Aerion to combat.

At the hearing, Aerion’s arrogance infuriates even Maekar. After everything, he is angry that his son refuses to fight fair and square. It’s just that, since the law does not allow avoiding a fight when asked, maliciously, Aerion raises the stakes and demands a Trial by Seven. Duncan must now find six knights willing to fight alongside him. Baelor is outraged, but there is nothing he can do.

Duncan is released. Raymun meets him and takes him to his cousin, Ser Steffon Fossoway, who confirms that he will fight by Duncan’s side. They need five more men. Steffon promises to call his allies, including Ser Lyonel Baratheon. Duncan is anxious, and Raymun suggests that fleeing might be the wiser choice. Either way, Duncan will be killed.

Egg appears to reaffirm that he will remain Duncan’s squire until the end. Daeron comes with him. Drunk and inept as he is, he still wants to apologize beforehand. On the opposing side, Maekar will fight with his son Aerion, backed by trained soldiers. The outlook is grim.

Duncan cannot understand how Egg and Daeron can turn against their own brother, but both are clear. Aerion is a monster, and they would rather see him dead.

Daeron asks to speak to Duncan alone. He explains that he saw Duncan in a dream, and that his dreams always come true. He dreamed of fire and a dead dragon, though he does not know what it means. Still, he apologizes for having made everything worse.

Before being wounded and fleeing to Dorne, Tanselle finished Duncan’s shield. The painting is exactly as he requested. The gesture deeply moves him.

On the morning of the duel, Duncan meets his allies. Ser Steffon Fossoway, Ser Humfrey Hardyng, Ser Humfrey Beesbury, Ser Robyn Rhysling, and Ser Lyonel Baratheon. One man is missing. In fact, two, because Steffon switches sides at the last moment.

Raymun breaks with his cousin and declares that he will fight for Duncan, but he must be knighted first. Ser Lyonel Baratheon performs the ceremony. “Arise, Ser Raymun.”

Before the assembled crowd, Duncan asks who will honor him. He needs only one man. Time is running out. Everyone seems to be trying to help. And being an Ira Parker series, there is even room for scatological humor amid the tension.

“Is there no true knight among you?” he cries.

The doors open. Prince Baelor enters. He will fight for Duncan. As the Game of Thrones theme swells, it is hard to imagine dry eyes. Mine were flooded with tears.

Maekar rages against his brother, but Baelor does not waver. “He fought for the innocent, as a true knight would.”

Maekar calls it madness. We agree.