Last week, as part of my Westeros Wednesday series (filling the time between now and the House of the Dragon season three premiere) I had a long blog post (sorry for the ridiculous word count) talking in-depth about the big Judicial Jousting the happened in the penultimate episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
In that post, I took pains to try and track (mostly) the fourteen combatants in that trial. Part of that account included tracking the three Kingsguard involved, who are largely indistinguishable in their identical white armor and feature-covering helms.
I started things off with factoids from the novella that I am taking as canon for the show (I will also consider a scenario that suggests that the show is breaking canon near the end of this post) as well as hairstyle-specific details that helped me via a process of elimination. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Meet the Kingsguards
In episode 2 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, our protagonist Ser Duncan the Tall – or Dunk as I will now call him – exchanged some pleasantries with two of the three Kingsguards who’d accompanied a cadre of royal princes from metropolitan Kings Landing to backwater Ashford Meadow for some sporting entertainment. (Little did anyone anticipate the brutal battle looming on the horizon.)
We (along with Dunk) are introduced to Ser Roland Crakehall and Ser Donnel of Duskendale – two Kingsguards who look so much alike they might as well be biological brothers in addition to being members of a sworn brotherhood.
The third Kingsguard, whom Dunk does not meet, is Ser Willem Wylde.
I can’t recall if Ser Willem’s name is mentioned before the Trial of Seven, but after the fight – when Dunk asks about casualties – he’s told that Kingsguard Ser Willem Wylde was injured.
For purposes of this blog post, we know the names of all three Kingsguard knights.
When Aerion Targaryen demands a Trial by Seven as a counter to Dunk’s request for a Trial by Combat, Aerion’s father Maekar Targaryen orders all of the Kingsguard to serve in Aerion’s required quorum of seven.
Starting Lineup
At the beginning of the joust, two of the three white cloaks are lined up nearest the reviewing stand, facing Ser Humfrey Beesbury and Ser Humfrey Hardyng (both named Humfrey and also brother-in-laws) at the opposite positions. The last Kingsguard is in the fifth lane, facing Ser Lyonel Baratheon.
With them dressed identically in white armor, riding similar horses, and wearing white full (feature-concealing) helmets, how can I be so sure that I know which Kingsguard is which?
The white knight in the first position has to be Ser Donnel of Duskendale, since canonically he impales Ser Humfrey Beesbury in the initial charge. Beesbury is in the first position from the reviewing stand on Dunk’s end zone, so that puts Duskendale’s favorite crabber’s son nearest the reviewing stand on Aerion’s end zone lineup.
Ser Roland and Ser Willem need to be distributed into the second and fifth position, facing the other Ser Humfrey and Ser Lyonel respectively. But who goes where?
Here is where hairstyle plays into it.
I did not notice Ser Willem Wylde in the second episode where Dunk meets Donnel and Roland. But when I was listening to the Ragman’s Harbour podcast’s bonus episodes where the excellent and observant hosts Virginie and Lo were covering the Dunk and Egg show’s second episode Hard Salt Beef, host Virginie remarked that she had seen Ser Willem Wilde in the background, and commented on how much he looked like the young version of Ser Criston Cole from Season One House of the Dragon.
(Virginie has a thing for problematic Kingsguard Ser Criston, and I am absolutely not judging her negatively. He’s a problematic fave of mine as well.)
I rewatched the scene via YouTube (I am unable to get screen captures from HBO Max) and confirmed Ser Willem Wilde’s appearance in the background with a hairstyle markedly different from either Sers Roland or Donnel. We’ll never see Ser Willem not wearing a helmet in the trial. So, how does that help me place Ser Willem in the starting lineup?
Thankfully, we get two brief shots of the Kingsguard in the fifth position, the first from Dunk’s position far across the field.
It is honestly impossible to make out much about the distant knight, but he doesn’t look that much like Ser Willem, even from far away. But then, the shot shifts to the end of the lineup, featuring a haggard Prince Daeron. Behind him is Ser Steffon in the sixth position, slightly out-of-focus but still recognizable thanks to his non-Targaryen, non-Kingsguard armor. Further in the background is the Kingsguard in the fifth position, just moments away from putting on a helmet.
Even out-of-focus, this guy is clearly not Ser Willem. He has a beard and closely-cropped hair, just like Ser Donnel and Ser Roland.
Since the novella’s canon has Ser Donnel jousting against Ser Humphrey Beesbury (at the other end of the line in first position), the knight in fifth position must be Ser Roland. And by process of elimination, sexy-haired Ser Willem is in the second position in the lineup.
Positional Recap
I won’t exhaustively recap my analysis of the fight that I did last week, just wanted to summarize the likely scenario of how the Trial went for the Kingsguard trio.
Ser Donnel and Ser Willem start upfield, Ser Roland is facing Ser Lyonel at the edge of midfield and downfield.
After the first pass, I believe Prince Baelor maneuvered upfield to take out Ser Willem on the second pass; Maekar unhorsed Baelor, attacked Dunk, and then got unhorsed by Baelor. The Targaryen brothers are roughly mid-field.
We see Kingsguards riding in their lanes upfield and downfield to Baelor and Maekar.
Ser Donnel has likely picked up Ser Lyonel as an opponent, with his former opponent Ser Roland likely sticking to downfield to be near the fallen Prince Daeron. Roland would now be squaring off against Ser Robyn Rhysling, who had been in the seventh position.
We see that playing out following the path of Ser Raymun who had just helped Dunk out versus Aerion, with Ser Lyonel taking on a Kingsguard to Raymun’s left, Ser Robyn facing the second Kingsguard on Raymun’s right.
Since we see Ser Lyonel and a Kingsguard fighting near the reviewing stand shortly after Ser Raymun’s hit on Aerion, that places Lyonel upfield and Robyn downfield, vs Donnel and Roland respectively.
The next Kingsguard sighting is at the finale of the match, everyone but Ser Robyn and Ser Roland have been unhorsed. Presumably Ser Donnel was unhorsed by Lyonel and opted to carry the injured Ser Willem from the field. (My previous post had more detail on that – I’m accepted as fact that Ser Willem being carried off the field by a comrade white cloak must be reflected in this fight as well, to explain why we’re not seeing more Kingsguard as the match winds down.)
Although, the hairstyle didn’t help me place anyone during the fight, it did help me place Ser Willem upfield initially and my Occam’s Razor’s assumption of keeping the other Kingsguards in their relative positions allowed me to identify them from then on with some confidence.
But, perhaps I am wildly wrong. (Although I can’t possibly be wrong all the time.)
Canon-Breaking Possibility
The above narrative works satisfyingly for me, but there’s a big flaw.
Let us examine that photo of Ser Willem Wylde in the background again, pulled back to look at Ser Donnel in the foreground.
Although Ser Donnel and Ser Roland do look a lot alike (in regards to their beard styles and hairstyles) Ser Donnel has lighter hair than Roland. When we look at the photo of the tourney lineup where the Kingsguard in position number five is just about to put on his helmet – his hair doesn’t look dark. He looks more like he could be Ser Donnel than Ser Roland. (Remember, I have Ser Roland being in position five…)
Could Ser Donnel have been in the fifth position? Remember, in the novella he’s credited for killing Beesbury who was in the lane by the reviewing stand. Can we still adhere to the novella’s canon of Ser Donnel killing Beesbury if we consider this change in the lineups?
Uh, no.
Ser Donnel would have to cut through three full lanes of charging knight traffic (on both sides of him) and cut off whichever Kingsguard was in the first position to be able to get Beesbury.
It doesn’t seem likely that – if he’s in the fifth position – that Ser Donnel could possibily take out Beesbury, nor would he try. He has a perfectly good opponent right in front of him.
In fairness to the show, Beesbury’s opponent isn’t explicitly named like they were in the novella, and so the show’s canon just might have a different Beesbury-slayer.
Dunk: The others. Has anyone died?
Raymun: Beesbury and Hardying, in the first charge.
— A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Episode 5 “In the Name of the Mother”
Raymun,” Dunk said urgently, clutching at his friend’s hands. “The others. How did they fare?” He had to know. “Has anyone died?”
“Beesbury,” Raymun said. “Slain by Donnel of Duskendale in the first charge. Ser Humfrey is gravely wounded as well.
— The Hedge Knight
If this actually is Ser Donnel in the fifth position, then he charged at Ser Lyonel and he ended up being the downfield Kingsguard – instead of Ser Roland – and he therefore remained mounted for the entire fight, keeping engaged with Ser Robyn.
Referring to my narrative account of the fight (from my previous week’s post), if Ser Donnel is now hypothetically to be considered in the fifth position – the changes needed to my old post would mostly be in acknowledging that Ser Roland is now one of the upfield knights. I can no longer be absolutely sure who is in the first position in the field and who is in the second.
It’s either Ser Roland or Ser Willem Wylde being the one that kills Beesbury, with the other being the opponent who kills Hardyng. (As opposed to me being so very certain that Ser Willem was facing Ser Humfrey Hardyng. Maybe he still is, but I can’t swear to it.)
From then on though, I’m fairly certain that Baelor still unhorses Wylde who lays around injured until the remaining upfield Kingsguard is unhorsed by Lyonel and can decide to carry Willem off the field. Seems like this would be Ser Roland, deciding to just leave the fight behind, using Willem as an excuse.
Maybe I like this narrative version better.
I have a positive assessment of Ser Donnel, since he is relatively charitable to Duncan when he meets our hedge knight in episode two – and I’d rather then that Donnel might not be the one who kills Beesbury. If he’s to be identified as the downfield Kingsguard, I respect him for going to entire trial mounted, and not really doing anything bad (like killing either Humfrey.)
Does This Even Matter?
Of course it doesn’t matter. It’s just fun to noodle these things through. We already know that the Trial of Seven starts off differently from the novella:
To either side, his companions took up their own lances and spread out in a long line. Prince Baelor was to his right and Ser Lyonel to his left, but the narrow eye slit of the greathelm limited Dunk’s vision to what was directly ahead of him.
— The Hedge Knight
In the novella, Dunk is in the center position in the charge, with Ser Lyonel and Prince Baelor flanking him, but the show has Dunk to Baelor’s left. Baelor has the center position and Lyonel is to the prince’s right.
I don’t know why the showrunners staged things differently, or why they might have moved Ser Donnel so he wasn’t facing Ser Humfrey Beesbury, but of course it’s the end of the fight that matters, not necessarily the start or too many of the details in the middle. And in my honest opinion, they nailed that ending square on the head.
Prince Maekar: Too soon.
Alright, I promised in my last post that I’d discuss my thought process on which Kingsguard was which. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong. There’s always a chance that I missed something when I was doing my video watching to make these posts. Don’t trust me.
Ser Steffon Fossaway: They can trust me, though.
Me: You’re the subject of my next post, Stevron.
(Comments are always welcome. Super welcome! But if you want to engage in spoilery Game of Thrones talk with me (also welcome) I’d invite you to visit my Safe Spoilers page on my backup blog. That way my non-book-reading friends won’t be shocked with foreknowledge.)
Images are from HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. I make no claims to the images (other than the masterpieces I created using Powerpoint), but I make some claims to the text here – at least the text that isn’t my transcription of show dialogue or text from The Hedge Knight novella. Pretty much everything else is mine. So there.
If you liked this article, thank you! I have all of my Game of Thrones related articles on my handy-dandy Game of Thrones page should you want to read more but don’t want to navigate around my site.
© Patrick Sponaugle 2026 Some Rights Reserved
I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time 