A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms finale ending: Are there really 9 kingdoms?

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has come to an end, and the finale left us with two main questions: Where will Dunk (Peter Claffey) and Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) go next, and hang on a minute, are there actually nine kingdoms rather than seven?

Given that the show literally has “seven kingdoms” in its title, it’s an interesting curveball — but one that Egg seems certain is correct. So what exactly does he say, and is he right? We’ve broken it down.

What does Egg say about nine kingdoms?

As Dunk and Egg are setting off on their next adventure and deciding where they might go, they have the following exchange:

Egg: “Where are we going, ser?”

Dunk: “Don’t know. I suppose we could go anywhere in the seven kingdoms, though I’ve never been to D—”

Egg: “Nine.”

Dunk: “What?”

Egg: “There are nine kingdoms, ser.”

Dunk: “Of what?”

Egg: “The realm.”

Dunk: “Are you mad?”

Egg: “Is that relevant?”

Dunk: “There are seven kingdoms of the realm, boy. Everyone knows that.”

Egg: “Then everyone is wrong.”

Dunk: “Do you want a clout in the ear?”

Egg: “Crownlands, Westerlands, Stormlands, Riverlands, the Iron Islands, the North, the Reach, the Vale of Arryn, and Dorne.”

Dunk: “No, but…”

Egg: “I’ve never been over the Red Mountains before. I hear they have good puppet shows in Dorne.”

Moments later the show’s title pops back up on a black screen, with the seven replaced by a nine. So what’s the deal?

Are there really nine kingdoms?

As we already know from the show, Egg is no fool. He knows his history. The difference between seven kingdoms and nine kingdoms, it turns out, dates back to Aegon’s conquest of Westeros. There were initially seven kingdoms — the North, Mountain and Vale, the Isles and the Rivers, the Rock, the Reach, the Stormlands, and Dorne — when Aegon first brought them under Targaryen rule, but the Isles and Rivers was then divided into the Iron Islands and the Riverlands, and the Crownlands was added into the mix too. The Rock became the Westerlands, and Mountain and Vale became the Vale of Arryn. The new total? Nine.

An Easter egg for Westerosi history buffs, and yet another amusing interaction between our favourite hedge knight and his squire.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is now streaming on HBO Max.