A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms showrunner reveals one change from the books he considers a big mistake

Despite A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms being the most faithful Game of Thrones adaptation so far, showrunner Ira Parker has admitted there's one change he made from the novella that he now feels is a mistake.

Viewers have been dissecting the latest episodes of the HBO fantasy, which are based on George RR Martin's novella The Hedge Knight – and some eagle-eyed fans noticed an omission in the dialogue.

In the novella, when Dunk (played in the series by Peter Claffey) is on his way to the joust, several smallfolk greet him as he goes. He then asks Steely Pate (Youssef Kerkour): "Why? Who am I to them?"

Steely Pate responds: "A knight who remembered his vows.”

During a recent Reddit AMA [Ask Me Anything], a fan described this as the "heart and soul" of the novella and asked Parker why it was left out.

He responded: "Honestly it was a mistake on my part. Not my first not my last on this show. That scene was in the script at one point, then fell out. I agree that "a knight who remembers his vows" is the soul of this story, but I think that is still very much at the core of the show, even if I stupidly left out this scene... it may not be said explicitly, but Dunk's actions remain the same."

In the same AMA, Parker also admitted another mistake – leaving Aerion and Maekar's personal coats of arms out of the series.

When another fan pointed this out, Parker responded: "So far I've seen fans point out two mistakes in this show that I was unaware of. This is one of them. Definitely should have had Maekar's... that would have made it soooo easy to distinguish him in the fog. Whoops."

Parker has been open about his efforts to keep the show as faithful as possible, even going so far as to tell Radio Times that season 1 of the show was written for Martin.

He explained: “In this job you don’t try to write for a wide audience, because so many people like so many different things.

“You pick a person, and you write for them. Season one was definitely written for George. The Hedge Knight is very close to him. He’s told me before that book is, he thinks, the best thing that he’s ever written.

“He read every first draft of all the episodes. I think they went to him first, even before they went to HBO. And me and him would have conversations. It was rarely contentious. I’ll not say ‘never’…”

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is available to watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

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