In the Game of Thrones universe, justice is frequently entrusted to the gods via trial by combat. The belief is that whoever holds the truth will be fated to prevail by the Seven Gods. This reasoning led to Tyrion being defended by Bronn at the Vale and ‘s shocking defeat against The Mountain in Game of Thrones.
However, in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 4, we discover a novel form of trial by combat previously unseen. In fact, it has only been referenced once before in Westerosi history, tracing back to the — and it establishes a violent precedent for the following episode.
Warning! Spoilers for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 4 ahead!
In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Episode 4, “The Seven,” Ser Duncan the Tall must stand trial for (justifiably) assaulting Aerion Targaryen at the conclusion of Episode 4. Aware he might have a chance to defend himself against Aerion, Dunk demands a trial by combat, as is his entitlement. Aerion initially declines, but after his father Maekar informs him he cannot refuse, he counters by demanding a “trial of seven” — a concept so arcane that even Maekar is unfamiliar with it.
Baelor takes on the task of clarifying its meaning. “It represents an alternative form of trial by combat,” he explains. “Ancient. Rarely summoned. It arrived across the narrow sea alongside the Andals and their seven deities.” Dunk lacks expertise in the intricate details of the Old Gods, so he seeks further clarification. “The Andals held that if seven champions engaged in battle, the gods, thus honored, would be more inclined to intercede and ensure the guilty faction was punished,” Baelor states. Therefore, a trial of seven essentially constitutes a seven-against-seven battle rather than a one-on-one duel.
Maekar is visibly displeased with this development. “Are you hiding behind some 6,000-year-old Andal nonsense because you’re terrified of confronting this hedge knight by yourself?” he demands. This provides our initial indication of the tradition’s antiquity — and an examination of Westerosi history reveals just how infrequently it has been summoned.
The sole other trial of seven documented in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels occurs in Fire & Blood, the Targaryen historical texts that serve as source material for House of the Dragon. However, this predates Rhaenyra and Alicent. In reality, this trial occurred approximately 160 years prior to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and revolved around King Maegor I, Rhaenyra’s great-great-great-granduncle.
Maegor, frequently known as Maegor the Cruel, was the third Targaryen monarch to rule Westeros following his father, Aegon the Conqueror, and his elder half-brother Aenys. He truly embodied his moniker: he possessed six spouses, including his niece Rhaena. Prior to Maegor’s ascension to the throne, the Faith of the Seven already objected to his numerous marriages, and the union of Aenys’s children, Aegon and Rhaena, to one another only exacerbated the situation.
Following Aenys’s death and Maegor’s coronation, this dispute reached its climax. Ser Damon Morrigen, Grand Captain of the Warrior’s Sons, the military arm of the Faith, challenged King Maegor to a trial of seven. The confrontation pitted Morrigen and six fellow Warrior’s Sons members against Maegor and a motley crew of six individuals, comprising lords, knights, hedge knights, and a single humble man-at-arms.
Regrettably, King Maegor was the trial’s sole survivor, though he did not emerge unharmed: he collapsed after his final adversary fell and stayed unconscious for multiple weeks.
Additional trials of seven have occurred since Maegor’s — the Tales of Dunk and Egg assert that merely a century has elapsed since the previous one — yet Maegor’s remains the only other historically significant instance. Hopefully, Dunk’s trial will conclude more favorably than the King’s. However, if the faith is correct and the innocent side will triumph, then he has no cause for concern.