History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireHedgeKnights

* EliteMook: Though they are mercenaries all the same, hedge knights are better than simple sellswords in that they have superior equipment. It's stressed in the novellas that what truly makes a knight a knight is his armor, with both Dunk and Ser Kyle fearing imminent unemployment once they've lost their gears.

* ForWantOfANail: Dunk's adventure is only made possible because Ser Arlan chose him as his new squire, which he only did because his old squire was killed by Lord Gormon Peake during the Battle of Redgrass Field. Upon meeting Gormon, Dunk actually finds himself somewhat indebted to the man for unknowingly paving the way for his rise to fame, which he closes the eyes on Gormon's decapitated head as a gesture of respect.

* CatchPhrase: He has several.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Qarl was rumored to have been a lover of Laenor Velaryon.
* KarmaHoudini: He was never caught. Of course, it's equally likely that his throat was slashed and he was dumped overboard after killing Laenor.
* MoneyDumb: Qarl had expensive tastes (which lends a certain... element to his relationship with the well-off Laenor) and a tendency to burn through money quicker than fire through straw, with a gambling problem on top of that. Gyldayn figures this would add support to the "paid to murder Laenor" theory. Gotta recoup those gambling loses somehow...
* NotGoodWithRejection: At least one theory for his murdering Laenor was that Laeonor was starting to look for a much younger man, and Qarl took it poorly.
%%* ReplacementGoldfish: For Laenor's former (dead) favorite Joffrey Lonmouth.
* ShroudedInMyth: Now one knows why he killed Laenor. Mushroom believes Daemon Targaryen paid him and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness promptly disposed of him after.]]

* PapaWolf: For Egg, his charge. When the chips are down, Dunk's first thought is always getting Egg out of harm's way and then killing anyone who might think to go after him. [[spoiler:Black Tom Heddle]] found this out the hard way.

* ChickMagnet: He attracts men and women alike wherever he goes.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: His adventures in ''Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg''

* OddFriendship: The Hedge Knight originally from Flea Bottom and the Targaryen Princeling -- you can't really get an odder relationship. They might occasionally exasperate each other to the point of steam jutting out of various ears (particularly Dunk's), but they really do rub along and complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. As Egg points out, they ''are'' both from King's Landing... In the rest of the Kingdom, that's actually something in ''common''.

* PosthumousCharacter: In ''A Song of Ice and Fire''.

* TogetherInDeath: In a platonic version of the trope, he and King Aegon V (a.k.a. his former squire "Egg") perish together in the Tragedy at Summerhall.

* AlwaysSecondBest: He exploits this. He preferred not to become a tourney champion, as he did not want to become famous, but was satisfied with the prize granted to the knight who came second.

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Implied to be the reason why [[spoiler:he doesn't kill Dunk like he's paid to]]. Dunk is a [[PaperTiger mediocre but very imposing jouster]], so everyone is sure to bet in his favor during tourneys. By non-lethally defeating Dunk and holding his possessions hostage, Uthor hopes to rope Dunk into a match-fixing scheme wherein the latter will intentionally lose to the former during tourneys, thus guaranteeing him a huge income from betting on himself against the odds. This is far more profitable than [[spoiler:simply killing Dunk for a one-off sum.]]
* CombatPragmatist: Uthor would bribe the master of the games so that he would face the opponents he preferred -- big men, older champions past their prime, and "village heroes" -- where the odds would be appear to be against him.
* ConsummateProfessional: A touring, jobbing tourney knight by trade, nothing more nor less. A consistently good one, at that. Yet, his very competency as "nothing ''more''" than a tourney jobber gets him looked-down upon by politically-minded knights of a supposedly higher (and, in many ways, riskier) social standing. In many cases, those sneering knights/ petty nobleman probably have a smaller net annual income than he does, too.
** Subverted when it comes to his [[spoiler:other job as a hired killer. He's paid to kill Dunk, but the payment is too low for him so he just half-arses the job and gives his mark a small chance of surviving.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's a generally unpleasant guy and [[spoiler:a hired killer]], but he does warn Dunk [[spoiler:after failing to kill him that someone is out for his life. He also advises Dunk to leave with him to avoid further assassination attempts, as he knows Dunk has no shortage of enemies due to his role in Prince Baelor's death.]]

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Invoked by him. The more people think he's a pushover, the more they will bet against him and the more money he will earn once he wins the joust. It's for this reason that he chooses a snail as his sigil and bribes game masters to always put him up against more imposing foes.

** Subverted when it comes to his [[spoiler:other job as a hired killer. He's paid to kill Dunk, but the payment is insufficient for him so he just half-arses the job and strikes Dunk in a way that still leaves him a chance to survive.]]

* CripplingOverspecialization: Dunk is good at personal combat, but terrible at other knightly skills like jousting. While this makes him a perfectly serviceable sellsword, he's unable to supplement his income by attending jousting tournaments.

* TheAce: Despite growing up inside a brothel and having been a knight for only half a year, Glendon is able to defeat scores of older and more seasoned knights during the Whitehalls tourney. This alone puts him several leagues above Duncan in terms of skills, as the latter has been a knight for several years and still can't joust for the life of him. The fact that he's so good actually becomes a plot point, as [[spoiler:the Blackfyre conspirators fear that he will easily defeat Daemon II and humiliate him, culminating in them capturing and torturing him to remove him from the tourney. Even after that, Glendon's still able to deliver Daemon II a humiliating defeat during his trial by combat.]]

* TheAce: Despite growing up inside a brothel and having been a knight for only half a year, Glendon is able to defeat scores of older and more seasoned knights during the Whitehalls tourney. This alone puts him several leagues above Duncan in terms of skills, as the latter has been a knight for several years and still can't joust for the life of him. The fact that he's so good actually becomes a plot point, as [[spoiler:the Blackfyre conspirators fear that he will easily defeat Daemon II and humiliate him, culminating in them capturing and torturing him to remove him from the tourney. Even after that, Glendon's still able to deliver Daemon II Blackfyre a humiliating defeat during his trial by combat.]]

* TheAce: Despite growing up inside a brothel and having been a knight for only half a year, Glendon is able to defeat scores of older and more seasoned knights during the Whitehalls tourney. This alone puts him several leagues above Duncan in terms of skills, as the latter has been a knight for several years and still can't joust for the life of him. [[spoiler:Even after getting tortured by the Blackfyre conspirators, Glendon's still able to deliver Daemon II Blackfyre a humiliating defeat.]]

* CovertPervert: Being a dorky KnightInShiningArmor, most wouldn't expect this guy to have his share of dirty thoughts. While passed out drunk at the Whitehalls feast, he has [[EroticDream a dream]] involving both Rohanne and Tanselle. Later, during the bedding ceremony (a Westerosi custom where the bride is stripped naked and carried to the bridal bed by a guest), Dunk has a huge stiffy the entire time and is quite glad that everyone is too [[DistractedByTheSexy transfixed]] on the bride to notice it.

* BornLucky: It's astonishing how often things just go right for Dunk, even though he exhibits a level of GenreBlindness that would make even Ned Stark blush. Notably, during the Ashford Tourney, after being forced to find six other knights to help him prove his innocence in a trial by seven, Dunk manages to get 5 knights overnight simply because his opponent is such a jerk that everyone has a score to settle with him. Then, as it turns out, Dunk is prophecized to kill a Targaryen during the trial, so one of his Targaryen opponents just agrees to throw the fight so he wouldn't end up being Dunk's victim. On the day of the trial, one of Dunk's knights betray him, so his team is forced to knight a squire to replace him. The problem is, Dunk is strongly implied to have faked his knighthood, so he doesn't actually know how to conduct the knighting ceremony. Just as he's about to be exposed as a fraud, he's summoned by the tourney master, giving him an excuse to make one of his companions do the ceremony instead. However, even with the squire joining him, his team is still short a member, forcing him to futilely ask for a volunteer among the spectators. Just as when all hope seems lost, none other than the crown prince of the Seven Kingdoms himself steps in to join his side, giving his team a tremendous advantage as the Kingsguards on the other team wouldn't even dare touch a hair on this guy's head. During the trial itself, Dunk is quickly unhorsed and thrown to the ground because he's not a real knight and doesn't know how to fight properly. Fortunately for him, his opponent makes the stupid mistake of [[BondVillainStupidity dismounting and approaching him to personally deal the killing blow]], allowing Dunk to wrestle him to the ground and use his superior streetfighting ability (the one thing he's good at) to beat the guy into submission, thus winning the trial and proving his innocence.

* BecomingTheBoast: He's a squire who (most likely) falsely claims to be a knight, despite never completing his training. In the first two novellas, he's visibly terrible at knightly combat and has to resort to streetfighting techniques to get by. By the third novella, however, Dunk is beginning to be good at swords and axes, though he's still terrible at jousting.

* BecomingTheBoast: He's a squire who (most likely) falsely claims to be a knight, despite never completing his training. In the first two novellas, he's visibly terrible at knightly combat and has to resort to dirty [[WrestlerInAllOfUs streetfighting technique]] to get by. By the third novella, however, Dunk is beginning to be good at swords and axes, though he's still terrible at jousting.

* BecomingTheBoast: He's a squire who (most likely) falsely claims to be a knight, despite never completing his training. In the first two novellas, he's visibly terrible at knightly combat and has to resort to dirty [[WrestleInAllOfUs streetfighting technique]] to get by. By the third novella, however, Dunk is beginning to be good at swords and axes, though he's still terrible at jousting.

* BecomingTheBoast: He's a squire who (most likely) fakes his knighthood and doesn't have the skills expected of a knight.

* LoveableCoward: He gets nervous when Glendon Flowers unsheathes his sword in response to him calling the Blackfyres traitors. Keep in mind that Glendon is easily 3 decades his junior and has been a knight for not even six months, while Kyle is a veteran of the Blackfyre rebellion and many battles before that. When the chips are down, however, he doesn't hesitate to back Dunk up when the latter demands a trial by combat [[spoiler:for Glendon]].

* DirtyCoward: He gets nervous when Glendon Flowers unsheathes his sword in response to him calling the Blackfyres traitors. Keep in mind that Glendon is easily 3 decades his junior and has been a knight for not even six months, while Kyle is a veteran of the Blackfyre rebellion and many battles before that.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: His entire plan to enter Lord Caswell's employ involves losing to him intentionally during a joust to flatter him, then reminding him that he once worked for his father. As it turns out, Caswell doesn't remember Kyle at all since they only met when he was three, and since Kyle has just lost to a very drunk Caswell, the latter refuses to hire someone so inept. To make the matter worse, since Westerosi customs dictate that the loser of a joust must forfeit the equipment they used to the winner, Kyle has to surrender all of his belongings to Caswell.