A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode 3: The prophecy, explained

If there's one thing the Game of Thrones universe loves, it's a good prophecy.

While A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is refreshingly different from its more serious cousin House of the Dragon, episode 3 showed us that mystical future predictions still have a place in the world of Dunk (Peter Claffey) and Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell).

So what was the prophecy, and what might it tell us? We've unpacked it all below.

What is the prophecy in episode 3?

Wandering through the tent village in Ashdown together, Dunk and Egg are suddenly interrupted by a woman wearing a cloak.

"Say your fortune?" she calls out, and Dunk gives her a coin and says, "Oh yeah, go on then." We've copied the resulting exchange below, in full:

Stranger: "You shall know great success and be richer than a Lannister."

Dunk: "Thank you. Do the boy now."

Stranger: "You shall be king...and die in a hot fire, and worms shall feed upon your ashes. And all who know you shall rejoice in your dying."

Egg: "What?"

Dunk [laughing]: "Thank you, that's very good."

While Dunk finds the woman's brutal prediction highly amusing, poor Egg looks troubled. Could what she says be more than just a cheap trick designed to earn some coin?

What does the prophecy mean?

The first thing to note is that prophecies aren't a new concept in the Game of Thrones universe. In House of the Dragon, Helaena (Phia Saban) makes a number of different prophecies, some of which have already been proven to be correct. In short, there are characters in Westeros that do have the ability to see into the future, so we can't immediately discount what the stranger says as nonsense.

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As we find out at the end of episode 3, Egg is also much more than just stable boy — he's actually a Targaryen and the nephew of Prince Baelor (Bertie Carvel), who is next in line for the Iron Throne. Yes, Egg is quite a long way down the line of succession himself, but him becoming king is not completely out of the realm of possibility.

So, could the stranger have been telling Dunk and Egg the truth? Is the young Targaryen somehow destined for the throne, while Dunk will end up rich, presumably through his association with Egg? Only time will tell.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.