Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin reveals his favourite A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode 

What is the favorite episode of the author of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and why does it matter? Well, when George R. R. Martin praises an episode, it means more than approval. It means recognition.

During the New York Comic Con panel for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the author behind Game of Thrones revealed that his favourite episode of the upcoming prequel is episode 5, which he called “the big action episode.”

For a writer who’s spent decades turning violence into philosophy, that statement carries weight. It means the world of Westeros, even a century before the Iron Throne became a graveyard of kings, is about to ignite again.

Martin’s never been drawn to battles for their grandeur alone. What moves him is what those moments reveal about people when they have no choice but to stand, bleed, and choose. His love for episode 5 suggests that this new show understands that difference.

The episode A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms that caught Martin’s eye

Martin’s words confirm that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will continue one of the franchise’s most defining traditions: the penultimate battle. In the original Game of Thrones, every second-to-last episode delivered a storm that left the finale in ashes, from Blackwater to The Watchers on the Wall to Battle of the Bastards. It was never just a pattern of structure but a rhythm of consequence, one that taught audiences to expect chaos before calm.

Calling episode 5 “the big action episode” isn’t about scale alone. It signals intent. It means A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will honor the same dramatic heartbeat that defined the original saga, building tension across its early chapters until everything collapses in a single hour of chaos.

This is where Martin’s faith in adaptation becomes visible. He doesn’t praise easily. For him to call that episode his favorite means it carries the moral texture that made Westeros feel real.

He also added that he was impressed with episode 6 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, praising how it handles the aftermath of that battle. For him, the story doesn’t end with blood. It ends with what survives it. The loss, the silence, the choices people make after the swords are lowered. That balance between chaos and consequence is what defined his writing long before television found it.

Why this matters for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

For years, House of the Dragon has been the political spine of the franchise. It’s meticulous, cerebral, and heavy with destiny. Martin’s comment re-centers A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms as the heart, the story that carries the warmth and decency the other series no longer remember.

Episode 5 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms won’t just bring the swords back to the screen. It’ll bring back the tradition of Westerosi storytelling that Martin built his name on: chaos as revelation. Every clash in his world has always been about more than steel. It’s about the limits of loyalty and the price of mercy. Through Ser Duncan the Tall and Prince Baelor Targaryen, the show will test what it means to fight for honor in a realm where honor already feels outdated.

The author’s enthusiasm turns that single episode into a promise. If the battle lives up to his words, it won’t just echo the past of Game of Thrones. It’ll remind us of why he wrote it in the first place. When Martin says an episode works, it means it carries that rare tension between grandeur and humanity. It means the swords matter because the people holding them do.

The philosophy of Martin’s battles

There’s always been a pattern in Martin’s storytelling. His wars are never only about victory. They’re about exposure. In A Song of Ice and Fire, every battle strips away illusion, revealing the core of those who fight and those who command.

The Battle of the Blackwater showed Tyrion’s fear disguised as strategy. The fall of the Wall revealed Jon Snow’s despair behind leadership. Episode 5 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms seems ready to follow the same design.

It won’t probaly be remembered only for its scale, but also for what it says about courage in a time when the world hasn’t yet learned to glorify it. Martin’s fondness for that episode suggests that Dunk and Baelor’s choices under pressure will carry the same moral weight as any crown. He’s always believed that real heroism exists in hesitation, in the moment before the sword is raised. If episode 5 captures that, it won’t just fit his legacy. It’ll reaffirm it.

Martin’s return to the battlefield

Martin’s affection for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms runs deeper than nostalgia. Dunk and Egg were his refuge between the heavier tomes of A Song of Ice and Fire. They allowed him to write about friendship and idealism in a world designed to crush both. For a storyteller who’s spent years watching his creation become a global empire, returning to these simpler tales must feel like remembering why he began to write at all.

That he now calls the show’s fifth episode his favourite speaks volumes. His praise reveals a trust in the team bringing Dunk and Egg to life, an acknowledgment that their version still carries his voice.

In choosing that episode, Martin is celebrating control. The kind of storytelling that remembers every swing of the sword must mean something, that every casualty must carry consequence. The kind of television that values weight over shock. His approval suggests that episode 5 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms won’t just entertain, but define what this new era of Westeros is capable of.

When A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms finally arrives, episode 5 will be the one to watch, not because it’s the biggest, but because it’s the one that made George R. R. Martin proud. It’s the episode that reclaims the fire from the noise and the integrity from the myth. For him, that’s the true return to form.

It also feels like a reunion between creator and creation. For years, Martin’s watched his world evolve in the hands of others, sometimes with admiration, sometimes with distance. Yet his excitement for this battle shows that the pulse of Westeros still beats the way he meant it to. It remains a world where courage and fear exist side by side, where violence reveals truth, and where decency can still survive in the smallest gestures.

Episode 5 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms isn’t just his favorite. It’s his reflection. It’s the moment the story he began decades ago reaches back to him and reminds him that the fire he wrote into it never went out.