For the people of Westeros, knights were not merely armored warriors; they represented a class that profoundly influenced the social order, moral values, the nature of warfare, and even the structure of power across the entire continent.
Chivalry was the soul of knighthood. A man who only knew how to fight was just a brute. A true knight had to possess noble character and uphold the virtues that defined their station.
Chivalry was a spirit celebrated throughout Westeros. It embodied honor, courage, justice, mercy, loyalty, and the duty to protect the weak and innocent.
To become an ideal knight meant mastering both martial virtue and courtesy.
On the battlefield, a knight was an elite warrior proficient in the Seven Skills of Chivalry—riding, swimming, archery, fencing, hunting, chess, and poetry.
In the palace, he was expected to be a polite gentleman—graceful in speech, respectful toward women, and mindful of decorum.
Spiritually, a knight was a loyal, brave protector of the weak and defender of justice.
The journey to knighthood generally followed three stages: Page → Squire → Dubbing.
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Stage 1: Page
Age: Begins around seven years old.
Background: Typically from a noble family—a knight's son, a baron's child, or higher-born lord.
Training location: The boy would be sent to another lord's castle, usually one allied or superior to his family. This served both as education and as a form of political hostage, ensuring his family's loyalty.
Curriculum:
Etiquette and Culture: Pages learned court manners, poetry, music, and chess—a game symbolizing war strategy. Some even learned to read and write, though literacy was not universal. The goal was to cultivate a cultured and aristocratic temperament.
Religious Education: They studied the teachings of the Seven Gods and were taught piety, the moral foundation of chivalry.
Physical Training: Through games like wrestling, swimming, and climbing, they built strength and endurance.
Weapons Introduction: Training began with wooden swords and basic mock combat.
Service: Pages served the castle's lady and noble guests, learning humility, courtesy, and obedience through small tasks—serving food, delivering letters, and handling household duties.
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Stage 2: Squire
Age: Begins around fourteen years old.
At this stage, a boy transitioned from servant to apprentice. He became a personal attendant to a knight, responsible for every aspect of his mentor's daily life and equipment.
Responsibilities and Learning:
Mastery of Arms: The squire trained intensely with various weapons.
Longsword: Hours of sparring while wearing increasingly heavier armor.
Lance: Practicing with a quintain—a rotating target that punished inaccurate strikes.
Horsemanship: Mastering mounted combat in full armor, the most difficult skill.
He also learned to handle axes, maces, and shields.
Equipment Care: The squire maintained armor, kept weapons sharp, and cared for horses—cleaning, feeding, and saddling them.
Battlefield Role: He followed his knight into battle, though he did not fight directly. His duties were to:
Dress his knight in armor.
Carry spare weapons and shields.
Aid the knight if injured or unhorsed.
Guard prisoners or tend to wounded comrades.
Combat Experience: Squires participated in tournaments, first as assistants, later in squire-level melees.
Moral Training: Living beside his mentor, the squire learned honor, courage, loyalty, and mercy by example.
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Stage 3: Dubbing
Age: Around twenty-one, or earlier if promoted for valor in battle.
A squire could only be dubbed a knight once both his skills and character were recognized by his lord and mentor.
Preparation and Ceremony: On the eve of the ceremony, the candidate spent the night in prayer and confession, purifying his soul.
During the Accolade, the lord touched the candidate's shoulder—or sometimes neck—with the flat of a sword, symbolizing the blessing of knighthood. Occasionally, the lord would give a light slap on the cheek, signifying "this is the last blow you shall bear without honor."
The new knight swore an oath of loyalty—to his lord, to the church, and to the ideals of chivalry: to protect women and children, to uphold justice, and to serve the weak.
He received symbols of knighthood—his sword and golden spurs.
Fourteen years of training, from page to knight, shaped a person in mind, body, and spirit. This path was reserved almost exclusively for nobility; commoners rarely rose to knighthood, except in rare cases of extraordinary valor. Through this strict system, Westeros forged an elite class of warriors bound by faith, strength, and honor.
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Although Prince Gaimon was of royal blood and did not need to perform menial duties like serving dishes or cleaning laundry, he still had to undergo fundamental training—physical conditioning, weapon practice, etiquette, and cultural study. These were essential for him to become a worthy knight.
Ever since Gaimon asked Prince Baelon to teach him the way of knighthood, Baelon treated him as a page, ensuring he learned the knight's discipline.
However, as Gaimon was still young and somewhat frail, Baelon only required him to perform basic exercises at first to strengthen his body.
Gaimon divided his training routine into three parts: warm-up runs, sword practice, and beginner horsemanship.
To make training less monotonous, he persuaded his elder brother Vaegon to join him.
The two brothers shared a close bond. When Gaimon was young and unable to read, he often asked bookish Vaegon to read historical texts aloud. Over time, Vaegon—who always felt out of place in their dragon-obsessed family—found a confidant in Gaimon.
While their Targaryen kin worshipped the power of dragons, Vaegon valued knowledge above all, believing wisdom to be the true strength of the world. Gaimon, with memories of a knowledge-rich past life, wholeheartedly agreed. Their mutual respect formed a deep connection.
When Gaimon was frail as a child, Vaegon often prayed secretly in the Red Keep's sept, begging the gods to grant his brother strength.
Only after the hatching of Gaimon's dragon egg did his health improve, and from then, their brotherly bond grew even stronger.
This was why Vaegon—usually indifferent to dragons—volunteered to share the first flight with Gaimon during the feast celebrating the dragon's birth.
Unbeknownst to Vaegon, Gaimon cherished his brother not just emotionally but strategically. He understood that knowledge was power and saw Vaegon's intellect as crucial to his own future plans. Thus, he maintained their bond with care.
Vaegon initially refused to join Gaimon's training. It was only when Gaimon offered one of his secret research findings as bait that Vaegon reluctantly agreed. His reluctance stemmed from a long-standing aversion to martial arts.
Years earlier, King Jaehaerys had ordered Prince Baelon to train Vaegon personally, hoping to toughen the scholarly boy. But Vaegon's distaste for combat turned every session into torment—for both student and teacher.
Finally, Baelon asked their sister Alyssa to disguise herself in chainmail and spar with Vaegon. Laughing playfully, she danced around his clumsy swings until Vaegon, humiliated and furious, threw down his sword and stormed away. From that day on, he never returned to the training yard.
Gaimon, hearing this story later, did not mock him. Everyone, he believed, had strengths and weaknesses. The key to growth was to build on strengths and confront weaknesses, not to flee from them.
Determined to help his brother change, Gaimon used a mix of affection and persuasion to draw Vaegon back into training. Even if Vaegon never became a great knight, learning the basics of combat was still valuable.
And so, every morning, two figures appeared on the Red Keep's parade ground—one tall, one short—running laps under the rising sun. A petite young girl with silver-gold hair, Daenella, stood at the edge of the field, clapping and shouting faint encouragements.
This trio—Gaimon, Vaegon, and Daenella—became a familiar sight to the castle's servants, though their clothing drew curious stares.
The "strange garments" were actually training clothes designed by Gaimon himself—short-sleeved wool shirts and matching shorts, paired with primitive but ingenious running shoes.
These shoes had thick leather soles, felt padding for shock absorption, breathable deerskin uppers, and inner silk lining imported from the distant east for comfort. Leather cords crisscrossed over the top to adjust tightness, and, most notably, the shoes had arch support, a feature unknown in this era. It was these innovations that persuaded Vaegon to continue training.
After three laps, Vaegon was drenched in sweat, panting heavily.
"Huff… Gaimon! Slow down—please! I can't run anymore," he gasped, beads of sweat rolling down his face.
Gaimon turned back immediately, grasped his brother's arm, and said firmly, "Don't stop now. You can't rest right after hard exercise. Just one more lap—slow and steady. Then we'll sit and rest."
Reluctantly, Vaegon let himself be pulled along, still bewildered at how the younger, once-frail Gaimon could now outrun him so easily.
It was hard for him to accept that a mere ten-year-old child possessed such stamina, while he, at fourteen, was struggling to keep up.
The Red Keep's parade ground wasn't large—one lap measured about a kilometer. Prince Baelon had assigned them three laps each morning, but after trying it once, Gaimon found that insufficient. He increased it to four laps, adjusting for Vaegon's endurance. Secretly, Gaimon would have preferred six laps to warm up properly.
Above them circled a small dragon, about the size of an owl—Bahamut, Gaimon's companion.
Having recently learned to fly, Bahamut enjoyed accompanying his rider's training, flapping joyfully overhead while the boys ran below. Every morning, the young dragon would be the first to wake Gaimon, nudging him to rise and start their exercise.
The early sunlight spread across the training yard, gilding the brothers and their dragon in a soft golden glow—like the fire of life itself blessing their morning discipline.
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