One thing that gets overlooked in AKOTSK is how much classism is baked into the story even among the characters we likes.
When Baelor tells Dunk “I’m a prince of the realm. I’m blood of the dragon, not a hedge knight.” A lot of people read that as a cool or factual statement, but what Baelor is saying here is that there is a fundamental difference between them. Not because of character or virtue but because of birth.
Dunk is a hedge knight a poor wandering knight with no lands, no family connections, no wealth, and virtually no institutional protection.
Baelor is a prince. His authority comes from bloodline and inherited status. And that’s exactly how feudalism works. Sometimes people gets so caught up in admiring individual nobles that they forget what these systems actually are. Baelor may be one of the better princes in Westerosi history, but he’s still a prince. His position exists because society is structured around hereditary privilege.
In the same way people say “there are no ethical billionaires” because extreme wealth requires participation in unequal systems, there are arguably no fully ethical feudal princes either. Their status is built on a hierarchy where some people are born with immense power while others are born with almost none.
That doesn’t mean Baelor is evil. It means he benefits from a fundamentally unequal system. And I think that’s part of what makes Dunk such an important protagonist. Dunk constantly exposes how arbitrary aristocratic privilege really is.
He’s braver than many nobles. More honorable than many nobles. Kinder than many nobles. Yet society still treats him as lesser because of his birth.
Meanwhile mediocre or cruel nobles can command enormous authority simply because of their surname. Even when Baelor helps Dunk, it’s worth remembering that he isn’t working from outside that system. He’s working from the very top of it.
Unlike Egg, who spends much of the story deliberately crossing class boundaries and living among commoners, Baelor remains a prince first and foremost. His worldview is shaped by that position. When Baelor intervenes on Dunk’s behalf, there is genuine fairness there, but there is also politics. A prince cannot act without considering royal authority, public perception, and the reputation of his house as @moompl said HERE.
His actions are tied to preserving the image of the crown and maintaining social order. That’s not necessarily cynical. It’s simply the reality of being royalty. Which is why I think the line is so interesting. It’s not just a statement about who Baelor is. It’s a reminder that even one of the most respected Targaryens in the series still sees the world through the lens of class and hierarchy.
Because in Westeros, being “blood of the dragon” isn’t just an identity. It’s a claim to superiority.
