Actor Bertie Carvel has opened up about portraying Prince Baelor “Breakspear” Targaryen and the pivotal moment in episode 4 and 5, when the prince volunteers to fight for Ser Duncan the Tall in ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’.Carvel, in a round table attended by ETimes, said the scene immediately stood out to him when he first read the script, describing Baelor’s arrival on the field as the moment that “lit me up.” As a fan of the franchise, he explained, “If you’ve loved Game of Thrones, as I did, you’re expecting a world of kind of cynicism in which everybody ends up dead. You’re continually being wrong-footed about where protagonism sits. It feels like our world in which you shouldn’t attach too greatly to your heroes, because the world is unstable, it’s unpredictable, and they might get hit by a truck.”
Bertie on Baelor’s EPIC entry scene
However, Carvel said this new series offers a different emotional register within the same universe. “In this corner of Westeros, I was delighted to find that heroism can still exist in a world of hard-bitten cynicism. There is still such a thing as goodness and champions, and that is a story I want to see today.”
For Carvel, Baelor’s decision to step in and fight for Ser Duncan The Tall and “do the right thing” resonated deeply. He recalled reading about his character’s epic entry while on his way to Belfast. He said, “I want to believe that in this darkening world, there is still such a thing as goodness, and there is still a space for heroism and truth. And so the moment where Baylor turns up and does the right thing really answered something I needed, and I cheered, and I wept, and I wanted that for an audience. And I think when I’m so thrilled that when I watched that episode, the familiar (Game of Thrones) theme tune comes in.”
How ‘A Kinght of the Seven Kingdoms’ is different from ‘Game of Thrones’
He also praised the adaptation’s faithfulness to the tone of the source material, particularly its quieter, more patient storytelling style. Describing the show as operating “in a different key,” Carvel said “One of the things I love about it is it’s kind of quietude. It’s so unlike it, very recognisably that that same world, such a different gaze, isn’t there? So the kind of Game of Thrones, regets in a different register. It’s in a different key. And it feels quiet, but the patient and surprising and charming, and yeah, it’s a really, it’s like watching two cousins somehow. You see this family, this dynasty, and you think you see a cousin, but it’s different.”
Bertie on Prine Baelor’s death
Addressing the subject of his character’s shocking death, Carvel quipped, “Once your dead, you’re dead. I don’t have to think about episode six. It’s great.”However, he went on to reflect about his charater’s heroism and unexplored depth in the series. He shared, “I think he carries a sadness with him in the language of chivalry, you would call it, tristesse. And a bit like that in Silverbat gorilla, there’s a deep sadness somehow in their eyes. I wanted him to have depth, to want the audience to lean in and think there’s more.”Sharing his thoughts on the kind of King Baelor may have become had he survived, he shares, “I think, what must it be to grow up? Knowing you’re going to rule, but no world? It’s a huge responsibility if you take that one seriously. He is not a cruel being, he is a noble being. But I wanted him to have a danger about him, an animal. To be a prince in that world is to take nothing for granted.”‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’, episode 5 titled ‘In the Name of the Mother’, became the highest-rated ‘Game of Thrones’ episode of all time with the episode reaching a 9.8/10 on IMDb. The episode sees Baelor, dying in Dunk’s arms as his body collapses from a head wound sustained from his own brother, Maekar’s mace. The series finale will hit screens next Sunday. Go to Source
