{"id":2574316,"date":"2026-02-27T08:42:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-might-be-non-woke-but-its-not-the-conservative-triumph-we-need\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T08:47:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:47:44","slug":"a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-might-be-non-woke-but-its-not-the-conservative-triumph-we-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-might-be-non-woke-but-its-not-the-conservative-triumph-we-need\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms&#8217; Is Not A Conservative Triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-might-be-non-woke-but-its-not-the-conservative-triumph-we-need%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2574316&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The piece surveys the reception of HBO\u2019s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, noting that the first season has garnered glowing reviews and strong audience numbers, with a second season already greenlit. It also highlights an unexpectedly favorable response from some conservative commentators, who praised the show for portraying a knight as a heroic, morally upright figure.<\/p>\n<p>Plot and craft are summarized: the story follows Ser Duncan the Tall,who,after being knighted by his dying master,seeks to honour the chivalric code by entering a tournament,pairing with a young squire named Egg,forming alliances with powerful lords,and becoming entangled in a feud with a sadistic prince that leads to a trial by combat. The author praises the show\u2019s writing, character work, action sequences, and production values, noting that even a talented child actor stands out.<\/p>\n<p>On ideology, the article argues the show is \u201cnon-woke\u201d rather than explicitly conservative. While it centers on conventional virtues like chivalry,honor,and justice,it is not overtly conservative or anti-woke,and it acknowledges that George R.R. Martin, the source material\u2019s author, leans left, making it unlikely that conservative values were intentionally injected. The piece also critiques the broader conservative expectation that \u201cnon-woke\u201d content will reverse cultural trends, asserting that true conservatism would require stronger influence over cultural institutions, not just independent, non-woke entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>Author context: Hayden Daniel of The Federalist concludes that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms offers a modest,non-woke-positive note within a media landscape that <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >conservatives feel lacks overtly conservative content<\/a>,and he argues that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kirk-is-bringing-people-to-christ-the-church-should-be-ready\/\" title=\"Kirk Is Bringing People To Christ. The Church Should Be Ready\">lasting cultural change<\/a> will require conservatives to regain control of media institutions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The first season of HBO&rsquo;s <em>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms<\/em>, a prequel to <em>Game of Thrones<\/em> and the third adaptation from the <em>A Song of Ice and Fire<\/em> book series, has been met with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/tv\/a_knight_of_the_seven_kingdoms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">glowing<\/a> critical and audience reception. The show has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/tv\/2026\/02\/22\/knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-season-2\/88782039007\/#:~:text=The%20series%20has%20become%20a,the%20launch%20of%20HBO%20Max.%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pulled<\/a> in massive viewer numbers, and a second season has already been greenlit.<\/p>\n<p>And the show has gotten a surprising amount of positive attention from conservative commentators who often bemoan the sorry state of pop culture.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is good bc it actually shows that a knight can be a hero and morally good. Been years since any show had a character like this<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JackPosobiec\/status\/2018773562018898355?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>For those who haven&rsquo;t seen the show, peasant-born Ser (in the world of Westeros, that&rsquo;s how it&rsquo;s spelled) Duncan the Tall, claiming to be recently knighted by his dying master, seeks to uphold the chivalric code and win the glory that eluded his former guardian by entering into a tourney. Along the way, he picks up his own squire named &ldquo;Egg,&rdquo; befriends some powerful lords, and becomes embroiled in a feud with a sadistic prince that necessitates a trial by combat.<\/p>\n<p>The show is &hellip; good. The dialogue is well-written, the characters are engaging, and the fight scenes are terrific. The sets, costumes, and armor are all top-notch &mdash; up there with the best of <em>Game of Thrones<\/em> or even the <em>Lord of the Rings<\/em> films. Perhaps most surprisingly, it has a really good kid actor and a really good character for that kid actor to play.<\/p>\n<p>But while <em>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms<\/em> might be &ldquo;non-woke,&rdquo; it&rsquo;s not explicitly conservative either.<\/p>\n<p>It might be seen as conservative in the sense that chivalry, honor, and justice are central themes of the story, and those themes are not treated as jokes, as is so often the case in irony-poisoned Hollywood. It&rsquo;s conservative in that it&rsquo;s sincere. The snarkiness and meta-commentary are kept to a minimum. It&rsquo;s a simple story of right versus wrong, and, seemingly for once in a media landscape in which evil so often triumphs or is at least excused with a tragic backstory, right unambiguously wins.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, that&rsquo;s the bare minimum. <em>The Wizard of Oz<\/em> is pretty similar, but few people would argue that&rsquo;s an explicitly &ldquo;conservative&rdquo; film. Perhaps it is by virtue of the fact that no one in it is trying to push transgenderism on children, but that&rsquo;s a pretty low bar.<\/p>\n<p>Those are, and should be, politically neutral values.<\/p>\n<p>The author of the novella on which the show is based, George R.R. Martin, is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2014\/9\/18\/6381579\/george-rr-martin-fundraising-democrats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">avowed<\/a> leftist, and outlets have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/george-rr-martin-interview-thrones-winds-dragon-knight-1236473519\/#:~:text=Martin%20is%20nonetheless%20highly%20creatively,him%20as%20a%20friend%20now.%E2%80%9D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> that he was highly involved in the adaptation. So it&rsquo;s unlikely that any conservative values were intentionally injected into the show.<\/p>\n<p>There&rsquo;s also plenty for conservatives to dislike in this show, and it doesn&rsquo;t shy away from the grittier and seedier aspects of medieval life. It&rsquo;s vulgar (nudity and scatological humor abound), and the primary religion of this fictitious world is a shallow and cynical analog for the Catholic Church. In fact, religion in this universe is treated as naive superstition at best and near-demonic at worst.<\/p>\n<p>The right has an unfortunate tendency to claim any piece of pop culture that appears &ldquo;non-woke&rdquo; as its own and celebrate it as a sign that the woke stranglehold on media has finally broken and that we&rsquo;re on the cusp of getting those good ol&rsquo; fashioned family values back on our TV sets, often to disappointing results.<\/p>\n<p>Being &ldquo;non-woke&rdquo; is not the same as being anti-woke, and anti-woke is not necessarily the same as being conservative. <em>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms<\/em> might be &ldquo;non-woke&rdquo; because it&rsquo;s not actively pushing a leftist agenda. But it&rsquo;s not anti-woke in the same sense as, say, Dave Chappelle&rsquo;s comedy special in which he lambasted transgender insanity. But no one in his right mind would call Dave Chappelle conservative. Neither are other stand-up heroes the right has adopted in recent years, like Bill Burr or Bill Maher.<\/p>\n<p>And that&rsquo;s what I mean by a show that is truly conservative. When was the last time we saw a mainstream show treat Christianity as anything other than a joke or blatant hypocrisy used by greedy elites to rule over gullible masses? Conservatives cling to anything that is even partially &ldquo;non-woke&rdquo; because of the utter lack of truly conservative content in our media landscape outside of a few niche sources. Against the juggernaut that is the leftist pop culture machine, merely &ldquo;non-woke&rdquo; or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/yellowstone-receives-zero-emmy-nominations-while-woke-shows-get-multiple-nods\/\" title=\"\u2018Yellowstone\u2019 Receives Zero Emmy Nominations While Woke ...s Get Multiple Nods\">anti-woke content<\/a> is not enough to reverse the trends in our society. We can&rsquo;t fool ourselves into thinking that a show like this is going to turn the tide, because it&rsquo;s not. Conservative content used to be the mainstay in American media, and it must be again for our culture at large to change.<\/p>\n<p><em>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms<\/em> and other shows like it might provide a small light within the media dark age we currently find ourselves in, but until conservatives can take control of the institutions that create pop culture, we&rsquo;ll have to keep settling for scraps.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Hayden Daniel is a staff editor at The Federalist. He previously worked as an editor at The Daily Wire and as deputy editor\/opinion editor at The Daily Caller. He received his B.A. in European History from Washington and Lee University with minors in Philosophy and Classics. Follow him on Twitter at @HaydenWDaniel<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: rave reviews; S2 greenlit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1548,"featured_media":2574317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-166-e1772145134775.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[21130,17326,74727],"class_list":["post-2574316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-conservatism","tag-fantasy","tag-pop-culture-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-166-e1772145134775.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2574316"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2574324,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574316\/revisions\/2574324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2574317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2574316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2574316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2574316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}