A surprise betrayal gives us a new villain to hate.

After each episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Slate writers will gather to answer a crucial question: Who is the worst person in Westeros? This week, senior editor Sam Adams and senior writer Rebecca Onion answer the call.

Sam Adams: Greetings, Rebecca! This week, it feels like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a series that is premised mostly around a lack of action, finally started cooking with whatever the Westerosi equivalent of gas is. We got our second invocation of the Game of Thrones theme, but this time, instead of a pooping Dunk, we got an unironic buildup to the sight of Prince Baelor Targaryen on horseback. Of course, this being the show that it is, that moment was preceded by a fart joke. The Seven giveth and they taketh away.

Speaking of the Seven: Before Baelor saddles up, Dunk finds himself in a bit of hot water. Egg—which, as we now know, is short for Aegon—may have prevented the hedge knight from getting his teeth knocked in, but he’s still in deep with Egg’s brother Aerion, who is not one to forgive a slight. Aerion is also, however, not one for a fair fight, even against so mockable an opponent as Ser Duncan the Tall. So in order to settle their beef, Aerion draws on an obscure precedent and challenges Dunk to a Trial of Seven, purportedly an ancient and time-honored means of letting the gods themselves decide which is the guilty party.

The upshot is that Dunk, who is not exactly long on friends, has to assemble a team in a matter of hours or face the stickiest of fates. (Imagine Ocean’s Eleven if Danny Ocean were the new kid in town.) That process allows a few people to make noble gestures, and a few to show their treacherous side.

So, before we start deciding, Rebecca: Is this a week to name a Worst Person in Westeros, or are we looking for a Best instead? And who stands out to you?

Rebecca Onion: This is absolutely a week to name a Worst. In the previous episode, poor Dunk acted out of deeply held beliefs (and his raging crush on puppeteer Tanselle) in dealing Aerion the blows he deserved, instead of being wise and considering the full context of the situation. That mistake made him vulnerable to the whims of aristocrats, and there are many candidates for the Worst among this group of mostly drunk and hungover men.

First, I think we should consider Egg. Dunk is, I think, rightly peeved at him for failing to let Dunk know he’s a Targaryen. Egg acted out of his own desires—to be a squire, to see the tourney—and put Dunk at great risk. As his uncle Baelor points out, Egg made things even worse for Dunk by going to get him, rather than Baelor, when he needed someone to help Tanselle. All that is bad, but on the other hand, Egg is but a tween. Sam, do you forgive Egg his sins, here?

Adams: I can hold Egg responsible for being a bit of a pain in the butt, but not for wanting to get clear of his miserable family and see the world—especially since he tried squiring for his brother Daeron (Henry Ashton) first, and Daeron decided he’d rather be drunk in an inn than joust for glory. Egg’s not even the biggest weasel in the family, considering that Daeron’s lie about Dunk kidnapping Egg—rather than the truth of the latter secretly following in the knight’s wake—is a big part of all the trouble that’s lobbed at Dunk.

When we’re talking Targayens and worsts, though, there’s no real contest. Aerion is a serious contender in any episode in which he appears, but an episode in which he threatens to castrate Egg so he can make him “a sister,” then marry him? All the icks in the Seven Kingdoms are not enough. Then there’s the fact that he’s literally making other people fight his battles, or at least fight alongside him, because he’s too much of a coward to face Dunk alone. (Daeron is a coward too, but of a more understandable sort; he merely wants to be struck a nice blow on the helmet so he can pass out and avoid getting killed.)

So: Aerion in a walk? Or am I overlooking something?

Onion: Daeron should not have told his powerful family that a “huge robber knight” ran off with Aegon. Aerion should not have threatened Egg, maybe-probably killed Egg’s cat, or shit-eatingly told Dunk that surely he can find six people to fight with him, because “if a cause is just, good men will fight for it.” He’s a classic toxic Targaryen—we can recognize them now! And I want to give one more honorable mention to the Brute of Bracken for responding to Dunk’s rousing speech asking for more men to fight by his side by standing up, letting everyone think that he might be joining him, then farting. That’s just rude and mean, and the crowd is kind of the worst for laughing at it. (Except for the children present—I forgive them.)

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But I think we have to give the trophy to Ser Steffon Fossoway (Edward Ashley), who gave us so much false hope by telling Dunk he was on his side, even promising him, “You shan’t die under my watch, ser,” then turning heel at the promise of a lordship. He also kept his flip secret until it was too late for Dunk to recruit anyone else—let’s not forget that! “You told Ser Duncan to rely on you,” his cousin Raymun remonstrates. He did! He’s the worst! Can we agree?

Adams: My head says Aerion, but my heart agrees with you. “Targaryen scion is a spineless psychopath” is classic dog-bites-man, but Ser Steffon being a performative ally who swaps sides for the sake of a lordship—that’s both spineless and surprising. That his green squire and cousin Raymun immediately steps into his place and gets knighted by Baelor only underlines Steffon’s treachery. If an inexperienced “green apple” knows that a knight is worth no more than his word, then Steffon’s got no excuse. I’m hoping that promised lordship never materializes—the Targaryens are, among other things, not exactly known for keeping their word—and that the only title he ends up with is the one we bestow on him here: Ser Steffon, we dub thee the Worst Person in Westeros.

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