All Men Are fools, and All Men Are Knights: What A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Teaches Us about Alt-Right Knighthood

The rise of the far right has brought with it the recovery of a prominent Western figure: the knight. And recently, the first season of the 2026 HBO show A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has joined the trend by creating a story about the traits and essence of becoming a knight. To determine whether there is more than one contemporary model of knighthood, this paper compares the show’s portrayal of it to how the impact of (neo)medievalist ideas of philosophers like Julius Evola has shaped modern versions of “crusades”, “templars” or “Reconquista”. The data for the latter has been obtained by observing the medieval imagery that has become popularized through the internet, far-right organizations, and groups like the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights. The comparative analysis is based on George Lakoff’s theories about framing, which serve to understand the importance of the reframing of universal values to shift a narrative, especially when a concept like knighthood has been so thoroughly contextualized within a certain mentality. This essay ultimately argues that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms sets universal values in a nurturing and progressive framework, offering an alternative reading to the XXI-century “alt-knight”.