Aerion finally gets his first villain moment.

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, staff writer Nadira Goffe and senior editor Jenny G. Zhang answer the call.

Nadira Goffe: Jenny! I’m so excited to gab about this episode for a bit, because woof—or should I say hoof?—what an episode it was. I would call it egg-cellent, because most of it is about Egg, the adorable, mysteriously bald stable boy who becomes Dunk’s squire. It’s 30 minutes of the unlikely friends just hangin’ out, really living up to the title of the George R.R. Martin novellas that the show is based on, Tales of Dunk and Egg. Dunk teaches Egg how to mend a patch in clothing, they cheer over the day’s jousts, and there’s a scene in which the two role-play a conversation about eating salt beef that is so stinkin’ cute I had a lopsided smile on my face the whole time. At one point, the gentle giant cooks his tiny squire a meal with goose eggs that have yolks so large I instantly sensed that there was some sort of subtext going on as they sizzled in the pan.

I mentioned this to our colleague Sam Adams when we discussed the series premiere, but I love Egg. He’s small, cute, and whip-smart, making the duo a good match: Egg has the brains, Dunk has the brawn. But as Episode 3 went on, I began to have this sinking feeling that he’s too pure to make it out of a Game of Thrones title alive. I also started to notice some things about the little tyke: He’s vague about his parents, he’s more knowledgeable than he should be about Westeros’ regents and customs and legends, and he never directly answers the many queries he receives about the origins of his baldness. In one conversation about a legend told through song, Egg asks Dunk: “But is this not the act of the dogged spirit? Giving more than what was asked?” I ask you: What child talks like that? When Dunk and Egg approach a fortune teller, she informs Dunk he will be successful and rich, but to Egg: “You shall be king and die in a hot fire, and worms shall feed upon your ashes. And all who know you shall rejoice in your dying.” Harsh!

It isn’t until princeling Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett) attacks Tanselle, the puppeteer and entertainer that Dunk is sweet on, that we find out the truth Egg has been hiding. Dunk punches Aerion, who promises to return the favor tenfold by removing all of Dunk’s teeth, and Egg has no choice but to out himself as Aerion’s brother, the missing youngest of Maekar’s (Sam Spruell) sons. He shaved his head to hide his blond hair, wanting to distance himself from his family.

Look—this big secret wasn’t hard to figure out. The child was weirdly in the know, and a fortune teller said he would be king, and every time someone mentioned the youngest of Maekar’s sons, they were cut off before they said a name. (That’s “Egg” for “Aegon,” by the way.) But still, Egg lied—and lied well. I know we have two decisions to make here: Are we crowning Worst or Best Person in Westeros this week? And, in either case, who is winning it? I would like to throw Egg’s name in for Best, unless we feel Worst this week is more deserving. Mostly because his entrance toward the end was badass, but also because I just wanna pinch his cheeks. What did you make of this big reveal, Jenny? Is it worthy of a crown?

Jenny G. Zhang: Egg’s grand reveal came in clutch, as his new best friend would surely have lost his teeth, his hand, and maybe his leg for assaulting a prince of House Targaryen, even if the attack was justified. (For context, Aerion was hurting Tanselle because, while in character, the theater-troupe member killed a fake dragon onstage, an unforgivable act of treason in the dragon-obsessed Aerion’s eyes. This won’t come into play anytime soon, but for those interested in greater Song of Ice and Fire lore, Aerion Targaryen is remembered in Westerosi history as the royal lunatic who becomes so convinced he’s destined to become a dragon that he eventually kills himself consuming wildfire.)

But as far as adjudicating Egg’s actions goes, I think his conduct in this episode may have been too mixed to crown him one way or the other. He does save Dunk, but he could have also stopped Aerion from hurting Tanselle by revealing himself earlier without involving Dunk. One could argue, too, that he put Dunk in greater danger throughout their friendship by concealing the truth from him. On the other hand, Egg is just a little kid who clearly loathes his family—at least his brother Aerion—so he can be forgiven for his lapses in judgment. Thus: neither Best nor Worst, but a secret third thing (aka neutral).

There are other candidates for WPiW, however. For example, Plummer, the steward of Ashford, who tries to persuade Dunk to throw the tournament so he can make a quick buck. All Dunk has to do is earn the ire of everyone in Ashford by defeating the local lord’s son, Plummer tries to argue, but Dunk has too much honor to even entertain the idea.

Typing this out, though, I feel it’s obvious that Plummer is small potatoes compared to the real menace of this episode. Are you thinking who I’m thinking, Nadira?

Goffe: Yes, as fine an actor as Tom Vaughan-Lawlor is in the role of Plummer, I sincerely, truly, never want to hear him hock a loogie again. Enough is enough!

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But the real menace, as you said, is Aerion “Brightflame” Targaryen, a wild spirit made mostly of arrogance and ruthlessness. We first met him in Episode 2, in a brief scene when he said all of three sentences, all of them belittling to Dunk. This week, we finally get to see him in his full, evil form. In a jousting match against Ser Humfrey Hardyng (Ross Anderson), Aerion—determined to never lose—does the medieval version of “sweeping the leg.” He puts his lance right through the neck of his opponent’s horse, condemning it to an awful death and its rider to a painful fall. (I’m praying that no animals were harmed in the making of this episode, because that was brutal to watch.) This act immediately earns the ire of the watching crowd, with someone throwing a rock at Aerion’s head, while many others in the audience call him a “cheating bastard.” In their fury, the angry mob must be held back by guards. If that bit of underhandedness weren’t enough to prove Aerion’s turpitude, this is followed by the aforementioned assault of Tanselle, with the Targaryen prince viciously breaking one of her fingers before Dunk steps in. It’s safe to say that Aerion might be a physically attractive guy, but he’s far from a good one.

The one person who seems to be deeply aware of this, and who earns my personal badge of honor for the week, is Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas). Dunk naively wonders to his new friend whether Aerion’s horse-lancing wasn’t an accident, saying that it’s “just hard to accept that a knight might be so dishonorable, let alone a prince.” Raymun pushes back in a particularly passionate rant, calling the Targaryens “incestuous aliens,” “blood-magickers,” and “tyrants” who enslaved their people. “Every pale-haired brat they’ve saddled on us has been madder than the last,” he spits. Whoo, baby! Game of Thrones doesn’t get more populist than that, even if the message is coming from a distant member of nobility.

But when all is said and done this week, I’m still thinking about that poor pony. What say you, Jenny? Was Aerion bad enough to take the crown this week?

Zhang: Yes, between the animal (and human) cruelty, unsportsmanlike behavior, and general terrorizing of the entire encampment, I think it’s enough to officially call it: Aerion is this week’s Worst Person in Westeros. The cards were always stacked against him, being a Targaryen and all—and I do like how this episode highlights just how much the smallfolk and non-Targ nobility loathe these descendants of Valyria, a real illustration of how far the once-godlike brood has fallen since the events of House of the Dragon—but, seriously, it wouldn’t kill Aerion to take a chill pill once in a while. Here’s to hoping next week brings a little less royal madness, for all of Westeros’ sake.

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