Lyonel Baratheon in The Hedge Knight is one of those characters who gets a relatively small amount of page time and still completely owns the room. he’s called the Laughing Storm because he laughs while fighting, which is such a ridiculous, instantly clear way to introduce someone. this is a man who is enjoying himself while he knocks people off horses.
the book gives him that swaggering, larger-than-life presence. he takes the crests off defeated knights’ helmets and throws them to the crowd, so the smallfolk get to keep the prize. it makes him cocky, but also generous in a way the other knights aren’t. he understands that a tourney is meant to be fun to watch. the book details collected for Lyonel make clear how much of his legend is tied to that loud laugh and his showmanship.
the show lets him take up more space
in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Daniel Ings gets to turn that sketch into a full person. the book moves past Lyonel pretty quickly; the show gives him time to be strange and funny. he invites Dunk into the Baratheon tent, sizes him up, dances with him, starts a tug-of-war and wanders off for a drink halfway through. somehow every new bit makes him feel more like Lyonel, not like extra stuff glued on for the sake of it.
the dance is the moment for me. Dunk is this massive, awkward bloke who has wandered into a room full of highborn people, and Lyonel doesn’t treat him like a joke or make him prove he belongs. he’s curious. he pulls him into the nonsense and sees what he’s like. Ings has talked about how Lyonel spots the interesting, odd thing about Dunk, and you can feel that in the scene.
the show made up a lot of these moments, but they fit the basic shape of him: shameless, restless, amused by people, and still a proper fighter when it matters. the added scenes make the book character feel bigger without taking away the reason he matters in the story. that’s a good adaptation choice.
Daniel Ings is having the time of his life
Ings makes Lyonel so cool because he never plays him as a boring “funny one”. there’s a bit of danger under all that charm. he can be generous because he’s powerful enough not to care what the room thinks. he can be childish because he’s also a brilliant fighter and knows it. he’s kind of a menace, but one you’d want at your table.
the laugh could’ve got annoying fast. instead it feels like Lyonel’s whole way of moving through the world: he refuses to make himself small or solemn just because he’s a lord. he likes people. he likes a contest. he likes being the loudest person in the tent. there’s a freedom to him that makes all the other knights look like they’re taking their own little ceremony too seriously.
and then when the trial of seven comes, all that energy suddenly has somewhere to go. Lyonel joins Dunk’s side because the chance to fight in a trial of seven is too good to miss, and he helps knight Raymun before they ride out. the big personality has actual courage behind it. he isn’t just funny wallpaper.
book Lyonel is a legend you hear about and then get a glimpse of. show Lyonel is a person you want to hang around with. Daniel Ings makes him so charismatic that the second he’s on screen i’m like, yeah, let him have another scene. let the Laughing Storm do whatever he wants for a bit. he’s so cool.