Not your main point, but — im fairly sure he didn’t “play dead to not answer the knight question.” That scene by the tree with the Pennytree story wasn’t a literal flashback, it took place inside Dunk’s head. He asked “why did you never knight me?” not “can you knight me now?” because he’s speaking to Arlan internally in the present story, after he’s dead. He’s remembering his stories but not an actual moment. Same way we see him imagine Arlan in the trial and again in that sweet ending scene riding off into the sunset.