archetypal characters
In the library section we have gathered together some of the many themes treated in this book, with an emphasis on out-of-the-way information. The following selections include a listing of the major characters from the Arthuriad; details of some of the most important sites mentioned in the stories, which may be visited in reality or dream; and recipes for sacred oils and incenses, together with rituals, blessings, invocations, and readings from the great texts concerning Arthur and the Grail. This provides a resource that will enable you to further explore the world of Arthur.
Agravaine: Son of King Lot and Queen Morgause. The second of the Orkney brothers, who included Gawain, Gaheries, and Gareth. Less likable than the others, Agravaine was involved in the plot against Lancelot that brought down the chivalry of the Round Table. He met his death at the hands of Lancelot in the fight outside the queen’s chamber.
Ambrosius Aurelianus: Vortigern’s successor and brother of Uther.
Arthur: Son of Uther and Igraine. It was said that his mother had been among those who escaped from Atlantis before the great continent sank; others maintained that she had Faery blood. Certainly Uther possessed the ancient blood of the British kings, being descended from a line of rulers. Arthur became the sacred king of Britain on drawing a sword from a stone—not Excalibur, as is sometimes believed, but a symbol of his right to rule arranged by Merlin, who had brought about his birth by disguising Uther to look like Igraine’s first husband, Gorlois, and who afterwards became his advisor.
Bedivere: Knight of the Round Table, Arthur’s cupbearer. One of the first to join the fellowship, he became the butler to the court, organizing feasts and tournaments along with the irascible Kay. A warrior in his own right, he was with Arthur to the end and finally threw the enchanted sword Excalibur back into the lake from which it had come.
Bercilak: Knight transformed by Morgan into the likeness of the Green Knight. He stands for the principle of winter; in his alternate guise he is a vegetation god whose task was to test and then initiate Gawain into the mysteries of the Goddess. Lady Bercilak, his wife, was forced to attempt the seduction of Gawain so that he would betray the vows of chivalry and thus damage the reputation of the Round Table. At a deeper level she is one of the aspects of the Goddess, whose tempting role was also designed to initiate Gawain into her service.
Blaise: Merlin’s master to whom, in the Didot Perceval, he makes his report of events concerning Arthur’s kingdom before retiring. Blaise is a shadowy figure described as a monk or hermit in most texts, but in reality he suggests a more ancient and primal figure who taught Merlin the secret arts.
Bors: Cousin to Lancelot. One of the strongest knights of the Round Table, he became the third of the trio of successful Grail knights. Steadiness and dependability were his chief aspects. He alone returned to Camelot at the end of the great quest to tell Arthur and the rest what had occurred. Later he refused to defend Guinevere against accusations of adultery, changed his mind, and then was relieved by Lancelot, who appeared at the last moment to save her. Surviving most of the fellowship, he died in Palestine fighting in the Crusades.
Bran: Ancestral king of Britain. One of the powerful titanic gods who ruled the land before the coming of Arthur. He also prefigures the Wounded King of the later stories. At his death he commanded that his head be cut off and carried to the island of Gwales, where it continued to oraculate for many years until one of the company who accompanied it opened a forbidden door, at which point the head fell silent and began to decay. It was then carried to the White Mount in London and buried there in accordance with Bran’s wishes, so that he might continue to defend the country against invasion. Arthur later ordered the head dug up so that he alone was considered the defender of Britain.
Brangane: The companion of Isolt of Cornwall who gives Tristan and her mistress the love potion brewed by Isolt’s mother intended for the wedding night of Isolt with Mark. After Tristan becomes Isolt’s lover, she agrees to substitute herself on the wedding night so that Mark will never know that his wife was no longer a virgin.
Brisen: The nurse to Elaine of Corbenic; it is she who arranges the deception by which Galahad is engendered, giving Lancelot a drugged drink that causes him to believe he is with Guinevere. Waking to discover that it is Elaine beside him in bed, Lancelot almost kills her, then runs mad for a time. Elaine brings up Galahad, then sends him to the care of nuns at Amesbury.
Culhwch: Early Celtic hero whose quest for Olwen White-Footprint, daughter of Yspadadden Chief-Giant, led him to request aid from his cousin Arthur. A fantastic collection of heroes with otherworldly abilities are dispatched to help the youth, and a mass of fragmentary hero tales are drawn upon for the adventures that follow.
Dagonet: Arthur’s court jester who became a knight of the Round Table and whose gentle mockery made him amongst the most popular figures in the Arthurian panoply. He became an especial friend of Tristan, more than once rescuing him from capture by Mark.
Dindrane: The sister of Perceval, who accompanies the Grail knights and eventually sacrifices herself in order to heal a leprous woman. Her body was carried in the magical ship of Solomon to the sacred city of Sarras, where it was buried alongside that of Galahad. As the only woman involved in the Grail Quest, her role is of the utmost importance. She represents, along with Elaine of Corbenic, the feminine mysteries of the Grail.
Ector: The foster father of Arthur. He brought up the young king in ignorance of his identity after being entrusted with the child by Merlin.
Elaine of Astolat: The maiden by whose father Lancelot is secretly armed for a tournament. She falls in love with the famous knight and when she realizes that he will never return that love, she starves herself to death. Her body is put into a boat and carried down river to Camelot, where all are saddened by her fate.
Elaine of Corbenic: The daughter of Pelles, of the Grail Family. Elaine’s nurse, Brisen, gives Lancelot a drugged potion so that he believes he is sleeping with Guinevere when it’s really Elaine. When he discovers the deception, he goes mad for a time but is finally discovered and healed by Elaine. She fades from the scene at this junction but features as the Grail Princess under other names in the rest of the Arthurian sagas.
Gaheries: Son of Lot and Morgause. One of the Orkney brothers, he discovers that Morgause has taken the knight Lamorack as her lover; discovering them in bed together, he cuts off his mother’s head in a fit of passion. He later dies at Lancelot’s hand in the battle to rescue Guinevere from the stake.
Galahad: Son of Elaine of Corbenic and Lancelot. He surpasses his father in both chivalry and purity of life, becoming the achiever of the Grail along with Perceval and Bors. His relationship with his father is touching and enlightening, and his last words are to tell Bors to “remember me to my father, Sir Lancelot.”
Galehaut the Haut Prince: Lord of the kingdom of Surluse. He wars against Arthur in the early days of the young king’s reign but finally surrenders after observing the chivalry of Lancelot, whose devoted follower he then becomes. Finally, believing Lancelot dead, he refuses to eat and starves himself to death. He is buried with honor at Lancelot’s castle of Joyous Garde.
Gareth of Orkney: Son of Lot and Morgause, he comes anonymously to court and is called Beaumains (Fair Hands) by Kay, who puts him to work in the kitchens. He requests that he be allowed to go on the adventure of Linet and distinguishes himself greatly, fighting a series of multicolored knights. He is knighted by Lancelot, whose devoted follower he becomes, and is tragically slain by the great knight during the battle to rescue Guinevere from the stake.
Gawain: Son of King Lot of Orkney. The eldest of the Orkney brothers, he was the greatest knight at the Arthurian court until after the coming of Lancelot. His reputation suffered due to his allegiance to the Goddess, whose champion and lover he became after the initiation tests of the Green Knight and his marriage to Ragnall. The death of his brothers at Lancelot’s hands drove him to become the bitterest foe of his once greatest friend. He died from wounds received in a fight that Lancelot never wished for. His ghost appeared to Arthur before the Battle of Camlan.
Geraint/Erec: The hero of the Welsh story “Geraint and Enid” from the Mabinogion. In the Celtic tradition he is known as the king of Dumnonia and may have been an actual historical character. In French he is known as Erec, son of Lac, and a similar tale to that of the Welsh version is told in which, having married Enid, she reproaches him for giving up knightly pursuits. Thus chided, Erec/Geraint embarks on a new set of strange otherworld adventures, forcing Enid to accompany him and treating her harshly until he has proved to her that he is still a hero.
Gorlois: Duke of Cornwall, first husband of Igraine. He fights a bitter war with Uther and is finally slain in a foray from the castle of Tintagel. Merlin then disguises Uther so that he has the appearance of Gorlois, in which form he engenders Arthur upon Igraine, whom he later marries.
Gromer Somer Jour: Brother of Ragnall who challenges Arthur with a riddle: “What is it women most desire?” A powerful otherworldly figure and enchanter, he is defeated by Arthur with the help of Gawain and confesses that he was himself enchanted by Morgan le Fay.
Guinevere: Daughter of Leodegrance, wife of Arthur. Her affair with Lancelot brings down the kingdom, and she ends her days in the monastery of Amesbury, where she is finally buried after taking a last leave of Lancelot. Her original role was as the Flower Bride, an ancient aspect of the Goddess whose function was to be fought over by the contending powers of Summer and Winter. At one time Arthur and Lancelot must have taken these roles.
Igraine: Mother of Arthur. Tradition speaks of her as coming from Atlantis, but in most versions of the story she is the wife of Gorlois of Cornwall, with whom Uther falls in love and through Merlin’s enchantment is given the likeness of Igraine’s husband so that Uther can beget Arthur upon her.
Isolt of Ireland and Cornwall: Daughter of King Anguish of Ireland. She was the intended wife of Mark of Cornwall but became the lover of Tristan after drinking a love potion intended for her wedding night. A famous beauty, her affair with Tristan shocked the Arthurian court and drew attention for a time from the love of Lancelot and Guinevere. Arriving too late to save Tristan from a poisoned wound, she fell dead and was buried alongside him in Brittany.
Isolt of the White Hands: Daughter of the King of Brittany, she became Tristan’s wife at the behest of her brother Kaherdin. The marriage was not consummated, and Isolt became bitter towards her husband, finally bringing about his death by lying about the color of the sails on the ship bringing Isolt of Ireland to his aid. She committed suicide shortly after.
Joseph of Arimathea: A rich Jew with connections in the Cornish tin trade, he may have visited Britain with the young Jesus. Later, after the Crucifixion, he claimed the body of the Messiah and interred it in his own tomb. As a reward he was later given custodianship of the Grail, and he founded a family of guardians who continued to watch over it until the time of its achieving by Galahad, who was a direct descendent of Joseph. He is also credited with building the first Christian church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, at Glastonbury in Somerset.
Kay: Arthur’s foster brother, son of Ector. He became Arthur’s seneschal and served him faithfully in this office until the end of the Round Table. His irascible nature and occasional cruelty earned him an unsympathetic reputation, but he was a good knight for all that and seems to have been genuinely loved by Arthur.
Klingsor: In the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach, Klingsor is described as a kind of anti-Grail king, a dark magician who desires the sacred vessel for the sake of the power it brings. Originally he is a duke, but after being castrated by King Ibert of Sicily for sleeping with his wife, he adopts the role of wizard and turns against the Grail seekers. He holds both Arthur’s mother and other queens captive until they are rescued by Gawain.
Kundrie (Cundrie): In Wolfram’s Parzival she is a Grail guardian learned in star lore. She is sometimes portrayed as a loathly lady whose outer ugliness betrays her inner beauty. She informs Parsifal of the summoning of his wife and sons to the Castle of the Grail and advises him that the wounds of Anfortas can be healed by the asking of the Grail Question.
Lamorack: Son of King Pellinore. One of the strongest knights of the Round Table, he fell in love with Morgause and was finally murdered by Gawain and his brothers after Gaheries cut off his mother’s head when he found her in bed with Lamorack.
Lancelot: Son of King Ban of Benwick, sometimes called Lancelot du Lac after his fostering in the otherworldly realm by the Lady of the Lake. He retains many qualities of the Faery knight, which enabled him to take his place as the most renowned of Arthur’s knights. He took over from Gawain the role of queen’s champion and fell in love with Guinevere. There are many stories that tell of Lancelot’s prowess and his attempts to rid the kingdom of evil custom: in this guardianship of the land, he substitutes the kingly role of Arthur. After being tricked into sleeping with Elaine of Corbenic, he ran mad. After his healing, he took part in the Grail Quest. Unable to attain the vessel himself, due to his adulterous love of Guinevere, he is nonetheless represented and surpassed by Galahad, his son. Eventually banished from court, he became a hermit after Arthur’s passing.
Linet: Sometimes called le Demoiselle Sauvage. Linet comes to court asking for help for her imprisoned sister, Lionors. The only available knight is the recently knighted Beaumains (Gareth), whose chivalric inexperience she unmercifully taunts. She also appears in an earlier story as the guide and protector of Owein.
Lionors: Sister of Linet. She is rescued by Gareth, who later marries her.
Lot: King of Orkney and husband of Morgause. At the beginning of Arthur’s reign, he was one of the rebel kings. The Orkney clan, consisting of his sons—Gawain, Agravaine, Gaheries, and Gareth—and their mother retain some animosity towards Arthur’s reign; though, ironically, it is in Mordred, the son of Morgause by Arthur, that the seeds of former rebellion surface. Lot was killed by Pellinore.
Mark: King of Cornwall and uncle of Tristan, whom he sends to obtain his bride, Isolt, daughter of the king of Ireland, with disastrous results for his own happiness. Isolt avoids her own wedding night by sending her companion, Brangane, to Mark’s bed. Mark is represented as a cuckold who condones Isolt’s infidelity, though he frequently pursued the queen and his nephew.
Merlin: Mage and guardian of the Pendragon line. Born to a virgin who was visited by a spirit, Merlin Emrys was discovered by Vortigern’s men as the perfect sacrifice to help seal the foundations of Vortigern’s tumbling-down tower. Merlin tells of the eternal battle between the dragons that underlie the tower’s foundations in a story that reflects the racial nature of this theme. He makes prophecies about Britain in gnomic verses and becomes the advisor of Ambrosius Aurelianus and his brother Uther, in the course of whose reign he magically builds Stonehenge. Arthur inherits Merlin as magical adviser for only a short while when Merlin returns to his father’s realm to become the eternal guardian of Britain (according to earlier sources) or succumbs to the charms of Nimue (according to later French sources). Merlin is the chief architect of the Pendragon’s strategy and the inner guardian of the land, which in early times was called Clas Merddyn, or Merlin’s Enclosure.
Mordred: The incestuously begotten son of Arthur and Morgause. When Arthur realized that he had slept with his half sister, he attempted to kill his son by issuing a Herod-like proclamation that all babies born at that time be exposed in an open boat. Mordred survived to be raised by Morgause, who eventually sends him to court, though Mordred is never openly recognized as Arthur’s son or successor. When the Round Table is in collapse, Mordred capitalizes on the weakness of the realm and Arthur’s absence to seize command. He is slain by Arthur, whom he mortally wounds.
Morgan le Fay: The name for this lady went through many changes in the lifetime of the Arthuriad. She began as Morgen but is also known as Morgan, Morgain, Morgane, Morgan le Fay, and Morgana. Daughter of Gorlois and Igraine, she was sent to a monastery ostensibly to be educated as a nun, though she learns the magical arts. She made a political match with Uriens of Gore and became the mother of Owein. At enmity with Arthur and his plans, she seems to be ever plotting some new enormity. However, Morgan’s role as protector of the land leads her to adopt some challenging measures to keep Arthur’s kingship bright. Morgan has many early and Celtic correlatives that make plain the nature of her role as guardian of Britain’s sovereignty, which she in many ways embodies.
Morgause: Wife of Lot, daughter of Igraine and Gorlois. She was politically married to Lot of Orkney, by whom she had Gawain, Gaheries, Agravaine, and Gareth. She bore Mordred to Arthur after having seduced her half brother on the eve of his coronation. She became Lamorack’s mistress and, on being discovered in bed with him, was slain by Gaheries.
Morold: Isolt of Cornwall’s uncle, sometimes called Marhaus. Mark had to pay a levy to Anguish of Ireland; when he discontinued this payment, Morold was sent out to fight Mark’s champion Tristan, whom he wounded severely and by whom he was slain.
Nimue: Sometimes also called Viviane. She was the daughter of Dionas, a gentleman who was a votary of Diana. Nimue was conflated with the Lady of the Lake in later traditions. Merlin taught her magic and eventually became infatuated with her, according to Malory, so that Nimue is able to entice and imprison him under a great stone. She then adopts Merlin’s magical mantle throughout the rest of the story.
Owein: Son of Morgan and Uriens, sometimes called Ywain. Owein is one of the earliest Arthurian knights and, in the Mabinogion, becomes the husband of the Lady of the Fountain and the master of the Enchanted Games. In later tradition, Owein prevents Morgan from killing his father. He also rescues a lion that becomes his companion, by which he sometimes is also called the Knight of the Lion.
Palamides: Saracen knight in love with Isolt of Cornwall. He became the pursuer of the Questing Beast after the death of Pellinore.
Pelles: King of Corbenic, member of the Grail Family. Also called Pellam. Pelles was wounded with the Dolorous Blow by Balin and so became the King of the Wasteland, which cannot be restored save by the Grail winner. Pelles condones the use of magic to lure Lancelot to sleep with his daughter, Elaine of Corbenic, in order that this achiever of the Grail can be engendered.
Pellinore: King Pellinore was the father of Perceval and Lamorack. His chief task was the pursuit of the Questing Beast. Because Pellinore had killed Lot, a long feud lay between the families of Pellinore and Orkney. Eventually Gawain and Gaheries slew Pellinore in revenge.
Perceval: Son of King Pellinore, one of the Grail winners. According to most traditions, Perceval was raised by his mother in ignorance of arms and courtesy, but his natural prowess led him to Arthur’s court, where he immediately set off in pursuit of a knight who had insulted Guinevere. His further training in arms brought him into the hall of the Fisher King, where he forbore to ask the all-healing Grail Question out of ill-placed courtesy. His subsequent quest and finding of the Grail is related in the earlier traditions, where he becomes the new Grail guardian. However, later texts replace Perceval with Galahad as the Grail winner. Perceval there becomes Galahad’s companion. Perceval’s early ignorance has tagged him “the Perfect Fool.” His Christ-like simplicity matures into real insight and wisdom.
Ragnall: Sister to Gromer Somer Jour. Enchanted into the shape of an ugly hag by Morgan, she comes to the rescue of Arthur, who strives to find the answer to Gromer’s riddle. She agrees to tell him the answer in return for her marriage to Gawain. Arthur trustfully accepts on Gawain’s behalf. Gromer arrives and poses the question once more: “What is it women most desire?” and Arthur relates the answer: “Women desire to have sovereignty over men.” Gawain and Ragnall are wed; at their first kiss she is transformed into a beautiful maiden. However, Gawain is asked to decide whether she shall be fair by day and foul by night or the reverse. Fully realizing the meaning of the riddle, Gawain begs her to choose, and Ragnall is forever unenchanted.
Tristan: King Mark’s nephew, lover of Isolt of Cornwall. Sent by Mark to fetch his bride, Tristan falls in love with Isolt by means of drinking a love potion. Their checkered love is marked by continual pursuits by Mark, near escapes, and subterfuges. After being healed of a poisoned arrow wound by her, Tristan marries another Isolt, Isolt of the White Hands, with whom he is unable to find happiness. Tristan dies without seeing his former Isolt. Tristan is the truly bardic knight, without the pristine chivalry of Lancelot: a true Celt in his poetic lovemaking.
Uriens of Gore: One of the early rebels against Arthur, he became one of Arthur’s most faithful followers. Father of Owein and husband of Morgan.
Uther Pendragon: Father to Arthur, second husband of Igraine. After becoming king, Uther saw Igraine and lusted for her. He lay siege to her husband Gorlois’s castle and, in his absence and with the aid of Merlin, took on the shape of Gorlois in order to sleep with her. In the same hour Gorlois perished in battle. Uther retains the earliest resonances of the Arthurian legend, the bedrock upon which they are established; his taking of Igraine for himself, coupled with further hints in other texts, reveal him to have practiced “the custom of the Pendragon”—a form of droit du seignuer—with the women of his realm.
Vortigern: The predecessor of Ambrosius and Uther who invited Saxon mercenaries into Britain in order to protect the realm, an action hardly popular among the people. His attempts to build a tower-stronghold came to nothing, for it kept tumbling down. Counselled by his Druids to sacrifice a boy without a father, Vortigern found Merlin, who challenged the Druids and then prophesied the fate of Britain. Vortigern died shortly after.