@@TacComControl maybe. I mean it is dark ages europe… so ya know, could be seen as dishonourable… but then again he is already bangin a giantess… yeah I’m gonna class this as a 50/50 chance.
In the version I read, when Gawain returns, everyone is so impressed with his story and want to make him not feel bad, so they all cut themselves and get matching neck scars like the one the green knight gave him. Metal.
The version I heard was that the Green Girdle won't come off and he is forced to wear it forever to remind him of of his imperfect honour. However, after making fun of him for a while, the other knights decide to also wear green girdles so it just looks like something Arthur's knight's do. Bro move, less Metal.
@Domagoj Čović you know, insulting other people by calling them braindead is only really an effective insult when your own comment isn't the most braindead shit in the whole comment section.
There was a legend of Gawain that I love and it basically was like: Some knight was claiming to kill Arthur (or was he going to kill gawain?) And he gives Arthur a riddle to solve, and Gawain was looking for the answer for the riddle, and he meets a very, VERY, *VERY* ugly (not being rude, its a plot point to the story) woman who has no luck getting married, but she knows the answer to the riddle but she would only give it to Gawain if he marries her (he necessarily want to because y'know, ugly), he did and he tells the riddle to Arthur who then tells it to the knight and the doesn't kill Arthur (it turns out that he and the woman might be siblings). Gawain got married (and was teased by his fellow knights) and he and his wife went to bed and then, *THE WOMAN TURNS BEAUTIFUL, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS,* the woman told him that she was cursed (I think she was ugly at day and beautiful at night?) And something about the curse has something to do with marriage (I don't know the specifics), Gawain now has the choices of his wife being ugly at morning and beautiful at knight, or beautiful at day and ugly at night. I don't remember what Gawain said, but I think he wanted to love her for her and not her appearance and BOOM she is permanently beautiful, because the true condition to her curse is to have a knight for a husband who truly loves her. (P.s I haven't read this story in years so I might be wrong about a lot of things, and I don't know if it's even part of the Original legends.)
“Lancelot get out of the castle” “You’re not my king” “Lancelot I am your king now get out this instance” “I am in a castle and you are not” “Lancelot get down here” “Shan’t”
3:31 Got to say, I love how this writer person who doesn't even know what a bi-racial person looks like, still wrote this foreign knight to be one and also to be super cool, strong and adored by the entire court. That is so unexpected for someone from so far back.
I don’t remember where I heard this, so absolutely take it with a grain of salt; but at the time racism was more of a local thing (see: the millennia long rivalry between the Brits and French) and full on “your skin is this color so you’re inherently beneath me” racism didn’t really start until the African slave trade got big.
@@ALookIntoTheEulenspiegel I mean "got big" as in early-mid 1500s. 300 years between then and the civil war is a really long time; and racism is still an issue today
@@ALookIntoTheEulenspiegelSure enough colonialism has an ancient pedigree but there's a big difference in how racism played into the truly ancient past and post "Enlightenment" era of European exploration and colonization. As stated a lot of animosity between groups that used anything close to what we would recognize as racist bigotry as justification was aimed at people close by geographically speaking. You also have to take account of how diverse the populations of many of the ancient Empires and Kingdoms could be. The precursors to and the heirs of the Roman Empire alone over the course of thousands of years expanded and contracted over vast swaths of land across Europe and North Africa and most locations that touched the Mediterranean Sea. That's a grab bag of Ethnicities, Religions and social structures. Add in trade beyond borders and there's way more reason to keep ethnic based rivalry at bay for these large political powers. Even taking slavery into account it usually was not race based. It also could be a more complex situation than what Americans think with our ideas of slavery as an institution in a society usually based on our experience of it in our history. Back then while slavery could indeed encompass people taken against their will from either raids in the hinterlands or from conquest of new territory there's also evidence of people willingly entering into slavery for periods, getting essentially room and board in exchange for specialized labor of some kind, ranging from skilled construction to education of a household's children. Slavery was "multiethnic" which... It's still slavery but, it was "colorblind" so... Yay, I guess? It was a situation where many of these Empires just had a huge mix of people to administer and "slaves" came from all over. Was there chauvinistic aspects to these societies? Yeah, but it was not based on some assumptions about skin tone equating to superiority.
I think it’s kind of cute. Like sure, the author was a little bit uneducated on how genetics work, but to be fair the study of genetics wouldn’t be invented for a couple of centuries. he’d probably never even been to Africa, maybe he just heard stories about someone with vitiligo and assumed that’s how being biracial worked
This must be some kind of logic made by a man that thought that breed dogs and thought that human skin must work like fur paterns on dogs. Becouse this is the only way it could mąkę sence.
Green Knight: heh, I bet this guy will sleep with my wife and lie about it. Gawain: *only barely kisses his wife in order to be polite but also maintain honor* Green Knight: huh. Maybe I won't decapitate him?
I just love the idea of a big, strapping knight being swept off his feet by a massive half-giant who thinks of him as a precious and dainty little creature.
Headcanon: gawain's superpower is that he's really good at kissing, the green knight was gonna kill him but after six of those bad boys how could he kill him.
not to mention in some sources he actually killed the giantess's previous husband and conquered THE ENTIRE ISLAND OF GIANTS. (shame he fell to Tristan though)
Galehaut refused a crown until he could conquer Arthur's kingdom. Galehaut is also the one who help set up Lancelot and Guenevere. Playing the long game I see, you clever half giant.
Putting bets he's the son of Diane and king In seven deadly sins So that makes Tristan( half-demon( meliodas) and half- angel( Elizabeth)) Lancelot( half fairy( Elaine) and half immortal( ban the undead) Galehaut ( half fairy half Giant) It also makes Galahaut and Lancelot cousins
Honestly I love Gawain's story because he serves as an excellent foil to the other knights. In a group filled with such (apparent) paragons as Lancelot, Percival, and Gallahad, and with other knights with things like great humor and special powers and romantic feeling, Gawain is refreshingly grounded and relatable to the audience. Even though he is deeply flawed, he always tries his best to do what is right and live up to the ideals of Camelot. Frankly I'm surprised more Arthur-inspire series haven't had Gawain as the main character, or at least the audience point-of-reference character.
Think of it this way. Many cartoons/anime have a 5 man band or larger group of protagonists. In any such group, you need and everyman. The everyman is that character who has no societal rejections or benefits, prophesies super skills or paragonyness. They are just the everyday joe shmo hero of their respective absurd setting (as opposed to the actual everyman that makes your general crowd of screaming civilians)..
Well if you think about it he the basis of a heros journey he from the very beginning isn't perfect but thru good moral and pure bravery overcomes incredible odds that anyone else would have failed to do Heros journey is the basis of almost all modern literature and film
I have seen a trailer for Gawain and the Green Knight, with Dev Patel as the titular knight. It looks interesting and I hope it displays the humanity he has, when compared to the other more superhuman knights of the round table.
He is not deeply flawed. His only stumble in the basically impossible task was hiding the girdle. The poem makes sure to describe his virtues as impeccable. But even someone like him isn't perfect, and it's fine. Gawain is a foil to other knights specifically for not having their major flaws - and that kind of makes him boring. Still not as vanilla as Gary Stu Galahad. Also Gawain is described as the youngest knight of the round table AND second-strongest after Arthur, and has the OTHER sword from the Lady of the Lake, Galatine, which holds the power of the sun (Excalibur has the power of the Earth and moon for some reason). He also is the worst damn boss in the Camelot singularity! xD
So, according to Wikipedia, Galehaut died in solitude, longing for Lancelot. Eventually, when Lancelot died, he was buried next to Galehaut. I don't know how to handle this.
To all historians/mytho-historians reading this YOU CAN SAY THAT TWO PEOPLE WEW GAY THEY WERENT CLOSE FRENS THEY WERE IN LOVE (nightmare-inducing tumblr-esque wail)
It'd be funny if in a setting there's a knight who's sick and tired of every single location he goes needing to be saved. "Sir knight please save us from the vile badger of bunberry" "Goddammit I just wanted a drink!"
@@jessiepayne2390 Escanor is his own character in the Arthurian mythos, they just happen to have the same power. I think Escanor's "The One" transformation is based on Gawain, tho.
@@benjaminklaassen4722 Yeah, I think he would have been if not for the whole born to nobility thing. Dinadan: I just want to be a comedian dad! father: you're going to be knight and that's final. Now go kill something!
"What is there to say about Gawain?" 1. He took part in the Quest of the White Hart, the first of the Round Table quests along with Sir Tor, a cow farmer's son who became a knight when he killed a monstrous lion before the whole court with only a sword and no armor, and Sir Pellinor, who was the first of Arthur's enemies to become his friend. 2. His title was "The Knight Who Served All Women". 3. He was the first of his five brothers to swear allegiance to King Arthur, the last being Sir Gaheris. 4. He fought against eight robber knights and struck all of them dead except one who pleaded for mercy. 5. He married one of the Nine Ladies of Avalon (Ragnall).
Also he marries Ragnelle even though she's an ugly old hag to save Arthur's life. And when it turns out she's actually quite beautiful, and she asks him whether he'd have her be ugly at night or day, he instead asks her what SHE wants (in accordance to the answer to the riddle of what do women want the most: self-determination) and Ragnelle's curse is lifted permanently.
Also one thing I like is that in the original Mordred is one of his brothers and when he then takes over Camelot he kills the other three brothers leaving Gawain left to watch as his evil brother as he does this but then betrays their uncle and forced to watch as the two fight and after Arthur is took to Avalon with both of his aunts, Gwen and Morgan, is left to pick up the pieces as best as he could.
After hearing the Dinadan-Lancelot story, I can only imagine Lancelot is either kind of androgynous in appearance or we can add surprisingly good at makeup to his list of things he's great at.
I would not be surprised if there was some modern interpretation that makes him a tomboy in disguise or just straight-up is one without a disguise. Is there one?
My favorite one of Arthur's knights is Sir Gareth. Who rose to knighthood by defeating 4 knights of 4 different colors and was nicknamed "knight of the kitchen" because he asked for food for a year when he arrived at Camelot rather than armor.
Just Imagine a Half-Giant wondering in the woods, a boss you can fight at any time/meet at any time. That would be stuff for a "Dark Souls 4" (Ik they won't make another one, but still)
After Bedivere demonstrates his superstrength, Gawain feels out of place, so he uses a chessboard as a shield, channels the power of the sun, dates a sorceress who turns into a mermaid, marries a stranger, and writes a deathbed letter in blood to prove he isn’t normal. Meanwhile, sitting alone in a corner somewhere, there’s Lucan, normal Lucan, who will one day die via overzealous hug because there’s no place for normal in Camelot. (For the record, I’m very fond of Lucan. He just does his best and it’s usually enough.)
Bit more about Dinadan: in some stories he was violently stabbed and killed by Mordred during the Grail Quest pretty much because he just didn't like Dinadan and slew Dinadan on pretext that he'd made a joke Mordred found offensive. Mind you apparently it was a insensitive joke about one of the other knights who had recently died, but honestly if someone violently murders the comic relief character that's usually a sign you've found your villain.
Mordred was the son of King Lot of Orkney and Lady Morgause. that meant he was the brother of Gawain, Gaheris, Gareth and Agravaine. Of those five brothers, guess which two were evil traitors.
Honestly in a time of honor and being knights who were bound by the kingdom's laws and social regulations/customs (that if not followed was treated as if they were a criminal for breaking their vows & oaths) so going and talking shit about one of the comrades searching for the sacred object [that TOUCHED Jesus/ [God in one of many forms w/e] !aka the holy grail. So this quest woulda been obviously revered & that includes all of the knights who died attempting this for the glory of Camelot. Mordred yes typically isn't a good character any way but come on. He could've shamed or chastised him, no need for all the stabby stab stuff. And on the other side, don't ho joking about people who died recently. Never goes well
I find it amusing that Lancelot doesn't get to be buried next to Guinevere, because he must be interred at Joyous Guard, but he IS buried next to Galehaut.
It kind of scares me that Lancelot is so good at taking full on KNIGHTS off of horses while wearing a dress. How often does he do this? When did he learn how to do that? WHY
@@mide2476 I mean Lancelot at least has the whole cheating thing. Also he tends to have bouts of berserker rage which cause him way more trouble than anything. And he’s generally a bit nuts.
...Why wouldn't you learn how to yank knights off horses while wearing a dress if given the opportunity to do so? It's a bit niche, but still a cool party trick
6:58 Green Knight: ‘tis but a scratch! Gawain: A scratch?! Your head’s off! Green Knight: No it isn’t. Gawain: Well what’s that, then?! * points to head * Green Knight: I’ve had worse.
after Red shed light on the fact that Lancelot is just a freaking french nerd's self insert oc. I can never see him the same way and knowing the dumb shit he does, kinda dislike him.
i wonder what that boss would look like. Maybe something like nameless? or maybe it would be something like Allant. with the king of (place) and then in a dark area like the flameless shrine we find the True "Uncrowned King"
Ooh, that sounds cool! Maybe in a sequel or bonus fight you’d get The Crowned King, significantly stronger and with an army of goons to shake up the fight!
Could also be a great epithet for a god or ruler. ee e.g. Pillars of Eternity's goddess of justice, oaths, rulership, and revenge: Woedica, the Exiled Queen.
My favorite Gawain story, more so than the Green Knight, is Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady (or Dame Ragnelle, depending on the retelling). It's actually an Arthur-ized retelling of an old folktale, that showed up as the Wife of Bath's Tale in Canterbury Tales. A Black Knight blocks Arthur's path in the forest (sound familiar?) and tells him his life is forfeit unless he can answer, in (a day/a month/a year) the riddle: what does every woman want? Arthur asks every woman he knows, from his queen to his serving maids, but gets different answers. But just as he's about to admit defeat, he meets an ugly hag in the forest, who tells him she'll give him the answer if he promises her that one of his knights will marry her of his own free will. So, when the Black Knight confronts Arthur again, Arthur has the answer ready: every woman wants the right to make her own decisions! The Black Knight disappears in a puff of smoke, and Arthur is relieved...except for that little matter that one of his knights will have to marry this horrible-looking woman. But when he breaks the news to his knights, Sir Gawain volunteers, and the wedding proceeds. Gawain steels himself for the wedding night...but when he enters the bedchamber, waiting for him is the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. She explains that when she refused the Black Knight's hand in marriage, he cursed her to remain an ugly hag until an honest knight agreed to marry her. Now she will only be ugly for half the day, so which would he prefer--at night, when they are alone together, or during the day, when she will be seen by others? Gawain finally tells her it's up to her, unknowingly applying the truth of the riddle: the right to make her own decisions. With that, the spell is broken completely and permanently, and they live happily ever after.
I think another side of Morgan Le Fay's Green Knight plot was that she expected nobody who accepted the challenge would go through with it and she'd then be able to destroy Arthur's rep by claiming the Knights of the Round Table were all oath-breaking cowards. Since having a good PR was really important to anyone with social status when the poem was written, this makes a lot of sense.
Honestly, the original poem kind of makes it sound like Morgan might not have even been involved with the whole 'cheating wife, magic girdle, test of honour' nonsense that takes up half the poem. Like, Bertilak was just hired for the head chopping game and then decided that while Gawain was here, he might as well manufacture a complicated test for him.
@@Cheeseanonioncrisps That's basically what he did xD Bertilak just wanted to mess with Gawain because ... quite frankly the boy was easy to mess with. But it also came with the lesson of "you tried, and that's okay" ... course then he goes and fucks up royally >>;
It always bugs me how modern retellings frame Arthurian Legend as some kind of low magic/non-magical setting, when Arthur's Knights did all sorts of crazy magical crap and there was more than one straight up wizard involved.
At least one modern retelling framed it as a battle between the US Air Force against the jerky faction of an ancient race that ascended to become energy beings and their zealous christian-analog army.
Great video, except for the comments on Gawain. There are three reasons why he’s special: one, he’s related to Arthur, giving him an important lineage. When he volunteers to fight the Green Knight, he actually quotes this as a reason why he wants to fight, he wants more of a claim to fame than being related to Arthur. Second, he was exceptionally chivalrous, which is why the tale is about him failing in his chivalry, Gawain was the representation of nobility. Third, Gawain was a Knight for the people. While most knights used swords to fight, an expensive and difficult weapon to master, Gawain used an axe, a common item for the peasant class in the Middle Ages.
Actually Galehaut is also pursuing the "exaltation of the beloved lady" thing wherein Lancelot is basically the only thing he cares about so much so that he is willing to STOP HIS CONQUEST and to see him happy SETS HIM UP WITH GUENEVIER! Like damn
I know one thing about Arthur's knights for sure: They are great to steal names from for literally any vehicle or piece of equipment in a scifi setting
Hey, Cardfight Vanguard named just about an entire clan's worth of units after them, even the more obscure ones, like Sagremore, and sort of kept to their themes. Which i think is neat.
I mean if I am to name my cool spaceship and "Invincible Reason", "Tormentum Malorum", "Murder", "Sword of Eternity", "Eternal Crusader", "Becephelus", "Eisenstein" and "Imperator Somnium" are taken Arthurian knights are a great repository for cool names
Fun fact about the Lancelot and Galehaut (b)romance. Lancelot, at the end of his own life, will be buried next to Galehaut in the magnificent tomb. And thus they would forever be... HETERO DEATH BUDDIES. :')
Y'all ever sucked your best bud's dong, not gay tho, just for fun real hetero bro stuff, you would never understand Have you even looked him in the eyes, hold him tight in your arms, under the moon light, put your lips in his ear and whisper softly "no homo", then you know what's real love, real hetero non-gay love, that is nothing more manly than two manly men being manly together forever, that's all I'm saying
What No Mention of Brave Sir Robin and his Merry Bard Troupe? Brave Sir Robin ran away. ("No!") Bravely ran away away. ("I didn't!") When danger reared it's ugly head, He bravely turned his tail and fled. ("I never!") Yes, brave Sir Robin turned about And gallantly he chickened out. ("You're lying!") Swiftly taking to his feet, He beat a very brave retreat. Bravest of the brave, Sir Robin!
You mean Sir Robin, the -not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor, who nearly stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol and who had personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill?
You're actually an Assholes and Stereotype Enforcers (A&SE) nerd. Nothing about Dungeons and Dragons says that your rogue has to be a no-gooder bandit, or that your warrior has to make a down-to-earth warrior look like Superman in terms of power diversity, or that your barbarian has to be as dumb as a rock, or that your bard has to be Zeus. Zeus would be a sorcerer (is a god because of the Titans) or warlock (got his thunderbolts from the Cyclopes), for the sake of Kronos!
More points on Sir Dinadan - Lancelot put the dress on *on top* of his armour, and apparently is still seen as attractive by the rest of the knights. Combine that with the fact that Dinadan is the only knight capable of recognising the other knights - *and even King Arthur himself* - by their faces rather than their heraldry, and I get the impression that Camelot, truly, was a very silly place.
Probably, in Camelot you had a huge fucking problem with people hair-cuts and beards being all the same. OR it was referring to knights with the helmets on. That would make a bit more sense.
Impulsive Lancelot, his big gay crush Galehaut, his biracial pagan half-brother Feirefiz, and his crossdressing trickster friend Dinadan really sounds like something Rick Riordan would write, and it’s glorious
Had an idea for a Manga epic based in Arthurian myth but I shot it down. It'd mainly focus on Gawain, Ferefeiz, Galehaut, Dinadan and Gareth going about doing knightly stuff near the beginning of Launcelot and Geinevere's little escapade. Hell, I even had the udea to change the story and have Arthur morbidly and Depressingly follow through with the law after Galahad is revealed and bears shame from his parent's betrayal (yeah, it' be a whole thing of him being raised by a benevolent group of Fae but that was another thing.) Even have it to where Arthur could barely rule the kingdom after executing his wife and best friend; barely able to move from the throne.
You found yourself in the villainous castle of Dolorous Guard. Lancelot: I roll to talk to the nice damsel lady about it's history Rolls a 20: Lady is actually daughter of Lady of the Lake, she grants you super shield. You gain increased strength and initiative.
@@thomasthecoolkid7228 @ThomasTheCoolKid _ In the Fate/Stay Night Franchise. Lancelot possess a personal skill called: Protection of Fairies. It increases his luck in critical situation s. So your description of lucky rolls is something that other people have also made allegories to as well.
Because of this video my sister and I have been discussing at length that you could very easily write a T.V. series about King Arthur and his knights’ adventures through the perspective of Gawain. The basic framework is: Gawain is not nearly as good or knightly as the other members of the round table, but he did some heroic act to save his town or something while Arthur and some knights were passing through so they allowed him into the round table. The show follows the knights and Arthur going on their many quests, while Gawain attempts to become a better knight and more respected member of the round table. (We drew up and entire storyboard and plot afterwords that mostly follows the established myths with various twists to fit the narrative, but eventually diverges into our own story. Major plot points include the death of Dinadan, a cursed Excalibur, and an explanation for the lady of the lake, who may or may not be the grandiose puppet master villain who orchestrated Lancelot’s “betrayal” of Arthur and the ultimate civil war with Mordred)
You know, I've always theorized that the Lady of the Lake might be the true villain of the the Arthurian Legends. So it's nice to see someone think that might be possible. Like Excalibur is actually a "key" of sorts that she needs a mortal to wield to escape the lake or something. And maybe Avalon is a lock that seals her. I don't know, but yeah a series with Gawain as the lead is a nice change of pace.
I'd highly recommend reading The Squire's Tale. It's an excellent series that is a fun retelling mostly from the perspective of Gawain's squire. Although it makes Gawain a lot cooler than he appears to be in this video, so it might not line up with your idea much.
I have to disagree on Gawain being a minor character. He’s part of the oldest versions in the Welsh corpus and there’s a significant number of Middle English romances where he’s the main character; the Green Knight one is only the best remembered one nowadays. He’s super important in the Perceval continuations, and it’s only starting with the Vulgate cycle that his star begins to wane because of Lancelot.
@@wiesscaballo4211 I suspect the importance of Malory, which for modern anglophone audiences is the most widespread text. Other possibility is the romances of Chrétien de Troyes where he isn’t as important.
The knowledge that Galehaut's mother was a giantess gives me wonderful visions of his parents generally being cute together. I'm a sucker for the large woman/small man pairing.
Should have mention Yvain.Yvain. He killed a guy, married his wife, got medieval divorced, went crazy, went un-crazy, found a lion, killed a giant and some demons, fought Gawain, saved a woman's life, and then extorted his ex wife into remarrying him.
The more I hear of King Arthur's Knights and the more I think they were all the most anime sounding characters and story's I've heard. Trust me, there are some not covered that were just as crazy and weird.
One of the Knights I really like is Sir Ywain who, in one of his adventures found a lion being attacked by a Dragon so Ywain, apparently being a dude who loves cats charged in to protect the lion. Ywain’s courage and nobility inspires the lion to join him in slaying the dragon and then the Lion becomes Ywain’s companion and best friend. Serving both as a symbol of his nobility and as his tag team partner. One adventure saw Ywain and his lion killing giants.
Now there's an idea. Aside from TYPE-MOON, we should get an anime about Arthur that is precisely centered around him and his order while still staying as true to the mythos as possible. All in favor?
"while still staying as true to the mythos as possible." I mean, depends on which generation of the mythos we're talking about. This is a fanfic of a fanfic of a fanfic of a faux historical account based on a footnote in a slightly more accurate history book. I mean, where do we draw the line? Which interpretations are too modern to be considered part of the mythos?
@@helenanilsson5666 The glory of anime is that you can pick and choose from across ALL the fanfics and no one is going to bat an eye when continuity goes to hell.
The version of the story I heard about the green knight stated that the Green Knight chose Arthur for the test, but Gawain took his place because Arthur was still a boy at this point, and could barely lift the axe, whereas Gawain was a grown man so he reasoned that it would be a fairer contest. This is why I’ve always like Gawain the most, because he is the ordinary knight amongst the perfect paragons.
I have to admit that Gawain happens to be one of my preferred knights since he was one of the few that was meant to being the most "human" in a sense. Sure people cannot live up to the what their role is supposed to be and let their emotions get the better of them. I know its strange since I am defending a loose cannon, but that is how I feel about the guy. Plus, he knew that he wasn't as important as King Arthur and that general sense of bravery to face a danger that would rather go to someone above Gawain in rank. I used to think that Courage and Stupidity are different concepts since self-preservation is something I never blame a living being. So to willingly offer one's life in the place of another, its something that sticks out for me. For Middle English literature, nothe modern interpretation for self sacrifice.
Recognizing that most of this literature is centuries old, and thus somewhat prone to being a primitive base work, I believe that's exactly how you're SUPPOSED to feel about Gawain. In essence, he's part of the origins of the "everyman" hero, so his story is intended to inspire the rest of us to rise to our own greatness, whatever that might be, in spite of our own inequities and short-comings. The green knight has some Loric background, probably Celtic, but represents "the thing that most terrifies". Summoning up his courage, not just to take the initial risk in Arthur's place, but again to seek out the Green Knight for the honorable conclusion, Gawain demonstrates the highest value of nobility... NOT that he's so pure of heart, or fearless, or valiant by rote, but that he's an honest man who tries, and faces what most terrifies him... The minor cut, as confusing or confounding as it might seem, is to say, that once you step up to face it, fear tends to turn out far less than you'd expect. I've long enjoyed the Gawain story, particularly for the multiple layers and facets of its moral premise and foundation. For an earlier English work, it's profoundly well done, all things considered. ;o)
"Sir Gawain is probably the most boring of Arthur's well known knights..." You know, I've just discovered your videos, and I've been really enjoying them (just subscribed). It'd be a shame if we fell out over something silly like you provoking my ALL CONSUMING ARTHURIAN NERD RAGE!!!!
He did a few stupid things, though. I like him still, but WHY. Case in point: Why don't you just... I dunno... lightly tap the green knight with the axe? You get a sweet axe, and you get to live, and everything's okey dokey! So w h y. Why chop his HEAD OFF.
@@Ray-hk1zm I don't think they realized he would not die from getting his head cut off. Plus he just threatened the king and insulted their honor. People were super defensive of their honor back then
@@Ray-hk1zm I mean i dont think its ever stated that he was to attack them with the axe using the same force or aggression, just that he *would* strike them back in a year, so it kind of makes sense youd want to kill someone who otherwise would more than likely kill you
Gawain is one of my favorite Knights, and I did not know J.R.R. Tolkien actually translated the poem of the Green Knight, which just makes him much more of a badass than he already was
8:44 - What the heck, that's such an awesome moral for the story! "You don't have to be perfect. As long as you try your best, that's what counts." Gawain is easily the most respectable and lovable character here (unless you count Galahad). I hope he gets a happy ending or something. 8:50 - Oh... nevermind
Bet that if the Arthurian Legends were adapted into some form fiction today (cartoon, live action, anime, etc) they’d portray Dinadan’s death like a mystery and it’s be as tragic as Hughes’ death in FMA
You can tell Red is left handed because every character she draws holds their sword in their left hand. Most people are right hand dominant and thus would wield a sword in the right hand; Red, being left handed, draws people with their sword in her dominant hand, the left. The more you know! I'm sure this has come up before but this is the first time I noticed it.
I am left handed, and I always end up drawing pencils, swords, and basically everything else in my characters` left hands. I have to concentrate really hard if I want to draw something in someone`s right hand.
Guide: 0:27 Lancelot and Dolorous Gard 2:07 Parcival and Fierefis 3:42 Galehaut the uncrowned king 4:52 Dinadan and Lancelot in a dress 5:59 Gawain and the green knight 9:11 song/Roll Credits
*Well, I'd avoid such a silly location just on first thought, remember when Sir Kay called Gareth as "Beaumains" meaning "Good hands" and said right after "Blow me"*
I love Red's design. I don't know what it is about it, despite the fact it's pretty simple and is devoid of almost all color, but it just looks really nice
Galehaut is now officially my favorite knight of the round table. Though Perceval having a bi-racial half brother he was on good terms with is also pretty cool
Honestly gawain is kinda interesting if you look at him from the angle of someone with anger issues, or not knowing when to quit. His first major story had him accidently Killing a woman because he was going to kill a knight who had yielded. This knight was one gawain had been hunting for months and he wasn't going to let him go. This left gawain in shock after he killed her. There is also his hatred for lancelot after lance killed some of his brothers saving guinevere. He tried and tried to defeat him till he eventually dies.
Both Gawain and Lancelot both seem to share the same flaw of have short tempers and entering berserker rages while fighting. Though when it comes to the latter flaw, Lancelot certainly has the worse since I think there are many battles where it mentions he accidently kills innocents in the middle of a fury, while Gawain, especially after the incident of killing the women, seems have learned to focus his battle rage against his foes (at least from what I remember since I don't recall any other big incident where he killed another innocent). Come to think of it, this makes it all the weirder that most modern Arthurian works seem to forget or just ignore this when it comes to Lancelot (Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the only work that I can think of from the top of my head that remembers his bloodthirsty berserker tendency, with the whole rushing and slaughtering a lot of people at a wedding). Though I suppose in the "sanitized" retelling of the stories you can't show off your heroic knights in shining armor as being crazed battlers.
That explains why he was portrayed by Knuckles in Sonic and the Black Knight. Anger issues, tries to hold to a code even if he fails, and can't stand the guy who's representing Lancelot.
"We're Knights of the Round Table. We dance whene'er we're able. We do routines and chorus scenes With footwork impeccable. We dine well here in Camelot. We eat ham and jam and spam a lot. We're Knights of the Round Table. Our shows are formidable, But many times we're given rhymes That are quite unsingable. We're opera mad in Camelot. We sing from the diaphragm a lot. In war we're tough and able, Quite indefatigable. Between our quests we sequin vests and impersonate Clark Gable. It's a busy life in Camelot. I have to push the pram a lot."
Oh please. Checkout the Epic of Gilgamesh. The last 8th of the story completely ignores the previous 7/8s. It brings a dead character back to life without explaining how that happened, just so he can have another bro down.
Gawain is my favourite of the knights, at least in the versions I have read (that is my context for all this), because he actually develops. He first starts off failing miserably and accidentally chops a woman's head off because he gets angry at someone. I know I know, "how?!" but that's just Arthurian mythos for you. Then he steps up to do the Green Knight thing, has a life changing experience, and returns to have everyone kinda not get it at all. Either way, he actually tries to improve on his flaws. Launcelot, on the other hand, puts in a small effort to avoid Guinevere for a bit after the Grail debacle. But otherwise he is just naturally gifted at murdering things and that's about it. Gawain can't fight quite as well, but he's actually a better person. Galahad is just magically perfect from the get go... and has to make absolutely zero effort to get that way. Gawain also has a tragic end that is made even more tragic by the fact that he tried to be good. He recognizes that the first brother of his who was killed by Launcelot kinda had it coming and, in the version I read, tries to calm Arthur down. Arthur tries to get Gawain to burn Guinevere but Gawain point blank refuses. Gawain's remaining brothers do not refuse, but protest and go about it unarmed and unarmoured... so Launcelot kills two unarmed and defenceless men in his rescue of Guinevere. Only then does Gawain finally go off the deep end, and I kinda find it hard to blame him. He was sooooo close.
Yeah this a reason why Gawain and Percival are my favorite knights as it does feel like they undergo a lot of character growth in their own respective ways: Gawain as a heroic warrior while Percival as a spiritual Christian sage character (especially in the stories where he was THE Grail Knight . . . though I do believe there is a version where Gawain dose find the grail and become the Grail Knight, so guess he underwent both developments in that version of the story lol). Lancelot is also one of my favorites due to his heroic but very flawed nature, though I do admit it is always frustrates me re-reading the Quest of the Holy Grail when does relapse into his old adulteries ways despite all the lessons that were hammered into him while he was on the quest.
You forgot Sir Robin, the -not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor, who nearly stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol and who had personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill.
Few thoughts. I love the first knight and how the writer didn’t understand what being biracial was. He seems super cool and I appreciate that. Galahant (Sorry if I spelled it wrong) is awesome. I like that he’s very well liked and then just straight up gives up because “damn what a cute boy”
Gawain really hits that spot i got for unimportant-ish characters and boy the kisses were really adorable and really helped him to wedge through the crevices of my heart
Gawain is probably the most ubiquitous Arthurian knight; he just gets the short end of the stick in adaptations. It’s the way of heroes: for Lancelot’s star to rise, Gawain’s had to set a bit, just as Kay’s did when Gawain was becoming important. I mean, Kay went from being able to breathe underwater for 9 days and nights, sleep for nine days and nights, grow to treetop height, radiate enough heat from his hands to keep his friends from freezing, etc. to not even being in this video.
I like Gawain the most, his whole deal is rather interesting since he cannot refuse a Maiden, since he took that oath after accidentally slaying some lady. I also thought he was like... the best. Every story I see him in he is fighting four knights at the same time or performing some other martial feat.
He's definitely more flawed compared to the paragons of Chivalry and Piety that Lancelot and Galahad were, I think that's his primary appeal, he's well-known and more competent than a lot of the fodder of the round table, but he's also not really a mary sue. Personally I prefer Tristan though, he kind of gets forgotten a lot, but he's actually considered one of the few knights capable of matching Lancelot in the legends. Additionally a lot of his legend is very Lancelot-esque. (Falling in love with his liege's wife and all that.) The key difference being that his King, Mark of Cornwall, is actually established as far more of a dick compared to Arthur, so it's easier to root for Tristan and his courtly romance of Isolde, since it's clear that Mark doesn't really deserve Isolde in the first place, even though Tristan is still torn up about betraying his knightly duties and all that.
My personal favorite is Ywain, the Knight of the Lion. That is mainly because I read an entire graphic novel about him, while I only know about everybody else through Monty Python and the OSP videos. \_(*v*)_/
On the subject of Knights you didn’t get to, I saw a Tumblr post about how people were complaining about how anime the knights get in modern stories. The poster pointed out than in the original stories, just to give a few examples; Bedivere openly practiced magic and Arthurs intervention was the only thing that stopped him from being hanged for witchcraft (TWICE, I might add!). Kay could hold his breath for 10 days, emit supernatural heat from his hands, and grow to the size of a giant. Merroc was a werewolf! (You actually briefly mentioned that in your werewolf video last year, Red). The post ended with the conclusion that modern versions of the knights aren’t anime ENOUGH.
Now I REALLY want an 'Aurthur's Knights' cartoon featuring jump-cuts to Dinadan pranking people (whoopee cushions, anyone?) and Galahaut's very obvious crush on Lancelot. I can't draw, but I want it
Gawain? The most boring knight? HES THE MOST INTERESTING ONE CHARACTER WISE! This was back when character flaws were written like a bad self-insert fanfic (aka none) and everyone wanted to be a paragon. He displayed character flaws before it became a big deal, and acts realistically. The fact that he was written like so during a time period before Shakespeare astounds me!
I hate to diss good 'ol Shakespeare but... You mean the guy who wrote the tale of "I killed myself for a guy/chick I met five days ago"?... C'mon now...
@@MrCjlauer49338 You do realize that that was one of the points of the story; right? Romeo and Juliet is a deconstructive take on all those sappy young love stories.
Gawain being generic, could leave room for interpretation of his character. For example, he could be a hard working, self-improving knight, who is secretly jealous of Lancelot's strength, and wants Arthur to acknowledge his devotion to him. This could actually make him an interesting foil to Lancelot.
He may or may not have practiced dark arts, got witch hunted and Arthur bailed him out Mostly known for being the first and most loyal knight, lesser known for fighting giants, small army and as strong as 3 warriors combined despite only has one hand. Overall still not much interesting shenanigans
One of my favourite Lancelot myths is The Lady of Shallot. A young woman dies and has a Viking funeral (minus the fire). Her body washes up on shore and she's found by Lancelot and co. and he basically says " Too bad she's dead cause she's pretty hot"; a tale as old as time.
Gawain was portrayed increasingly negatively by French writers to make Galahad and Lancelot look better. While still a hothead, he is far less of one in other works. JamcalX I agree that Gawain is the best of Arthur's knights. Also, your Hawkeye comparison is quite applicable: both are more likely to appear in a supporting role than in their own solo story (although, unlike Hawkeye, Gawain actually has a few solo stories), and both are happily married and have more of their life sorted out than the rest of the group.
I loved the story of the green knight when I first heard it. The reason why he even cut him at all was because Gawain kept the belt, the part of it being magic was some bs Bertilak and his wife had made up like a day before, he even blatantly admitted that to Gawain after the fake-beheading.
Pretty sure that the reason Gawain ended up so boring is that he was one of the story's original cast - i.e. not made out of the whole cloth by Chretien de Troyes and everyone else who put their own spin on the myth hundreds of years later. (His more Celtic sounding name is a pretty big hint.) Gawain was probably Lancelot before Lancelot was himself - the king's own champion and all around avatar of awesomeness. Then the French poet started putting together his own fanfic and his Mary Sue character pushed everyone else aside. Oh well.
Indeed. Gawain is the earliest-appearing of Arthur's knights; appearing at least as far back as the 9th-Century Welsh texts Red mentioned in the King Arthur video. Naturally, when Chretien came along with Lancelot, he needed to make Gawain more negative in order to make Lancelot look better, and later French writers continued this. Whereas, in Britain, Gawain retained his positive characteristics and was widely popular; hence the existence of tales like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as well as Sir Gawain and the Dame Ragnell.
This vision doesnt hold up to what was written. 1st, saying "french" or "engish" writer for this time is an absurdity. Chretien write the myth of lancelot for one of the daughter of Alienor, who's the one who did ask him a story of courtois love. Chretien himselfs didn't seems to like lancelot a lot. Especially considering the two books where he was more "free" for the character devellopment, there is courtois romance but between maried couple (Perceval, Erec & enide, Yvain), Even cliges end up with a wedding. Also, Gawain is really present in all of chretien work as the really good/wise/observant guy around. Clearly the one who "should" inherit from his uncle, but can't. He end up taking more decision than arthur (this one being here most of the time just to say "oh, by the way, this is an arthurian legend you know, with your favorit character and some new!") After that, some english author where quite fond of lancelot (thomas malory being the most famous). and just to add a point, Lancelot isn't a pure creation of Chretien, he was know before, but not written down.
@Hetahetalia Yes, I agree with almost of that. What I'm saying is that Lancelot wasnt really a character even Chretien liked (you can see that with percival, were, once again, it's gauvain who is the better knight, and lancelot who could have been the better better knight but isnt because he love guenièvre. And yeah, Chretien totally gary/mary sue Erec and Enid, or even Clives, Yvain and such... The only one who avoid this treatment is in fact Perceval... Most certainly because his story wasnt finished. But still, he is called the "naif" because he's like john snow, he knows nothing... No surprise it's the most interesting one. But yeah, the Vulgate is totally something else. Depending on the version, some author got really heavy about Lancelot and worse, galahad (it was a bit team Lancelot VS team Galahad for a time). Before chretien introduce the competition to who's the better knight though, the arthurian legend wasn't this way (at least from the writing source, mostly 2nd hand by the way). So Gauvain isn't much about being the better one (because it's arthur) and more being the nephew (wich mean the one raised by arthur as if it was one of his son). It also seems that some story of gawain where mixt with story about Lug (like his strengh, that raise and fall with the sun) to avoid christian censorship of a good story. But yeah, you could say that Lancelot take the place of the favorite knight in continental arthurian legend (team lancelot ones) other older british ones. I still stand by the idea that, at least before the 100 year war, speaking of french and english doesnt fit the reallity. It's still more about temporality, or you have to be more specific about the region (welsh, britany, flander, HRE, italy, norman,... they all have theyr small particularity). If I remember corectly, scholar mostly do a distinction between clerical version and other ("surprisingly", mostly team galahad for the clerics). During and after the 100 year war, it's... another matter yeah, after that there is a french vs british version (with specific things like Avalon etc... that can differenciate them).
Gawain is the best. In most of the mythos he is Arthur's heir prior to Mordred's arrival along with Arthur's best knight. He acts as a foil to both Mordred and Lancelot, an exemplar of their failings: Mordred's lack of virtue and Lancelot's lack of Loyalty are even more apparent in comparison.
"Galehaut's mother is a giantess..."
"And his father?"
"Brave. Very, very brave."
I'm talkin' bout a lady who's *actual-sized*
@@CapnJigglypuff I wonder if he goes up on her.
@@TacComControl maybe. I mean it is dark ages europe… so ya know, could be seen as dishonourable… but then again he is already bangin a giantess… yeah I’m gonna class this as a 50/50 chance.
Death by Snu-Snu
@@OscarRamirez-cd4qi I'm okay with this.
In the version I read, when Gawain returns, everyone is so impressed with his story and want to make him not feel bad, so they all cut themselves and get matching neck scars like the one the green knight gave him. Metal.
That's a bro move right there
The version I heard was that the Green Girdle won't come off and he is forced to wear it forever to remind him of of his imperfect honour. However, after making fun of him for a while, the other knights decide to also wear green girdles so it just looks like something Arthur's knight's do. Bro move, less Metal.
Say what you will about Arthur's Knights, but you can't deny that they are the best of bros. Besides Lancelot. Fuck that guy.
Damn. Gawain started a trend.
@@zusfrankenstein8561 no. do NOT do that. anything BUT that.
I always felt that Gawain marked the transition from "idealized self-insert male fantasy knights" to "flawed everyman with relatable human drama.
Ah yes, the few times Arthurian characters WEREN'T just power fantasy.
@Domagoj Čović Jesus calm down😂
@Domagoj Čović you know, insulting other people by calling them braindead is only really an effective insult when your own comment isn't the most braindead shit in the whole comment section.
Gwain is the Spider-Man of Knights.
"Your romance *WILL* be the stuff of fairy tales."
"Is that a promise or an ultimatum?"
*"YES."*
😆
Honestly, what's the difference in this situation?
*Red* : Sir Gawain is probably the most boring of the Arthurs well-known knights/
*also Red* : gives Gawain a third of video's time
He is just so adorable
:3
There was a legend of Gawain that I love and it basically was like:
Some knight was claiming to kill Arthur (or was he going to kill gawain?) And he gives Arthur a riddle to solve, and Gawain was looking for the answer for the riddle, and he meets a very, VERY, *VERY* ugly (not being rude, its a plot point to the story) woman who has no luck getting married, but she knows the answer to the riddle but she would only give it to Gawain if he marries her (he necessarily want to because y'know, ugly), he did and he tells the riddle to Arthur who then tells it to the knight and the doesn't kill Arthur (it turns out that he and the woman might be siblings). Gawain got married (and was teased by his fellow knights) and he and his wife went to bed and then, *THE WOMAN TURNS BEAUTIFUL, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS,* the woman told him that she was cursed (I think she was ugly at day and beautiful at night?) And something about the curse has something to do with marriage (I don't know the specifics), Gawain now has the choices of his wife being ugly at morning and beautiful at knight, or beautiful at day and ugly at night. I don't remember what Gawain said, but I think he wanted to love her for her and not her appearance and BOOM she is permanently beautiful, because the true condition to her curse is to have a knight for a husband who truly loves her.
(P.s I haven't read this story in years so I might be wrong about a lot of things, and I don't know if it's even part of the Original legends.)
@@ahorribleterribleperson “The Marriage of Gawain”. That story is really sweet.
@@ahorribleterribleperson thats really cute...
“Lancelot get out of the castle”
“You’re not my king”
“Lancelot I am your king now get out this instance”
“I am in a castle and you are not”
“Lancelot get down here”
“Shan’t”
OMG XD.
"I didn't vote for ya!"
SHAN’T
@BlueBerryFairy1 Help help I'm being repressed!
@BlueBerryFairy1 What about in the Holy Roman Empire? Or Hungary, or Poland!?
3:31
Got to say, I love how this writer person who doesn't even know what a bi-racial person looks like, still wrote this foreign knight to be one and also to be super cool, strong and adored by the entire court. That is so unexpected for someone from so far back.
I don’t remember where I heard this, so absolutely take it with a grain of salt; but at the time racism was more of a local thing (see: the millennia long rivalry between the Brits and French) and full on “your skin is this color so you’re inherently beneath me” racism didn’t really start until the African slave trade got big.
@@Attaxalotl Seems unlikely, to be honest, given that colonialism was around much longer than that.
@@ALookIntoTheEulenspiegel I mean "got big" as in early-mid 1500s. 300 years between then and the civil war is a really long time; and racism is still an issue today
@@ALookIntoTheEulenspiegelSure enough colonialism has an ancient pedigree but there's a big difference in how racism played into the truly ancient past and post "Enlightenment" era of European exploration and colonization. As stated a lot of animosity between groups that used anything close to what we would recognize as racist bigotry as justification was aimed at people close by geographically speaking. You also have to take account of how diverse the populations of many of the ancient Empires and Kingdoms could be. The precursors to and the heirs of the Roman Empire alone over the course of thousands of years expanded and contracted over vast swaths of land across Europe and North Africa and most locations that touched the Mediterranean Sea. That's a grab bag of Ethnicities, Religions and social structures. Add in trade beyond borders and there's way more reason to keep ethnic based rivalry at bay for these large political powers. Even taking slavery into account it usually was not race based. It also could be a more complex situation than what Americans think with our ideas of slavery as an institution in a society usually based on our experience of it in our history. Back then while slavery could indeed encompass people taken against their will from either raids in the hinterlands or from conquest of new territory there's also evidence of people willingly entering into slavery for periods, getting essentially room and board in exchange for specialized labor of some kind, ranging from skilled construction to education of a household's children.
Slavery was "multiethnic" which... It's still slavery but, it was "colorblind" so... Yay, I guess? It was a situation where many of these Empires just had a huge mix of people to administer and "slaves" came from all over. Was there chauvinistic aspects to these societies? Yeah, but it was not based on some assumptions about skin tone equating to superiority.
@@Attaxalotlback then it was mostly discrimination based on religion, not so much ethnicity
"So Feirefiz has black And white skin"
He's a little confused but he got the spirit
Im sitting with of my parents *dont* make me laugh😂
if you want a detailed telling of that story, look up Joseph Campbell's lectures on Arthurian legend.
I think it’s kind of cute. Like sure, the author was a little bit uneducated on how genetics work, but to be fair the study of genetics wouldn’t be invented for a couple of centuries. he’d probably never even been to Africa, maybe he just heard stories about someone with vitiligo and assumed that’s how being biracial worked
@@wren_. that how i thought it worked as a kid
This must be some kind of logic made by a man that thought that breed dogs and thought that human skin must work like fur paterns on dogs. Becouse this is the only way it could mąkę sence.
Green Knight: heh, I bet this guy will sleep with my wife and lie about it.
Gawain: *only barely kisses his wife in order to be polite but also maintain honor*
Green Knight: huh. Maybe I won't decapitate him?
I saw it as the couple being polyamorus or swingers. Which I found cute.
@@aliasofgray2854 the green knight is both husband and wife
@@lkcdarzadix6216 kinky😏
Also, je die not lie about it and he gave "back" to the husband ^^
Gawain: *Kisses the Green Knight too*
Green Knight: Definitely NOT decapitating him
I just love the idea of a big, strapping knight being swept off his feet by a massive half-giant who thinks of him as a precious and dainty little creature.
So cute, right? XD
Just precious
I ship it!
Sounds hot
Taso Canido lets ship it like fedex together XD
So basically Vulcan from if the emperor had a text to speech device
Headcanon: gawain's superpower is that he's really good at kissing, the green knight was gonna kill him but after six of those bad boys how could he kill him.
I appreciate this headcanon
Gawain must be one hell of a kisser
Gawain was getting his kisses in
I guess you can say Bertilak had
Sun kissed skin!
Or he’s a giant green gay dude. Or both
The real "Best Knight" in Arthurian Legend is Galehaut's father, bedding a Giantess. Absolute champion, truly an inspiration for all.
not to mention in some sources he actually killed the giantess's previous husband and conquered THE ENTIRE ISLAND OF GIANTS. (shame he fell to Tristan though)
@@solarflare4047 Now THAT'S what I need a Netflix original series about
Must be related to thor
@@joshholland8564 wouldn't we have to give credit to Odin's father for sleeping with a giant
@@TupocalypseShakur oh yeah right haha
Galehaut refused a crown until he could conquer Arthur's kingdom. Galehaut is also the one who help set up Lancelot and Guenevere.
Playing the long game I see, you clever half giant.
Putting bets he's the son of Diane and king
In seven deadly sins
So that makes
Tristan( half-demon( meliodas) and half- angel( Elizabeth))
Lancelot( half fairy( Elaine) and half immortal( ban the undead)
Galehaut ( half fairy half Giant)
It also makes Galahaut and Lancelot cousins
Joseph Misinec it kinda reveal that the son of Diana and King is a girl. Art by the autor.
@@anarchomando7707 I did not expect to find this comment.
Lanister level political mind games occuring here.
@@anarchomando7707 Seven deadly sins is unbearably mid
“Lancelot get down here!”
*”S H A N T”*
"Don't force my Hand"
"Neigh!"
„Don’t make me come up there“
„Shwill“
Now leave or I will be forced to taunt you a second time
*YOUR MOTHER WAS A HAMSTER AN YOUR FATHER SMELT OF ELDERBERRIES*
@@nixtheclause9984 *_HOW DARE YOU?!_*
Honestly I love Gawain's story because he serves as an excellent foil to the other knights. In a group filled with such (apparent) paragons as Lancelot, Percival, and Gallahad, and with other knights with things like great humor and special powers and romantic feeling, Gawain is refreshingly grounded and relatable to the audience. Even though he is deeply flawed, he always tries his best to do what is right and live up to the ideals of Camelot. Frankly I'm surprised more Arthur-inspire series haven't had Gawain as the main character, or at least the audience point-of-reference character.
Think of it this way. Many cartoons/anime have a 5 man band or larger group of protagonists. In any such group, you need and everyman. The everyman is that character who has no societal rejections or benefits, prophesies super skills or paragonyness. They are just the everyday joe shmo hero of their respective absurd setting (as opposed to the actual everyman that makes your general crowd of screaming civilians)..
He does have sun powers.
Well if you think about it he the basis of a heros journey he from the very beginning isn't perfect but thru good moral and pure bravery overcomes incredible odds that anyone else would have failed to do
Heros journey is the basis of almost all modern literature and film
I have seen a trailer for Gawain and the Green Knight, with Dev Patel as the titular knight. It looks interesting and I hope it displays the humanity he has, when compared to the other more superhuman knights of the round table.
He is not deeply flawed. His only stumble in the basically impossible task was hiding the girdle. The poem makes sure to describe his virtues as impeccable. But even someone like him isn't perfect, and it's fine. Gawain is a foil to other knights specifically for not having their major flaws - and that kind of makes him boring. Still not as vanilla as Gary Stu Galahad. Also Gawain is described as the youngest knight of the round table AND second-strongest after Arthur, and has the OTHER sword from the Lady of the Lake, Galatine, which holds the power of the sun (Excalibur has the power of the Earth and moon for some reason). He also is the worst damn boss in the Camelot singularity! xD
So, according to Wikipedia, Galehaut died in solitude, longing for Lancelot. Eventually, when Lancelot died, he was buried next to Galehaut. I don't know how to handle this.
Crying helps
They're very good friends
Mix their ashes in the same urn already
To all historians/mytho-historians reading this
YOU CAN SAY THAT TWO PEOPLE WEW GAY THEY WERENT CLOSE FRENS THEY WERE IN LOVE (nightmare-inducing tumblr-esque wail)
Make me wonder
Lancelot must be inspired by Achilles
and Galehaut is inspired by Patroclus (somehow)
“He accidentally stumbles into a d&d module”
I think that describes about half of the fantasy stories about knights in shining armor.
ever heard of The Black Cauldron, things the perfect D&D module
Have you ever read Don Quijote? Every chapter is it’s own one shot.
Or vice versa, obviously. Most games have took inspirations from legends (yeah, you don't say😉)
It'd be funny if in a setting there's a knight who's sick and tired of every single location he goes needing to be saved. "Sir knight please save us from the vile badger of bunberry" "Goddammit I just wanted a drink!"
@@vibechecker3168just MOVE.
"Sir Gawaine was probably the most *boring* of Arthur's known knights"
Careful Red! You'll resurrect the Merlin fans with that kind of talk!
Gwain was really cool and funny in Merlin tho
Wasn't he like the seven deadly sins escanor in terms of his Connection to the ☀
@@jessiepayne2390 Escanor is his own character in the Arthurian mythos, they just happen to have the same power. I think Escanor's "The One" transformation is based on Gawain, tho.
Well, he was! Gwaine in Merlin was much more interesting. Although I wish they'd adapted the Green Knight story for him.
He was just the most adorable puppy ever and even more underapriciated as Merlin himself
Dinadan is probably my favorite knight because he’s just like “why am I here?” “Should I really be a knight?” “Eh whatevs, I’ll just prank everybody.”
Yeah, he strikes me more as the Camelot court jester sort-of guy than an actual knight.
The OG Mercutio tbh
@@benjaminklaassen4722 Yeah, I think he would have been if not for the whole born to nobility thing. Dinadan: I just want to be a comedian dad! father: you're going to be knight and that's final. Now go kill something!
He'd probably get along well with Hermes tbh
@@benjaminklaassen4722 Arthur had a court jester, Dagonet. He was the butt of everyone's jokes. They also knighted him as a joke.
"What is there to say about Gawain?"
1. He took part in the Quest of the White Hart, the first of the Round Table quests along with Sir Tor, a cow farmer's son who became a knight when he killed a monstrous lion before the whole court with only a sword and no armor, and Sir Pellinor, who was the first of Arthur's enemies to become his friend.
2. His title was "The Knight Who Served All Women".
3. He was the first of his five brothers to swear allegiance to King Arthur, the last being Sir Gaheris.
4. He fought against eight robber knights and struck all of them dead except one who pleaded for mercy.
5. He married one of the Nine Ladies of Avalon (Ragnall).
Just like France's military history, Gawain's accomplishments have been ignored. I know those feels, bro. *Embraces fellow knight out of solidarity*
Also he marries Ragnelle even though she's an ugly old hag to save Arthur's life. And when it turns out she's actually quite beautiful, and she asks him whether he'd have her be ugly at night or day, he instead asks her what SHE wants (in accordance to the answer to the riddle of what do women want the most: self-determination) and Ragnelle's curse is lifted permanently.
Also one thing I like is that in the original Mordred is one of his brothers and when he then takes over Camelot he kills the other three brothers leaving Gawain left to watch as his evil brother as he does this but then betrays their uncle and forced to watch as the two fight and after Arthur is took to Avalon with both of his aunts, Gwen and Morgan, is left to pick up the pieces as best as he could.
@@designateddm8021 oh, i didn't know it, but it makes sense, both he and Mordred were Arthur's nephews
I'm not sure which of these points: 1, 4, 5, ais my favorite(?
After hearing the Dinadan-Lancelot story, I can only imagine Lancelot is either kind of androgynous in appearance or we can add surprisingly good at makeup to his list of things he's great at.
I would not be surprised if there was some modern interpretation that makes him a tomboy in disguise or just straight-up is one without a disguise. Is there one?
@@foldabotZ There might be, but Lancelot is probably the knight depicted as masculine the most.
@@cordyceps182 Who say Tomboys aren't masculine?
Nah, he’s just French.
@@janmelantu7490 yeah, that's the whole point of Tomboy.
My favorite one of Arthur's knights is Sir Gareth. Who rose to knighthood by defeating 4 knights of 4 different colors and was nicknamed "knight of the kitchen" because he asked for food for a year when he arrived at Camelot rather than armor.
It has been pointed out a lot in the coments, but, man, does Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table sound like a fucking anime or what?
Crap. I could not remember the guy's name, but I liked him almost as much as Tristram, given how he went from chef to knight in 4 Fights.
@@vipertooth123 I demand that this be made immediately
@@vipertooth123 yes yes they do
@@vipertooth123 I'd watch that for sure XD
Galahaut sounds like a Dark Souls final boss, even his name.
"The Uncrowned King"
You can't like ALL the same things I do Danny
A.K.A. The Bearer of the Curse from DS2.
Talking Vidya I know right?!?!
Just Imagine a Half-Giant wondering in the woods, a boss you can fight at any time/meet at any time.
That would be stuff for a "Dark Souls 4" (Ik they won't make another one, but still)
Its galehaut, galahaut is lancerlots illigiment son. Just a little information you might like to know
Gawain aka the "All my knight friends are so wacky and weird that I'm the only normal person beside Bedivere, who may or may not practice dark arts"
Why do you not like Sir Lucan? He seems pretty normal to me.
After Bedivere demonstrates his superstrength, Gawain feels out of place, so he uses a chessboard as a shield, channels the power of the sun, dates a sorceress who turns into a mermaid, marries a stranger, and writes a deathbed letter in blood to prove he isn’t normal.
Meanwhile, sitting alone in a corner somewhere, there’s Lucan, normal Lucan, who will one day die via overzealous hug because there’s no place for normal in Camelot.
(For the record, I’m very fond of Lucan. He just does his best and it’s usually enough.)
@@joshuabrough2409 Wasn't he a werewolf? Or there another werewolf Knight. Because there was at least one werewolf at the Round Table.
I thought the werewolves name started with an m?
@@claran3616 You’re probably thinking of Marrok or Melion, both Arthurian werewolves with similar (probably related) stories.
Bit more about Dinadan: in some stories he was violently stabbed and killed by Mordred during the Grail Quest pretty much because he just didn't like Dinadan and slew Dinadan on pretext that he'd made a joke Mordred found offensive. Mind you apparently it was a insensitive joke about one of the other knights who had recently died, but honestly if someone violently murders the comic relief character that's usually a sign you've found your villain.
The Orkneys were a petty Lot.
@@callianr6980 ?
Mordred was the son of King Lot of Orkney and Lady Morgause. that meant he was the brother of Gawain, Gaheris, Gareth and Agravaine. Of those five brothers, guess which two were evil traitors.
Honestly in a time of honor and being knights who were bound by the kingdom's laws and social regulations/customs (that if not followed was treated as if they were a criminal for breaking their vows & oaths) so going and talking shit about one of the comrades searching for the sacred object [that TOUCHED Jesus/ [God in one of many forms w/e] !aka the holy grail. So this quest woulda been obviously revered & that includes all of the knights who died attempting this for the glory of Camelot.
Mordred yes typically isn't a good character any way but come on. He could've shamed or chastised him, no need for all the stabby stab stuff.
And on the other side, don't ho joking about people who died recently. Never goes well
Literally Ferrus Manus
"unlock with premium christianity" lol
Goddamnit...
Fecking EA and their microtransactions
Pay to prey to play
Goddammit even religion ea??
Fucking EA. First, they put paywalls in games, and now my Religion
I find it amusing that Lancelot doesn't get to be buried next to Guinevere, because he must be interred at Joyous Guard, but he IS buried next to Galehaut.
Bromance before romance as they say you know
_😏i have seen enough LGBTQ shit on the internet to know where this is goiiing~😏_
@@lostaccount8222that B is real silent as the rainbow flash
It kind of scares me that Lancelot is so good at taking full on KNIGHTS off of horses while wearing a dress. How often does he do this? When did he learn how to do that? WHY
Their is a reasonable why he's called Mr. Prefect/ a Gary Sue.
@@mide2476 That’s Galahad.
@@wannabehistorian371
Your right, I guess it would be better to Lancelot, Gary Sue Lite.
@@mide2476 I mean Lancelot at least has the whole cheating thing. Also he tends to have bouts of berserker rage which cause him way more trouble than anything. And he’s generally a bit nuts.
...Why wouldn't you learn how to yank knights off horses while wearing a dress if given the opportunity to do so? It's a bit niche, but still a cool party trick
6:58
Green Knight: ‘tis but a scratch!
Gawain: A scratch?! Your head’s off!
Green Knight: No it isn’t.
Gawain: Well what’s that, then?! * points to head *
Green Knight: I’ve had worse.
*points to body while arguing with a severed head.
Green Knight: "I have had worse."
Gawain: "YOU LIE!"
A fellow person who also likes Monty Python. 😊
My thoughts exactly lol.
I still have my hands you know? I can still continue to duel! Where are you going? Come back here!
713th like!
The real tragedy is that if Galehaut had just confessed his feelings for Lancelot, perhaps none of the bad stuff would have even happened.
Now I want to see THAT interpretation of the story!
Cool, yes, but also explain: What does one healthy relationship in this entire mythos have to do with avoiding the strife of camlin?
Oh wait nevermind I get it now.
@@MimikyuCookie you know what? I'm on it!
after Red shed light on the fact that Lancelot is just a freaking french nerd's self insert oc. I can never see him the same way and knowing the dumb shit he does, kinda dislike him.
Not gonna lie, "The Uncrowned King" would make a fantastic Dark Souls boss name.
Also, love your videos, even though I just found 'em.
Or really, any boss monster.
i wonder what that boss would look like. Maybe something like nameless? or maybe it would be something like Allant. with the king of (place) and then in a dark area like the flameless shrine we find the True "Uncrowned King"
Ooh, that sounds cool! Maybe in a sequel or bonus fight you’d get The Crowned King, significantly stronger and with an army of goons to shake up the fight!
Could also be a great epithet for a god or ruler.
ee e.g. Pillars of Eternity's goddess of justice, oaths, rulership, and revenge: Woedica, the Exiled Queen.
Could be one of the kings Wolnir overthrew, given that all their crowns were ground into dust.
My favorite Gawain story, more so than the Green Knight, is Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady (or Dame Ragnelle, depending on the retelling). It's actually an Arthur-ized retelling of an old folktale, that showed up as the Wife of Bath's Tale in Canterbury Tales. A Black Knight blocks Arthur's path in the forest (sound familiar?) and tells him his life is forfeit unless he can answer, in (a day/a month/a year) the riddle: what does every woman want? Arthur asks every woman he knows, from his queen to his serving maids, but gets different answers. But just as he's about to admit defeat, he meets an ugly hag in the forest, who tells him she'll give him the answer if he promises her that one of his knights will marry her of his own free will. So, when the Black Knight confronts Arthur again, Arthur has the answer ready: every woman wants the right to make her own decisions! The Black Knight disappears in a puff of smoke, and Arthur is relieved...except for that little matter that one of his knights will have to marry this horrible-looking woman. But when he breaks the news to his knights, Sir Gawain volunteers, and the wedding proceeds. Gawain steels himself for the wedding night...but when he enters the bedchamber, waiting for him is the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. She explains that when she refused the Black Knight's hand in marriage, he cursed her to remain an ugly hag until an honest knight agreed to marry her. Now she will only be ugly for half the day, so which would he prefer--at night, when they are alone together, or during the day, when she will be seen by others? Gawain finally tells her it's up to her, unknowingly applying the truth of the riddle: the right to make her own decisions. With that, the spell is broken completely and permanently, and they live happily ever after.
that's nice!
This is three years old but I just want to say that this story warmed my heart and restored my faith in humanity, and I'm so glad you shared this.
This is actually really, really good. My respect to Gawain went up so much now.
Any story can be improved with the power of Gawain
I bet The other knights never believed arthur about a women's looks after this and other started asking HIM to arrange them to marry.
How does Arthur even control his Knights in one round table holy shit
He does not, obviously
Like when he doesn’t want to quest for the holy grail but all of his knight’s accidentally starts a crusade anyways
Plus,why does he even need that many Knights like is he paranoid or something
@@whytho1534 maybe he just likes having friends?? Idk
@@whytho1534 they are essentially less generals and more like officers of an army
I think another side of Morgan Le Fay's Green Knight plot was that she expected nobody who accepted the challenge would go through with it and she'd then be able to destroy Arthur's rep by claiming the Knights of the Round Table were all oath-breaking cowards. Since having a good PR was really important to anyone with social status when the poem was written, this makes a lot of sense.
Honestly, the original poem kind of makes it sound like Morgan might not have even been involved with the whole 'cheating wife, magic girdle, test of honour' nonsense that takes up half the poem. Like, Bertilak was just hired for the head chopping game and then decided that while Gawain was here, he might as well manufacture a complicated test for him.
@@Cheeseanonioncrisps That's basically what he did xD Bertilak just wanted to mess with Gawain because ... quite frankly the boy was easy to mess with. But it also came with the lesson of "you tried, and that's okay" ... course then he goes and fucks up royally >>;
@@SolarBlyze Or because he was a fairy and thats what fairies do.
Galahaut be like: Bros before Thrones
Kaga Sound that needs to be on a t-shirt!
@@pastelhotmess9299 Good idea...i'll buy that
@@sureikashore1626 you don't know that
Ya know.... that sounds like a Game of Thrones meme.
"bros"
It always bugs me how modern retellings frame Arthurian Legend as some kind of low magic/non-magical setting, when Arthur's Knights did all sorts of crazy magical crap and there was more than one straight up wizard involved.
Maybe you should try Merlin that show definitely incorporated a lot of magic
At least one modern retelling framed it as a battle between the US Air Force against the jerky faction of an ancient race that ascended to become energy beings and their zealous christian-analog army.
@@quillaja what.
@@quillaja where is this from
Stargate later seasons.@@zomegaexalpha4708
Great video, except for the comments on Gawain. There are three reasons why he’s special: one, he’s related to Arthur, giving him an important lineage. When he volunteers to fight the Green Knight, he actually quotes this as a reason why he wants to fight, he wants more of a claim to fame than being related to Arthur. Second, he was exceptionally chivalrous, which is why the tale is about him failing in his chivalry, Gawain was the representation of nobility. Third, Gawain was a Knight for the people. While most knights used swords to fight, an expensive and difficult weapon to master, Gawain used an axe, a common item for the peasant class in the Middle Ages.
Gawain was my favorite knight as a kid. He was the first knight I ever read about.
Wait a minute...Arthur’s knights are just slice of life anime characters!!!
they are in an anime, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut not so slice of lifey
@@Aldona_koi well, shirou got a cooking slice of life spin off. who knows if they decide to make one with arthuria and her dumbshit knights and bedi.
@@unkindled6410 thank you for not including Bedi and that dumb shit Knights thing, something tells me the dumbest one of them all is Gawain
Cursed Royal Studios and he’s fucjpking annoying in the game
@@Suesserto_000 chad knight
I love how all the knights seem like such a big chaotic friend group whose idea of hanging out is going on quests and have fun
Literally me and the boys
Like playing DnD with 8 Knights in the party 😂
@@anewchallenger2825oops all fighters
Galehaut is courtly loving on Lancelot. Like if you move the "courtly love" peg over a space, that's what you get.
New headcanon: a bunch of knights and court people are in a big poly courtly romance
Actually Galehaut is also pursuing the "exaltation of the beloved lady" thing wherein Lancelot is basically the only thing he cares about so much so that he is willing to STOP HIS CONQUEST and to see him happy SETS HIM UP WITH GUENEVIER! Like damn
Maybe also why Dinadan teases him with a fish.
so does that mean Lancelot is courtly loving Galehaut AND Guinevere?
Courtly love but make it gay
I know one thing about Arthur's knights for sure: They are great to steal names from for literally any vehicle or piece of equipment in a scifi setting
Hey, Cardfight Vanguard named just about an entire clan's worth of units after them, even the more obscure ones, like Sagremore, and sort of kept to their themes. Which i think is neat.
Frigate-Class Starship: ELM-37 "Galehaut"
...sorry, I got bored.
I mean if I am to name my cool spaceship and "Invincible Reason", "Tormentum Malorum", "Murder", "Sword of Eternity", "Eternal Crusader", "Becephelus", "Eisenstein" and "Imperator Somnium" are taken Arthurian knights are a great repository for cool names
I know right, my personal favorite name to yoink is by far Gawain
Sigismund, The Emperor's Champion What about “Terminus Est” and “Conqueror” loyalist?
Fun fact about the Lancelot and Galehaut (b)romance. Lancelot, at the end of his own life, will be buried next to Galehaut in the magnificent tomb. And thus they would forever be... HETERO DEATH BUDDIES. :')
#hoyay
yeah I really don't see that romance working out at all.
Galehaut would absolutely destroy Lancelot if they ever tried to have sex.
Two bros, chilling in a tomb, five feet apart cause they’re not gay
my apologies it had to be done
Chikorita Motors It had to be done 😆
Y'all ever sucked your best bud's dong, not gay tho, just for fun
real hetero bro stuff, you would never understand
Have you even looked him in the eyes, hold him tight in your arms, under the moon light, put your lips in his ear and whisper softly "no homo", then you know what's real love, real hetero non-gay love, that is
nothing more manly than two manly men being manly together forever, that's all I'm saying
What No Mention of Brave Sir Robin and his Merry Bard Troupe?
Brave Sir Robin ran away.
("No!")
Bravely ran away away.
("I didn't!")
When danger reared it's ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
("I never!")
Yes, brave Sir Robin turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
("You're lying!")
Swiftly taking to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat.
Bravest of the brave, Sir Robin!
Nee.
Prehistoricpawprint To which I say IT!
You mean Sir Robin, the -not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor, who nearly stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol and who had personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill?
We need the aptly named sir not appearing in this film
GET ON WITH IT!
their dad: a wandering knight
their dad: having children with multiple people
me, a dnd nerd: so, a bard
He must've shredded What is Love on that lute because damn...
You're actually an Assholes and Stereotype Enforcers (A&SE) nerd. Nothing about Dungeons and Dragons says that your rogue has to be a no-gooder bandit, or that your warrior has to make a down-to-earth warrior look like Superman in terms of power diversity, or that your barbarian has to be as dumb as a rock, or that your bard has to be Zeus. Zeus would be a sorcerer (is a god because of the Titans) or warlock (got his thunderbolts from the Cyclopes), for the sake of Kronos!
More points on Sir Dinadan - Lancelot put the dress on *on top* of his armour, and apparently is still seen as attractive by the rest of the knights. Combine that with the fact that Dinadan is the only knight capable of recognising the other knights - *and even King Arthur himself* - by their faces rather than their heraldry, and I get the impression that Camelot, truly, was a very silly place.
Probably, in Camelot you had a huge fucking problem with people hair-cuts and beards being all the same.
OR it was referring to knights with the helmets on. That would make a bit more sense.
Hyperversum *plays the Monty Python song*
I heard it was only a model...
I understand that reference
Well its only a model
Impulsive Lancelot, his big gay crush Galehaut, his biracial pagan half-brother Feirefiz, and his crossdressing trickster friend Dinadan really sounds like something Rick Riordan would write, and it’s glorious
If Uncle Rick actually writes that, I would... honestly I don't know what i'd do
I'd read the hell out of it
Feirefiz is Percival's half-brother, he's not related to Lancelot whatsoever.
I NEED THIS SERIES
Had an idea for a Manga epic based in Arthurian myth but I shot it down. It'd mainly focus on Gawain, Ferefeiz, Galehaut, Dinadan and Gareth going about doing knightly stuff near the beginning of Launcelot and Geinevere's little escapade. Hell, I even had the udea to change the story and have Arthur morbidly and Depressingly follow through with the law after Galahad is revealed and bears shame from his parent's betrayal (yeah, it' be a whole thing of him being raised by a benevolent group of Fae but that was another thing.) Even have it to where Arthur could barely rule the kingdom after executing his wife and best friend; barely able to move from the throne.
4:31 OOOOH.
Is *THAT* the reason why Lancelot gets all the gay jokes in Monty Python???
It is also not uncommen, that he and Arthur have. . .subtext
What!?!
Wait, there were gay jokes?! They frankly went over my head
He was a..
fr*nchman.
@@ItsHimBro that’s pretty gay tbh
“BUT WHAT IF IT WAS AN AFRICAN SWALLOW?”
*coconut sounds*
Monty Python, nice!
Kat Reeves Kroff We are No Longer The knights who say KNEE
"African swallows are non-migratory!"
@@sirenalexander3877 *Panic Noise*
@@sirenalexander3877 NI! NI?? NIIIII!!!! NI! NI!
You found yourself in the villainous castle of Dolorous Guard.
Lancelot: I roll to talk to the nice damsel lady about it's history
Rolls a 20: Lady is actually daughter of Lady of the Lake, she grants you super shield. You gain increased strength and initiative.
Yep. This is the sort of things we need.
Lancelot's whole life is just someone rolling constant nat-20's until the end, where his luck goes out the window.
@@thomasthecoolkid7228 @ThomasTheCoolKid _
In the Fate/Stay Night Franchise. Lancelot possess a personal skill called: Protection of Fairies. It increases his luck in critical situation s.
So your description of lucky rolls is something that other people have also made allegories to as well.
@@mide2476 Oh yeah, I know about that. I just completely forgot about it at the time of writing that response.
Y e s.
*"When you live long enough to see yourself as a villain"*
Seems legit.
That's from The Dark Knight
Because of this video my sister and I have been discussing at length that you could very easily write a T.V. series about King Arthur and his knights’ adventures through the perspective of Gawain.
The basic framework is:
Gawain is not nearly as good or knightly as the other members of the round table, but he did some heroic act to save his town or something while Arthur and some knights were passing through so they allowed him into the round table. The show follows the knights and Arthur going on their many quests, while Gawain attempts to become a better knight and more respected member of the round table.
(We drew up and entire storyboard and plot afterwords that mostly follows the established myths with various twists to fit the narrative, but eventually diverges into our own story. Major plot points include the death of Dinadan, a cursed Excalibur, and an explanation for the lady of the lake, who may or may not be the grandiose puppet master villain who orchestrated Lancelot’s “betrayal” of Arthur and the ultimate civil war with Mordred)
FrankyTheImmortal That’s Great!
I'd watch/ read that!
Make this a thing please
You know, I've always theorized that the Lady of the Lake might be the true villain of the the Arthurian Legends. So it's nice to see someone think that might be possible. Like Excalibur is actually a "key" of sorts that she needs a mortal to wield to escape the lake or something. And maybe Avalon is a lock that seals her. I don't know, but yeah a series with Gawain as the lead is a nice change of pace.
I'd highly recommend reading The Squire's Tale. It's an excellent series that is a fun retelling mostly from the perspective of Gawain's squire. Although it makes Gawain a lot cooler than he appears to be in this video, so it might not line up with your idea much.
I have to disagree on Gawain being a minor character. He’s part of the oldest versions in the Welsh corpus and there’s a significant number of Middle English romances where he’s the main character; the Green Knight one is only the best remembered one nowadays. He’s super important in the Perceval continuations, and it’s only starting with the Vulgate cycle that his star begins to wane because of Lancelot.
To be fair, who did Lancelot not outshine?
THANK YOU! Finally someone said it. Gawain is super important to the mythos and for the life of me I don't understand why he always gets forgotten
@@wiesscaballo4211 I suspect the importance of Malory, which for modern anglophone audiences is the most widespread text. Other possibility is the romances of Chrétien de Troyes where he isn’t as important.
I mean, Llacheu got outshined before the stories even got written down, so there's a trend here.
Also heard he did the grail quest first.
The knowledge that Galehaut's mother was a giantess gives me wonderful visions of his parents generally being cute together. I'm a sucker for the large woman/small man pairing.
Should have mention Yvain.Yvain. He killed a guy, married his wife, got medieval divorced, went crazy, went un-crazy, found a lion, killed a giant and some demons, fought Gawain, saved a woman's life, and then extorted his ex wife into remarrying him.
Isn't he based off of Owain (or Owein) mab Urien?
The more I hear of King Arthur's Knights and the more I think they were all the most anime sounding characters and story's I've heard. Trust me, there are some not covered that were just as crazy and weird.
One of the Knights I really like is Sir Ywain who, in one of his adventures found a lion being attacked by a Dragon so Ywain, apparently being a dude who loves cats charged in to protect the lion. Ywain’s courage and nobility inspires the lion to join him in slaying the dragon and then the Lion becomes Ywain’s companion and best friend. Serving both as a symbol of his nobility and as his tag team partner. One adventure saw Ywain and his lion killing giants.
Now there's an idea. Aside from TYPE-MOON, we should get an anime about Arthur that is precisely centered around him and his order while still staying as true to the mythos as possible. All in favor?
"while still staying as true to the mythos as possible."
I mean, depends on which generation of the mythos we're talking about. This is a fanfic of a fanfic of a fanfic of a faux historical account based on a footnote in a slightly more accurate history book. I mean, where do we draw the line? Which interpretations are too modern to be considered part of the mythos?
Is there anything that _doesn't_ sound like some kind of anime? It's almost like anime is a medium, not a genre...
@@helenanilsson5666 The glory of anime is that you can pick and choose from across ALL the fanfics and no one is going to bat an eye when continuity goes to hell.
The version of the story I heard about the green knight stated that the Green Knight chose Arthur for the test, but Gawain took his place because Arthur was still a boy at this point, and could barely lift the axe, whereas Gawain was a grown man so he reasoned that it would be a fairer contest. This is why I’ve always like Gawain the most, because he is the ordinary knight amongst the perfect paragons.
I have to admit that Gawain happens to be one of my preferred knights since he was one of the few that was meant to being the most "human" in a sense. Sure people cannot live up to the what their role is supposed to be and let their emotions get the better of them. I know its strange since I am defending a loose cannon, but that is how I feel about the guy. Plus, he knew that he wasn't as important as King Arthur and that general sense of bravery to face a danger that would rather go to someone above Gawain in rank.
I used to think that Courage and Stupidity are different concepts since self-preservation is something I never blame a living being. So to willingly offer one's life in the place of another, its something that sticks out for me. For Middle English literature, nothe modern interpretation for self sacrifice.
Recognizing that most of this literature is centuries old, and thus somewhat prone to being a primitive base work, I believe that's exactly how you're SUPPOSED to feel about Gawain.
In essence, he's part of the origins of the "everyman" hero, so his story is intended to inspire the rest of us to rise to our own greatness, whatever that might be, in spite of our own inequities and short-comings. The green knight has some Loric background, probably Celtic, but represents "the thing that most terrifies". Summoning up his courage, not just to take the initial risk in Arthur's place, but again to seek out the Green Knight for the honorable conclusion, Gawain demonstrates the highest value of nobility... NOT that he's so pure of heart, or fearless, or valiant by rote, but that he's an honest man who tries, and faces what most terrifies him... The minor cut, as confusing or confounding as it might seem, is to say, that once you step up to face it, fear tends to turn out far less than you'd expect.
I've long enjoyed the Gawain story, particularly for the multiple layers and facets of its moral premise and foundation. For an earlier English work, it's profoundly well done, all things considered. ;o)
"Sir Gawain is probably the most boring of Arthur's well known knights..."
You know, I've just discovered your videos, and I've been really enjoying them (just subscribed). It'd be a shame if we fell out over something silly like you provoking my ALL CONSUMING ARTHURIAN NERD RAGE!!!!
Yeah, for the most this is very enjoyable, but NOBODY calls gawain boring!
He did a few stupid things, though. I like him still, but WHY.
Case in point: Why don't you just... I dunno... lightly tap the green knight with the axe? You get a sweet axe, and you get to live, and everything's okey dokey!
So w h y.
Why chop his HEAD OFF.
@@Ray-hk1zm I don't think they realized he would not die from getting his head cut off. Plus he just threatened the king and insulted their honor. People were super defensive of their honor back then
@@elazarsinger4187 Yeah, that's fair. Still, I'm shocked that Red didn't say anything about it haha.
@@Ray-hk1zm I mean i dont think its ever stated that he was to attack them with the axe using the same force or aggression, just that he *would* strike them back in a year, so it kind of makes sense youd want to kill someone who otherwise would more than likely kill you
Gawain is one of my favorite Knights, and I did not know J.R.R. Tolkien actually translated the poem of the Green Knight, which just makes him much more of a badass than he already was
8:44 - What the heck, that's such an awesome moral for the story! "You don't have to be perfect. As long as you try your best, that's what counts." Gawain is easily the most respectable and lovable character here (unless you count Galahad). I hope he gets a happy ending or something.
8:50 - Oh... nevermind
hey the guy's brothers just died give him a discount
It's Arthurian legend, basically no one gets a happy ending, just anarchy
Me: *reading the end highlights*
Also me: *gasps ridiculously loudly and much too absurdly for the situation* Dinadan DIES?!?!
Aside from Bedivere and Lancelot, pretty much everyone dies.
I'm sure that he leaves them all laughing.
Bet that if the Arthurian Legends were adapted into some form fiction today (cartoon, live action, anime, etc) they’d portray Dinadan’s death like a mystery and it’s be as tragic as Hughes’ death in FMA
Media Detective HUGHES DIES?!
All of them die except bedivere, my boy Ywain the Lion knight was the last to fall though.
You can tell Red is left handed because every character she draws holds their sword in their left hand. Most people are right hand dominant and thus would wield a sword in the right hand; Red, being left handed, draws people with their sword in her dominant hand, the left.
The more you know! I'm sure this has come up before but this is the first time I noticed it.
That's kinda funny because I'm right handed and when I draw characters holding things, they're often holding said item in their left hand.
I am left handed, and I always end up drawing pencils, swords, and basically everything else in my characters` left hands. I have to concentrate really hard if I want to draw something in someone`s right hand.
Pretentious Elizabeth
YEET Lefties unite!!!!!
Im right haned but i always made my caracters lefties mostly due to my brain not properly flip floping things.
Kaleigh Demeter Some say that....
*lefties die earlier than right-handed people*
... And the aptly named, "Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film."
Guide:
0:27 Lancelot and Dolorous Gard
2:07 Parcival and Fierefis
3:42 Galehaut the uncrowned king
4:52 Dinadan and Lancelot in a dress
5:59 Gawain and the green knight
9:11 song/Roll Credits
Thanks!
"On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It's a silly place."
*Well, I'd avoid such a silly location just on first thought, remember when Sir Kay called Gareth as "Beaumains" meaning "Good hands" and said right after "Blow me"*
I love Red's design. I don't know what it is about it, despite the fact it's pretty simple and is devoid of almost all color, but it just looks really nice
Yea. Especially their rendition of Journey to the West. Honestly, I'd personally make that an official fandom if I'd know how XD.
i know right? Not to mention Red's absolutely stellar comedy. like the "Lancelot get down here!" " S H A N T" thing. Those are always funny!~
Galehaut is now officially my favorite knight of the round table. Though Perceval having a bi-racial half brother he was on good terms with is also pretty cool
he wasn't biracial. He had vitiligo
@@leis7454 He is biracial but because the author didn't know what biracial meant, they wrote him as having vitiligo.
Honestly gawain is kinda interesting if you look at him from the angle of someone with anger issues, or not knowing when to quit. His first major story had him accidently Killing a woman because he was going to kill a knight who had yielded. This knight was one gawain had been hunting for months and he wasn't going to let him go. This left gawain in shock after he killed her. There is also his hatred for lancelot after lance killed some of his brothers saving guinevere. He tried and tried to defeat him till he eventually dies.
Both Gawain and Lancelot both seem to share the same flaw of have short tempers and entering berserker rages while fighting. Though when it comes to the latter flaw, Lancelot certainly has the worse since I think there are many battles where it mentions he accidently kills innocents in the middle of a fury, while Gawain, especially after the incident of killing the women, seems have learned to focus his battle rage against his foes (at least from what I remember since I don't recall any other big incident where he killed another innocent). Come to think of it, this makes it all the weirder that most modern Arthurian works seem to forget or just ignore this when it comes to Lancelot (Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the only work that I can think of from the top of my head that remembers his bloodthirsty berserker tendency, with the whole rushing and slaughtering a lot of people at a wedding). Though I suppose in the "sanitized" retelling of the stories you can't show off your heroic knights in shining armor as being crazed battlers.
That explains why he was portrayed by Knuckles in Sonic and the Black Knight. Anger issues, tries to hold to a code even if he fails, and can't stand the guy who's representing Lancelot.
YES MORE LEGENDS SUMMARIZED!! I love this series so much.
Alystar Trash yay
YES$
Alystar Trash I
More Arthurian stuff n thangs? YES PLEASE
I would like to watch some of dinadan's pranks
"Not a clickbait,gone wrong, almost killed "
5:55 I don't get it
"We're Knights of the Round Table.
We dance whene'er we're able.
We do routines and chorus scenes
With footwork impeccable.
We dine well here in Camelot.
We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.
We're Knights of the Round Table.
Our shows are formidable,
But many times we're given rhymes
That are quite unsingable.
We're opera mad in Camelot.
We sing from the diaphragm a lot.
In war we're tough and able,
Quite indefatigable.
Between our quests we sequin vests and impersonate Clark Gable.
It's a busy life in Camelot.
I have to push the pram a lot."
Bloody Heretic "You know on second thought let's not go to Camelot. Tis a silly place."
Yes, but do they eat coconuts as well?
A coconut? This is a temperate zone!
We all make fun of Gawain, but he is getting his own movie.
Fanfic dot net, the early years.
Wow didn’t expect to see you here
Dude you are everywhere XD
*1211, colorized.
Oh please. Checkout the Epic of Gilgamesh. The last 8th of the story completely ignores the previous 7/8s. It brings a dead character back to life without explaining how that happened, just so he can have another bro down.
Hot diggity damn...you're pretty much In every video comment section on You Tube.
Gawain is my favourite of the knights, at least in the versions I have read (that is my context for all this), because he actually develops. He first starts off failing miserably and accidentally chops a woman's head off because he gets angry at someone. I know I know, "how?!" but that's just Arthurian mythos for you. Then he steps up to do the Green Knight thing, has a life changing experience, and returns to have everyone kinda not get it at all. Either way, he actually tries to improve on his flaws.
Launcelot, on the other hand, puts in a small effort to avoid Guinevere for a bit after the Grail debacle. But otherwise he is just naturally gifted at murdering things and that's about it. Gawain can't fight quite as well, but he's actually a better person.
Galahad is just magically perfect from the get go... and has to make absolutely zero effort to get that way.
Gawain also has a tragic end that is made even more tragic by the fact that he tried to be good. He recognizes that the first brother of his who was killed by Launcelot kinda had it coming and, in the version I read, tries to calm Arthur down. Arthur tries to get Gawain to burn Guinevere but Gawain point blank refuses. Gawain's remaining brothers do not refuse, but protest and go about it unarmed and unarmoured... so Launcelot kills two unarmed and defenceless men in his rescue of Guinevere. Only then does Gawain finally go off the deep end, and I kinda find it hard to blame him. He was sooooo close.
Yeah this a reason why Gawain and Percival are my favorite knights as it does feel like they undergo a lot of character growth in their own respective ways: Gawain as a heroic warrior while Percival as a spiritual Christian sage character (especially in the stories where he was THE Grail Knight . . . though I do believe there is a version where Gawain dose find the grail and become the Grail Knight, so guess he underwent both developments in that version of the story lol).
Lancelot is also one of my favorites due to his heroic but very flawed nature, though I do admit it is always frustrates me re-reading the Quest of the Holy Grail when does relapse into his old adulteries ways despite all the lessons that were hammered into him while he was on the quest.
@@TS2dethmonkey I didn't mention Percival, but he's pretty great too.
You forgot Sir Robin, the -not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor, who nearly stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol and who had personally wet himself at the Battle of Badon Hill.
A legend told via coconut!
And of course the aptly named Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Film.
I wanna ask how did he wet himself
Few thoughts. I love the first knight and how the writer didn’t understand what being biracial was. He seems super cool and I appreciate that. Galahant (Sorry if I spelled it wrong) is awesome. I like that he’s very well liked and then just straight up gives up because “damn what a cute boy”
Camelot is such a silly place
....it's just a model.
And a place where people die, if they are killed.
The land is peaceful, it's inhabitants kind.
pff arthur wouldn't die by something as little as getting killed
DarkKrono explain Mordred then?
Arthur's Bizarre Adventure.
iS tHis a jOJo's rEFferEncE
@@moonyasnow36 yes.
I REJECTED MY HUMAINTY ARTHUR
YOU THOUGHT IT WAS THE GREEN KNIGHT BUT IT WAS ME, DIO
Lancer really commits adultery, no dignity.
Red: Gawain is kinda boring.
Me: YOU WOT MATE
Exactly my thoughts when I heard this line. He's one of my favorite knights (just after Parcival, of course).
Gawain really hits that spot i got for unimportant-ish characters and boy the kisses were really adorable and really helped him to wedge through the crevices of my heart
Gawain is probably the most ubiquitous Arthurian knight; he just gets the short end of the stick in adaptations. It’s the way of heroes: for Lancelot’s star to rise, Gawain’s had to set a bit, just as Kay’s did when Gawain was becoming important. I mean, Kay went from being able to breathe underwater for 9 days and nights, sleep for nine days and nights, grow to treetop height, radiate enough heat from his hands to keep his friends from freezing, etc. to not even being in this video.
Note to self:
Stop watching these at work. I keep getting in trouble for laughing too loudly.
Jesse Miller Good luck with that.
Plucifer The Invincible 4hr later and still can't help myself 🤣
I have the same problem but I watch this video at school
I like Gawain the most, his whole deal is rather interesting since he cannot refuse a Maiden, since he took that oath after accidentally slaying some lady. I also thought he was like... the best. Every story I see him in he is fighting four knights at the same time or performing some other martial feat.
He's definitely more flawed compared to the paragons of Chivalry and Piety that Lancelot and Galahad were, I think that's his primary appeal, he's well-known and more competent than a lot of the fodder of the round table, but he's also not really a mary sue.
Personally I prefer Tristan though, he kind of gets forgotten a lot, but he's actually considered one of the few knights capable of matching Lancelot in the legends. Additionally a lot of his legend is very Lancelot-esque. (Falling in love with his liege's wife and all that.) The key difference being that his King, Mark of Cornwall, is actually established as far more of a dick compared to Arthur, so it's easier to root for Tristan and his courtly romance of Isolde, since it's clear that Mark doesn't really deserve Isolde in the first place, even though Tristan is still torn up about betraying his knightly duties and all that.
My personal favorite is Ywain, the Knight of the Lion. That is mainly because I read an entire graphic novel about him, while I only know about everybody else through Monty Python and the OSP videos. \_(*v*)_/
Galahaut "The Uncrowned King"...
Now, it's not like i'm saying he's a Dark Souls boss, but...
_What is this, a crossover episode?_
On the subject of Knights you didn’t get to, I saw a Tumblr post about how people were complaining about how anime the knights get in modern stories. The poster pointed out than in the original stories, just to give a few examples;
Bedivere openly practiced magic and Arthurs intervention was the only thing that stopped him from being hanged for witchcraft (TWICE, I might add!).
Kay could hold his breath for 10 days, emit supernatural heat from his hands, and grow to the size of a giant.
Merroc was a werewolf! (You actually briefly mentioned that in your werewolf video last year, Red).
The post ended with the conclusion that modern versions of the knights aren’t anime ENOUGH.
Gwain wearing the "you tried" sash is a perfect personification of this year's winter.
Now I REALLY want an 'Aurthur's Knights' cartoon featuring jump-cuts to Dinadan pranking people (whoopee cushions, anyone?) and Galahaut's very obvious crush on Lancelot. I can't draw, but I want it
Same❤❤
Gawain? The most boring knight? HES THE MOST INTERESTING ONE CHARACTER WISE! This was back when character flaws were written like a bad self-insert fanfic (aka none) and everyone wanted to be a paragon. He displayed character flaws before it became a big deal, and acts realistically. The fact that he was written like so during a time period before Shakespeare astounds me!
I hate to diss good 'ol Shakespeare but...
You mean the guy who wrote the tale of "I killed myself for a guy/chick I met five days ago"?...
C'mon now...
Plus, because of his name, you can appropriately call him *GAWAIN THE ROCK JOHNSON!!!!!!!*
@@MrCjlauer49338 You do realize that that was one of the points of the story; right? Romeo and Juliet is a deconstructive take on all those sappy young love stories.
@@matthewmuir8884
That was the joke yes.
Also r/wooosh
His knights contains :
Purple Guy
Honor Student
Tomboy
Eggplant
Gorilla
So Mordy’s on top.
And Despasito 2
Please explain who is who.
Purp Lancelot.
Who’s the honor student again?
Feirefiz is now the patron knight of vitiligo and no one can tell me otherwise.
Yes! ❤️✌🏻
Gawain being generic, could leave room for interpretation of his character. For example, he could be a hard working, self-improving knight, who is secretly jealous of Lancelot's strength, and wants Arthur to acknowledge his devotion to him. This could actually make him an interesting foil to Lancelot.
„LANCELOT GET DOWN HERE“
„SHANT“
Of all the knights that could have gotten a movie deal, Sir Gawain is the last one I expected. And I am so happy!
I honestly cannot believe you didn’t make a “Dinadan, owner of the Dimmesdale Dimmadome” joke, but great vid non the less! I love your work!
But what about sir Bedivere!? He....threw a sword in a lake.
...that's pretty much it, now that i think about it.
And being King Arthur's right hand man and the most bad ass mother fuker ever to live
Fate Grand Order has more information.
He was as fast as wind and had a spear that dealt thrice the damage dealt, too
He may or may not have practiced dark arts, got witch hunted and Arthur bailed him out
Mostly known for being the first and most loyal knight, lesser known for fighting giants, small army and as strong as 3 warriors combined despite only has one hand. Overall still not much interesting shenanigans
So he's only known for littering.
One of my favourite Lancelot myths is The Lady of Shallot. A young woman dies and has a Viking funeral (minus the fire). Her body washes up on shore and she's found by Lancelot and co. and he basically says " Too bad she's dead cause she's pretty hot"; a tale as old as time.
Responses to being told you'll be killed with the same energy:
"I'd prefer if you didn't"
"you seem a decent fellow, I'd hate to die"
ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF JUSTICE! Also, GAWAIN IS BEST KNIGHT! He is the hawkeye of the roundtable.
JamcalX haha yeah... Wait. *Suddenly realizing the avengers are really just a modern retelling of Arthur's knights*
Taylor Kane I thought that was the Justice League.
L'Morte d'Arthur portrayed Sir Gawain as a hot-head, I never thought of him as "boring". Although I think his brother Gaereth was more interesting.
JamcalX *crossover thoughts intensify*
Gawain was portrayed increasingly negatively by French writers to make Galahad and Lancelot look better. While still a hothead, he is far less of one in other works.
JamcalX I agree that Gawain is the best of Arthur's knights. Also, your Hawkeye comparison is quite applicable: both are more likely to appear in a supporting role than in their own solo story (although, unlike Hawkeye, Gawain actually has a few solo stories), and both are happily married and have more of their life sorted out than the rest of the group.
I loved the story of the green knight when I first heard it.
The reason why he even cut him at all was because Gawain kept the belt, the part of it being magic was some bs Bertilak and his wife had made up like a day before, he even blatantly admitted that to Gawain after the fake-beheading.
Pretty sure that the reason Gawain ended up so boring is that he was one of the story's original cast - i.e. not made out of the whole cloth by Chretien de Troyes and everyone else who put their own spin on the myth hundreds of years later. (His more Celtic sounding name is a pretty big hint.)
Gawain was probably Lancelot before Lancelot was himself - the king's own champion and all around avatar of awesomeness. Then the French poet started putting together his own fanfic and his Mary Sue character pushed everyone else aside. Oh well.
Indeed. Gawain is the earliest-appearing of Arthur's knights; appearing at least as far back as the 9th-Century Welsh texts Red mentioned in the King Arthur video. Naturally, when Chretien came along with Lancelot, he needed to make Gawain more negative in order to make Lancelot look better, and later French writers continued this. Whereas, in Britain, Gawain retained his positive characteristics and was widely popular; hence the existence of tales like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as well as Sir Gawain and the Dame Ragnell.
This vision doesnt hold up to what was written.
1st, saying "french" or "engish" writer for this time is an absurdity. Chretien write the myth of lancelot for one of the daughter of Alienor, who's the one who did ask him a story of courtois love. Chretien himselfs didn't seems to like lancelot a lot. Especially considering the two books where he was more "free" for the character devellopment, there is courtois romance but between maried couple (Perceval, Erec & enide, Yvain), Even cliges end up with a wedding.
Also, Gawain is really present in all of chretien work as the really good/wise/observant guy around. Clearly the one who "should" inherit from his uncle, but can't. He end up taking more decision than arthur (this one being here most of the time just to say "oh, by the way, this is an arthurian legend you know, with your favorit character and some new!")
After that, some english author where quite fond of lancelot (thomas malory being the most famous).
and just to add a point, Lancelot isn't a pure creation of Chretien, he was know before, but not written down.
Which basically means that there was a dude called Lancelot and end of the story.
Still OC tho.
@Hetahetalia Yes, I agree with almost of that.
What I'm saying is that Lancelot wasnt really a character even Chretien liked (you can see that with percival, were, once again, it's gauvain who is the better knight, and lancelot who could have been the better better knight but isnt because he love guenièvre.
And yeah, Chretien totally gary/mary sue Erec and Enid, or even Clives, Yvain and such... The only one who avoid this treatment is in fact Perceval... Most certainly because his story wasnt finished. But still, he is called the "naif" because he's like john snow, he knows nothing... No surprise it's the most interesting one.
But yeah, the Vulgate is totally something else. Depending on the version, some author got really heavy about Lancelot and worse, galahad (it was a bit team Lancelot VS team Galahad for a time).
Before chretien introduce the competition to who's the better knight though, the arthurian legend wasn't this way (at least from the writing source, mostly 2nd hand by the way). So Gauvain isn't much about being the better one (because it's arthur) and more being the nephew (wich mean the one raised by arthur as if it was one of his son). It also seems that some story of gawain where mixt with story about Lug (like his strengh, that raise and fall with the sun) to avoid christian censorship of a good story.
But yeah, you could say that Lancelot take the place of the favorite knight in continental arthurian legend (team lancelot ones) other older british ones.
I still stand by the idea that, at least before the 100 year war, speaking of french and english doesnt fit the reallity. It's still more about temporality, or you have to be more specific about the region (welsh, britany, flander, HRE, italy, norman,... they all have theyr small particularity). If I remember corectly, scholar mostly do a distinction between clerical version and other ("surprisingly", mostly team galahad for the clerics).
During and after the 100 year war, it's... another matter yeah, after that there is a french vs british version (with specific things like Avalon etc... that can differenciate them).
Gawain is the best. In most of the mythos he is Arthur's heir prior to Mordred's arrival along with Arthur's best knight. He acts as a foil to both Mordred and Lancelot, an exemplar of their failings: Mordred's lack of virtue and Lancelot's lack of Loyalty are even more apparent in comparison.