I walk in a different neighborhood and see a statue of a knight on a front porch. He seems to be guarding the front door, always ready to protect the residents inside. Is this suburban neighborhood a frequent scene of medieval battles? Do nefarious evildoers lurk in the shrubbery? Are King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table the local law enforcement? In the minds of these residents, perhaps so. More likely, it is simply an exterior décor choice meant to liven up an otherwise ordinary ranch house.
According to Wikipedia, the Knights of the Round Table are the knightly members of the legendary fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain, appearing in literature since the mid-12th century. In this French-derived branch of Arthurian legend, the Knights are an order in the service of King Arthur, tasked with ensuring the peace of the kingdom and later leading the quest for the legendary Holy Grail. The Round Table — the place at which these characters of legend meet — is a symbol of equality, and all members of the round table are thus equal.
Different stories presented varying numbers of the knights, ranging from only a dozen or two to as many as 150 or more. Bedivere, Gawain and Kay are the oldest characters associated with Arthur. Gawain was also one of those persistently most popular, alongside Lancelot, Percival and Tristan, each of them featured as protagonist or eponymous hero in multiple works of the chivalric romance genre. Other well-known members include Galahad, the most perfect knight in the later tradition wherein he replaced Percival as main achiever of the Grail, and the traitor Mordred. At the end of Arthurian prose cycles, including in the seminal Le Morte d’Arthur, the Round Table breaks down into warring factions following the revelation of Queen Guinevere’s's adultery with Lancelot.
Sir Bedivere
Bedivere is one of the earliest characters to be featured in the legend of King Arthur, originally appearing in several Welsh texts as the one-handed great warrior named Bedwyr Bedrydant. In the French-inspired Matter of Britain, based on his portrayal in the Historia Regum Britanniae, Bedivere is described as being the Knight of the Round Table of King Arthur who serves as Arthur's marshal and eventually returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. There, he is frequently associated with his brother Lucan and his cousin Griflet, as well as with Kay.
In several English versions of Arthur's death, including Malory's, the Alliterative Morte Arthure and the Stanzaic Morte Arthur, Bedivere and Arthur are among the few survivors of the Battle of Salisbury. After the battle, at the request of the mortally wounded king, Bedivere casts away the sword Excalibur that Arthur had received from the Lady of the Lake. However, he does this only after twice thinking the sword too valuable to Britain to throw into the water. When he reports that nothing in particular happened, King Arthur admonishes him, for Arthur knows that the mystical sword would create some supernatural event. Finally, Bedivere casts the sword into the water, at which a hand arises and catches the sword mid-air, then sinks into the waters, and Arthur is thus assured that the sword has been returned. Upon the death of Arthur, Bedivere enters a hermitage, where he spends the remainder of his life — the same hermitage, led by the Modred-ousted Bishop of Canterbury, that Lancelot and some of his kindred knights will resort to in their own penitence. It is implied that both King Arthur and Queen Guinevere lie beside each other in or near there.
In the 1975 comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the ironically-named Sir Bedevere the Wise — played by Terry Jones — is regarded as brilliant at science by other characters, but his methods revolve around absurd theories such as the Earth being banana-shaped and witches burning and floating on water because they are made of wood. He devises a Trojan Horse-styled scheme with a big wooden rabbit to get inside a French fortress but overlooks the crucial detail of Arthur and the knights actually being inside it.
Sir Gawain
Gawain is one of a select number of Round Table members to be referred to as one of the greatest knights and closest companions of King Arthur. He is usually the son of Arthur's sister Morgause or Anna and King Lot of Orkney and Lothian, and his brothers or half-brothers are Agravain, Gaheris, Gareth and Mordred. He is often portrayed as a formidable, courteous, and also a compassionate warrior, fiercely loyal to his king and family. As such he is a friend to young knights, a defender of the poor, and as "the Maidens' Knight," a defender of women as well. He has a horse named Gringolet, uses the sword Excalibur, and his sons may include the "Fair Unknown," Gingalain. One recurring theme of later versions of Gawain's legend is his friendship with Lancelot, who eventually becomes his bitter enemy. Gawain's usually glowing portrayals are diminished in the Lancelot–Grail Cycle in favor of Lancelot and especially Galahad, and his character even turns markedly ignoble in the Post-Vulgate Cycle and outright villainous in the Prose Tristan.
Beginning with the five works of Chrétien de Troyes, Gawain became a particularly popular figure in the Old French chivalric romances. Chrétien features Gawain as a major character and establishes some characteristics that pervade later depictions, including his unparalleled courteousness and his way with women. His romances set the pattern often followed in later works in which Gawain serves as an ally to the protagonist and a model of knighthood to whom others are compared. However, in Chrétien's later romances, especially Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart and Perceval, the Story of the Grail, the eponymous heroes Lancelot and Percival prove morally superior to Gawain who follows the rules of courtliness to the letter rather than the spirit. Chrétien's story of Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, was translated into the Middle English as Ywain and Gawain. The photo above depicts Gawain unwittingly fighting Yvain, from Chrétien's Knight of the Lion.
Gawain appears as a supporting character in films such as Knights of the Round Table in 1953, played by Robert Urquhart, and Excalibur in 1981, played by Liam Neeson, all of which draw on elements of his traditional characterizations. Other films give Gawain a larger role. In the 1954 adaptation of Prince Valiant, he is a somewhat boorish, though noble and good-natured, foil for his squire and friend, Valiant. He plays his traditional part in the 1963 film Sword of Lancelot, played by George Baker, seeking revenge when Lancelot kills his unarmed brother Gareth, but ultimately coming to Lancelot's aid when he uncovers Mordred's responsibility. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has been adapted to film several times, including 1973's Gawain and the Green Knight, played by Murray Head, and 1984's Sword of the Valiant, played by Miles O’Keeffe, both directed by Stephen Weeks; neither film was well reviewed and both deviate substantially from the source material. A 1991 television adaptation by Thames Television, Gawain and the Green Knight, was both more faithful and better received.
Sir Kay
In Arthurian legend, Sir Kay is King Arthur’s foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. In later literature he is known for his acid tongue and bullying, boorish behavior, but in earlier accounts he was one of Arthur's premier warriors. Along with Bedivere, with whom he is frequently associated, Kay is one of the earliest characters associated with Arthur.
Kay is ubiquitous in Arthurian literature but he rarely serves as anything but a foil for other characters. Although he manipulates the king to get his way, his loyalty to Arthur is usually unquestioned. In the Vulgate Cycle, the Post-Vulgate and Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, Kay's father Ector adopts the infant Arthur after Merlin takes him away from his birth parents, Uther and Igraine. Ector raises the future king and Kay as brothers, but Arthur's parentage is revealed when he draws the Sword in the Stone at a tournament in London. Arthur, serving as squire to the newly knighted Kay, is locked out of the house and cannot get to his brother's sword, so he uses the Sword in the Stone to replace it. Kay shows his characteristic opportunism when he tries to claim it was in fact he that pulled the sword from the stone — not Arthur — making Kay the true King of the Britons, but he ultimately relents and admits it was Arthur. He becomes one of the first Knights of the Round Table, described as "best worthy to be a knight of the Round Table of any," and serves his foster-brother throughout his life.
Kay is a main character in the first three books of T.H. White’s “The Once and Future King,” “The Sword in the Stone” and “The Queen of Air and Darkness.” His portrayal is based on Malory's account of Arthur's upbringing, but White adds a number of new elements to the story, including one in which the young Kay kills a dangerous griffin with the aid of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. White's Kay is quick-witted and often mean, but always a loving foster brother to Arthur, whom he calls "the Wart."
Kay appears in the 1963 Walt Disney Studios animated film adaptation of “The Sword in the Stone,” where he is voiced by actor Norman Alden. Though he is inept at jousting and sword fighting, Ector remains determined to groom him for knighthood and to possibly take the crown. Kay serves as a foil to Arthur, being self-centered, lazy and outwardly boorish and bitter. Kay constantly bullies Arthur, and has a grudge against him, often trying to physically hurt him for his mistakes. However, when Arthur becomes king, Kay comes to respect Arthur as the king, as shown when he reluctantly bows down to Arthur at first, then does so sincerely and also shows guilt for the way he treated him in the past.
Sir Lancelot
Lancelot du Lac — meaning Lancelot of the Lake — also written as Launcelot and other spellings, is one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend where he typically figures as King Arthur's greatest companion and one of his greatest knights. In the best-known tradition, Lancelot is orphaned son of King Ban of Benwick, raised in a fairy realm by the Lady of the Lake. He then becomes the lord of Joyous Gard, and the greatest swordsman and jouster as the knight of most martial prowess of the age – until his adulterous affair with Queen Guinevere is discovered, causing a civil war which is exploited by Mordred and brings about the end of Arthur's kingdom. The forbidden love affair between Lancelot and Arthur's wife Guinevere can be seen as parallel to that of Tristan and Iseult, with him ultimately identified with the tragedy of chance and human failing that is responsible for the downfall of the Round Table.
His first appearance as a main character is found in Chrétien de Troyes’ poem “Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart,” written in the 12th century. Later, his exploits were expanded upon in other works, especially the vast Lancelot-Grail prose cycle that presented the now-familiar version of his legend. There, his and Lady Elaine's son, Galahad, becomes an even more perfect knight and the ultimate achiever of the Holy Grail.
Lancelot is constantly tied to the Christian themes within Arthurian legend. Lancelot's quest for Guinevere in “Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart” is similar to Christ's quest for the human soul. His adventure among the tombs is described in terms that suggest Christ's harrowing of Hell and resurrection: he effortlessly lifts the lid off the sarcophagus, which bears an inscription foretelling his freeing of the captives.
Lancelot appeared as a character in many Arthurian films and television productions, sometimes even as the protagonistic titular character. He has been played by Robert Taylor in “Knights of the Round Table” in 1953, William Russell in “The Adventures of Sir Lancelot” in 1956–1957, Robert Goulet in “Camelot” in 1960, Cornel Wilde in “Sword of Lancelot” in 1963, Franco Nero in “Camelot” in 1967, Luc Simon in “Lancelot du Lac” in 1974, Nicholas Clay in “Excalibur” in 1981, Richard Gere in “First Knight” in 1995, Jeremy Sheffield in “Merlin” in 1998, Phil Cornwell in “King Arthur’s Disasters” in 2005–2006, Thomas Cousseau in “Kaamelott” in 2005–2009, Santiago Cabrera in “Merlin” in 2008–2011, Christopher Tavarez in “Avalon High” in 2010, Sinqua Walls in “once Upon a Time” in 2012 and 2015, Dan Stevens in “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb” in 2014 and Martin McCreadie in “Transformers” The Last Knight” in 2017, among others.
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