Gareth

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For the given name and people and fictional characters with that name, see Gareth (given name).

Gareth
Matter of Britain character
"Sir Gareth of Orkney", Howard Pyle's illustration for The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions (1907)
First appearanceThe First Continuation of Perceval, the Story of the Grail
In-universe information
TitlePrince, Sir
OccupationKnight of the Round Table
FamilyLot, Morgause (parents)
Agravain, Gaheris, Gawain, Mordred (brothers)
King Arthur (uncle)
SpouseLyonesse
RelativesKing Arthur's family
HomeOrkney, Camelot

Gareth (Welsh: [ˈɡarɛθ]; Old French: Guerehet, Guerrehet, etc.) is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making him Arthur's nephew, as well as brother to Gawain, Agravain and Gaheris, and either a brother or half-brother of Mordred.[note 1] Gareth is particularly notable in Le Morte d'Arthur, where one of its eight books is named after and largely dedicated to him, and in which he is also known by his nickname Beaumains.

Arthurian legend

French literature

See also: Gaheris

The earliest role of Gareth, appearing as Guerrehet,

Perceval ou le Conte du Graal (in the original Perceval, Chrétien himself had only mentioned Gawain's brothers named Agrevain, Gaherriez and Guerrehés[4]). As the protagonist of the story's final episode, he slays the giant known as "Little Knight", thus avenging the death of fairy king Brangemuer, son of Guingamuer
and the fay Brangepart.

Several of his adventures are narrated in the Vulgate Cycle (

Hector de Maris) during Lancelot's rescue of Guinevere from being burned at the stake is related in the Mort Artu (Death of Arthur), the final volume of the Vulgate Cycle.[5] The Vulgate Lancelot and the Vulgate Mort Artu, as well as variants of the other prose cycles, differ in their characterisation of Gareth. For instance, he is portrayed as Gawain's most cherished brother in the Vulgate Lancelot, but not in the Vulgate Mort Artu.[6]

Le Morte d'Arthur

In Thomas Malory's Arthurian compilation Le Morte d'Arthur, Gareth (the form of his name invented by Malory) is a composite character combining the explicitly good aspects of the two similarly named younger brothers of Gawain from the work's French sources (i.e. the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles and different versions of the Prose Tristan), the other of whom became Malory's Gaheris. As the youngest and often most chivalrous of the Orkney princes, Gareth prevents his brothers Gawain and Agravain from killing Gaheris in revenge for the murder of their mother Morgause, condemns his brothers for their killing of Lamorak, and attempts to dissuade Agravain and Mordred (the youngest of the Orkney brothers) from exposing the secret love affair between Lancelot and Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere.

Gareth is notably the hero of Book IV (Caxton VII), "The Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney", Malory's own original story of the

Fair Unknown type, which tells how the young Gareth became a knight. It is partially a creative retelling of an episode from the Post-Vulgate Suite de Merlin, which featured a considerably older Gaheriet on his quest to defeat the Red Knights, ending with his knighting.[7]

Gareth, Lyonesse and the Red Knight in Overthrowing of the Rusty Knight by Arthur Hughes (c. 1894–1908)

In the "Tale of Gareth", the teenage hero seeks to prove himself worthy of

Sir Kay, who always gives him difficult work, teases him as a lowly kitchen boy, and mockingly nicknames him "Beaumains" or "Good Hands" (alternatively "Beautiful Hands" or "Fair Hands"). Gareth receives much better attention from Sir Lancelot, who gives him gifts of clothes and gold for spending money. After a year passes, Gareth finally embarks on a knightly quest. He goes to the aid of an unknown woman, later revealed to be the Dame Lynette, to save her sister Lyonesse (both also appearing under various alternate spellings) from the Red Knight of the Red Lands. Gareth is accompanied by the dwarf Melot, who knows his true identity. However, Lynette takes Gareth as a mere kitchen boy and constantly derides him. On the way, he defeats Sir Perarde, the horrible Black Knight, and takes his armour and horse. He then meets Sir Pertolope, the Green Knight, who mistakes him for his brother, the Black Knight. Lynette tells the Green Knight that he is a kitchen boy and begs him to rid her of him. Gareth overcomes the Green Knight but spares his life in return for the knight's swearing to serve King Arthur. He then in much the same fashion defeats Sir Perymones, the Puce Knight (sometimes the Red Knight, but not to be confused with the Knight of the Red Lands), and Sir Persaunte (Persant of Inde), the Indigo Knight, both of whom also swear loyalty to Arthur. He arrives at Lyonesse's castle, where she is besieged by Sir Ironside, the Red Knight of the Red Lands. Gareth fights him all day and finally prevails, although the Red Knight has the strength of seven men, and intends to slay him just like Ironside had slaughtered all the other knights who came to save the lady Lyonesse. However, the Red Knight explains that he did so because the lady he loved made him swear to kill Lancelot, and the only way to get Lancelot's attention was to first kill these knights. Hearing this, Gareth decides to spare the Red Knight, making him swear to serve Arthur and also go to Camelot and apologise to Lancelot. Lustily in love with Lyonesse, Gareth conspires to consummate their relationship before marrying. Only by the magical intervention of Lynette is their tryst unsuccessful, thus preserving Gareth's virginity and, presumably, his standing with God. Gareth later counsels Lyonesse to report to King Arthur and pretend she does not know where he is; instead, he tells her to announce a tournament of his knights against the Round Table. This allows Gareth to disguise himself and win honour by defeating his brother knights. The heralds eventually acknowledge that he is 'Sir Gareth' right as he defeats his brother Gawain.[8]

In Malory, there are only two knights that have ever successfully held against Lancelot: Sir Tristan and Gareth. This was always under conditions where one or both parties were unknown to the other, for these knights loved each other "passingly well". Gareth was knighted by Lancelot himself when he took upon him the adventure on behalf of Lynette. Later, Gareth tells Tristan he had parted ways with his brothers Gaheris and Agravain due to their dislike of him and their murderous ways.

Eventually, Lancelot's unintended and brutal killing of his young friend and hero worship follower makes the central event of the final grand tragedy at the end of Malory's tale.[9] In this scene (based on the English Stanzaic Morte Arthur rather than on the French original) in Book VII (Caxton XVIII), "The Death of Arthur", Gareth arrives unarmed in protest after he is ordered by King Arthur to help guard the execution of Queen Guinevere. Nevertheless, he ends up accidentally killed by the battle-mad Lancelot during the rescue of the queen, along with his brother Gaheris. Gawain refuses to allow Arthur to accept Lancelot's sincere apology for the deaths of his brothers. Lancelot genuinely mourns the death of Gareth, whom he loved closely like a son or younger brother, but Arthur is forced by Gawain's insistence to go to war against Lancelot. This leads to the splitting of the Round Table, Mordred's treachery in trying to seize Guinevere and the throne, Gawain's own death from an unhealed wound he suffered in his duel with Lancelot, and Arthur and Mordred slaying each other in the final battle.

Modern versions

The legend of Gareth and Lynette has been reinterpreted by many writers and poets, the most renowned being

Alfred Lord Tennyson in Idylls of the King
(1859–1888). In this version the 'colored' knights are replaced by knights associated with various times of day: the final knight is known as Night or Death and is the most feared of the three, though ultimately the weakest. Eventually, Gareth marries Lynette.

In some other retellings, Gareth marries Lynette's sister, whom he rescues, and Gaheris marries Lynette. Theodore Goodridge Roberts authored the short story "For to Achieve Your Adventure", in which Lynette knows she is sending Gareth into an ambush in an attempt to make him give up for his own protection.

In the Fate franchise, Gareth is depicted as a female knight, while keeping much of the legend's original family traits and story; she ends up brutally killed by the mad Lancelot. An alternative Gareth also appears in a faery world in the "Lostbelt 6: Avalon le Fae" scenario of the mobile game Fate/Grand Order.

Notes

  1. ^ An enumeration of the four brothers (excluding Mordred) can be found in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval, the Story of the Grail when Gawain tells the "white-haired queen" (his grandmother Igraine) the names of the four brothers ("Gawain is the oldest, the second Agravain the Proud [...], Gaheriet and Guerehet are the names of the following two."[1] A brief portrait of the five brothers (including Mordred) can be found in the prose Lancelot.[2]

References

  1. ^ Verses 8139–8142 in the Dufournet edition; verses 8056–8060 in the Méla edition.
  2. ISBN 9781843842354
    .
  3. ISBN 9783826028113
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-300-13370-7
    .
  5. ISBN 9780859917704
    .
  6. ^ Norris J. Lacy, ed., Lancelot-Grail: Lancelot Parts III and IV, pp. 393–4.
  7. ISBN 978-1-4214-3311-0
    .
  8. ^ "Sir Gareth". Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  9. ISBN 978-0-85991-068-2
    .
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