Editing Arthurian Mythos (section)

==Knights of the Round Table==
One of the most iconic aspects of Arthurian Lore is the Knights of the Round Table - so named because Arthur gathers his knights on Camelot around a table with no head, so that all eyes can meet as equals. Each knight can have their own story associated with the lore; some knights such as Tristan originate outside Arthurian lore altogether and get brought in by various authors. Others get special attention because they are that author’s favorite, either due to representing their country or just being their favorite type of story to tell. In some ways the knights overshadow Arthur, as their quests and adventures take place during the time of peace that Arthur establishes and thus rarely takes part in adventures himself.

The most well-known knights include:

* Gawain - nephew of Arthur, and one of the oldest represented knights, having existed back when the stories were primarily Welsh. Gawain is best known for his story Gawain and the Green Knight, where he must honor a deadly agreement with the Green Knight and the journey he takes to fulfill it.
* Ector - Arthur’s adoptive father
* Kay - Arthur’s adoptive brother
* Lancelot - most famous and accomplished of the knights. Falls in love with Guinevere; in early stories this love is unrequited but turns into a full-blown affair and scandal in later stories. In at least one version, Lancelot takes several knights with him and goes to war against Arthur, only to reconcile and come to Arthur's aid when Mordred's betrayal is discovered.
* Bedivere - returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake
* Tristan - more commonly associated with his own cycle of stories. Nephew of king Mark of Cornwall, and has a secret affair with Mark’s wife Iseult.
* Percival - Locates the grail as being in possession of the Fisher King. In stories where Galahad has not been introduced, he acquires the Grail and goes up to heaven.
* Galahad - Lancelot’s son. He is the only knight who can sit in the Seige Perilous and live, marking him as the one to go on the grail quest; it just so happens that he is also the grandson of the Fisher King (as his daughter, Galahad's mother, tricked Lancelot into having sex with her by pretending to be Guinevere. If it worked one time, why not twice?). Acquires the holy grail in place of Percival when he is featured.
* Bors - Cousin of Lancelot. In one story, he is one of the knights who accompanies Percival and Galahad on the Grail quest; he is both valiant in battle and of pure spirit, so he is able to retrieve the grail and take it back to Britain when Galahad is taken to heaven. In another story, he takes the side of Lancelot when his affair is exposed and helps rescue Guinevere, even though both kill several of their fellow knights in the process.
* Palamedes - A Christian convert from Babylon; initially portrayed as a rival of Tristan for Iseult's affections, he is best known as the knight who slays the Questing Beast; the Questing Beast is a chimera whose appearance is an early foretelling of Mordred's uprising, as it too was a product of incest and appears shortly after Galahad has a premonition of Mordred.
* Mordred - Arthur’s traitorous son. In some cases he’s the one who exposes Lancelot’s affair in order to provoke a civil war. Also introduced very early into the canon, though the earliest versions have him as Arthur’s nephew.