Arthurian legend in the context of "Pellinore"

John William Waterhouse RA (baptised 6 April 1849 – 10 February 1917) was an English painter known for working first in the Academic style and for then embracing the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. His paintings are known for their depictions of women from both ancient Greek mythology and Arthurian legend. A high proportion depict a single young and beautiful woman in a historical costume and setting, though there are some ventures into Orientalist painting and genre painting, still mostly featuring women.

Born in Rome to English parents who were both painters, Waterhouse later moved to London, where he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Art Schools. He soon began exhibiting at their annual summer exhibitions, focusing on the creation of large canvas works depicting scenes from the daily life and mythology of ancient Greece. Many of his paintings are based on authors such as Homer, Ovid, Shakespeare, Tennyson, or Keats.

Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed a polytheistic religion, having many gods and goddesses. The mythologies of continental Celtic peoples, such as the Gauls and Celtiberians, did not survive their conquest by the Roman Empire, the loss of their Celtic languages and their subsequent conversion to Christianity. Only remnants are found in Greco-Roman sources and archaeology. Most surviving Celtic mythology belongs to the Insular Celtic peoples (the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland; the Celtic Britons of western Britain and Brittany). They preserved some of their myths in oral lore, which were eventually written down by Christian scribes in the Middle Ages. Irish mythology has the largest written body of myths, followed by Welsh mythology.

The supernatural race called the Tuatha Dé Danann is believed to be based on the main Celtic gods of Ireland, while many Welsh characters belong either to the Plant Dôn ("Children of Dôn") or the Plant Llŷr ("Children of Llŷr"). Some figures in Insular Celtic myth have ancient continental parallels: Irish Lugh and Welsh Lleu are cognate with Lugus, Goibniu and Gofannon with Gobannos, Macán and Mabon with Maponos, and so on. One common figure is the sovereignty goddess, who represents the land and bestows sovereignty on a king by marrying him. The Otherworld is also a common motif, a parallel realm of the supernatural races, which is visited by some mythical heroes. Celtic myth influenced later Arthurian legend.

Ywain /ɪˈweɪn/, also known as Yvain and Owain (among many other spellings), is a Knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. Tradition often portrays him as the son of King Urien of Gorre and of either the supernatural figure Modron or the sorceress Morgan. The historical Owain mab Urien, the basis of the literary character, ruled as the king of Rheged in Britain during the late-6th century.

Yvain was one of the earliest characters associated with King Arthur. He was also one of the most popular, starring as the eponymous hero in Chrétien de Troyes' late-12th-century Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and appearing prominently in many later accounts, often accompanied by his fierce pet lion. He remains Urien's son in virtually all literature in which he appears, whereas other Arthurian-legend characters based on historical figures usually lost their original familial connections in romance literature.

Guinevere (/ˈɡwɪnəvɪər/ GWIN-ə-veer; Welsh: Gwenhwyfar pronunciation; Breton: Gwenivar, Cornish: Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in literature in the early 12th century, nearly 700 years after the purported times of Arthur, Guinevere has since been portrayed as everything from a fatally flawed, villainous, and opportunistic traitor to a noble and virtuous lady. The variably told motif of abduction of Guinevere, or of her being rescued from some other peril, features recurrently and prominently in many versions of the legend.

The earliest datable appearance of Guinevere is in Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-historical British chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae, in which she is seduced by Mordred during his ill-fated rebellion against Arthur. In a later medieval Arthurian romance tradition from France, a major story arc is the queen's tragic love affair with her husband's best knight and trusted friend, Lancelot, indirectly causing the death of Arthur and the downfall of the kingdom. This concept had originally appeared in nascent form in Chrétien de Troyes's poem Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart prior to its vast expansion in the prose cycle Lancelot-Grail, consequently forming much of the narrative core of Thomas Malory's seminal English compilation Le Morte d'Arthur. Other themes found in Malory and other texts include Guinevere's usual barrenness, the scheme of Guinevere's evil twin to replace her, and the particular hostility displayed towards Guinevere by her sister-in-law Morgan.

Geraint (/ˈɡɛraɪnt/ GHERR-eyent) is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, a valiant warrior possibly related to the historical Geraint, an early 8th-century king of Dumnonia. It is also the name of a 6th-century Dumnonian saint king from Briton hagiographies, who may have lived during or shortly prior to the reign of the historical Arthur. The name Geraint is a Welsh form of the Latin Gerontius, meaning "old man".

Galahad (/ˈɡæləhæd/), sometimes referred to as Galeas (/ɡəˈliːəs/) or Galath (/ˈɡæləθ/), among other versions of his name (originally Galaad, Galaaz, or Galaaus), is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in the Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot du Lac and Lady Elaine of Corbenic and is renowned for his gallantry and purity as the most perfect of all knights.

Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, Sir Galahad first appears in the early 13th-century Lancelot–Grail prose cycle. There and in subsequent works, such as the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Le Morte d'Arthur, he has replaced Perceval, introduced in the late 12th century, as the main Grail hero.

Balin /ˈbeɪlɪn/ the Savage, also known as the Knight with the Two Swords, is a character in Arthurian legend. He is a relatively late addition to the medieval Arthurian world. His story, as told by Thomas Malory in Le Morte d'Arthur, is based upon that told in the continuation of the second book of the Post-Vulgate cycle, the Suite du Merlin.

A knight before the Round Table was formed, Sir Balin lives only for a few weeks following his release from King Arthur's prison and his subsequent slaying of a Lady of the Lake. Just prior to his departure, his destiny is sealed by the arrival of a mysterious damsel bearing a sword that only the "most virtuous" knight in Arthur's court will be able to draw; Balin draws this sword easily. His adventures end when Balin and his brother Sir Balan kill each other in single combat, fulfilling an earlier prophecy about the destiny of the bearer of the damsel's sword; they are both unaware of the other's identity during their fight.

Le Morte d'Arthur (originally written as le morte Darthur; Anglo-Norman French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose compilation and reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, along with their respective folklore, including the quest for the Holy Grail and the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In order to tell a "complete" story of Arthur from his conception to his death, Malory put together, rearranged, interpreted and modified material from various French and English sources. Today, this is one of the best-known works of Arthurian literature. Many authors since the 19th-century revival of the Arthurian legend have used Malory as their principal source.

Apparently written in prison at the end of the medieval English era, Le Morte d'Arthur was completed by Malory around 1470 and was first published in a printed edition in 1485 by William Caxton. Until the discovery of the Winchester Manuscript in 1934, the 1485 edition was considered the earliest known text of Le Morte d'Arthur and that closest to Malory's original version. Modern editions under myriad titles are variable, changing spelling, grammar and pronouns for the convenience of readers of modern English, as well as often abridging or revising the material.