Le Morte d'Arthur in the context of "Joyous Gard"

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights is a 1903 children's novel by the American illustrator and writer Howard Pyle. The book contains a compilation of various stories, adapted by Pyle, regarding the legendary King Arthur of Britain and select Knights of the Round Table. Pyle's novel begins with Arthur in his youth and continues through numerous tales of bravery, romance, hardship, battle, and knighthood.

Pyle's rendition is an American adaption of traditionally English stories of the Arthurian legends. Although with some unique embellishments, it draws heavily on previous authors' stories, such as the then-recent The Boy's King Arthur (1880) by fellow American Sidney Lanier; Tennyson's Idylls of the King (1859–1885); James Thomas Knowles's The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights (1860); and ultimately Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur (1485), the primary source material for all of the above.

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.

Mordred or Modred (/ˈmɔːrdrɛd/ or /ˈmoʊdrɛd/; Welsh: Medraut or Medrawt) is a major figure in the legend of King Arthur. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle Annales Cambriae, wherein he and Arthur are ambiguously associated with the Battle of Camlann in a brief entry for the year 537. Medraut's figure seemed to have been regarded positively in the early Welsh tradition and may have been related to that of Arthur's son. As Modredus, Mordred was depicted as Arthur's traitorous nephew and a legitimate son of King Lot in the pseudo-historical work Historia Regum Britanniae, which then served as the basis for the subsequent evolution of the legend from the 12th century. Later variants most often characterised Mordred as Arthur's villainous bastard son, born of an incestuous relationship with his half-sister, the queen of Lothian or Orkney named either Anna, Orcades, or Morgause. The accounts presented in the Historia and most other versions include Mordred's death at Camlann, typically in a final duel, during which he manages to mortally wound his own slayer, Arthur. Mordred is usually a brother or half-brother to Gawain; however, his other family relations, as well as his relationships with Arthur's wife Guinevere, vary greatly.

In a popular telling, originating from the French chivalric romances of the 13th century and made prominent today through its inclusion in Le Morte d'Arthur, Mordred is a power-hungry son of Arthur from the incest with Morgause, prophesied by Merlin and destined to bring Britain to ruin. He survives Arthur's attempt to get rid of him soon after his birth and, years later, joins his half-brothers Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris and Gareth in Arthur's fellowship of the Round Table as a young and immoral knight. Eventually, Mordred learns of his true parentage and becomes the main actor in Arthur's downfall. He helps Agravain to expose the illicit love affair between Guinevere and Lancelot and then takes advantage of the resulting civil war to make himself the high king of Britain, ultimately leading to both his own and Arthur's deaths in their battle. Today, he remains an iconic character in many modern adaptations of Arthurian legend, in which he usually appears as a villain and the archenemy of Arthur.

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.

The Lady of the Lake (French: Dame du Lac, Demoiselle du Lac, Italian: Dama del Lago) is a title used by multiple characters in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. As either actually fairy or fairy-like yet human enchantresses, they play important roles in various stories, notably by providing Arthur with the sword Excalibur, eliminating the wizard Merlin, raising the knight Lancelot after the death of his father, and helping to take the dying Arthur to Avalon after his final battle. Different Ladies of the Lake appear concurrently as separate characters in some versions of the legend since at least the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently the seminal Le Morte d'Arthur, with the latter describing them as members of a hierarchical group, while some texts also give this title to either Morgan or her sister.

Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthurian, Celtic, or Dark Ages could just as easily be placed in historical fantasy. Stories fitting this classification generally take place prior to the 20th century.

Films of this genre may have plots set in biblical times or classical antiquity. They often have plots based very loosely on mythology or legends of Greek-Roman history, or the surrounding cultures of the same era.

Agravain or Agravaine (/ˈæɡrəveɪn/ AG-rə-vain) is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, whose first known appearance is in the works of Chrétien de Troyes. He is the second eldest son of King Lot of Orkney with one of King Arthur's sisters known as Anna or Morgause, thus nephew of King Arthur, and brother to Sir Gawain, Gaheris, and Gareth, as well as half-brother to Mordred.

Agravain secretly makes attempts on the life of his hated brother Gaheris starting in the Vulgate Cycle, participates in the slayings of Lamorak and Palamedes in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and murders Dinadan in the Prose Tristan. In the French prose cycle tradition included in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, together with Mordred, he then plays a leading role by exposing his aunt Guinevere's affair with Lancelot, which leads to his death at Lancelot's hand.

Gaheris (/ɡəˈhɛrɪs/ gə-HERR-iss; Old French: Gaheriet[/s/z], Gaheriés, etc.) is a Knight of the Round Table and a relative of King Arthur in the chivalric romance tradition of the Arthurian legend. He is usually described as the third son of one of Arthur's half-sisters and her husband Lot, rulers of either Orkney or Lothian. In the popular version found in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Gaheris is the son of King Lot of Orkney and Queen Morgause, making him the younger brother of Gawain and Agravain, the elder brother of Gareth, and the half-brother of Arthur's son Mordred.

The character of Gaheris may have originated from the figure of Gawain's sole brother in early Welsh Arthurian tradition, who was later divided into two separate characters, one of whom became known as Malory's Gareth. In German medieval poetry, where no equivalent of Gareth exists, Gaheris appears instead as Gawain's cousin rather than his brother.