Mordred in the context of "Knights of the Round Table"

Idylls of the King, published between 1859 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892; Poet Laureate from 1850) which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom.

The whole work recounts Arthur's attempt and failure to lift up mankind and create a perfect kingdom, from his coming to power to his death at the hands of the traitor Mordred. Individual poems detail the deeds of various knights, including Lancelot, Geraint, Galahad, and Balin and Balan, and also Merlin and the Lady of the Lake. There is little transition between idylls, but the central figure of Arthur links all the stories. The poems were dedicated to the late Albert, Prince Consort.

Conflict is a major element of narrative or dramatic structure in literature, particularly European and European diaspora literature starting in the 20th century, that adds a goal and opposing forces to add uncertainty as to whether the goal will be achieved. In narrative, conflict delays the characters and events from reaching a goal or set of goals. This may include main characters or it may include characters around the main character.

Despite this, conflict as a concept in stories is not universal as there are story structures that are noted to not center conflict such as griot, morality tale, kishōtenketsu, ta'zieh and so on.

Gawain (/ˈɡɑːweɪn, ˈɡæ-, -wɪn, ɡəˈweɪn/ GA(H)-wayn, -⁠win, gə-WAYN), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned under the name Gwalchmei in the earliest Welsh sources. He has subsequently appeared in many Arthurian tales in Welsh, Latin, French, English, Scottish, Dutch, German, Spanish, and Italian, notably as the protagonist of the Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Other works featuring Gawain as their central character include De Ortu Waluuanii, Diu Crône, Ywain and Gawain, Golagros and Gawane, Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle, L'âtre périlleux, La Mule sans frein, La Vengeance Raguidel, Le Chevalier à l'épée, Le Livre d'Artus, The Awntyrs off Arthure, The Greene Knight, and The Weddynge of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell.

In Arthurian chivalric romance literature, Gawain is usually depicted as King Arthur's closest companion and an integral member of the elite Round Table. In the best-known versions of the legend, he is the son of Arthur's sister Morgause and King Lot of Orkney and Lothian. Here, his younger brothers (or half-brothers) are Agravain, Gaheris, Gareth, and the infamous Mordred. However, his familial relations and upbringing are recorded differently in various accounts, although they often involve a story of Gawain unknowingly being raised in foster care in Rome before returning to Britain to reunite happily with his biological relatives. His many children from his numerous wives and lovers include the "Fair Unknown" Gingalain, himself a popular hero of Arthurian romance.

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.

Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), alternatively written as Launcelot and other variants, is a popular character in the Arthurian legend's chivalric romance tradition. He is typically depicted as King Arthur's close companion and one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table, as well as a secret lover of Arthur's wife, Guinevere.

In his most prominent and complete depiction, Lancelot is a beautiful orphaned son of King Ban of the lost kingdom of Benoïc. He is raised in a fairy realm by the Lady of the Lake while unaware of his real parentage prior to joining Arthur's court as a young knight and discovering his origins. A hero of many battles, quests and tournaments, and famed as a nearly unrivalled swordsman and jouster, Lancelot soon becomes the lord of the castle Joyous Gard and personal champion of Queen Guinevere, to whom he is devoted absolutely. He also develops a close relationship with Galehaut and suffers from frequent and sometimes prolonged fits of violent rage and other forms of madness. After Lady Elaine seduces him using magic, their son Galahad, devoid of his father's flaws of character, becomes the perfect knight that succeeds in completing the greatest of all quests, achieving the Holy Grail when Lancelot himself fails due to his sins. Eventually, when Lancelot's adulterous affair with Guinevere is publicly discovered, it develops into a bloody civil war that, once exploited by Mordred, brings an end to Arthur's kingdom.

The size of King Arthur's family mirrored the size of his legend. Although always large, it particularly grew as the legend of King Arthur gained popularity throughout Britain. According to the earliest Welsh Arthurian tradition, Arthur has an extensive family network. This includes his parents Uther Pendragon and Eigyr (Igraine), his wife Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), his nephew Gwalchmei (Gawain), a brother, and several sons. His maternal lineage is also detailed, which includes his grandfather Amlawdd Wledig, a legendary king. His family tree was both simplified and expanded in shared British and French traditions. The two countries added characters from other medieval European chronicles and romances, which introduced new characters, such as Arthur's half-sisters, including Morgan, and their children, including Mordred. Various rulers claimed to be descended from Arthur, in particular the House of Tudor and Scottish clans, reflecting the importance of his family legend in medieval and early modern genealogies.

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.