Agravain

Sir Agravain or Sir Agravaine is a nephew of King Arthur and a knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend.

Related Topics:
King Arthur - Round Table - Arthurian legend

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Agravain is the second son of King Lot of Orkney and Lothian and Morgause. He is brother to Gawain, Gaheris, Gareth, and Mordred. His mother's parents were Gorlois and Igraine; she was a sister of Elaine and Morgan le Fay and maternal half-sister to King Arthur.

Related Topics:
King Lot - Orkney - Lothian - Morgause - Gawain - Gaheris - Gareth - Mordred - Gorlois - Igraine - Elaine - Morgan le Fay - King Arthur

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He is described as handsome and a capable fighter, but unlike his heroic brothers Gawain and Gareth, Agravain has a reputation for malice and villainy. He plays an important role in most cyclical Arthurian literature, from the Vulgate Cycle to Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur when he exposes his aunt Guinevere's affair with Lancelot.

Related Topics:
Vulgate Cycle - Malory - Le Morte d'Arthur - Guinevere - Lancelot

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Though Gawain, Gaheris and Gareth try to stop them, he and Mordred conspire to catch the adulterers together. In some versions he is killed by the escaping Lancelot, in others he dies defending Guinevere's execution from Lancelot's forces along with Gaheris and Gareth. In either case, it is not his death but Gaheris' and Gareth's that inspires Gawain's wrath toward Lancelot, as Gawain had warned Agravain not to spy on Lancelot.

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Throughout the stories Agravain participates in acts of villainy such as the murders of Sir Lamorak and Sir Dinadan, but sometimes his acts are not so malign. He participates in a number of adventures early in the Vulgate Cycle, and sometimes even does heroic deeds. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight where he is called "Agravain of the Hard Hand" he is named in a list of respectable knights; this combined with his unobjectionable depiction in Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval suggests his reputation might not have been so un-heroic prior to the Vulgate.

Related Topics:
Sir Lamorak - Sir Dinadan - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Chrétien de Troyes - Perceval

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In modern Arthuriana, his characterization has only gotten worse. In The Once and Future King by Terence Hanbury White, it is Agravain, not Gaheris as in Malory, who murderers his own mother. In that work he is a drunken, bloodthirsty coward, though not altogether unsympathetic.

Related Topics:
Arthuriana - The Once and Future King - Terence Hanbury White

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