Lamorak

Lamorak is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He was the son of King Pellinore and the brother of Tor, Aglovale, Percival, the Grail maiden Dindrane and sometimes others. He makes his first appearance in the Prose Tristan, and shows up in later works like the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur". Lamorak's father Pellinore was one of King Arthur's earliest allies, but he thrusts his family into a bloodfeud when he kills King Lot of Lothian in a battle. Ten years later Lot's sons Gawain and Gaheris avenge their father's death by slaying Pellinore in a duel. Lamorak grows up to join the Round Table, and despite the enmity between the two families, he begins an affair with Lot's widow Morgause. [http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/lamorak.html] Gaheris catches the lovers together while Morgause is staying at Gawain's estate, and he promptly beheads her (In some modern versions of the story, it is Agravaine who kills his mother, not Gaheris). He lets the unarmed Lamorak go, and the latter goes on the lam. He reappears at a tournament and explains the situation to Arthur, but refuses the king's promise of a truce. When he rides off he is ambushed by Gawain, Gaheris, Agravaine, and Mordred; Mordred delivers the blow that kills him. A cousin of Lamorak's, Sir Pinel le Savage, attempts to avenge his death by poisoning Gawain at Guinevere's dinner party, but the poison is accidentally taken by another knight, whose kinsman blames the queen and tries to have her executed. [http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/lamorak.html]

Lamorak was known for his strength and fiery temper, and fought off thirty knights on at least two occasions. Some sources refer to him as Arthur's third best knight, behind only Lancelot and Tristan, but he was not exceptionally popular in the romance tradition, confined to the cyclical material, subordinate to more major characters. [http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/lamorak.html]

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