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Gaheris | |
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Matter of Britain character | |
![]() Gaheriet's attributed arms | |
First appearance | Perceval, the Story of the Grail |
Created by | Possibly Chrétien de Troyes |
Based on | Likely Gwalhafed |
In-universe information | |
Title | Prince, Sir |
Occupation | Knight of the Round Table |
Family | King Arthur's family In Le Morte d'Arthur: Lot, Morgause (parents); Agravain, Gawain, Gareth, Mordred (brothers) |
Spouse | Lynette |
Home | Orkney, Camelot |
Gaheris (/ɡəˈhɛrɪs/ gə-HERR-iss; Old French: Gaheriet[/s/z],[note 1] Gaheriés,[note 2] etc.) is a Knight of the Round Table and a relative of King Arthur in the chivalric romance tradition of the Arthurian legend. Usually, Gaheris is the third son of own of Arthur's half-sisters and her husband Lot, the rulers of either Orkney or Lothian. In the popular version from Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Gaheris is a son of King Lot of Orkney and his wife Queen Morgause, as well as a younger brother of Gawain and Agravain, an older brother of Gareth, and a half-brother of Arthur's son Mordred.
His figure may have been originally derived from that of Gawain's sole brother present in an early Welsh Arthurian tradition and then later split into a separate character of another brother that is today best known as Malory's Gareth. German medieval poetry, which does not have a 'Gareth' figure, features a distinct version of Gaheris as Gawain's cousin instead of his brother.
Le Morte d'Arthur depicts Gaheris as little more than a supporting character to Arthur's chief nephew Gawain, with an odd exception of his murder of their mother. However, his role is greater in French prose cycles that were Malory's sources, including as an object of murderous sibling rivalry by his older brother Agravain in the Vulgate Cycle. Inevitably, both there and in Malory, Gaheris is killed alongside his other brother Gareth during Lancelot's rescue of Guinevere, the event that will lead to the fall of Arthur.
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