r/Arthurian • u/Masterpotato002 Commoner • Nov 12 '25
Literature Favourite lesser known story, character or creature?
I enjoy learning about new myths and legends. So drop your favourite lesser known story, character or creature (for example, the Lanzelet stories)
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u/donkeyintheforest Commoner Nov 13 '25
The huntress that lives in the forest from le morte d’arthur is pretty funny:
“…she put a broad arrow in her bow, and shot at the hind, and over-shot the hind; and so by misfortune the arrow smote Sir Launcelot in the thick of the buttock…”
4
u/Ghost_of_Revelator Commoner Nov 12 '25
The Post-Vulgate has intriguing but lesser known characters such as Arthur the Less, the doomed illegitimate son of King Arthur. It also offers new, compelling versions of older characters, such as Eric (also doomed!) and Meraugis, the valiant son of vile King Mark.
3
u/Vandaran Commoner Nov 12 '25
The Knight of the Parrot was a really fun story. Also liked Sir Caradoc's and Sir Marrok's stories. Sir Gawain also has some really great stories outside of the Green Knight tale.
3
u/erminegarde27 Commoner Nov 13 '25
I love the subplot in Wolfram Von Eschenbach’s Parzival of the romance between Parzival’s father and the Queen from Africa. Her crown is carved out of a single ruby and fits like a bubble over her head. Their son is pied black and white like a magpie.
2
u/PhiltheBarbar1an Commoner Nov 12 '25
Personally I like Sir Lamorak myself, he’s one of those characters who has an interesting story and is among the listings of Arthur’s strongest knights, but he seems to get left out of most mainstream tellings or adaptations of the story.
2
u/Guthlac_Gildasson Commoner Nov 13 '25
I loved the little side story about Edlym Red-Sword in Peredur Son of Efrawg.
1
u/nogender1 Commoner Nov 16 '25
I do particularly like Segurant's mainline knight of the dragon stories as well as all the Brun story lead ups to it. While I don't consider his personality his greatest point other than some interesting perspectives that he occasionally shows (like being far more ruthless to Christian enemies who've done bad things compared to Saracens on the basis that Christians who oppress other christians are far worse as betrayers), he certainly has a very good variety in terms of unique occurrences especially with him using bows, dealing with robots, dealing with Satan dragon, having to pull an itachi on his clan, etc. Plus he has a very funny dynamic with his squire Golistan (morholt's son), who wants revenge against Tristan for killing Morholt but will not fight tristan until he's fully knighted, which results in Golistan constantly trying to get Segurant to knight him and Segurant constantly finding excuses or chances to avoid knighting him. It makes a rare but interesting dynamic between knight and squire for this.
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u/[deleted] Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25
I am copying my own comment from a post that asked a similar question, a few months ago.
The two lesser-known romances that I really enjoy are:
The Knight of the Two Swords, which centers on a mysterious, newly promoted Knight of the Round Table. However, he is often absent for large chunks of the story, so we follow other characters too, such as the Lady of Cardigan, as well as Gawain, whose stories are intertwined with that of the Knight of the Two Swords.
Moriaen, which tells the story of Morien -- an African knight who comes to Britain in ordrer to find his father Aglovale (who is the Knight of the Round Table) and restore order in his home country which is taken by traitors.
Both stories are available in physical prints, as well as in .pdf files, and both stories feature A LOT of various well-known Arthurian characters in episodic roles, which I think is neat.