The Death of King Arthur: The Immortal Legend

In the country of Liones, sometime during the reign of King Arthur, a queen named Elizabeth dies after giving birth to a boy named Tristram. Meanwhile, her husband, King Meliodas, goes missing after a jealous sorceress leads him into the forest. After being rescued by Merlin, Meliodas returns to his home and mourns the loss of his wife. When he remarries and has more children, the king’s second wife envies Tristram’s claim to the throne. She plots to poison Tristram, but one of her own sons drinks the liquid and dies. During another attempt, the king almost drinks the poison, but when his wife stops him, he remembers their child’s death and realizes she has been plotting to poison Tristram; he sentences her to be burned at the stake. Tristram, however, intercedes on behalf of his stepmother and saves her life. Tristram, accompanied by Gouvernail, a gentleman scholar, goes to France for his studies.

In France, Tristram learns the arts of chivalry, language, hunting, and music. He is 18 when he returns, and his father and stepmother are pleased to see him so handsome and full-grown.

King Angwish of Ireland demands tribute from King Mark of Cornwall. When Mark refuses, Angwish calls upon his brother-in-law, Sir Marhalt of the Round Table, to fight for him in this dispute. King Mark is distraught to learn that Marhalt, one of Arthur’s best knights, is coming to do battle with him, and he remains in his fortress in the vicinity of Tintagel. Tristram, hearing of King Mark’s lack of men, volunteers to fight on his behalf. Tristram is knighted by King Mark and, still accompanied by Gouvernail, sails to the island where Marhalt awaits him.

Tristram and Marhalt battle. Tristram wins. Marhalt returns to King Angwish and shortly afterwards dies of his wounds. A piece of Tristram’s sword lodged in his head is kept afterward as a memento. Marhalt’s sister vows to avenge her dead brother.

Tristram returns to Tintagel to have his wounds treated, but the doctors there learn that Marhalt’s sword was poisoned; the only cure comes from the place where the poison originated. Tristram therefore goes to one of Angwish’s castles and plays his harp for the king, who is impressed. Tristram lies about his true identity, calling himself Sir Tramtrist, and the king offers his daughter, Isolde, to be his caretaker while he recovers. Isolde heals Tristram, and the two fall in love.

A knight in Angwish’s court, Sir Palomides, is already in love with Isolde and gives her gifts. This ignites Tristram’s jealousy, and he jousts against Palomides in a tournament for Isolde’s sake. One of the knights at the tournament is from Meliodas’s court and, recognizing Tristram, bows in front of him. Tristram tells the knight to keep his identity a secret, but Isolde witnesses the scene. Tristram defeats Palomides and makes him swear to leave off his pursuit of Isolde. When Tristram meets with Isolde afterward, she asks him his true identity, but he doesn’t tell her. She remains enamored of him.

One day while Tristram is bathing, the queen finds his sword and notices a piece missing from it that matches the piece that lodged in Marhalt’s head. The queen goes to her husband with the news. King Angwish allows Tristram to live but banishes him from their castle. While saying goodbye to Isolde, Tristram pledges to be her knight for life, and Isolde permits Tristram to choose her husband for her. They give each other rings.

Tristram returns to Tintagel, but a short while later falls out of good standing with King Mark because of their competing affections for a woman, the wife of the Earl of Segwarides. Tristram and King Mark battle for her (King Mark is disguised), and Tristram wins. Still bloody from the fight, Tristram goes to the woman’s bedchamber and has sex with her. The next day, the Earl of Segwarides sees the blood (from Tristram’s wounds) on the bed and is outraged that his wife has been unfaithful. Tristram escapes the situation and returns home. King Mark half-heartedly welcomes him, keeping to himself that he was the one battling Tristram for the Earl of Segwarides’s wife.

Sir Bleoberis of the Round Table comes to King Mark’s court and demands the most beautiful woman there: Segwarides’s wife. Bleoberis rides off with her. Tristram does not immediately come to her aid because, he explains, that is first the duty of her husband; however, when Bleoberis injures the Earl of Segwarides, Tristram rides out to rescue his lover. The two men fight, but when each learns the identity of the other (Bleoberis is a cousin of Lancelot), they both agree to lay down their weapons. They decide to leave Segwarides’s wife midway between them and let her choose which knight to walk toward. Though the woman first addresses Tristram, she walks toward Bleoberis because Tristram let her husband come to her aid instead of coming immediately to save her. Bleoberis, however, changes his mind and no longer wants Segwarides’s wife, offering her to Tristram, but the woman refuses to go with Tristram. Beloberis takes her back to her wounded husband, settling the matter, but King Mark is still angry at Tristram. He plots to kill Tristram by sending him back to Ireland on a mission to retrieve Isolde (the king claims he wants to marry her). Tristram rallies a few knights to accompany him.

A storm lands Tristram and his men at Portsmouth, near Camelot. Tristram is overjoyed to learn that King Angwish is in prison because of a dispute with Arthur (his overlord) and in need of a rescuer; thinking this will grant him good standing with the King of Ireland to the extent of being allowed to marry Isolde, Tristram pledges to help Angwish and rides in contest against Sir Blamoure, brother of Bleoberis.

Tristram beats Blamoure but then faces a dilemma. To preserve the chivalric code of honor, Tristram must kill Blamoure and thus end the dispute; however, Tristram is unwilling to kill Blamoure because Blamoure is a cousin of Lancelot, and killing Lancelot’s cousin would be dishonorable. Tristram appeals to the court that convicted Angwish of wrongdoing. Seeing his bravery in battle and willingness to die, the court declares Blamoure’s honor intact. Seeing that Tristram has clearly won, the court also declares the matter with Angwish resolved. Blamoure lives, and Angwish is released.

Back in Ireland, Tristram asks Angwish for a favor in return for his help. He asks for Isolde’s hand in marriage, but not for himself—for King Mark, who sent Tristram on this errand in the first place. Tristram explains he is doing this out of fealty to his lord. The king permits this. The queen gives Gouvernail and Bragwaine (Isolde’s lady-in-waiting) a flask containing a magic love potion to hand to King Mark and Isolde on their wedding night. Instead, on the journey home, Tristram and Isolde both drink the potion by mistake and fall even more deeply in love with each other.

Near Cornwall, the group is captured and taken to the Castle Pleure. Sir Brewnour, the master of the castle, has a custom of battling every knight he comes across and beheading any woman less pretty than his wife; if he encounters a prettier woman, he will behead his own wife instead. When Brewnour sees Isolde, he challenges Tristram to behead (his) Brewnour’s wife; Tristram justifies this act with reference to the couple’s barbaric customs, saying their lives are no great loss. Tristram then fights Brewnour for Isolde and kills him.

Brewnour’s son, Sir Galahalt, hears of this and brings a large company, led by the King of the Hundred Knights, to challenge Tristram. Tristram surrenders to the large company but not to Galahalt since it was cowardly of him to challenge Tristram with a big group to back himself. The King of the Hundred Knights releases Tristram on the condition that he will join the court of Lancelot. Tristram agrees.

Tristram and Isolde and all their group sail on and arrive at Tintagel. Isolde marries King Mark, but she and Tristram remain deeply in love.

Bragwaine, Isolde’s lady-in-waiting, falls into disfavor with people at Tintagel; they trick her into the forest and tie her up for three days. Palomides happens upon her and rescues her. He reunites Bragwaine and Isolde on the condition that Isolde be handed over to him. King Mark agrees, thinking that Tristram will come along in time to rescue her, but Tristram is off hunting in the woods.

Palomides rides off with Isolde but encounters Lambegus, one of Tristram’s knights; they fight and Palomides defeats Lambegus. When Palomides looks around, Isolde is gone.

Isolde contemplates suicide in the forest before being saved by Sir Adtherpe, who hears of Palomides’s behavior and rides out to challenge him. Palomides defeats Adtherpe and finds Isolde in Adtherpe’s castle. Tristram, hearing the news, confronts Palomides there. While the two men are fighting, Isolde realizes that Palomides is an unbaptized Saracen and therefore will go to hell if he dies. Even though she loves Tristram, Isolde makes Tristram spare Palomides so he can be baptized as a Christian. Tristram obeys.

Sir Andred, Tristram’s cousin, jealous and hateful toward Tristram and wanting to start trouble, tells King Mark that Tristram and Isolde were holding hands one day. Tristram, when challenged by the king, does not fight him but disarms and threatens him; he then fights the king’s knights and escapes the castle. Seeing that Tristram is likely to soon join Arthur’s court, which would put him in league with Lancelot, King Mark decides to make peace with Tristram to avoid enmity with Arthur’s knights. Tristram is welcomed back.

At a tournament, Sir Tristram fights Sir Lamorak but stops short of using swords; Lamorak is already a well-proven knight, and Tristram disagrees with the terms upon which King Mark initiated the contest. Lamorak, on the other hand, feels slighted that Tristram did not keep up the fight.

While riding away, Lamorak comes across a knight Morgan is sending to Arthur’s court. The knight is carrying a magic goblet; when a person drinks its contents, it will reveal whether they are truly in love with their partner. Morgan plotted to use this device to create unrest at Camelot by demonstrating that Guinevere, Arthur’s wife, is really in love with Lancelot. Lamorak, however, sees his chance and makes the knight take the goblet to Tintagel. Isolde and all her ladies-in-waiting are made to drink from it (even though some try to spill it or choke on it), and it reveals that almost none of them love who they pretend to, including Isolde (who loves Tristram). Infuriated, the king wants to burn them all at the stake, but his lords and barons remind him that this goblet is magic created by Morgan le Fay, who is wicked and tricky. The king spares the women’s lives.

Andred catches Tristram naked in bed with Isolde and captures him. Tristram barely escapes and then hears from Gouvernail that Isolde is being held captive in a house of lepers. Tristram rescues Isolde, protected all the while from the deadly disease, and takes her away to a private house where the two live peacefully for a short while.

One day Tristram falls asleep under a plum tree and is shot unawares with a poison-tipped arrow; Tristram had killed the brother of the archer. Tristram kills the archer in self-defense. Word reaches King Mark that Tristram is injured, and he captures Isolde while Tristram is away. Isolde manages to send a message to Tristram that he must seek healing from another Isolde (Isolde of the White Hands), who is the daughter of King Howell of Brittany. Tristram journeys there with Gouvernail.

Learning that Howell is at war with a man named Grip, Tristram fights for Howell to gain his trust and receives treatment from Isolde of the White Hands. This new Isolde is so pretty and intelligent that Tristram agrees to marry her, but on the night of their wedding Tristram refuses to consummate the marriage out of loyalty to the first Isolde, whom he still loves.

The news of Tristram’s marriage reaches Tintagel and Camelot. Lancelot takes issue with Tristram’s infidelity to his chosen lady, and Isolde, when she hears of Tristram’s marriage, is irate. Deeply hurt, she writes to Guinevere, and Guinevere sends a comforting letter in reply.