Galahad

Sir Galahad is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot and Elaine of Carbonek, and is renowned for his gallantry and purity. He is perhaps the knightly embodiment of Jesus in the Arthurian legends. He first appears in the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and his story is taken up in later works such as the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

Early in Galahad's portrayals, Galahad has been portrayed as "the most perfect knight" as declared by King Arthur. Galahad has been written with a dismal tone as can be seen in the work of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and also within T.H. White's The Once and Future King. Within these works Galahad is portrayed as a conceited, cold and pious young man who shows little interest in the concerns of his fellow knights. In Later portrayals, such as that in works of Mary MacGregor's Sir Galahad and the Sacred Cup and other such works as Sir Galahad, A Christmas Mystery by William Morris, Galahad's character is changed to portray a knight that feels contempt for those around him. He also starts to embody a code of chivalry and romance that was not previously given to him in early works. These changes can be attributed to a changing of society throughout the ages.