Dinadan

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"How King Makre and Sir Dinadan heard Sir Palomides makeing great sarrow and mourning for La Beale Isoud" by Aubrey Beardsley
"How King Makre and Sir Dinadan heard Sir Palomides makeing great sarrow and mourning for La Beale Isoud" by Aubrey Beardsley

Sir Dinadan is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the son of Sir Brunor Senior, the 'Good Knight without Fear,' and brother of Sirs Breunor le Noir and Daniel. A close friend of Tristan, Dinadan is known for his good humor and joking nature. Unlike most other knights in Arthurian romance, Dinadan prefers to avoid fights and considers courtly love a waste of time, though he is a brave fighter when he needs to be. In one notable exploit, he writes a slanderous ballad about King Mark and sends a troubador to play it at Mark's court. In another, he loses a joust when Lancelot catches him off guard by wearing a dress over his armor; Lancelot then puts the dress on his unconscious opponent.

He is more sociable than most of the knights, and is often a useful companion because of it. In Le Morte d'Arthur, he is one of the few knights to be able to recognize his fellows from their faces in addition to their shields; in one instance Tristan does not recognize his own King until Dinadan tells him who it is.

Like Palamedes and Lamorak, Dinadan was an invention of the Prose Tristan, and appeared in later retellings including the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.


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