Maleagant

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Maleagant (also spelled Malagant or Meleagant) is a villain from Arthurian legend. Originally a Knight of the Round Table son of King Bagdemagus of Gorre, his claim to fame is as the abductor of Guinevere.

His earliest appearance is in Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart by Chrétien de Troyes, where he brings Guinevere to his impenetrable castle. The queen is rescued by Lancelot and Gawain; this is the first appearance of Lancelot in Arthurian legend. Maleagant is believed to have been based on Melwas, a villain from earlier Welsh Arthurian stories (the name 'Maleagant' can be shown to have evolved from 'Melwas'[citation needed]) who captures Guinevere in the Life of Gildas. Here, King Melwas captures the queen and takes her to his fortress on Glastonbury. Arthur locates her after a year of searching and prepares to storm the castle, but Gildas negotiates her safe return.

If he was ever more than an obscure villain, Maleagant's role seems to have diminished as Mordred became more popular; however Maleagant appears in most accounts of Guinevere's kidnapping. He plays that part in the Lancelot-Grail cycle and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, as well as in modern retellings like Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, T.H. White's The Once and Future King (as Sir Meliagrance), and the film First Knight.

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