Sir Tor
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Sir Tor is a Knight of the Round Table according to Arthurian legend. He appears frequently in Arthurian literature.
In earlier mentions Tor's father is King Ars or Aries,[1] but the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur say this man is his adoptive father while his natural father is King Pellinore.[2][3] In these versions, he is brother to Sir Aglovale, Sir Lamorak, Sir Dornar, Sir Percival, and Dindrane. He is born when Pellinore sleeps with his mother "half by force", and she marries Aries shortly afterward; here Aries is not a king, but a shepherd. Tor and his twelve half-brothers are raised as shepherds, but Tor dreams of being a knight. Finally his parents take him to Arthur's court, and Arthur makes the boy one of his first knights. Later Merlin reveals Tor's true parentage, and Pellinore embraces his son. Neither Aries nor his wife seem offended.
Tor distinguishes himself at the wedding feast of Arthur and Guinevere when he takes up a quest to retrieve a mysterious white brachet hound that had come into the court. According to Malory Tor and his brother Aglovale are among the knights charged with defending the execution of Guinevere; they both die when Lancelot and his men rescue the queen.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ For example, Chrétien de Troyes' list of knights in Erec and Enide. From Owen, Arthurian Romances.
- ^ Lacy, Lancelot-Grail, volume 4.
- ^ Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book III, ch. IV, p. 83.
- ^ Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XX, ch. VII, p. 880.
[edit] References
- Chrétien de Troyes; Owen, D. D. R. (translator) (1988). Arthurian Romances. New York: Everyman's Library. ISBN 0-460-87389-X.
- Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (April 1, 1995). Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation, Volume 4 of 5. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8153-0748-9.
- Malory, Thomas; Bryan, Elizabeth J. (introduction) (1994). Le Morte d'Arthur. New York: Modern Library. ISBN 0-679-60099-X. (Pollard text.)
