Sir Griflet le Fise de Dieu ("the Son of God") Griflet entered the Arthurian stage early in the first act. During the All Hallowmass feast "Sir" Griflet, along with Arthur's foster brother Kay and Sir Lucas, were placed in charge of the serving of the great day's banquet. How such a young lad came to be given such a high honor is unrecorded. Other than the fact that Griflet was the same age as Arthur, very little was known for sure of his background. Griflet was called the son of Cardol, a great lord. Yet some claimed his father's name was Do. These rumors intriguingly explained his surname, "le Fise de Dieu" ("the Son of God"), as not being a measure of his Christian piety nor a comparison between him and Jesus Christ, but that in fact Griflet's father was a Pagan god! Others went on to say that the truth had been twisted, and that Do was not his father's name but in fact his mother's. Indeed, according to these tales, Do was actually none other than Don, or Dana as the Irish called her - the great goddess from whom descended all of the Tuatha de Danaan (Children of the Goddess Dana). Yet what was unquestionably sure was Griflet's devotion to the Boy King and his great desire to impress his new sovereign. Griflet was first to battle in the tourney following the All Hallowmass feast. Though only a squire, he did quite well in his first recorded recounter: both he and the French knight Sir Ladinas drove each other from their saddles. Lucan helped the shaken but otherwise unhurt young warrior back up into his saddle. Thereafter the three servants at the feast showed their king they could serve him on the field of honor equally as well. The ladies of the court, suitably impressed, awarded Kay, Lucan and the young Griflet the prize that day. Griflet likewise did great deeds of valor at the Battle of Bedegraine. Early in the fray he was rescued from being trampled by Sir Kay. Yet he returned the favor by rehorsing Kay and saving Lucan during the hardest press of the rebel kings. During the battle, Kay and Griflet fall in beside Arthur himself, and thereafter Griflet found himself part of the King's bodyguard. He was also one of the fourty knights in the final charge that broke the spirit of the eleven rebel kings. But all of this was doubly remarkable because Griflet was not yet a knight, but just a squire! Two years later, at the age of twenty, Griflet finally found an opportunity to beseech Arthur for what he desired most: to be made knight by the King's own hand. This occurred when a young squire arrived at court with the body of the slain Sir Miles. Griflet asked Arthur to knight him so he could revenge his fallen comrade. Granted this favor, Sir Griflet tracked down the knight at the fountain who killed Miles. Yet he quickly learned that all the youthful exhuberance in the world cannot match sheer physical prowess, nor could it substitute for the skill gained from years of battle experience. In the fight with the strange knight (who turned out to be none other than King Pellinore) Griflet was gravely wounded by a spear in the side. When Griflet returned to court barely living, Arthur's fondness for his newest knight was further revealed. After seeing to Griflet's recovery, and delayed only by the unpleasant embassy from the Roman Empire, Arthur put aside all the affairs of his kingdom and secretly rode off to deal with this unknown knight personally. Griflet next accompanied Arthur during the campaign that culminated at the Battle of the Humber. He stood guard at Arthur's pavilion, and was one of the three knights (the others were Kay and Gawaine) that saved King Arthur and Guenever, and personally killed one of the rebel kings. For his part, he was rewarded with induction into the Round Table the very next year, at the age of 25. Griflet thereafter became absorbed with the duties of court life. Though he was entrusted with putting down the rebellion of the Duke of Silchester (which he accomplished quite well), he did not participate greatly in the adventures about the realm. However, during these years he became the great inspiration to many young knights who flocked to court. He was living proof for many that even without the backing of a powerful or wealthy clan, an otherwise unknown young knight who exhibited determination, faithfulness and hard effort on behalf his lord could succeed and gain great honor. His few adventures include his accompaniment of Gawaine and many other knights to the Lady of the Launds tournament in Ireland, where he was bested by both Palomides and by Tramtrist. Strangely, though Tramtrist wins, he frustrates all of the other participants by not marrying the Lady, and so Griflet returns to Logres a bachelor still. Indeed, no mention was ever made of Griflet marrying or even being romantically involved thereafter - it seems he threw himself at his work instead. Yet he loved the company of his fellow knights, especially those with a sense of humor like Dinadan, and especially the king's fool, Dagonet. Almost a decade later, he and Dagonet travelled to Cornwall and there met Sir Dinadan and other Round Table knights. They hatched a plan to trick King Mark by pretending Dagonet was Sir Lancelot. It worked grandly, but the merry chase ended when Sir Palomides came to Mark's aid. Griflet, along with the rest of his fellows were again defeated by this great Saracen knight. Decades more passed, during which Griflet was never far from Arthur's side. Griflet did participate in the Grail Quest, but other than a brief time he shared with Gawaine and Aglovale on the road, very little was said of what he saw or did during those years. He also participated in many of the great tourneys, such as at Lonazep, Winchester and even the Christmas Tournament - by which time he was 70 years old. But he was invariably bested by the younger and more daring knights, such as Lancelot and Gareth, who had spent their days riding off on adventures, and not working out finances or overseeing banquets at the king's hall. Griflet stayed apolitical regarding the clan feuds - his allegiance was soley to Arthur. Though he was not naive to the intrigues of court life, he never involved himself with it either. Griflet was a refreshing island of neutrality among all the alarmingly increasing number of gossip-mongerers and plotters at Camelot. However, fate finally caught him in her tragic web during Lancelot's rescue of Guenever. Sir Griflet was among those at Carlisle, ironically overseeing the execution of the Queen he helped save from certain death at the Battle of the Humber so many years ago. He was armed and ready for the fierce assault by the de Ganis knights, but it proved too much for the old knight. At the end of the day, the body of Griflet le Fise de Dieu was found amongst the dead, along with many other companions of the Round Table. Griflet's Life 494 - Griflet is born, son of Cardol/Do 510 - Squire Griflet was made assistant to Sir Lucan the Butler for the coronation banquet on All Hallowmass; won prize at tourney 510 - Battle of Bedegraine - Squire Griflet fights alongside Sir Kay; rescues Sir Lucan 512 - Knighted by Arthur; seeks to revenge Sir Miles but is wounded by King Pellinore; healed upon return to Camelot 516 - Battle of Humber; Griflet partof King Arthur's and Guenever' personal bodyguard 517 - Made member of the Knights of the Round Table 523 - Arthur assigns Sir Griflet to lead his armies against the rebel Duke of Silchester 531 - Griflet defeated both by Palomides and Tramtrist at Lady of the Launds tourney 540 - Travels with Sir Dagonet; encounters Dinadan and companions; defeated in joust by Palomides. 553 - Lonazep Tournament, accompanies Arthur 554 - Encounters Sir Gawaine on the Grail Quest 559 - Unable to heal Sir Urre 562 - Winchester Tournament, fights along with other Knights of the Round Table; unhorsed by Lancelot in disguise. 562 - Christmas Tournament, defeated by Sir Gareth 563 - Killed during Lancelot's rescue of Guenever Relations Cardol/Do - Father? Don/Dana - Mother?