Elyan the White

Elyan the White
Matter of Britain character
Attributed arms of Helain le Blanc
First appearance
Lancelot-Grail Cycle
In-universe information
TitleSir
OccupationKnight of the Round Table
FamilyBors de Ganis

Elyan the White is a knight of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend. He is son of the younger Bors in the Arthurian prose romance tradition.

Name variants

The many forms of his name include Elain, Elayn, Elia, Elian, Elyas, Elyne, Helain, Hellaine, Helayn, Helian, Helin, Helyan[s/t], Helyn, Hellayne. His moniker 'the White' may be written (also in English by Thomas Malory and often uncapitalised) as le Blanc, le Blanck, le Blanke, li Blancs, li Blans, de Blank.

Legend

In the Lancelot-Grail cycle (Vulgate Cycle), Elyan's mother compeled his father Bors de Ganis into having sex with her (the only time Bors broke his vow of chastity) by using a magic ring. She is daughter of British minor king Brandegorre (Brandegore, Brandegoris, Brangoire, Brangorre, Brangoirre, Biengores) of Estrangorre (Estrangore, Terre d'Estrogoire, Strangore), and also half-sister of Sagramore as hers and Sagramore's mother is daughter of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor. At the age of 15, Elyan is brought to Arthur's court of Camelot in order to be knighted by his father Bors, at the same time when the markedly similarly-conceived Galahad would be brought and knighted by Lancelot at the same age. At the end of the Vulgate Lancelot, Elyan is prophesied that he would eventually become an Emperor of Constantinople himself, but his character, noted by Ferdinand Lot as too secular compared to Galahad while also too similar to him until this point, is ommited from the following material of the Vulgate Queste.

Elyan's adventures are found in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, as well as the expanded version of the Prose Tristan, where he is an excellent knight who takes a vacant Round Table seat that had belonged to Dragan (Dagarius) after the latter knight's death by Tristan. He later helps his cousin, Lancelot, rescue Guinevere from the stake after their affair is exposed, eventually joining Lancelot him in exile during their war with Arthur.

Elyan should not be confused with Elians (Eliant, Elianz), a knight from Ireland who took Lancelot's vacated seat after his expulsion from the Round Table in both the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate versions of the Mort Artu.

Modern culture

A modern character of Guinevere's brother Elayne, loosely inspired by that of Elyan the White, was portrayed, in a somewhat ironical casting decision, by Nigerian actor Adetomiwa Edun in the 2008-2012 television series Merlin.

References

  1. ↑ Briel, Henri de; Herrmann, Manuel (1972). King Arthur's Knights and the Myths of the Round Table: A New Approach to the French Lancelot in Prose. C. Klincksieck. p. 152. ISBN 978-2-252-01315-1.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Vinaver, Eugène (1967). The Works of Sir Thomas Malory. Clarendon Press.
  3. 1 2 Ménard, Philippe (1987). Le Roman de Tristan en prose (in French). Librairie Droz. p. 379. ISBN 978-2-600-00108-3.
  4. 1 2 Gardner, Edmund G. (1930). The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature. J.M. Dent & Sons Limited.
  5. 1 2 3 Karr, Phyllis Ann (1983). The King Arthur Companion: The Legendary World of Camelot and the Round Table. Reston. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-8359-3698-9.
  6. 1 2 Ferlampin-Acher, Christine; Hüe, Denis (2007). Lignes et lignages dans la littérature arthurienne: actes du 3e Colloque arthurien organisé à l'Université de Haute-Bretagne, 13-14 octobre 2005 (in French). Presses universitaires de Rennes. ISBN 978-2-7535-0398-4.
  7. 1 2 Lot, Ferdinand; Lot-Borodine, Myrrha (1984). Étude sur le Lancelot en prose (in French). Slatkine. ISBN 978-2-05-100598-2.
  8. ↑ Ménard, Philippe (1987). Le Roman de Tristan en prose (in French). Librairie Droz. p. 57. ISBN 978-2-600-00108-3.
  9. 1 2 3 Sommer, H. Oskar (1890). Le Morte Darthur: Introduction. D. Nutt.
  10. ↑ Reiss, Edmund (1966). Sir Thomas Malory. Twayne.
  11. ↑ Pratt, Karen (1994). Shifts and Transpositions in Medieval Narrative: A Festschrift for Dr Elspeth Kennedy. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-0-85991-421-5.
  12. ↑ Bogdanow, Fanni (2006). La quête du Saint-Graal: roman en prose du XIIIe siècle (in French). Livre de Poche. ISBN 978-2-253-06681-1.
  13. ↑ Karr, Phyllis Ann (1997). The Arthurian Companion: The Legendary World of Camelot and the Round Table. Chaosium. ISBN 978-1-56882-096-5.
  14. ↑ Le Roman de Tristan en prose (in French). Libr. H. Champion. 1990. p. 112. ISBN 978-2-7227-0080-2.
  15. ↑ Bruce, Christopher W. (1999). The Arthurian Name Dictionary. Taylor & Francis. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8153-2865-0.
  16. ↑ Bruce, Christopher W. (1999). The Arthurian Name Dictionary. Taylor & Francis. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-8153-2865-0.
  17. ↑ Ashton, Gail (2015-03-12). Medieval Afterlives in Contemporary Culture. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4411-0282-9.