Episode 38 - Sir Galahad and the Grail Quest

You had traveled for many nights to arrive here, in this small village at the edge of a great kingdom. You had heard that one of the kingdom’s knights was here. Not just any of them, but one of their greatest. Said to rival the king himself in prowess on the field of combat. So you had come to test your mettle. To prove yourself worthy, as you knew you were.

You found him in short order. A knight stood out in a village such as this. All gleaming armor and a long blade. This was Lancelot, the greatest of Camelot’s knights.

You faced him in combat, and despite his prowess, you bested him. He offered you the opportunity you were seeking, the chance to serve as Knight of the Round Table. And so together, you traveled to Camelot.

The stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are well-known. They are tales of romantic adventure, noble knights facing dread foes in the name of their code of chivalry. Aided by the sorcerer Merlin, the Knights of Camelot face off against dark forces, magical beasts, and invading armies that all seek to threaten Camelot.

In one of these stories, one knight in particular achieves the most glorious task, completing the holiest of quests. It is the story that proceeds the breaking of the Round Table, the betrayal of King Arthur by Lancelot, and his eventual death at the hands of Mordred.

It is the story of Sir Galahad and the Grail Quest.

The Knights of the Round Table have accomplished many things throughout their stories, but no quest was so important as the Grail Quest. It was a quest which only one could complete. Nobody but the most pure of all souls could ever behold and claim the Holy Grail.

So when the knights set about it, they knew that most, if not all of them would fail, but they had to try.

Sir Galahad was described as the greatest of all knights, and the most pure. He was, according to the myths, born to claim the grail.

I am Andrew Eagle, and I am excited to invite you to join me as I pass Through the Veil to explore a story of Camelot, and its loyal knights. Join me, in exploring the story of Galahad and the Grail Quest.

You arrived in the great city of Camelot. And towering over the shops and homes of the citizens, the castle. Arthur’s Castle.

Lancelot showed you to the room you had wanted to see. The room of the Round Table. It was massive, made of stone. The table was surrounded by chairs of heavy wood, each different, but all beautifully crafted. Only one was the exception. One chair was covered by a large sheet, it was dusty and undisturbed. You asked your escort about the chair. He turned and looked at it, nearly mournfully and told you that the covered chair was the Siege Perilous.

Years ago, during one of Merlin’s strange visits to the court of the Round Table, he had announced that the one who could sit in the Siege Perilous was the knight destined to find the Holy Grail. After that, all who had sat upon the chair had died within moments. Fairly quickly, the knights stopped trying. There was, after all, a difference between bravery and foolishness.

Lancelot left you in the chamber of the Round Table, telling you to wait until the others arrived. He went to wash himself of the grime of the road. You stood in the chamber, and made your way slowly around the table. In this room, the greatest of the world’s knights met and formed their strategies. Shortly, you found your curiosity drew you ever closer to the Siege Perilous. You decided you would lift the sheet, and look at the chair, what harm could that do after all?

Lifting the sheet away, you revealed a chair like any other. It seemed completely ordinary. Far be it from you to doubt the well-known power of Merlin, but you still found yourself wondering, curious, if the story of the chair was true, or if it was some ruse by Lancelot. A test to see if you were brave enough to take the seat.

Nearly as soon as you had the thought, you decided that must be it. This was obviously a test. So you threw the sheet aside and sat upon the chair. When nothing happened you grew even more sure that you were correct. Until King Arthur entered the room and went pale as a ghost.

The Grail has been a part of Arthurian legend for a long time. However, for centuries, it was Sir Perceval that eventually found the Grail.

Sir Galahad was introduced first in a 13th century Arthurian Epic known as the Vulgate Cycle. The Vulgate Cycle, like many of the late addition Arthurian stories, adds a greater focus and interconnectivity with Christianity. It in particular focuses on the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere that eventually causes the schism of the Round Table and ultimately, Arthur’s death.

Arthurian Legend is difficult to pin down. There were many versions throughout history, and the ones that survived all overlap and contradict in odd ways. The later sources all are steeped in Christianity, and generally have tones that are more focused on purity and the noble-ness of the knights of Camelot.

In many ways, Galahad parallels Arthur’s own rising to power, although rather than the throne and a golden age, Galahad succeeds where no other knight has in claiming the Holy Grail. He is described as the purest of knights, and thus, the most powerful.

Arthur, pale as he was, calmly entered the room and asked you for your name.

You rose, he was the king after all, and you introduced yourself with a bow. He nodded and commanded that you follow him. And of course, you fell in step. As you followed him, and crossed the paths of the other knights, he told them to accompany you both. Soon, you had very nearly every member of the Round Table, every Knight of Camelot, following you.

You left the castle, and into the streets of Camelot. Quickly you passed through the city and arrived at a stream near the woods outside of Camelot. There, in a boulder, the hilt of a sword emerged. Beneath it an inscription was carved into the stone itself. It read “Never shall any take me hence but only they by whose side I ought to hang; and they shall be the best knight of the world.”

Silently, Arthur gestured at the blade, “Take it.” He commanded. The other knights watched silently.

You walked forward and gripped the hilt. You pulled and with the scraping sound of metal against stone, the blade came free. A hush seemed to fall across the clearing by that river. Like even the world was holding its breath.

Then, as the quiet moment faded, Arthur turned to the other knights and declared that you would be the greatest of all knights, the one destined to find the Holy Grail. With that, you were welcomed into their fold. A member of the Knights of the Round Table, and destined, by all signs, for greatness.

Some scholars of Arthurian legend believe that Galahad was added into Arthurian legend as a symbol of certain religious orders, or to serve as an example of purity that could inspire others to try to better themselves.

Some theorize that Galahad is a symbol of the Catholic warrior asceticism that is most described in the beliefs of the Cistercian Order or the ideals of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. These orders had a certain idealism that played a huge part in the way chivalry was depicted in later Arthurian stories.

Some believe that Galahad served to project an aura of chivalry onto a famed order with a truly problematic history, the Knights Templar. This belief comes primarily from the fact that Galahad carries a white shield with a vermilion cross, the exact emblem given to the Knights Templar by Pope Eugene III.

It did not take long after returning to the castle at Camelot for the Knights to decide: they would undertake a great quest for the Holy Grail. And of course, as their newest, destined member, you would join them.

The castle of Camelot emptied. Every knight of the Round Table set out into the world to seek the Grail. Although the other knights seemed excited, and certainly you couldn’t help but feel an energy as you started your quest, you noticed that King Arthur seemed melancholy. When you asked him what ailed him, he simply replied “I fear many will not return, I fear this worthy quest may spell the beginning of the end for the Round Table.”

With his grim words, you set out on the road. Although all the knights left within hours of each other, you traveled alone, as did each of the others.

The quest was long, and the road weary. You lost track of how long it had been since you left Camelot. But it did not really matter. All that mattered was the Grail. You arrived at the outskirts of a battlefield, where you saw a banner you recognized. Charging into the fray, you struck down twenty knights to protect a fellow member of the Round Table, Sir Percival. He graciously thanked you and then you went your separate ways.

Some time later, you reunited with Percival once more, and you found him questing with Sir Bors. Percival’s sister had provided Percival with some insight, a ship bound for a strange land was leaving the next morning, and it would lead you ever closer to the Grail. So you joined your fellow knights onboard the vessel along with Percival’s sister.

Galahad’s story was expanded upon and brought into the forefront of Arthurian legend and the Grail Quest during the 1800s and his portrayal in stories and poems of the Victorian era.

He appears in Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem entitled “Sir Galahad”. The poem describes how his purity and lack of sinfulness is the source of Galahad’s strength. That because he is pure of heart, he can defeat ten evil men. However, it does explore a theme of sacrifice surrounding Galahad. He gives up much of life upon this world in a single-minded and lonely pursuit of the Holy Grail. He does not often have companions or comrades in arms to accompany him because he pursues the Grail at the cost of all else.

The poem follows the quest toward the Grail, but ends early, deciding to leave the Quest an ongoing task, rather than to describe the conclusion of finding the Grail. Additionally, this is one of the first pieces that tells the story of Galahad in first person. Most are told through the lens of another narrator. This first person perspective allowed Tennyson to explore pieces of Galahad’s emotions and thoughts during his lonely quest.

The ship arrived on a distant shore carrying you and your companions. And while the road there was long, you eventually arrived in a strange castle. Home to a king by the name Pelles, and his son Eliazar.

The pair led you and your companions to a room. They asked Sir Bors what he could see. He replied a strange haze was over the whole room. They asked Sir Perceval what he could see. He replied that there was something strange on the table in the room, but he couldn’t quite see it, for it was shrouded. They finally turned to you and asked you what you could see. You spent a moment in quiet before replying.

There, on the table in the center of the room, was the Holy Grail. When they heard you describe it, they told you that it was yours to claim. And it was your quest to deliver it to a holy island. You began your travels once more with your companions, now with the Grail in hand. 

While you were on your journey, you made camp one night.

That evening as you made ready to sleep, you were visited by two figures that burned with a pure and brilliant light. They were angels. They told you that you did not need to deliver the Grail to the island, for they were here to carry it to Heaven, and with it, the one who had claimed it.

You knew, deep in your soul, that this was the moment of your death, and that you would soon be in paradise.

You bid farewell to Percival and Bors, asking them to tell King Arthur and the others what had happened, to tell them your story and that in the end you all succeeded in finding the Grail. And then, without regret or sadness, having accomplished your destined quest, you were carried away to paradise.

Galahad was the most pure of all the knights of Camelot. He lived a life without any sin, and thus, he and he alone was worthy of claiming the Holy Grail. At least, that’s what the later versions of the Grail Quest Story tells us. His quest costs him everything, including eventually his life, but it is never once questioned whether it is worth it. It is meant to be obvious that a quest for something so perfect, so holy, is worth every sacrifice.

It sits late in the timeline of Arthurian legends, occurring just before the inevitable betrayal by Lancelot and the breaking of the Round Table. Some scholars have theorized that the Grail Quest is placed so late in the story because it is symbolic of a truly holy quest being worthy of pursuit at the cost of even the noblest of mortal purposes. And in this case, finding the Grail was worth the fall of Camelot.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of Through the Veil. I hope you enjoyed. I encourage you to subscribe to receive new episodes weekly wherever you listen as we continue our exploration of folklore, myth, and magic.

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As always, thank you, for listening.