Malory's Gawain

The killing of Lamorak de Galys ‘by treson’ (2:716) is a defining moment in Sir Thomas Malory's portrayal of the perpetrators of the slaying, Sir Gawain of Orkney and his brothers Aggravayne, Gaheris, and Mordred. The murder (as it is repeatedly defined by Malory's other knights, see 2:688, 691, 698–99) takes place ‘off-screen’, and its description is twice relayed to the audience in varying detail. First, Palomides informs Lamorak's brother, Percival de Galys, that the Orkney brothers ‘slewe hym [Lamorak] felounsly’ (2:688), and subsequently he describes to Tristram, Dinadan, and Gareth, the fifth Orkney brother, the full particulars of the brutal, and (it would appear) cowardly, murder of Lamorak. Palomides' relation does not reflect well upon the nephews of King Arthur. Lamorak, we are told, was ‘sette uppon…in a pryvy place’ (2:699) by the combined might of four of the five Orkney brethren. First, they kill his horse, then, on foot, they fight him – four against one – ‘bothe byfore hym and behynde hym’ (2:699) for over three hours, until eventually he is stabbed in the back by Mordred, the youngest of the brothers, and his body is hacked to pieces. Towards the end of the Morte, after Lancelot has killed Gareth, Gawain challenges him. During their exchange, it is abundantly obvious that even Gawain knows that the killing of Lamorak is viewed as a shameful event by his peers.