From the very earliest examples of Arthurian literature Gawain, the king's nephew, was one of that relatively small group of characters who form the human nucleus of the Arthurian world; a verse romance in this genre is inconceivable without him. Gawain has particular functions in which he is as irreplaceable as Arthur, Kay or Guinevere, whereas the same cannot be said of Erec, Yvain, Lancelot or Perceval. These protagonists of Chrétien's romances are replaced in each of the later romances by the new hero of that particular text, and thus their role in Arthurian narrative after Chrétien is just as peripheral as it was in the earlier texts that Chrétien himself drew upon.

A reading of the earliest Arthurian texts conveys a clear and comprehensive image of Gawain's literary persona. In William of Malmesbury he is already noted for his exceptional virtus (strength), and in the early stages of the genre's development this becomes his decisive characteristic. Geoffrey of Monmouth also emphasizes this feature, and Wace rarely mentions Gawain without praising his outstanding qualities. Finally, Chrétien's Gawain is a model of proece, charité, son and cortoisie (prowess, compassion, good sense and courtesy), the incarnation of chivalric and courtly virtues, the first and the best, in short the very sun of chivalry: