History Theatre / MedievalTimesDinnerAndTournament

''Medieval Times'' (the brand, not [[TheMiddleAges the era]]) is a DinnerTheatre chain founded in 1983 in Kissimmee, Florida. It operates in "castle" locations in Florida, California, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, South Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, and most recently Arizona. Outside of the United States, it has a Canada location in Ontario. The owner of the franchise, Medieval Times Entertainment, is headquartered in Irving, Texas.

* '''2000''': Following a battle that saw the king's brother being slain, the kingdom of Aragon is left championless. The king holds a competition between his six knights to declare a new champion of the Realm.
* '''2006''': The king sends his son Prince Tristan to the erratic Kingdom of León to deliver a treaty. While a tournament is prepared to celebrate, [[DistressedDude Tristan gets kidnapped during his journey.]]
* '''2012 - North''': During a tournament between the knights, a herald sent from the belligerent North Kingdom comes to present the king a peace exchange, however his intentions [[BitchInSheepsClothing seem dubious.]]
* '''2018 - Sovereign''': The current show, and the first to feature a queen as the main protagonist, inheriting the crown from the her late father.

* AVerySpecialEpisode: The show put on for schools incorporates anti-bullying lessons.

** The Prince is the King’s late brother in the 2000 show, but in the 2006 show he is his son.
** The Princess is made the King’s daughter-in-law in the 2006 show, compare to previous eras where they were actually blood related. She is made back to his blood daughter in the 2012 show.

* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: Prior to ''Sovereign'', the show had never cast a queen, implying Esperanza (2000)/Tristan (2006)/Catalina (2012)’s mother is dead. Averted in ''Sovereign'' itself, where Queen Maria Isabella specifically acknowledges "the passing of my father, the king" in an early line of dialogue.
* AmbitionIsEvil: In ''Sovereign'', the Lord Marshall tells the villain that "your ambition is a madness that poisons even the noblest of men."
* AnachronismStew: The setting is 11th century Spain, but the (fictional) Kingdom of Aragon takes inspiration from other areas. Such as the Kingdom of Valiente's symbol (and formerly the Kingdom of Santiago de Compastela's) being the French FleurDeLis in recent incarnations.

* ArrangedMarriage: [[spoiler:The King of the North attempts to force this onto Princess Catalina. Don Carlos [[SubvertedTrope denies it.]]]]

** The one who kidnapped the prince in the 2006 show is none other than [[spoiler:the Green Knight, who did it to stop the treaty from reaching his home.]]
** The Herald of the North initially presents himself as personable, even gifting the royal court a beautiful horse. But when [[spoiler:the king denies to give his daughter's hand in marriage to his king, the herald shows his true colors.]]

* BoundAndGagged: Prince Tristan’s captor orders his lackeys to gag the tied-up captive. It’s not seen in the show so it happens offscreen.

* ChurchMilitant / BadassPreacher: The Black and White Knight has a cross on his shield and is referred to as a "warrior priest", although few further details are given on what, exactly, that means. [[spoiler:He may be a SinisterMinister or GoodShepherd depending on the show, though.]]

* GracefulLoser / WorthyOpponent: After the first fight in ''Sovereign'', the winning knight takes a bow, and then invites the loser up to take a bow of his own. The two clasp arms to show there are no hard feelings. This provides contrast to a moment a few scenes later, when the [[spoiler:villainous knight]] shows a much less sportsmanlike attitude.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The King of the North Kingdom is the one who sent the Herald to the Kingdom of Aragon in the 2012 show, and [[spoiler:is the one who wants to make the princess his bride.]]

** The murderer of the king's brother in the 2000 show isn't known until [[spoiler:the Lord Marshall reveals himself as the traitor.]]

** In 2018, the traitor can be [[spoiler:''any'' knight, who is the villain is rotated every few months.]]

* NoNameGiven: Averted for the knights. They’re given actual names that are seldom used except for when the Chancellor introduces them.

* WhamLine: In the 2006 show Princess Esperanza delivers this when [[spoiler:Lord Marshall stabs the would-be champion knight.]]
---> ''“He is the traitor!”''

* '''2006''': The king sends his son Prince Tristan to the erratic Kingdom of Leon to deliver a treaty. While a tournament is prepared to celebrate, [[DistressedDude Tristan gets kidnapped during his journey.]]

** The last we heard of Lord Marshall and Cedric the Sorcerer was in the 2000 show. There is a new Lord Marshall and a non-sorcerous Cedric in the Sovereign show, however.

* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: Prior to Sovereign, the show had never cast a queen, implying Esperanza (2000)/Tristan (2006)/Catalina (2012)’s mother is dead. Averted in Sovereign itself, where Queen Maria Isabella specifically acknowledges "the passing of my father, the king" in an early line of dialogue.
* AmbitionIsEvil: In Sovereign, the Lord Marshall tells the villain that "your ambition is a madness that poisons even the noblest of men."

** BrutishBulls: The Yellow Knight's heraldic device is a bull, and his introductions by the Lord Marshall and the Lord Chancellor (in Sovereign, anyway) contain a lot of bull imagery.

** TheMarvelousDeer: The Green Knight, set up in Sovereign as a promising young upstart, has a stag on his shield.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: The villain of Sovereign is [[spoiler:one of the knights (who, exactly, rotates every few months) with this unchivalrous, glory-hungry attitude.]]

* CharacterNarrator: The Chancellor acts as the show's MC in most of the shows. In Sovereign, the Lord Marshall is the main MC, although the Chancellor (Cedric) takes on a few MC duties as well.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The losing knights of the tournament leave after their battles. It's never fully explained what happened to them, but Lord Chancellor stated before the tournament that they go home with honor lost. Averted in Sovereign, which features one fight between the losers of the first two fights.

* EvilChancellor: Sovereign contains a [[spoiler: downplayed example with Lord Cedric. He uses his influence over the queen to persuade her to overlook the unsporting behavior of his own house's knight, and it's implied he's trying to arrange a [[AltarDiplomacy political marriage]] between her and that knight, all to boost the fortunes of his house. He even talks the queen into turning the tournament into BloodSport as a way of eliminating the rival knights. However, once his champion goes rogue and starts insulting the queen, Cedric disavows him and remains loyal to the queen. This could be a case of PragmaticVillainy, however, since insulting the queen to her face is, above all else, [[StupidEvil very dumb]].]]

* GracefulLoser / WorthyOpponent: After the first fight in Sovereign, the winning knight takes a bow, and then invites the loser up to take a bow of his own. The two clasp arms to show there are no hard feelings. This provides contrast to a moment a few scenes later, when the [[spoiler:villainous knight]] shows a much less sportsmanlike attitude.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The villain of Sovereign refers to the Queen as "an unwelcome intruder into the dominion of men" during his biggest wrestling-heel moment.
* RedShirt: In some of the past shows, the two squires who accompany the victor knight in fighting against the main villain are the first to fall. Unlike the losing knights (see ChuckCunninghamSyndrome) we’re left to assume they’re slain. In the current Sovereign show, [[AvertedTrope none of the squires are ever in any danger.]]

** It gets weirder for the "anti-bullying" show: one tale involves ''cellphones''. Yes, the knights have social media. No, it's never explained how that's possible in medieval Spain.
** The non-vegan meals include sweetcorn, tomato bisque, and potato, which weren't heard of medieval cuisine since Europe had not interacted with the Americas yet. The tomato bisque itself is almost a literal anachronism stew.

** The [[RedIsHeroic Red Knight and Red and Yellow Knight]] receive most of the attention in advertising, the latter even featured in the old logo. The Yellow Knight was the leader of the knights in older shows, although this element seems to have been phased out.

* GracefulLoser / Worthy Opponent: After the first fight in Sovereign, the winning knight takes a bow, and then invites the loser up to take a bow of his own. The two clasp arms to show there are no hard feelings. This provides contrast to a moment a few scenes later, when the [[spoiler:villainous knight]] shows a much less sportsmanlike attitude.

* LargeHam: Almost every single character line is delivered in tastefully-cliché grandiose prose.

*** Red: previously Baron Ruiz [[SpellMyNameWithAnS de Roig/Deroches/De Roche]]

* ChurchMilitant / BadassPreacher: The Black and White Knight has a cross on his shield and is referred to as a "warrior priest", although few further details are given on what, exactly, that means. He may be a SinisterMinister or GoodShepherd depending on the show, though.

* ColorContrast: The Yellow and Blue Knight and the Red and Green Knight are rivals.

* GracefulLoser / Worthy Opponent: After the first fight in Sovereign, the winning knight takes a bow, and then invites the loser up to take a bow of his own. The two clasp arms to show there are no hard feelings. This provides contrast to a moment a few scenes later, when the villainous knight shows a much less sportsmanlike attitude.