History Literature / Parzival

* BelligerentSexualTension: Obie and Meljanz. So belligerent, it caused a war.

%%* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* MixedAncestry: Feirefiz. Being the son of a white father and a black mother, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology he has skin that is black and white like a magpie]].

* AntiClimax: Gawan's both much hyped duels end up being settled without a fight. In one case, it turns out that the reason for the challenge - Gawan allegedly having killed king Kingrisin - wasn't even true.
* AuthorAppeal: The appeal of [[LuxuryTropes the]] [[BlingOfWar ubiquitous]] [[CostumePorn wealth]] [[BigFancyCastle porn]] is easy to understand when you take note of the parts where Wolfram laments his own poverty. The author appeal nature of it becomes especially clear in the chapter on Gahmuret and Herzeleide's wedding, where it's mentioned that even poor minnesingers were given precious gifts.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Obie and Meljanz. So belligerent, it caused a war.

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Li contes del Graal ou Le roman de Perceval'' by Creator/ChretienDeTroyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Literature/HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien.

* TheGoodKing: Myth/KingArthur, as usual.

* TropeCodifier: Both for the Grail Legend and, particularly in the German-speaking world, the stories of KingArthur.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: Wolfram by and large follows the narrative Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished ''Perceval li Gallois'', but to justify where he deviates from it he [[RefugeInAudacity claims that Chrétien got important details wrong]]. How does he know? Because he got the true account. This was written down by the wise Moorish astrologer Flegetanis, the son of an Arabian father and a Jewish mother, who read it from the stars. Flegetanis' work was translated from Arabic into Latin in Toledo and made its way to France, where it was translated into Provencal by the writer Kyot or Guiot. This led not a few scholars to set off in search of Wolfram's alleged source, the book of Guiot, so far without success.

* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: Employed a couple of times, perhaps most notably when Gahmuret sails away from Zazamank and just so happens to meet Fridebrant's ship in the middle of sea. This may sound like a huge coincidence, Wolfram admits, but it's what the Story tells, and [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis he was told]] [[BlatantLies it was true]].

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Most antagonists in the book have the chance to do a FaceTurn, or get a happy ending, or at least be treated with some sympathy from the narrator, but those who have raped someone are irredeemable and deserve only death - as mentioned by a squire discussing a knight in king Meljanz's army, and shown in more detail when Gawan saves Urian's life and it comes back to bite him in the ass.

''Parzival'' is a narrative romance in Middle High German by Wolfram von Eschenbach detailing the exploits of Parzival (Percival), knight of the Round Table, in his search for the HolyGrail, based off the Myth/KingArthurAndTheHolyGrail stories. Divided into sixteen 'books' written in long verses of rhyming couplets, the first two portray the ([[ChekhovsGun bigamous]]) exploits of Parzival's father, then the next three show Parzival's career as a young and inexperienced knight, culminating in his stay at the mysterious castle of the Grail, with its tormented king. On failing to ask the question which would end the king's suffering, Parzival finds himself cast out in shame, and spends the remainder of the poem attempting to find the castle again in order to ask the right question. [[spoiler: He does.]] The latter half of the poem is interspersed with episodes following Gawan (Gawain) in his efforts to disprove an accusation of murder, and then get married, with the last books uniting the two plots. The story is considerably embellished by the idiosyncratic style of Wolfram himself, prone to digressions, comments on his society (and his love life), as well as sarcastic attacks on his readers and other authors.

Dating from the first decades of the thirteenth century, it took its inspiration from the unfinished twelfth-century French romance ''Li contes del Graal ou Le roman de Perceval'' by Chrétien de Troyes, which was the first work about a quest for the Grail. Both works drew on the idealised presentation of KingArthur in Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''HistoryOfTheKingsOfBritain'', and it is Geoffrey's vision of courtly life that forms the background for Wolfram's ''Parzival'', although Wolfram probably only knew it via Chrétien.

''Parzival'' was the equivalent of a best-seller in its age: no other 13th-century literary work was copied or quoted as often. Although some of the more educated authors of the time, e. g. Gottfried von Straßburg, the writer of the Middle High German "Tristan", looked down on the "wild tale" (''wilde maere''), it was one of the main reasons why in the middle ages it was said of Wolfram: "''layen mund nye pas gesprach''" (the mouth of no lay person ever spoke better). ''Parzival'' proved very influential in the presentation of the Grail Legend, as well as being the touchstone for the German understanding of the stories of King Arthur. Music/RichardWagner's last opera, ''Parsifal'', was based on this, while his earlier opera ''{{Lohengrin}}'' was written around a "sequel" to the poem [[note]]Lohengrin is Parzival's son[[/note]].

''Parzival'' is a narrative romance in Middle High German by Wolfram von Eschenbach detailing the exploits of Parzival (Percival), knight of the Round Table, in his search for the HolyGrail. Divided into sixteen 'books' written in long verses of rhyming couplets, the first two portray the ([[ChekhovsGun bigamous]]) exploits of Parzival's father, then the next three show Parzival's career as a young and inexperienced knight, culminating in his stay at the mysterious castle of the Grail, with its tormented king. On failing to ask the question which would end the king's suffering, Parzival finds himself cast out in shame, and spends the remainder of the poem attempting to find the castle again in order to ask the right question. [[spoiler: He does.]] The latter half of the poem is interspersed with episodes following Gawan (Gawain) in his efforts to disprove an accusation of murder, and then get married, with the last books uniting the two plots. The story is considerably embellished by the idiosyncratic style of Wolfram himself, prone to digressions, comments on his society (and his love life), as well as sarcastic attacks on his readers and other authors.

''Parzival'' was the equivalent of a best-seller in its age: no other 13th-century literary work was copied or quoted as often. Although some of the more educated authors of the time, e. g. Gottfried von Straßburg, the writer of the Middle High German "Tristan", looked down on the "wild tale" (''wilde maere''), it was one of the main reasons why in the middle ages it was said of Wolfram: "''layen mund nye pas gesprach''" (the mouth of no lay person ever spoke better). ''Parzival'' proved very influential in the presentation of the Grail Legend, as well as being the touchstone for the German understanding of the stories of King Arthur. RichardWagner's last opera, ''Parsifal'', was based on this, while his earlier opera ''{{Lohengrin}}'' was written around a "sequel" to the poem [[note]]Lohengrin is Parzival's son[[/note]].

* ImprovisedWeapon: Gawan is attacked by a bunch of armed knights when he was a guest and had given away his weapon. He grabs an oversized chessboard and starts whacking his attackers with it, and his host Antikonie does her best to uphold SacredHospitality by throwing chess pieces at the attackers.

* CorruptChurch: Just about the only time clerics appear is when they tell Parzival's father-to-be Gahmuret that it is okay for him to marry Queen Herzeloyde even though he is still married to the Muslim Queen Belacane. A marriage to a heathen does not really count, they say. Otherwise clerics are strangely absent, leading to Parzival to receive his deeper religious instruction from Trevrizent, a laic hermit.

* MalignedMixedMarriage: Parzival's white, Christian father Gahmuret and his black, Muslim first wife Belacane, mother of Feirefis. Christian clerics encourage Gahmuret to marry Herzeloyde (a white Christian) without bothering about an annulment or divorce.

* DrivingQuestion: In this case, the question is "What is the question?" [[spoiler: "What ails you?" (the question that will heal the Grail King))]]

%%* EveryoneIsRelated: Everyone manages to be Parzival's distant relation.

%%* ClearMyName: Gawan's motivation. %% Clear name from what?

%%* DrivingQuestion: In this case, the question is "What is the question?" [[spoiler: "What ails you?"]] %%What is the significance of this question?

%%* TheGoodKing: King Arthur.

* HeroicBSOD: On being separated from his wife for years in his search for the grail, the sight of three drops of blood which form a resemblance to her causes Parzival to become immobile. But not so badly that he can't defeat any knight that tries to take advantage of him, before going right back to rigid silence.

%%* HolyGrail

* MalignedMixedMarriage: Parzival's white, Christian father Gahmuret and his black, Muslim first wife Belacane, mother of Feirefis. Christian clerics encourage Gahmuret to marry Herzeloyde (a white Christian) without bothering about an anulment or divorce.

* MixedAncestry: Feirefiz. Being the son of a white father and a white mother, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology he has skin that is black and white like a magpie]].

* PassingTheTorch: Parzival [[spoiler: becomes the new Grail King]].

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Most scholars agree that the idealized community of Grail Knights and Maidens is modeled on and may be seen as recruitment propaganda for TheKnightsTemplar.

----

''Parzival'' is a narrative romance in Middle High German by Wolfram von Eschenbach detailing the exploits of Parzival (Percival), knight of the Round Table, in his search for the Holy Grail. Divided into sixteen 'books' written in long verses of rhyming couplets, the first two portray the ([[ChekhovsGun bigamous]]) exploits of Parzival's father, then the next three show Parzival's career as a young and inexperienced knight, culminating in his stay at the mysterious castle of the Grail, with its tormented king. On failing to ask the question which would end the king's suffering, Parzival finds himself cast out in shame, and spends the remainder of the poem attempting to find the castle again in order to ask the right question. [[spoiler: He does.]] The latter half of the poem is interspersed with episodes following Gawan (Gawain) in his efforts to disprove an accusation of murder, and then get married, with the last books uniting the two plots. The story is considerably embellished by the idiosyncratic style of Wolfram himself, prone to digressions, comments on his society (and his love life), as well as sarcastic attacks on his readers and other authors.

* PublicDomainArtifact: The Grail.

''Parzival'' is a narrative romance in Middle High German by Wolfram von Eschenbach detailing the exploits of Parzival (Percival), knight of the Round Table, in his search for the Holy Grail. Divided into sixteen 'books' written in long verses of rhyming couplets, the first two portray the ([[ChekovsGun bigamous]]) exploits of Parzival's father, then the next three show Parzival's career as a young and inexperienced knight, culminating in his stay at the mysterious castle of the Grail, with its tormented king. On failing to ask the question which would end the king's suffering, Parzival finds himself cast out in shame, and spends the remainder of the poem attempting to find the castle again in order to ask the right question. [[spoiler: He does.]] The latter half of the poem is interspersed with episodes following Gawan (Gawain) in his efforts to disprove an accusation of murder, and then get married, with the last books uniting the two plots. The story is considerably embellished by the idiosyncratic style of Wolfram himself, prone to digressions, comments on his society (and his love life), as well as sarcastic attacks on his readers and other authors.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Sir Kay tends to be a bit of a JerkAss and ButtMonkey in Arthurian Romance, but when he portrays Kay getting into a fight with Parzival (and losing, of course), Wolfram notes that in his distrust of strangers coming to Arthur's and rudeness to them he actually fulfilled a valuable function. If only, Wolfram says, his own benefactor landgrave Hermann of Thuringia had a Kay at his court [[TakeThat it would not be so overrun with spongers]]!

* GratuitousFrench: Wolfram liked to use French vocabulary, even if he apparently only knew it by ear (e. g. Parzival comes from the house of ''Anschouwe'', i. e. [[TheHouseOfPlantagenet Anjou]]). He is sometimes called the medieval German poet who brought more French words into the German language than any other.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: Wolfram by and large follows the narrative Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished ''Perceval li Gallois'', but to justify where he deviates from it he [[RefugeInAudacity claims that Chrétien got important details wrong]]. How does he know? Because he got the true account. This was written down by the wise Moorish astrologer Flegetanis, the son of an Arabian father and a Jewish mother, who read it from the stars. Flegetanis' work was translated from Arabic into Latin in Toledo and made its way to France, where it was translated into Provencal by the writer Kyot or Guiot. This led not a few scholars to set off in search of Wolfram's alleged source, the book of Guiot, [[CaptainObvious so far without success]].

* OneTrueLove: Parzival and Condwiramurs.

* PurityPersonified: Most of the women in the story, particularly the [[VirginPower Grail Maidens]].

** There is a skin condition called vitiligo which causes this sort of skin coloration.

** The theme was of great importance to Wolfram, who explicitly took it to a fundamental level in his unfinished epic poem ''Willehalm'' where Gyburc (Willehalm's wife, who converted to Christianity from Islam) in her "tolerance speech" pleads with the Christians to spare their "heathen" (Muslim) enemies pointing out that all humans are descended from heathens, most notably Adam, Eve and Noah.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: A particularly potent one as, in one conversation, Parzival discovers that he has killed a relative, was responsible for the death of his mother (by leaving to become a knight), and had been unworthy to find the Grail.

* HeroesPreferSwords: Though, on horseback, they'll use a lance too.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: A particularly potent one as, in one conversation, Parzival discovers that he had killed a relative, was responsible for the death of his mother (by leaving to become a knight), and had been unworthy to find the Grail.

* SkilledButNaive: Parzival, particularly in the first half of the poem.
* SlapSlapKiss: Gawan and Orgeluse's relationship.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Places and distances in ''Parzival'' are entirely arbitrary.

* CannotSpitItOut: Parzival's first attempt to ask the question of the Grail King.

* CharacterDevelopment: What made Parzival stand out in contrast to many other heroes of medieval literature and made him fascinating to many modern readers and writers. In expanding Chrétien de Troyes' much shorter story, Wolfram created a lot of meat for psychological interpretations.

* ClearMyName: Gawan's motivation.

* CourtlyLove: The ''point'' of most of what happens.
* [[DamselInDistress Damsels in Distress]]: Gahmuret, Parzival and Gawan save their share. Taken up to Eleven with Gawan, who has to liberate several hundreds of ladies imprisoned by the wizard Klingsor in his castle.

* DrivingQuestion: In this case, the question is "What is the question?" [[spoiler: "What ails you?"]]

* EveryoneIsRelated: Everyone manages to be Parzival's distant relation.

* FigureItOut: What Parzival must do with the question to the Grail King.
* TheGoodKing: King Arthur.

* HeroesPreferSwords: Though, on horseback, they'll use a lance too.
* HeroicBSOD: On being separated from his wife for years in his search for the grail, the sight of three drops of blood which form a resemblance to her causes Parzival to become immobile.[[note]]But not so badly that he can't defeat any knight that tries to take advantage of him, before going right back to rigid silence[[/note]]

* KnightErrant: Most of the male characters.
* KnightInShiningArmour: Lots.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LongLostRelative: Several, but especially Parzival's Moorish half-brother Feirefiz.

* [[MeaningfulName MeaningfulNames]]: Quite a few, even if it is not always easy to see as they usually take the form of Old French names phonetically spelled by a speaker of Middle High German. For instance, the Grail Castle is called ''Munsalvaesche'', which would correspond to Modern French ''Mont Sauvage'' (wild mountain).

* MyBelovedSmother: Herzeloyde. She raises Parzival alone in a forest and does everything she can so that the fate of his father (Gahmuret was killed in battle) does not befall him, even dressing him up in a fool's costume as he sets out into the world.

* TropeCodifier: Both for the Grail Legend and, particularly in the German-speaking world, the stories of KingArthur.