Line #7 Literature/TheSquiresTales


1	A series of young adult novels by Creator/GeraldMorris, taking place during the rule of Myth/KingArthur. Some characters, such as Sir Gawain and his squire Terence (a creation of Morris', whose name is a nod to Creator/THWhite, author of ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'') and of course Arthur, appear in all the books. Mostly, Morris deals with the legends' bloated cast by having a rotating cast of characters, and each book deals with a different story out of Myth/ArthurianLegend (sometimes combining several stories into one narrative, such as ''The Ballad of Sir Dinadan'', where the title character deals with the events of both "[[Literature/{{Mabinogion}} Culwch and Olwen]]" and "Literature/TristanAndIseult"). Each book has a different main character, except for the first two and the ninth (all the ones with "Squire" in the title), where it's Terence.
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3	The series is notable for its humor, as well as the fact that Morris' extensive knowledge of Arthurian legend means that some of the stories he retells are ones that not everyone would know (with plenty of {{Genius Bonus}}es for those who ''are'' familiar with the source texts). Also, the point of view characters tend to be not the knights themselves, but squires, pages, or women, resulting in a unique perspective on the knights' activities and the opportunity for many a LampshadeHanging.
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5	[[AC:There are ten books in the series:]]
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7	* ''The Squire's Tale'' (1998)
8	* ''The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady'' (1999) – retells the story of [[Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight Gawain and the Green Knight]]
9	* ''The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf'' (2000)
10	* ''Parsifal's Page'' (2001)
11	* ''The Ballad of Sir Dinadan'' (2003)
12	* ''The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung Cart Knight'' (2004)
13	* ''The Lioness and Her Knight'' (2005)
14	* ''The Quest of the Fair Unknown'' (2006) – [[Myth/KingArthurAndTheHolyGrail the search for the Holy Grail]]
15	* ''The Squire's Quest'' (2009)
16	* ''The Legend of the King'' (2010)
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18	Not to be confused with the tenth book of the ''Literature/DameFrevisse'' which is also named ''The Squire's Tale''.
19	----
20	!!This series provides examples of:
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22	* AdaptationalProtagonist: The main premise of the novels is retelling the Myth/ArthurianLegend from the perspective of characters other than the knights. For example, the story of Sir Gareth focuses on Lynet, with the dwarf, [[NamedByTheAdaptation named Roger]] ([[spoiler:or actually Gaheris]]) as {{Deuteragonist}}. Likewise, the story of Ywain is told from the perspective of Luneta.
23	* ActionGirl: Several, most notably Eileen, Lynette, and Sara
24	* AdaptationalDumbass: Any character involved in "Courtly Love" tends to get this especially Tristan and Gareth.[[spoiler: Lancelot starts off as this before he gets better.]]
25	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: In a GeniusBonus for anyone who’s read ''Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight'', the Green Knight’s dialogue echoes the alliterative verse of the original poem.
26	* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: By the ending of ''The Legend Of The King'', only a handful of named characters are still alive, and only two of the book protagonists (Dinadan and Luneta). Even [[TheHeroDies Terence is dead]].]]
27	* TheAtoner: Lancelot, after the second book. In ''Parsifal's Page,'' Piers is a milder version after his advice prevents Parsifal from healing the Grail King.
28	* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Lampshaded in ''Parsifal's Page,'' where the titular character gets crowned mid-beginning of the story, which leads to the main character, Piers, commenting on how that sort of thing isn't supposed to happen until AFTER the story ends.
29	* BastardBastard: Mordred, the son by trickery of [[spoiler:Arthur and Morgause]], and a ruthless, manipulative, ambitious monster.
30	* BelligerentSexualTension: Many.
31	** Subverted with [[spoiler: Dinadan and Brangienne]], who have the belligerence and the emotional connection, but apparently not the sexual attraction part of the trope. They end up concluding that while they could never marry anyone else, they'd just as soon not marry each other either.
32	* BittersweetEnding: ''The Squire's Quest'' ends with Morgause's plot being thwarted, but this book has a much higher body count than the previous volumes (of characters we wouldn't have expected to die), and Tieresias has foretold [[spoiler:the fall of the kingdom at Mordred and Morgause's hands]]. To anyone who knows the legend, this if of course a ForegoneConclusion, but it's incredibly heartbreaking.
33	** And ''The Legend of the King'' ends the whole series on a [[{{Tearjerker}} heartbreakingly bittersweet note]].
34	* CelibateHero: Sir Dinadan. He actually shows attraction to one woman until he realizes that she's playing him for an idiot. After that, and seeing other characters make themselves idiots for romance, he seems uninterested. At the end of his novel, he and [[spoiler: Brangienne]] conclude that, while they're very close friends such that they couldn't marry anyone else, [[BetterAsFriends they don't really want to marry one another either]].
35	* CharacterDevelopment: For lots of the less well-known characters such as Gaheris, Dinadan, and Luneta. Also what rescues Lancelot and Guinevere from the [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap Scrappy Heap]], starting after ''The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady''.
36	* ChasteHero: Beaufils come by it naturally; Galahad tortures himself in his effort to remain so.
37	* ChivalricRomance: Deconstructed hilariously through the character of Piers in ''Parsifal's Page.''
38	* CompositeCharacter: Beaufils[[spoiler:/Gingalain takes over Percival's usual role in the Grail Quest, as the book's Parsifal had already done a variation in ''Parsifal's Page''.]]
39	* CourtlyLove: Deconstruced in ''The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady.''
40	* CoversAlwaysLie: The first book of The Squire's Tales (hardback original editions) featured a knight, fully-armored, riding a horse backwards and carrying a lance with a banana impaled on it. Needless to say, this was not in the book. When the author complained about the artwork, the second book cover was based on a particular scene in the book, but it was terrible.
41	* DamselErrant: The Three Questing Ladies, who collect wandering knights and take them on adventures. Their methods differ: the eldest puts her knights through rigorous training before giving any quests; the youngest tends to start fights and get hers killed.
42	* DeadpanSnarker: Many. Gaheris and Rhience in particular, but Gawain and even Arthur have their moments. Overlaps with GentlemanSnarker in several cases.
43	** In ''The Squire's Quest'', Dinadan plays this to the hilt. Pretty much the only moments he isn't in SarcasmMode are the TearJerker ones.
44	* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Bedivere who usually survives the final battle. Here he's killed off long before by Mordred.]]
45	* DecompositeCharacter: Sir Ywain is split into two characters, the original who was one of Arthur's first knights and his son with the same name who's takes the role of the Knight of the Lion.
46	** At one point is mentions that people are comparing Gawain to the legendary Welsh hero Gwalchmei, which is really just an older version of Gawain's name. In an ambiguous example, a "Myrddin" is mentioned as Ariel's father, who may or may not be the same as Merlin.
47	** Sylvanus and Pan both appear in the ninth book, the latter being a servant of the former. They'd generally be considered the Roman and Greek versions of the same god. On the other hand, [[CompositeCharacter Sylvanus claims to also be Dionysos]].
48	** Rhience takes the role of Calogrenant from the story of Ywain, and even mentions that he used that name back when he was a knight. A different character, using the alternate spelling Colgrevaunce, is later killed by Lancelot as in ''Le Morte D'Arthur.''
49	** A sort of odd example: Sarah's mother's, Esther/Dioneta, was Morgan's sister. [[WordOfGod In his Author's Note]], Morris characterizes her as a character who only appears in one obscure medieval source; many scholars, however, would argue that she was just Morgan given a different name.
50	* DemotedToExtra: Merlin, who briefly appears in the first book, but leaves Camelot off-page prior to the climax and is barely mentioned.
51	** SparedByTheAdaptation: Towards the end of ''The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady'' it's revealed in passing that he returned to the Fairy Realm and is living in peace, rather than spending an eternity imprisoned by magic as in many versions of Arthurian Legend.
52	%% * DissonantSerenity: Sarah, more than once.
53	* DistressedDamsel: Usually by dint of being TooDumbToLive; all of the main female characters avert this, except Guinevere. Occasionally a DecoyDamsel, such as the case of Lyonesse.
54	* EpicFail: The cover synopsis (not by Morris) for ''Legend of the King'' pulled one of these in the grammar department. The villains were suddenly made out to be the heroes thanks to the epic grammar failure of Houghton Mifflin:
55	---> "Only by maintaining their faith, selflessness, and honor, can Morgause and Mordred banish and defeat dark magic from England forever."
56	* EverybodyKnewAlready: Tristram and Isolde's affair. The exception is King Mark, who only ''really strongly suspects.''
57	* EvilMatriarch: Morgause. Gawain and Gaheris realize it; Gareth, while heroic, never really lost the desire for her approval.
58	* TheFairFolk: Active in all the books, in both helpful (Ganscotter, Robin), antagonistic (Morgause), and neutral (Morgan) flavors. Terence, Gawain, Arthur, and various others all have Faery blood.
59	* FisherKing: Amfortas is the Fisher King in ''Parsifal's Page.'' The eighth book also has a version of the Grail Quest, but no Fisher King.
60	* ForegoneConclusion: ''The Legend of the King'' is this to anyone who knows the original tales: [[spoiler:Camelot will fall, with the deaths of almost all Arthur's knights and ladies, including most of the protagonists]].
61	%% * GeniusBruiser: Kai, also Gawain.
62	* HarmfulToMinors: Teenage Sarah sees her mother and guardian burned at the stake.
63	* HeroicSacrifice: [[{{Tearjerker}} Basically]] [[AnyoneCanDie everyone]] in ''Legend of the King,'' (see ForegoneConclusion) but special mention to [[spoiler: Gaheris and Lynet]].
64	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Dinadan and Palomides, who bond over their shared love of music and end up WalkingTheEarth together after the series finishes.
65	* HistoricalInJoke: The appearance of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Terence is also a nod to T. H. White - that's what the T stands for.
66	* HonorBeforeReason: Deconstructed frequently. Gareth is a prime example of this, and it's made clear exactly how much of an idiot this makes him.
67	* HopeSpot: About halfway through ''Legend of the King'', Arthur and Lancelot forgive each other, Morgause is killed, her plots exposed and her spells broken. There's also one when Lancelot arrives at the last battle with reinforcements. Neither changes the ending.
68	* ICannotSelfTerminate: After Sir Gawain accidentally kills a man's wife, the man falls to his knees and begs Gawain to kill him. Gawain doesn't, instead forcing him to go to Arthur's court.
69	* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Happens twice to poor Guinevere, once at the hands of Meliagant and again later with Mordred.
70	* IncorruptiblePurePureness / PurityPersonified: Beaufils. Galahad ''wants'' to be this, but tries too hard and verges into KnightTemplar territory in his effort to remove all sources of temptation.
71	* InNameOnly: While most of the characters share at least some traits with their counterparts in the source material, Rhience is nothing like the character of that name in Myth/ArthurianLegend, who was a king rebelling against Arthur. He's really Calogrenant with an AdaptationalNameChange and an [[AscendedExtra increased role]].
72	* ItsWhatIDo: Said word for word by Terence in ''The Squire's Quest.''
73	-->'''Morgause:''' Do you think you can save Arthur forever?\
74	'''Terence:''' I know nothing about forever. But I can save him this time. It's what I do, you know.
75	* [[TheJoyOfX Joy Of X]] - An X's Tale: There is even a "squire's tale" in the Chaucer originally too.
76	%% * KingInTheMountain: As per the original legend.
77	* KnightErrant: Par for the course, being a retelling of Arthurian tales. The characters spend plenty of time wandering around England, getting into various adventures, particularly in ''The Squire, His Knight, And His Lady''.
78	* KnightInShiningArmor: Morris writes Lancelot as a deconstruction of this trope.
79	* LittleMissBadass: Sarah in ''The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung Cart Knight''. Her family gets murdered and what does she do? Try and steal Kai's sword so she can go after the people who did it.
80	* LoveMakesYouStupid: Comes up a lot.
81	* LovePotion: Never a good thing. Drinking one of these accidentally is what causes the love affair between Tristram and Isolde, and results in a lot of deaths. A similar potion (with similar tragic results) is used in ''The Squire's Quest.''
82	* LukeYouAreMyFather: Beaufils and [[spoiler:Gawain]], Mordred and [[spoiler:Arthur]].
83	* MerlinSickness: Not Merlin, but the hermit Trevisant, who raised Terence. Kind of heartbreaking when Terence comes back in a later book and Trevisant doesn't know who he is.
84	* MythologyGag: In the final book, Gaheris says "If it's to be done, then let it be done, and 'twere well it were done quickly." Lynet asks him what that means, and he replies "I don't know. It just sounded dour and cryptic. It's not my fault; I'm Scottish." He is paraphrasing a line from ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''.
85	* NarniaTime: Faery is like this.
86	* NarrativeProfanityFilter: Used a lot. For instance, in ''The Squire's Quest'', "Kai... uttered a series of short, very blunt words. Terence sympathized with him. He didn't use those particular words himself, but had to admit that sometimes they felt right."
87	** Another rather amusing example in the same book, when Acoriondes is translating Alexander's conversation with his uncle. The running commentary goes something like "Alexander is saying many very vulgar words... even more... I don't think that one is even possible..." This is used very frequently in this book, given that various characters speak Greek, Latin, English, and French.
88	** From ''The Lioness and Her Knight'':
89	---> "I'm [[SarcasmMode shocked, utterly shocked]]," Rhience said. "Aghast, no less. I would never have imagined that a gently born young lady like you would have even known such words, let alone utter them! And all strung together like that, too!"
90	* NatureSpirit: Sylvanus, who befriends Dinadan in ''The Ballad of Sir Dinadan''.
91	* NeutralFemale: Lampshaded and mocked, along with the DistressedDamsel.
92	* NoHeroToHisValet: Averted by Gawain and some of the other knights, but holds true for others, especially Gareth and Tristram (not because they're mean, but because they are absolute morons).
93	* NoSenseOfDirection: Sir Gareth. One of his brothers comments that he "needs a trail of breadcrumbs to find his own chamber pot".
94	* OpenSecret: In ''The Ballad of Sir Dinadan''. Tristram and Isolde have the world's least secret love affair—literally everyone but Isolde's husband knows, and he at least suspects. This is mostly because Tristram has been riding about the country telling everyone in great detail about the vow of silence he has taken and how he can never even say his true love Isolde's name.
95	** The trope also applies to Lancelot and Guinevere's affair in the ''The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady'', though in this case it's treated more seriously due to the effect it has on Arthur and the court.
96	* PlatonicLifePartners: Dinadan and Brangienne. They have a lot of ShipTease, and eventually agree that they couldn't marry anyone but each other. However, they'd rather not.
97	* PoorCommunicationKills: In ''Legend of the King'', this leads to BreakingTheFellowship when [[spoiler:Morgause forges various letters to paint several characters (particularly Lancelot and Guinevere) as traitors]] and very, very few people stop to ask the obvious questions.
98	* RelatedInTheAdaptation: Sir Dinadan is the younger brother of Sir Tristram here.
99	* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Lancelot and Guinevere in universe; Morris also does this for Kai.
100	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Arthur, as well as various others throughout the series. Parsifal becomes one when he gets married.
101	* TheTrickster: [[Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream Robin]], the faery that helps out Terence (and others) sometimes.
102	** Rhience, in ''The Lioness and Her Knight''. He says himself he makes a much better fool than a knight.
103	* SdrawkcabAlias: {{Lampshaded}} in ''The Ballad of Sir Dinadan'':
104	-->"Tramtris. That was the best he could come up with. Didn't you realize it was Tristram?"
105	** Spoofed further when Dinadan talks to a holy hermit who wants to write an allegorical adventure story, the villain of which is "Stultus", being Latin for "fool". Then the two dismiss that as too obvious and call him "Sutluts" instead. So much better. When "Tramtris" comes in and begs Dinadan not to reveal his name, Dinadan says "Don't worry. If anyone asks, I'll say you're Sir Sutluts."
106	* SecretRelationship: Terence and Eileen, for ''seven books.'' She's a noblewoman, Terence is (ostensibly) a squire with no noble background, and they're mostly okay keeping things private.
107	* SlapSlapKiss: ''Literally'' between Kai and Connoire.
108	---> '''Arthur:''' I am not completely certain whether I have just witnessed a proposal or a challenge, but I wish you both very happy.
109	* StealthHiBye: Terence is an expert at this. It comes from having a lot of faery blood - Robin and occasionally Ariel do it too.
110	* SupportingProtagonist
111	* ThatManIsDead: Lancelot leaves court and lives as a forester after the events of ''The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady.'' He gives up his name and goes by Jean Le Forestier instead.
112	* TheDragon: Mordred, for Morgause, in her plot to take down Arthur. [[spoiler:Agrivaine]] only ''thinks'' he's one.
113	%% * TheFettered: Arthur.
114	* TheMagicGoesAway: The ending of the series, as [[spoiler:Lynet's bargain to defeat Morgause]] leads to the closure of almost all the gates between the worlds.
115	* TheNotLoveInterest: In ''The Ballad of Sir Dinadan'' and ''The Quest For The Fair Unknown''.
116	* WarriorPoet: Palomides, a skilled and deadly warrior who sets poetry to tunes as a hobby and befriends Dinadan over their shared love of music.
117	* WholesomeCrossdresser: Terence crossdresses to help rescue Sir Gawain from a dungeon.
118	* WorldHalfEmpty: At the end of ''Legend of the King'', but it's not entirely hopeless.
119	* WouldntHitAGirl: Upheld by most of the heroic characters, but also played with. In one book, Sir Gawain finds out that Gaheris informed a potential (male) opponent that he would "never raise a sword against the skirts of womanhood." The other guy showed up in a skirt, and poor Gaheris let him win. Gawain is very disgusted with him.
120	* YearInsideHourOutside: Other way around; time passes more slowly in Faery than in the regular world. In ''The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady'' Terence and Gawain come back to find that ''seven years'' have passed and everyone thinks they're dead.
121	* YouCantMissIt: A couple giving directions along the lines of “the swamp where Betty's horse almost drowned,” and “The tree that was cut down after it was struck by lightning” before they start arguing about whether someone's son broke his arm before or after they painted their barn, and the protagonists leave in disgust.
122	* YouKilledMyFather: In ''The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung Cart Knight'', Sarah is seeking revenge for the murder of her mother and guardian. She is directly responsible for the deaths of two of the men involved, but learns along the way that revenge is unfulfilling and spares the third man's life (though she does make sure to humiliate and discredit him).

Context Literature / TheSquiresTales