Perceval, the Story of the Grail (French: Perceval ou le Conte du Graal) is the fifth and final of Chrétien de Troyes's five Chivalric Romances and part of the Arthurian Legends. It was written between 1182 and 1190 in Old French.
It is most famous for being the first iteration of the Grail in Arthurian Mythos, and also for being incomplete as he Died During Production.
Tropes
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This is the first version of the story that later became King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Chrétien's story involves a magical grail, but it's never stated to be holy. This grail is more along the lines of Celtic tropes about magically serving dishes that constantly refill with food, such as the Cauldron of Dagda (the Four Treasures of Ireland in Celtic Mythology).
- Fisher King: Perceval is guest of the Fisher King. A lot of strange things happen while he's there; and he doesn't ask what's up because he's trying to be polite. He's actually supposed to ask, because asking would magically break the curse.
- Public Domain Artifact: The grail is described as a dish to serve fish (it's the original medieval meaning of the word). The protagonist, Perceval, finds himself in the court of a maimed king, where he witnesses an enigmatic procession featuring a grail (note the absence of capital letter) and a spear whose tip is bleeding. It is later strongly implied in-universe that the scene was very important, but its supposed original meaning is lost to the ages because the book is unfinished. The actual myth of the Holy Grail was born from continuators of the original story (and the bleeding spear was interpreted as the Spear of Destiny.)
