Before anybody gets up in my grill about their character’s spot (or absence from) on the list, please note that this is my own personal interpretation of the legends and I physically CANNOT fit every single knight into this list.
GOLD TIER
- King Arthur: Arthur goes here because like it or not he has Excalibur and he isn’t afraid to use it. The man has gotten a lot of crap in the past few hundred years, but he’s the King for good reason. Arthur carved out his kingdom from nothing with a dinky war-party and didn’t bat an eye. He could even change into a BEAR if he wanted to (before Christianity and Lancelot spoiled the party).
- Lancelot: Lancelot has become the epitome of knighthood around the world. People who don’t even know who Arthur is know about this guy and just how awesome of a warrior he was. Love him or hate him, Lancelot could lay down the law and deal out some serious punishment. He’s been demoted to #2 instead of #1 because even he didn’t mess with Excalibur.
- Gawain: Gawain is an awesome guy who got screwed over by later writers. His strength tripled at noon, he was a golden-tongued diplomat, a stellar cavalry-man and well-versed in herbal medicine. He could kick your butt into next week, fix you up and take you home on his horse with a heartfelt apology note to pacify your parents.
- Tristan: Tristan got poisoned and stabbed on a regular basis. He lived and breathed assassination attempt survival and would jump off cliffs (without injury) to get away. This angst-pot could seemingly not be killed but he had no problem killing you. He enjoyed kicking around half of the Orkney brothers like it was a hobby and didn’t mind making an idiot out of the Round Table every time he jousted at Camelot. Tristan is a ridiculous character, but we love him for it.
- Percival: He may be the Arthurian version of a country bumpkin, but he defeated Lancelot in single combat multiple times. He was untrained, armed with a colander on his head and a cheese-board on his chest, and still managed to unhorse Lancelot SEVERAL TIMES. He was also the original winner of the Holy Grail and his dad could have been any number of famous people including King Pellinore and Gawain.
SILVER TIER
- Agravaine Gaheris, and Gareth: Accounts differ on how awesome the other Orkney brothers were in combat. We know that Agravain let his temper get in the way of fighting and got his butt kicked when that happened. BUT, he was also one of Arthur’s top knights. Gareth and his quest with Lady Lynette makes him sound like a knighted version of Captain America. Seriously, the boy is too physically strong to not put him in Gold Tier. I don’t put him in Diamond Tier simply because the sweetie is an idiot. Gaheris gets stuck here because (poor thing) we don’t know enough about him to stick him anywhere else, so I just stuck him with the majority of his brothers. Hang in there Gary!
- Kay: Ah, the trainer of squires, the seneschal of Camelot, Arthur’s foster brother…Yeah Kay is a beast. He may have a horrible personality, but he had a bucket-load of random magical powers that would have made him a nightmare to fight. He could grow to the height of the tallest tree and hold his breath for several days, among other things! Admittedly, being able to melt snow reeeaaalllly fast with his hands doesn’t make him that special.
- Bedivere: Bedivere is one of Arthur’s original knights and managed to keep his spot despite losing an arm. That’s right, Bedivere was a one-armed knight who would chase your butt down with his army of hunting dogs to administer justice. He’s also the only knight of the round table to survive the Battle of Camlainn.
- Owain: Owain was the Orkneys’ cousin and had an attack lion that followed him around and helped him in fights. He fought Gawain with the help of said lion and almost won, but I don’t know if it’s because HE was that good, or if the impending lion mauling was throwing Gawain off his game. (He’s in England! Where did he even GET a lion?!?!)
- Galahad: I WANTED to put him both lower and higher at the same time. Galahad is a Christianity powered monstrosity that constantly maintained a holier-than-thou attitude while violently beating you to death. In some versions of the Siege Perilous, the chair bursts into fire when he sits down, but he’s unharmed when the flames die out. So I assume he’s fire-proof? Or at least immune to magical fire??? I don’t even know at this point with Galahad.
BRONZE TIER
- Mordred: Poor Mordred won fights through being smarter, not better, than his opponents. Speaking from a raw strength stand-point, Mordred was about as effective as an uncooked spaghetti. He didn’t shine until he was allowed to plot and outwit his adversaries. There’s a reason he didn’t challenge Arthur to a trial-by-combat and take over Camelot that way.
- Literally the Rest of Camelot: Alright, maybe not literally. But most of Arthur’s court was surprisingly wimpy. When it came right down to it, it was like an episode of the Justice League, you have a few really good heroes, but most of them are the Wonder Twins. Just a no go.
Madness and Arthuriana 