Agravaine de Bois

Lord Agravaine de Bois is the brother of Ygraine, Vivienne and Tristan de Bois and the brother-in-law of Uther Pendragon. He is also the uncle of Arthur Pendragon, Morgana Pendragon and Morgause. Agravaine returned to Camelot after a long absence and at first seems to have Arthur's best interests at heart, but is in fact in league with Morgana and is the new enemy within the walls of Camelot as he wishes for Morgana to become Queen.

Early Life
As he was Ygrane's brother, his reasons for joining Morgana most likely stemmed from her death as Uther went to Nimueh and made her use magic to make her give birth to Arthur, costing her life. Uther also killed his brother, Tristan and had an affair with his sister Vivienne, who later disappeared. Because of this, Agravaine grew to hate Uther and blamed him for destroying his family and joined Morgana many years later to take his revenge. It is also likely that he partly blames Arthur for Ygraine's death as his birth caused her death which possibly explained why he plotted against him as well as Uther. (The Darkest Hour)

The Darkest Hour
Agravaine arrived in Camelot in light of Uther's capacity to rule utterly broken by Morgana's betrayal. There, he became a valued advisor to Arthur during his time of need when great responsibilities now fell to the young prince to be fulfilled. After a year had passed, Arthur had complete trust in Agravaine and was grateful for his uncle's advice and input.



Despite this trust, Agravaine was secretly in league with his niece, Morgana. After Arthur rode out to the Isle of the Blessed to seal the veil with his own life, Agravaine rode out to a small forest hut where Morgana was revealed to be waiting for him. He reported that Camelot was on its knees and that Arthur intended to repair the veil by sacrificing himself. When Morgana mentioned Emrys, unaware that he was Merlin, Agravaine assured her that their plans would go as intended and that she would be able to re-establish herself back onto Camelot's throne once again as its rightful heir.

Plotting against Guinevere


Agravaine then took charge of the kingdom in Arthur's absence and had the gate to the lower town closed to prevent food from running out and Gaius angrily confronted him about it. Gwen persuaded Agravaine to reopen the gate and he reluctantly agreed. Agravaine met Morgana, telling her about Gwen and Morgana planned to kill her to prevent her vision of Gwen becoming Queen from coming true. Agravaine diverted Gwens attention while Morgana entered Camelot through a secret tunnel. Morgana knocked Gwen unconscious but Gaius later found her. Meanwhile the Dorocha were defeated when Lancelot sacrificed himself to heal the veil. Morgana was enraged that her plans failed and told Agravaine of her belief that Emrys thwarted them. She told Agravaine to help her find Emrys and kill him. Agravaine then went to Gaius's chambers and asked him if he knew of Emrys but Gaius lied, pretending that he didn't know. (The Darkest Hour)

Uther's Death
In The Wicked Day, Uther is fatally injured by the Gleeman, who's intention was to kill Arthur. Arthur then resorts to magic to heal his father. When Agravaine learns of this, he rushes to inform Morgana, who gives him a necklace that will reverse any healing spell used on its wearer and the magnify it tenfold. After planting the necklace around Uther's neck, Agravaine coldly told an unconscious Uther that he would finally get what he deserved in revenge for the crimes he commited against his family. Naturally, because of the necklace, Uther is killed. Arthur then blames the sorcerer (who is actually Merlin in disguise) for his father's death. He then vows to always despise magic, saying that he "lost both my [his] parents to magic". Meanwhile, Agravaine went to tell Morgana that Uther was dead but she told him that she alreadly knew as she felt him die. Agravaine later watched as Arthur was crowned King of Camelot.

Plotting against Arthur
Following the death of Uther, Caerleon began raiding Camelot. During one of these raids, he was eventually led into a trap and captured. Following his uncle's Agravaine advice, Arthur tried to force him to sign a treaty. He refused, which made Arthur order him killed. His body was returned to his kingdom. This event led to the brief war between Camelot and his land, led by his wife. After Agravaine told Arthur that he cannot be seen with Guinevere and deemed her as inappropriate, Arthur sneaked out on the night before he left for the battle to see her and tell her that their relationship must end. A heartbroken Gwen told Arthur to listen to his heart in order to become the king he really wants to be.

Personality
As the new enemy within the walls of Camelot, he is similar to Morgana in series 3 in that only Gaius and Merlin seem to figure out his motives whereas everyone else is oblivious. He acts as a messenger to Morgana as well as helping her plotting against Uther and Arthur. He blames the former for tearing apart half his family.

Morgana
Agravaine shows that he is on Morgana's side. He wants to help her achieve her goal to become Queen of Camelot. He will constantly meet with her and make plans to destroy the men in the the Pendragon family. When Morgana admits that Emrys will become her doom, he does what he can to comfort her and attempts to assist her in finding out who he is, though unsuccessful. He was shown to care about her, when he found her hut wrecked, and then her unconious, he cried, and then carried her off to safety.

Uther
Agravaine mostly despises Uther. Uther killed his brother Tristan, he blames Uther for Ygraine's death (just like Tristan), and he blames Uther for having an affair with his sister Vivienne who has disappeared. He eventually indirectly killed Uther by planting an enchanted necklace around his neck to repel healing spells when he was mortally wounded.

Arthur
Agravaine initially seemed to be loyal to Arthur but is actually working to have him killed as he wants Morgana to rule Camelot. The reason why he wants Arthur dead is possibly because he partly blames him for the death of Ygraine as his birth caused her death. As part of his plans in bringing Arthur's downfall, he manipulated Arthur most of the time, despite failing to have him killed. Arthur, on the other hand, trusted Agravaine greatly and valued his advise.

In Legends


In contrast to the legends, Agravaine is Arthur's uncle, whereas in the legends, he is portrayed as his nephew.

Sir Agravaine was the second son of King Lot of Orkney and Queen Morgause, his wife. In his youth, he came to the Court of King Arthur with his brothers and fought in the Saxon Wars, where he liberated the prisoners on the Hill of Wretches. He was rewarded with a knighthood and welcomed into the Order of the Round Table. He managed to put himself about a bit in search of adventure. However, although a very handsome man and a competent knight with sword and axe, he was said to be a most disagreeable character: being described as envious, unsympathetic, hateful and disposed to evil. This view seems to have been largely due to his central role in the movement to expose the torrid affair between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot. Sometimes, in some texts, it is Agravaine, rather than Mordred, who emerged as the chief conspirator and he was only finally killed when Lancelot rescued the Queen from the stake. However, Agravaine may be misrepresented. When Gawaine was accused of treachery by Guigambresil, it was his brother Agravaine who persuaded him not to respond too hastily and even offered to fight on his brother's behalf. Throughout, his actions seem to have been motivated by family loyalty. His desire to harm Sir Lancelot and his participation in the murder of Sir Lamorak is quite understandable when one considers that their family was responsible for the death of Agravaine's father. He must have had a more pleasing side to his character, for he won over the Lady Florée (or Laurel) - a niece of the King of Scotland - at a Camelot Tournament and married her. Sir Agravaine was killed by Sir Lancelot some time during the latter's conflict with Arthur.