Valiant

Valiant was a renowned warrior in Albion who fought in the Tournament in Camelot.

Biography
Before entering the Tournament, Valiant acquired a magical shield painted with snakes that were enchanted to come to life on command and strike an opponent. He used the shield throughout the Tournament, invoking the snakes only once in order to defeat Ewain; he later invoked the snakes in his private quarters in order to feed them, and was seen doing so by Merlin, who reported the incident to Gaius and Arthur. On Merlin's word, Arthur accused Valiant of using sorcery, forcing a hearing before the King in which Ewain was to be called as a witness. When Gaius and Merlin informed Arthur that Ewain died, the Prince withdrew his allegations, and Valiant persuaded Uther not to punish Merlin for starting the accusation.

Before the final duel between Valiant and Arthur, Uther invited Valiant to become a Knight of Camelot following the Tournament, and Valiant appeared amenable to the idea. In their final confrontation, however, Valiant's deception was exposed when Merlin used an Animation Spell to invoke the snakes on Valiant's shield. Arthur slew the snakes and killed Valiant to win the Tournament. (Valiant)



Personality
Valiant was arrogant but also polite and was good at hiding his true nature. On the outside he appeared to be an honest and noble knight and even pursuaded Uther to let Merlin off the hook after Merlin accused him of sorcery, just so he would make himself seem a better person than he actually was.

Despite his exterior Valiant was perfectly capable of commiting murder and seemed almost casual about it, as shown when he ordered his snakes to kill the very man that had made the shield and later when he had one of his snakes murder Sir Ewain, so that Ewain couldn't confirm Merlin's story about him using magic. He was aware of the dangers of using magic in Camelot and therefore kept his magical snakes hidden. Against Sir Ewain he pinned the knight under his shield so that nobody could see the snakes strike him.

However Valiant wasn't completely heartless and was slightly remorseful (albeit only temporarily) about the thought of killing Arthur during the tournament, genuinely believing he was a great warrior. He was also attracted to Morgana and was very polite and charming to her.

Abilities
Valiant was a skilled swordsman and Uther noted that he had a very aggressive fighting style, as he would rely on brute strength to overpower his opponents. Valiant made it to the final round of the Tournament though against Sir Ewain he used the snakes on his shield to defeat him. He proved to be a formidable opponent to Arthur even before he used the snakes.

Behind the Scenes

 * "Valiant" is also a bird in a movie called, "Valiant."
 * Valiant has snakes on his armour, this could represent Escetia, therefore unlikely due to Camelot being enemies with the kingdom.