Valiant


 * This article is about the deceased knight, Valiant, for the episode he is in, see: Valiant (episode).

"Knight Valiant of the Western Isles, My Lord."

- Valiant to Uther

Valiant was a renowned warrior in Albion who fought in the Tournament in Camelot. However, Valiant was a cheat in truth and had fought and poisoned his opponents with a Serpent Shield. His treachery was discovered and was killed by Arthur in the tournament.

Biography
Before entering the tournament, Valiant acquired a magical shield from a sorcerer named Delvin which was painted with snakes enchanted to come to life on command and strike an opponent. After Delvin gave the shield Valiant immediately commanded the snakes to kill the sorcerer. Valiant used the shield throughout the tournament, invoking the snakes only once in order to defeat Ewan; he later activated the snakes in his private quarters in order to feed them, and was caught 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 Ewan was to be called as a witness. However, Valiant sent a snake to Ewan to finish him off which meant that Gaius and Merlin had to inform Arthur that Ewan had died, thus forcing the Prince to withdraw his allegations. Valiant persuaded Uther not to punish Merlin for prompting the accusations.

Before the final duel between Arthur and Valiant, Uther invited Valiant to become a knight of Camelot following the tournament and Valiant appeared agreeable to the idea. In their final confrontation, however, Valiant's treachery was exposed when Merlin used an Animation Spell to invoke the snakes on Valiant's shield. Arthur slew the snakes, and killed Valiant, winning the tournament, and becoming Camelot's champion (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, becoming instantly attracted to Morgana and flirting heavily with her, much to the annoyance of Arthur and even persuaded 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 committing 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 Ewan, so that he 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, thus Valiant pinned Sir Ewan 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 Ewan 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.

Trivia

 * The actor of Valiant is also a bird in a movie called, "Valiant".
 * Valiant is said to hail from "the Western Isles," which is a name often used for the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
 * Valiant was the first character of the show to have an episode named after him.
 * Imagery of Valiant appears as part of the title sequence from series 1 to 3.