Gwaine

Gwaine is the son of a knight and a friend of Merlin and Arthur Pendragon.

Meeting Merlin and Arthur
Gwaine was a young impoverished son of a knight. He and his mother were left penniless after his father died in battle, fighting for Caerleon's army. All Gwaine has left of his family heritage was a gold ring and a dragon scale necklace with his family crest hidden on it. He was initially thought to be a lowly peasant; only Merlin knows the truth about Gwaine's parentage.

He first met Arthur and Merlin after he used his fighting skills to aid them in a tavern brawl. He was badly wounded while protecting Arthur from Dagr and brought back to Camelot to be treated by Gaius. Upon his recovery Gwaine is surprisingly dismayed to learn he saved a prince and is prepared to leave as soon as possible even refusing a congratulatory ceremony in his honor from King Uther Pendragon. Gwaine explains due to his previous experiences with the nobility he chose to avoid them. Gwaine later revealed to Merlin that while he does not specifically hate all nobility, he had yet to find one with inner nobility who is "worth dying for."

Gwaine was surprisingly dismayed to learn he saved a prince and was prepared to leave as soon as possible even refusing a congratulatory ceremony in his honor from Uther. Gwaine explained while he didn't hate nobles he has had bad experiences with them and so avoided them. He did however decide to stay when he caught sight of Camelot's splendor from a window of the castle. Unfortunately Gwaine's relaxed and vagabond lifestyle proceeded to get him in to trouble with the locals and Arthur. Nonetheless Merlin found Gwaine's enjoyment of life amusing and refreshing, telling him later "You livened things up!" The two developed a bond over their lack of a paternal figure. According to Gwaine his father's life taught him one important lesson, that titles do not define nobility but rather who the person is inside and their actions.

Merlin discovered that two of the knights, Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan, competing in the melee Camelot was hosting are planning to kill Arthur when he found their swords are Stratle blades, swords that look blunt to the naked eye but were dangerously sharp in reality. On further investigation Merlin discovered that Oswald and Ethan are in fact Dagr and Ebor, the two thugs whom Gwaine had saved Arthur from, in disguise. When Dagr and Ebor catch Merlin in their chambers, Gwaine intervened to protect him from them. He quickly dispatched both of them again with his swordfighting skills but was caught by Sir Leon and brought before the king for attacking two knights.

Uther sided with the supposed knights who claim Gwaine attacked them without cause; provoking a passioned response from Gwaine about the deeper meaning of nobility. Uthur was prepared to execute Gwaine for breaking the knight's code of a peasant attacking a knight but Arthur vouches for Gwaine since he saved his life. Uthur decided to banish him instead and warned he would be killed should he be caught back in Camelot. Gwaine was unbothered by this despite Merlin telling him he should reveal his true identity to the court. Gwaine refused, saying he never stays in one place too long anyway but told Merlin to help Arthur.

Gwaine took a liking to Gwen when he first saw her in the street and attempted to charm her by giving her a daisy. However she politely refused Gwaine's attentions. The pair later saw each other again after Uther exiles Gwaine from Camelot; he quickly realised that Gwen was in love with Arthur. Her words, together with Arthur's protests and Merlin's vouches, reinforce Gwaine's belief that Arthur was indeed a noble man. He then supposedly leaves.

However Arthur's kindness compeled Gwaine to return and he secretly enters the Melee and duels along side Arthur against his assassins. Merlin and Arthur guess his identity by his fighting style and Arthur allowed him the victory in the tournament as thanks for aid in battle. He was soon arrested again by Uthur who demands he be executed immediately. Gaius however showed Uthur that Gwaine has once again saved Arthur by removing the blood crystals from the corpses to show the deception.

Unfortunately Uther did not lift his banishment forcing the future knight to leave once again despite Arthur telling him if it was up to him he would be welcome as a friend. Before leaving again Merlin asked Gwaine to reveal himself as it would mean he would be absolved and allowed to stay. Gwaine again refused saying he could not serve under someone like Uthur but agreed with Merlin's observation that he fought well with Arthur and sid perhaps someday he may return to Camelot when Arthur is king hinting at his future destiny. (Gwaine)

Later adventures
Gwaine was later reunited with Merlin in another tavern brawl and helped him save Arthur from being killed by Morgana's Eye of the Phoenix as well as a pair of Wyvern. Gwaine was referred to as Strength by the guardian of the bridge into the Fisher King's kingdom while Arthur was named Courage and Merlin was named Magic. With Gwaine and Merlin's help Arthur retrieved what he had set out in search for; the Golden Tridant. They headed back to Camelot together, but since Gwaine was still banned from entering the kingdom he bid farewell to Arthur and Merlin.(The Eye of the Phoenix)

The threesom are later reuinted a second time, when after being captured Jhar, they meet him in Jhar's dungon, he sums up his capture as "Wrong place, Wrong time, Wrong drink". To save Merlin, Arthur puts himself forward to face Jhar's champion, only for it to be reveled to be Gwain. The two fake a fight, however soon find themself in trouble, when they have to kill each other, Merlin manages to save them by starting a fire, afterwards Gwain joins them on there quest for the the cup of life. After they get it from the Druids, and are ambushed by Cendric's men, Gwain stays with Merlin while Athur is injured. After he gets slightly better (Thanks to Merlin's spell), he continues with them into camolate, to find it captured, after finding Elyan and Gaius, Arthur sends him and Elyan to take Gaius to the woods, while he and Merlin try to save Uther. (The Coming of Arthur Part One)

Personality
At first Gwaine appeared to be a funny and carefree man who thought about little more than ale and women. However Arthur, Merlin and Gwen soon learned that he respected honor and loyalty above all else. Gwaine at first appeared to be a simple but noble peasant who came to Merlin and Arthur's aid in a tavern brawl that they were heavily outnumbered in. He ignored Arthur's warning not to step into the fight and proceeded to fight against the pair's enemies displaying impressive combat prowess. He was injured protecting Arthur, showing he was also very selfless.

When Merlin asked why he does not reveal his noble past Gwaine revealed his humble nature by telling Merlin his lifestyle has taught him that titles are not important. He wants to be treated by his character and skills and not by his family name. Also he prefered the freedom of the vagabond lifestyle. Gwaine was attracted to Guinevere and flirted with her but she didn't return his feelings.

Gwaine generally disliked people of royal blood seeing them as corrupt and powerhungry. However he soon grew to respect Arthur, even referring to him as a friend at one point. He was also unafraid of criticizing Uther Pendragon in front of Arthur saying that he may one day be able to return to Camelot when it was ruled by a "half decent king".

Gwaine appears to have a very trusting nature, revealing the truth about his father to Merlin and empathising with Merlin when he told him about his own father, Balinor. Gwaine stated that Merlin and Arthur were the only friends he had. He also had a good sense of humour and was cheerful and optimistic even while he was a prisoner of Jhar.

Abilities
Gwaine revealed he has some knowledge of magic when he listened to Merlin describe a pair of Stratle blades he came upon in the room of a pair of knights who were in Camelot for the Melee. Gwaine informs Merlin he was lucky has he encountered the swords before and Merlin was lucky to come out of it with an injured finger only. He also revealed that he knew about Wyverns, the distant cousins of Dragons. However Gwaine has never displayed the ability to actually use magic.

Gwaine was also a skilled swordsman and Merlin noted that he'd never seen anyone use a fighting style that was quite like Gwaine's which meant that Merlin was able to recognise him even while he was in armour. Gwaine's swordsmanship skills were such that he became the champion of a slave trader named Jhar and held his own against Arthur in a duel (though neither he nor Arthur were trying to hurt each other). He was also skilled in unarmed combat and was frequently engaged in tavern brawls.

In the Legends
It is believed that Gwaine is loosely based on a Arthurian Legend knight by the name of Sir Gawain. Gawain was one of the greatest heroes in the Arthurian legend. No other knights appeared in more tales, yet he is not often the chief hero in most of these medieval romances.

Earlier tales of Gawain showed that he was the ideal or the perfect knight, whom others knights are measured, however with the French romances, he was supplanted by other heroes, such as Lancelot, Tristan, Perceval and Galahad. The French writers tend to portray Gawain as an anti-hero and a womanizer; nonetheless in Malroy's Le Morte d'Arthur he remains furiously loyal to Arthur and is most beloved by him.

Sir Gawain in many Legends was the first son of King Lot and after his death went on to be the Orkney clan leader. He is featured in many Arthurian Legends often as one of King Arthur's main knights. He is generally portrayed as either the principal or secondary hero with much courtesy, chivalry, and nobility. Throughout all of his trials and tales he is considered very well respected, loyal, and honest. However, in his goal to maintain these traits to the highest esteem, is faced with many problems and trials along the way. In one of his most well-known texts, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain experiences a brief fall from this tower of perfection as he struggles with his inner demons. Gawain's greatest traits are also his greatest weaknesses in that he follows these to the letter rather than to the spirit.

In the Prose Tristan and the French novels he was sometimes portrayed as a villain and a murderer. This version for the most part was not popular and is not prevalent in most later works. More recently many writers went back to the old English and Welsh sources and turned him back into the hero many know him as.