Serpent Shield

"When you're competing in the tournament, you pin your opponent under the shield, a snake strikes. Your opponent will be paralysed."

- Devlin The Serpent Shield was a shield painted with three snakes that were magically enchanted to come to life on command and strike an opponent.

The Shield was acquired by Knight Valiant prior to the Tournament in Camelot; he invoked the snakes only once during the Tournament, during a duel with Knight Ewain. Valiant later invoked the snakes in his private quarters in order to feed them, and was seen by Merlin, who later returned and decapitated one of the snakes. Merlin delivered the snake's head to Gaius, who used it to create an antidote for Ewain, but the defeated knight was later killed by a subsequent snake attack before he could testify before the King.

The Shield was later rendered ordinary when, during the final duel between Valiant and Arthur Pendragon, the snakes were invoked by Merlin and slayed by Arthur, who then killed Valiant to win the Tournament (Valiant).

What happened to the shield after that event is unknown, it is likely that it was destroyed.

Trivia

 * It is revealed in the novelisation of Valiant that the Serpent Shield is created with snakes from the Forests of Balor.