Character Information

[onthesunnyside]

History

• Gawain is the son of King Lot of Orkney and Lady Morgause. As Morgause is Arthur's half-sister, that makes him the king's nephew, a fact which he rarely bothers to bring up. It's public knowledge, however, and the entire court knows of it.
  
• He has four brothers of varying levels of shared blood - Sir Agravain, Sir Gaheris, Sir Gareth, and though he doesn't know it, Sir Mordred.
  
• He was born in May, in what would be the start of summer in Celtic views of that time.
  
• As a youth, he was brought by Lot to investigate the Sword in the Stone, as Morgause was close to giving birth to Gaheris and his father thought it best to take their other children off of her hands. He found himself acting as an unofficial babysitter for Agravain, generally just enjoying watching, up until his father's angry yelling at a small boy got his attention. Sidling up, he overheard Lot berating Arthur as a liar for having claimed to have drawn the sword, and suggested that he should ask the witness Arthur mentioned. There, he watched as Arthur's innocence was proven and his future king was revealed, however he was not permitted to stay long as Lot promptly left with them in order to prepare for war.
  
• Over the next few years, Lot persisted in opposing Arthur along with several others, but was eventually won over after the king was victorious driving away an invasion of their country. Gawain went with Lot to the king's court, and was finally able to meet the older man properly. He was impressed by how much Arthur had grown into the role of king by then, especially with the development of the Round Table and the loyalty of the knights that served him.
  
• As Gawain grew, he quickly became firm friends with his uncle through their occasional meetings, and eventually won the right to become a knight in his service.
  
• He also formed a firm friendship with Lancelot.
  
• After King Lot's death in battle, Morgause came to Camelot by her own special request, as all four of her children were at this point involved with the Round Table. Despite her position as royal blood, she willingly worked at the castle and helped the knights where possible, winning fans all around. Gawain had no idea of the kind of things she was planning, and her eventual pregnancy with his last brother was something he never knew about.
  
• After a demon named Anwyll threatened the king, demanding marriage, Gawain volunteered without a thought in order to protect him. It was an unhappy time at first, as the demon hid even his face from him, and he was far enough from the others to feel isolated and tied down, but after the demon revealed his own unhappiness they were able to work on their relationship and grew closer.
  
• This didn't come without strife, however. After Anwyll became despondent with how things were going, he revealed that he had no intention of hurting Arthur and sent Gawain back home. However Merlin stepped in to tell him to go back if he didn't want to lose his wife, and Gawain did - just in time to save Anwyll from killing himself. He told him the truth about his feelings, that he wasn't unhappy being married to him, just from feeling confined and isolated, and the two of them agreed to try to work on it.
  
• From then he began alternating, spending periods of time with his wife and the rest at Camelot, and sending letters and tokens of affection back while he was at the latter.
  
• Eventually he got Merlin to assist, and his wife was able to conceal his form and come to Camelot as a result. Though nobody realized they were married, they were able to live more happily like that, especially with the use of enchantments to allow him to take his true form in their room.
  
• During the final battle, he attempted to bring down Mordred, and wound up taking a sword through the face instead. His body was retrieved by his wife, who died cradling it. Because of that, he never knew in life either that it was his own brother who killed him, or of his mother's betrayal.
  

Personality

• Despite his reputation, Gawain is far from perfect. He's noble and chivalrous, but he fears death and he can be riled up quite easily if he's already afraid and ashamed.
  
• Gawain is usually quite a sunshiney person. He's cheerful, friendly, teases his friends (though not to an upsetting level) and is generally hard to get angry. He's quite respectful and polite a lot of the time, and avoids coarse language as if it would bite him.
  
• He's very pleasant to young knights and does his best to help them find their feet and support them however he can.
  
• Nicknamed the "Maidens' Knight", Gawain is a staunch defender of women. He's also a staunch defender of the weak and poor, and glad to assist anyone he can, which means that his nickname embarrasses him a little.
  
• Because of the code of honor he lives by, he cannot outright refuse a request from a lady. This makes situations such as the Green Knight's trickery difficult to deal with, as he simultaneously needs to remain virtuous but also not offend or reject her.
  
• Gawain has a strong dislike of lies, and since the events of the Green Knight, never does if he can help it. His guilt over his lying there was far too great, and the green he's taken to wearing acts as a reminder of it.
  
• He's almost comedic levels of innocent when it comes to sex, rarely having difficulty remaining chaste of his own accord and usually having the most trouble when other people just won't give up.
  
• He can be brash and overconfident at times, though as he's growing up, that streak is starting to fade to more sense.
  
• If it will save Arthur's life or even help him significantly, he's willing to go to any extremes, no matter how much it might make himself suffer. He has a deep adoration for his uncle.
  
• He has a surprisingly progressive view of women, preferring to give them their own choice rather than to make demands of them.
  
• He adores his wife and would do anything to make him happy that wouldn't harm his friends.
  

Lifestyle

• Gawain is a capable falconer.
  

Appearance

• Gawain looks fairly similar to his uncle in some ways, to the point where they've been mistaken for being closer relatives before.
  
• When not in armor, Gawain dresses quite like you'd expect someone of his time period and class. He wears a long-sleeved woolen tunic just shy of reaching his knees. His preferred colors are blue and green, and the wrists of his tunics tend to be decorated with patterns. Underneath them he wears simple, plain dark grey woolen breeches, fixed tightly at the lower legs by cross-gartering¹. He wears linen undershirts when it's particularly cold. He also has a thick fur-lined cloak for warmth when it's cold. His sword is usually slung in its' sheath at his waist, along with a small leather pouch in which he keeps his money and anything small that's essential to carry with him (like keys).
  
• He wears a pretty feather on a leather cord strung around his neck underneath his armor.
  

Combat

• Gawain has an affiliation with the sun; his strength rises as the sun does, peaking at its' highest point, and falls as it sinks.
  
• He's skilled with a lance and the use of one-handed swords.
  

1. When you see trousers from this period in movies, there's often stitching in a criss-crossed pattern at the bottom of them. This is cross-gartering, a method similar to using laces, which when drawn tight fix the cloth tightly to the bottom of the leg.