qualities, save for his beauty, his chivalry [knightly values], and his quick tongue." In Jean Froissart's Méliador, Agravain courts and marries Florée, a cousin of Princess Hermondine of Scotland, after winning her tournament at Camelot. In Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Arthur marries him to Laurel, a niece of Lynette and Lyonesse. Narratives A major motif regarding Agravain's character in the prose romances is his one-sided conflict with his younger brother, Gaheris, in addition to his rivalry with Gawain. According to the Vulgate Merlin, Gawain and his two full brothers came to court together as squires and were knighted together. When Agravain brags to his brothers that he would make love to an unwilling damsel if he wanted, Gaheris responds with mockery, and Agravain attacks him, only to be knocked down by Gawain who admonishes Agravain for his proud ways and bullying nature. In the later version in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, Gaheris is ordered by Merlin to seek out and free Gawain from captivity. Feeling that Merlin always unfairly favoured Gaheris, Agravain is very jealous and declares that he could rescue Gawain just as good or better than he, yet it is Gawain who achieves the quest. A prophecy says that Gaheris must be knighted first and then he should knight his brothers, however Agravain still insists that he must be knighted only by King Arthur himself, relying on his age. He then follows secretly his younger brother, who set out on a quest, determined to prove that he is a better knight than Gaheris and to once and for all settle this issue by cutting his brother's head off. Yet Gaheris defeats the incognito Agravain twice (including still beating up his attacker in an ambush while unprepared and weary from an earlier fight), failing to learn his mysterious opponent's true identity in the process but nevertheless making Agravain stop trying to kill him by making clear he is in fact vastly superior to him. Years later, upon learning that Gaheris has murdered their mother Morgause, Gawain swears to avenge her. Agravain, for though he had loved his mother, hated Gaheris more and so was glad to see that his brother had done such a deed for which he hoped to see Gaheris put to death. But when Agravain and his half-brother Mordred are at the point of beheading Gaheris, Gawain stops them as he believes that they should not