of the early 13th century is the first known work to feature Gaheris as a major character. In the prose Lancelot, Gaheris is described as valiant, agile, and handsome (even as "his right arm was longer than the left"), but reticent in speech and prone to excess when angered. As such, he "was the least well-spoken of all his peers." Nevertheless, it tells how the nobles of the kingdom of Orkney (Orcanie), which his father King Lot had ruled when he was alive, attempt to have the kingdom given to Gaheris, whom they thought better fitted to be their king than any of his brothers (Gaheris, however, refuses to be crowned until at least after the end of the quest of the Holy Grail). The prose Merlin, too, describes him as the best warrior among Gawain's brothers and at least equal to Gawain himself. The teenage Gaheris, together with Gawain and Agravain, defects from Lot and aids Arthur in the early wars against the rebels kings as well as the Saxons (substituted by the Saracens in some English versions such as Arthour and Merlin), especially distinguishing himself in fighting against the latter. Following their early battlefield feats, all three of them are knighted at once by Arthur in the Vulgate Cycle, however Gaheris is the first of the Orkney clan to be knighted in the later rewrite known as the Post-Vulgate Cycle. In the Post-Vulgate Merlin, when Gaheris is given flowers sent by the Queen of the Fairy Isle, it is prophesied that he would surpass in goodness and valor all the Knights of the Round Table save for two (presumably Galahad and Lancelot) were it not for the death of his mother, which Gaheris is destined to cause through his sin. The young knight then sets out in the quest to save Gawain and Morholt, during which he is twice attacked by his envious brother Agravain but soundly defeats him on each occasion. He eventually rescues both Gawain and Morholt, later accompanying the latter to Ireland. Through the prose cycles, Gaheris then fights in Arthur's further wars against various enemies. He also often participates in his elder brother Gawain's chivalric adventures, in addition to these of his own such as his rescue of King Bagdemagus. Some of these episodes are retold in Thomas Malory's compilation Le Morte d'Arthur, where Gaheris (also written as Gaherys or Gaheryes) is at first