Like all titles in Malory, including Le Morte d'Arthur itself, the misleading title "Tor and Pellanor" is not by Malory, but by later editors. In this tale, the chivalric code, found wanting in the preceding tale of Balyn, is modified. It is most obviously modified, of course, by the adventures of the three knights. The code must be merciful, as all the tales show; and the code insists that a knight must stop if he possibly can for any person in distress. The code is also modified in more subtle ways. The three adventures take place within the framing tale of Arthur's wedding, an event also significant with respect to the code.
For Arthur's knights, Guinevere represents the stability of rule which comes from the founding of a legitimate line of succession. As judge of the knights' adventures, she also serves as the court spokesman for love. She imposes on Gawain the penance of special devotion to mercy (a check against the law of revenge) and special service to ladies (i.e., the beautiful and defenseless). She approves Sir Tor, whose charity and respect for ladies is flawless. It is she who condemns Sir Pellanor for failing to save a lady's life when he might have-and her "civilized" judgment is sealed by a judgment from, in effect, God.
Finally, the tale contrasts the ideal of legitimate lineage affirmed in Arthur's marriage, public and lawful, with the kind of lineage achieved by Sir Pellanor. Pellanor's bastard son, Sir Tor, raised by a cowherd, must advance without the help his father owes him. Pellanor's daughter dies because her father did not know her. But legitimacy too raises problems. Gawain, legitimate son of Lot, longs for vengeance on Pellanor, his father's slayer. His brother persuades him not to strike yet, but he will, sooner or later. Knowing who one's father is — and who it is that killed him — can make mercy an unattainable ideal.
