Malory's legend involves hundreds of characters whose names and family relationships, though significant, are sometimes confused. There are various reasons for this confusion in the text. Malory wrote in prison, presumably under less than ideal conditions; he used sources which were themselves sometimes obscure or confused; he consistently changed certain names for purposes of his own but occasionally let the name found in the source creep in; he sometimes misunderstood his French sources; he left no perfect copy of his work — we have only Caxton's much edited edition and one scribal manuscript riddled with errors. The accompanying chart of major character relationships may be helpful.
Other important characters include Merlin the magician, a devil's son; the Lady of the Lake, from whom Arthur gets his sword; Nineve, the sorceress who becomes Lady of the Lake after the death of the first one; Balyn and Balan, the cursed brothers whose relics go to Launcelot and Galahad; Tarquin and Bereuse Saunz PitŽ, enemies of knighthood. Palomydes, Tristram's rival for La Beal Isode, is sometimes designated as the son of Asclabor, elsewhere as "next of kin" to Pellanor. His function in the tragedy is clearer than his genealogy: the destructive potential in his adulterous goal comments on the loves of Tristram and Launcelot, and his pact of friendship with Pellanor's sons (who may or may not be his close relatives) links him with the feud which will wreck Arthur's kingdom.
All of the major houses charted are torn by deadly rivalries and undermined by adulterous love. Arthur and King Lot, his brother-in-law, are enemies partly because of the incestuous union of Arthur and Lot's wife Morgawse — the union which produces Mordred — and Arthur and Lot also begin as rivals for the throne of England. Arthur's best knight, Launcelot, is lover to his wife. Similarly, Melyodas and Mark are political rivals, and Mark's best knight, Tristram, is lover to his wife Isode. Pellanor, fighting for Arthur and the unity of his kingdom, kills Lot and sets off the feud between his own house and Lot's, a feud destined to destroy the kingdom. Yet, ironically, the Grail curse is ended when two rival houses — the house which brought Christ's relics over and the house which received the Dolorous Strokes — are adulterously brought together to produce Galahad.
