
Tristan from the movie.
The mysterious and deadly Tristan is a lone wolf, a scout with just his hawk for company. He doesn’t
believe in any god. Killing is an art to Tristan, and he’s likely to leave the battlefield strewn with the blood of
those he has mortally wounded and left to die a lingering, painful death. Some of the other knights find him a bit disturbing.
Despite the fact that he cares about the other knights, for Tristan, the fight always comes first.
Tristan from legend.
Tristan, or Tristram in Old English, was a contemporary of King Arthur and a Knight of the Round Table. He was the nephew
and champion of King Mark of Cornwall and the son of Meliodas, King of Lyoness. Tristan's mother died when he was born, and
as a young man he took service with his uncle, Mark.
Tristan became the champion of his uncle after defeating and killing Marhaus of Ireland in a duel. That defeat led
to a truce with King Anguish of Ireland and he arranged for his daughter, Iseult to be married to King Mark. It was Tristan
who was sent to Ireland to fetch the would be Queen. While in the process of bringing her back to Cornwall, Tristan and Iseult
fell helplessly in love with one another. Therefore, they fled from Mark and lived the rest of their days on the run.
Legend
has it that while Tristan was playing his harp for Iseult, Mark snuck in behind him and killed him with a dagger or a lance
in the back.
The Fowey Stone in Cornwall is thought to bear an inscription about a Tristan, son of Cunomorus, to whom
the tale may have been transferred. According to the Italian version of the story, Tristan and Iseult had two children, bearing
their names, while the French view gives them one son, Ysaie, and a grandson, Marc.
The name Tristan may be Pictish
in origin. It is interesting to note that the Pictish King Talorc III was succeeded by Drust V; were these the Protagonists
of the original Tristan story? No one may ever know.
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