Of Rats and Knights
Or... Where did you get those NAMES?
SIR BEDIVERE
"King Arthur's companion from the earliest traditions. His name is probably best known from the stories of the end of Arthur's life, when Arthur bade him throw Excalibur in the lake. Bedivere could not bring himself to fling the fabled sword into the water, and twice told the King he had done so when he had not. When the King asked him what he had seen, he replied, "Only the water lapping at the banks." Arthur knew from this that he was lying. A third time the King bade him throw the sword into the lake. This time Bedivere complied, and he saw a hand rise from the water and catch the sword. He survived the battle of Camlann, along with his brother."
Source: Lancelot's Castle
(If you are a fan of Monty Python, you might also recognize the name of Sir Bedivere from the movie "The Holy Grail". Bedivere was the Knight who was conducting the witch trial, using the large scales and a duck.)
SIR LAVAINE
So I had a Bedivere, and now needed a name for his brother. Starting from the quote above, I began looking for the name of Bedivere's brother, but couldn't find it. I did, however, find a reference that says there were only TWO survivors at Camlann, Bedivere and Sir Lavaine.:
"So all day long the noise of battle roll'd,
Yet Sir Lavaine in stupor lay upon
The field until the sun went down, and shone
The moon at full upon his armor clasps
And glinted on the chasing of his sword.
As one who journeying in lands remote
Returning takes by slow degrees the old
Life up, so Sir Lavaine return'd from death
Or what had seem'd like death, not all at once
But dimly had a knowledge of his state
And what had past, and then, because too weak
To think, he fell in sleep again and wak'd
Not till the sun brake from the underworld,
And near him, having watch'd the barge that bore
King Arthur out of sight, there slowly drew
The bold Sir Bedivere. These two last left
Alive upon the field."
--"The Water Carriers" by Oscar Fay Adams
Lavaine was a follower of Lancelot, and received his grievous wound defending Arthur. After, Bedivere helps Lavaine from the field.
SIR PELLINORE
Pellinore appears in many different versions of the Arthurian legend. In most references he was King Pellinore (or "King of the Isle"). He is sometimes said to be the father of Percival and Elaine. In Mallory's "Morte De Arthur", King Pellinore spends much of his life pursuing the mythical Questing Beast.
A Gathering of Knights
The picture below is the first introduction of Sir Pellinore (in the upper right, looking a little ragged because he just got dabbed with vanilla extract) to the other Knights. On the left are Bedivere (top) and Lavaine, on the bottom right is the FAMOUS Sir Gareth.
(The purpose of the vanilla extract, by the way, it to help make introductions easier by giving everyone the same scent. Not a necessary step when introducing Human Knights, but very useful for Rats!)