Early works and origins The Fisher King first appears in
Chrétien de Troyes's
Perceval, the Story of the Grail in the late 12th century, but the character's roots may lie in
Welsh mythology. He may be derived from the figure of
Brân the Blessed in the
Mabinogion. In the
Second Branch, Bran has a
cauldron that can resurrect the dead, albeit imperfectly: the revived dead can no longer speak. He gives this cauldron to the king of Ireland as a wedding gift for him and Bran's sister
Branwen. Later, Bran wages war on the Irish and is wounded in the foot or leg, and the cauldron is destroyed. He asks his followers to sever his head and take it back to Britain, and his head continues talking and keeps them company on their trip. The group lands on the island of
Gwales, where they spend 80 years in a castle of joy and abundance, but eventually they leave and bury Bran's head in London. This story has analogues in two other important
Welsh texts: the
Mabinogion tale "
Culhwch and Olwen", in which
King Arthur's men must travel to Ireland to retrieve a magical cauldron, and the poem
The Spoils of Annwn, which speaks of a similar mystical cauldron sought by Arthur in the otherworldly land of
Annwn. 's
Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race (1910) "Peredur had been shown these things to incite him to avenge the wrong, and to prove his fitness for the task." The
Welsh Romance Peredur son of Efrawg is based on Chrétien or derived from a common original, but it contains several prominent deviations and lacks a Grail. The character of the Fisher King appears (though he is not called such) and presents
Peredur with a severed head on a platter. Peredur later learns that he was related to that king, and that the severed head was that of his cousin, whose death he must avenge by defeating the
Nine Witches.
Later medieval works The Fisher King is a character in Chrétien's
Perceval (1180) which is the first of a series of stories and texts on the subject of
Perceval and the Grail.
Parzival was written in 1210 by
Wolfram von Eschenbach, thirty years after
Perceval. Although a different work, it is strikingly similar to
Perceval. The story revolves around the Grail Quest and once again the main character is Percival or Parzival. As in
Perceval, Eschenbach's story does not have Parzival ask the healing question initially, which results in him Questing for years. However, Eschenbach's
Parzival differs from Chrétien's
Perceval in three major ways. Firstly, the Fisher King is no longer nameless and is called
Anfortas. Secondly, Eschenbach thoroughly describes the nature of the wound; it is a punishment for wooing a woman who is not meant for him (every Grail keeper is to marry the woman the Grail determines for him), and it causes him immense pain. Lastly, Parzival comes back to cure the Fisher King.
Parzival, unlike its predecessor
Perceval, has a definitive ending.
Further medieval development The Fisher King's next development occurred around the end of the 12th century in
Robert de Boron's , the first work to connect the Grail with
Jesus. Here, the "Rich Fisher" is called
Bron, a name similar enough to Bran to suggest a relationship, and said to be the brother-in-law of
Joseph of Arimathea, who had used the Grail to catch
Christ's blood before laying him in the
sepulchre. Joseph founds a religious community that travels eventually to Britain and entrusts the Grail to Bron (who is called the "Rich Fisher" because he catches a fish eaten at the Grail table). Bron founds the line of Grail keepers that eventually includes Perceval. The
Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate) prose cycle includes a more elaborate history of the Fisher King. Many in his line are wounded for their failings, and the only two that survived to Arthur's day are the Wounded King, named
Pellehan (
Pellam of Listeneise in Malory), and the Fisher King,
Pelles. Pelles engineers the birth of
Galahad by tricking
Lancelot into bed with his daughter
Elaine, and it is prophesied that Galahad will achieve the Grail and heal the
Wasteland and the Maimed King. Galahad is conceived when Elaine gets Dame Brisen to use magic to trick Lancelot into thinking that he is coming to visit
Guinevere. So Lancelot sleeps with Elaine, thinking her Guinevere, but flees when he realizes what he has done. Galahad is raised by his aunt in a convent, and when he is eighteen, comes to King Arthur's court and begins the Grail Quest. Only he, Percival, and Bors are virtuous enough to achieve the Grail and restore Pelles. stabs Pellam in the "
Dolorous Stroke" in
Lancelot Speed's illustration for
James Knowles's
The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights (1912) "The castle rocked and rove throughout, and all the walls fell crashed and breaking to the earth." In the
Post-Vulgate cycle and
Thomas Malory's ''
Le Morte d'Arthur'', the Fisher King's wound was given to him by
Sir Balin in the "
Dolorous Stroke", when Balin grabs a spear and stabs Pellam in self-defense. However, the spear is the
Spear of Longinus, the lance that pierced Christ's side, and Pellam and his land must suffer for its misuse until the coming of Galahad. The Dolorous Stroke is typically represented as divine vengeance for a sin on the part of its recipient. The nature of Pellam's sin is not stated explicitly, though he at least tolerates his murderous brother Garlon, who slays knights while under cover of invisibility, apparently at random. King Pelles is the Maimed King, one of a line of Grail keepers established by
Joseph of Arimathea, and the father of Eliazer and Elaine (the mother of
Galahad). He resides in the castle of
Corbinec in
Listenois. Pelles and his relative Pellehan appear in both the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate cycles and in later works, such as Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' (in which Pellehan is called Pellam). In the Vulgate, Pelles is the son of Pellehan, but the Post-Vulgate is less clear about their relationship. It is even murkier in Malory's work: one passage explicitly identifies them (book XIII, chapter 5), though this is contradicted elsewhere. In all, there are four characters (some of whom can probably be identified with each other) who fill the role of Fisher King or Wounded King in Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur''. • King Pellam, wounded by Balin (as in the Post-Vulgate). In the Vulgate's clearer Grail lineage, Pelles is the son of Pellehan and is wounded in a separate accident, while in the Post-Vulgate Pelles and Pellehan are brothers. The further step of mistaking them as the same character is understandable; Malory confuses the brothers
Ywain and
Ywain the Bastard, whom he eventually regards as the same character, after treating them as separate. • King Pelles, grandfather of Galahad, described as "the maimed king". In one passage, he is explicitly identified with Pellam; in another, he is said to have suffered his wound under different circumstances. • King
Pescheour (or
Petchere), lord of the Grail Castle, who never appears (at least, not under that name). He owes his existence to a mistake by Malory, who took the
Old French roy Peschour ("Fisher King", a phrase that Malory never otherwise uses) for a name rather than an epithet. Nevertheless, Malory treats him as distinct from Pelles. • An anonymous, bedridden Maimed King, healed by Galahad at the climax of the Grail Quest. He is distinct from Pelles, who has just been sent out of the room, and who is, anyway, at least mobile. In addition, there is King
Pellinore, who is Percival's father. (In other versions of the legend, Percival is related to the Pelles family). It appears that Malory intended to have one Maimed King who was wounded by Balin and suffered until healed by his grandson Galahad, but he never successfully reconciled his sources. ==Themes==