King Pellam of Listeneise is the name that Malory gives to the Maimed King in his rendition of the tale of Sir Balin, at whose hands Pellam suffers the Dolorous Stroke. In the Vulgate and Post-Vulgate Cycles, Malory's source for these episodes, the character is called Pellehan. Sir Thomas Malory (c. ... Sir Balin le Savage, also known as the Knight with Two Swords, is a character in Arthurian legend. ... The Dolorous Stroke is a trope in Arthurian legend and some other stories of Celtic origin. ... The Lancelot-Grail, also known as the prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend. ... The Post-Vulgate Cycle is one of the major Old French prose cycles of Arthurian literature. ...

The Dolorous Stroke is typically represented as divine vengeance for a sin on the part 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. Pellam also holds feasts to which "no knight may come there but if he bring his wife with him, or his paramour": this seems at odds with the adulation of chastity commonly associated with the Holy Grail. Pellam is eventually healed when Galahad, Bors, and Percival achieve the Grail. Grail redirects here. ... A potrait of Sir Galahad by George Frederick Watts. ... In Arthurian Legend, Sir Bors was a Knight of the Round Table. ... Percival or Perceval is one of King Arthurs legendary Knights of the Round Table. ...

At one point, Malory unambiguously identifies Pellam with Pelles, another Maimed King and the grandfather of Galahad (Le Morte d'Arthur, book 18, chapter 5). This may be the result of Malory's confusion of two different sources; he used the Post-Vulgate Cycle for the story of Balin, and the earlier Vulgate Cycle for his account of the Quest for the Holy Grail. In the Vulgate's (somewhat) 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 would be understandable; he makes a similar confusion between the brothers Ywain and Ywain the Bastard, whom he eventually regards as the same character, though he had initially treated as separate. A potrait of Sir Galahad by George Frederick Watts. ... Le Morte dArthur (The Death of Arthur)—the title is actually spelled as Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions—is Sir Thomas Malorys compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances. ... Ywain rescues the lion Sir Ywain (also called Owain, Yvain, Ewain or Uwain) is a Knight of the Round Table and the son of King Urien in Arthurian legend. ... In Arthurian legend, Ywain the Bastard, also called Ywain the Adventurous, is a son of King Urien of Gore and a knight of the Round Table. ...