Dagonet

Dagonet is in the Arthurian legend of the court jester of King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table . He used to be the fool of Uther Pendragon . He is usually portrayed as an incompetent coward who was only knighted in jest, for example in Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur (1485).

Stories from Dagonet

In Morte Darthur it says: Once, Dagonet was sent into battle instead of Sir Mordred because he was injured and unable to wear his armor or shield. So Dagonet was dressed in his armor, equipped with his shield and spear and placed on a war horse. Cocky he said: "Now show me the knight and I will throw him to the ground." The band of knights now went to a small wood and awaited King Brand, against whom he was to compete. So they sent Sir Dagonet to meet him and he shouted as loudly as he could: "Watch out for knights from Cornwall, for I will kill you!" King Marke thought to himself: 'That one there is Sir Lancelot, now I am lost.' He turned his horse and fled while Dagonet screamed after him and rushed through the woods. When the rest of the knights saw Dagonet chasing after King Marke, they laughed woodenly. Then they followed them, because they did not want Dagonet to be harmed, because King Arthur loved him very much, so he knighted him himself. Afterwards the knights went out and shouted and chased King Brand so that the forest echoed with their noise.

In the Idylls of the King: 'Sir' Dagonet appears during the Final Tournament . The fool is the only one at court who can foresee the coming fate of the kingdom. He mocks the dutiful knights who broke their oath and explains that he and Arthur heard the music of God's plan when the others couldn't.

In the 2004 film adaptation of King Arthur: Dagonet ( Ray Stevenson ) is shown here as a brave knight who sacrifices himself for his comrades by breaking in an army of Saxony on a frozen lake. He dies in the process, but saves the lives of the other knights.

Thomas Malory: Le Morte Darthur. Wordworth ed Ltd., 1996, ISBN 1-85326-463-6 . (Book X Chapter XII).
Alfred Lord Tennyson: Idylls of the King. Penguin Classics, 1989, ISBN 0-14-042253-6 .