Sir Dinadan
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Sir Dinadan |
| Occupation: | Knight |
| Relationships: | Friend of Sir Tristan of Lyonesse and Sir Palamedes, son of Brunor le Noir the Good Knight Without Fear, brother to Daniel and Brunor le Noir of the Ill-Made Coat, |
| Fandom: | Arthuriana |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Sir Dinadan is a knight in Arthurian Legend known for his sense of humor, disdain for romance, and pragmatic view of the rules of chivalry. He is usually closely associated with Sir Tristan of Lyonesse.
In Literature
Medieval
Dinadan first appeared in texts centering on Tristan, serving as a romance-proof foil to the messy love lives of Tristan, Tristan's adulterous love Isolde of Ireland, and Palamedes, a knight with unrequited feelings for Isolde.
Diandan is a major character in the Italian text La Tavola Ritonda, the only text in which he is known to have a love interest. Since he is drawn to her chastity and falls in love with her relatively slowly, many still interpret this iteration of Dinadan as being on the asexuality and aromanticism spectrums.
In Le Morte D'Arthur, Dinadan writes the worst song in the world and sends a harper to play it to taunt King Mark, Tristan's uncle, who Tristan is cuckolding. With Sir Mordred, Sir Dagonet, and others, he trolls King Mark by fooling him into thinking that Dagonet is Lancelot. When Dinadan is doing particularly well in a tournament, Galehaut becomes annoyed and sends Lancelot to defeat him. Later, Dinadan makes a joke about how Galehaut is like a wolf because he, like a wolf, won't eat fish. Galehaut finds it funny, but Lancelot is not amused, so Lancelot dresses in drag as a disguise, beats up Dinadan, forces him into a dress, and parades him around the court as a form of humiliation. Dinadan, however, does not actually mind. A colloquial term for this is "the Fish and Drag Incident". Dinadan is ultimately murdered by Sir Agravaine for being friends with Sir Lamorak.
Modern
Dinadan is the titular character in Gerald Morris' The Ballad of Sir Dinadan.
A character named Dinadan appears in The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman. Some members of the fandom have noted that they like Grossman's Dinadan as a character but finds he bears an insufficient resemblance to his legendary namesake, since Grossman's Dinadan has an estranged twin brother named Oriel, chose to become a knight after vast amounts of voluntary practice, enjoys fighting, has no connection to Tristan and little connection to Palamedes, is interested in romantic and sexual relationships, ultimately marries, and dies of natural causes in old age. (The medieval Dinadan has two younger brothers, tends not to like violence for violence's sake, has an incredibly close relationship with Tristan and may be buried with Palamedes, scorns romantic relationships, and is murdered in youth or middle age).
In Other Media
Dinadan is a character in the musical and movie versions of Camelot, where he delivers the well-known line, "He probably walked across the channel!" in reference to Lancelot.
Overly Sarcastic Productions features Dinadan and a retelling of "the Fish and Drag Incident" from Le Morte D'Arthur in their video on the Knights of the Round Table.
In Fandom
Dinadan and his friends are collectively referred to as Cornwall Gang, or as the Greater Cornwall Gang, to differentiate them from Cador and co. In fan works, he is most often depicted in conjunction with Tristan, Palamedes, Brangaine, and/or Isolde of Ireland. Due to his near-total lack of romantic relationships and total lack of sexual relationships in medieval literature, he is frequently interpreted as aroace and is sometimes depicted in fan works as being in a QPR with Palamedes (with one ship name being Paladin [1]) or a queerplatonic third partner to Tristan and Isolde. Others have interpreted him as being in love with Tristan and possibly also Palamedes. In fanfiction, he is not infrequently depicted as having an intense rivalry with Gawain, who he can serve as a contrasting character to.