I have been recently obsessed with Chivalric Knights literature. Here comes a list of every single knight I learned of, and a general idea of who they are. I have organized them by alignment.
We begin with the Christians.
–Emperor Charlemagne: The big guy himself. Usually despicted as a wise leader, he stays in the background until he takes on protagonist role after Orlando dies. He wields the sword Joyouse, made after Durandal, when tested against the rock, none broke.
THE TWELVE PALADINS OF CHARLEMAGNE
(I number them, and you might count more than twelve – we can assume a couple are replacements).
- Orlando de Anglante: Also known as Roland, the greatest of knights there is. His skin is impenetrable except for the soles of his feet. He wields the legendary sword Durandal, as well as Almonte’s helmet, and he rides the steed Vegliantiff, and is equipped with the Olifant horn. All taken from Almonte whom he defeated when young. Orlando is brave, and reckless, yet also quite a polite gentleman. In Furioso he goes completely insane out of being rejected by Angelica of Cathay, and only recovers his wits thanks to Astolfo and every other knight ganging up on him, at just the right time to participate in the final battle against Agramante and Gradasso and win. In Song of Roland, his recklessness gets him and Oliver killed as he refuses to call for help against the traitorous saracen attack. His death is still however despicted as heroic. Orlando also is prophetized to win any battle that drags for more than three days, which means if he doesn’t win by force, he does by attrition.
SOME ALLIES OF ORLANDO
–Ada of Viena: Orlando’s betrothed, and Oliver’s sister.
–Principe Zerbino of Scotland: A friend of Orlando. He dies fighting a hopeless duel against Mandricardo when the latter steals Orlando’s discarded weapons.
–Isabela: Zerbino’s beloved. After Zerbino dies, she attempts to become a nun, but ends up having to trick Rodomonte into killing her to avoid being raped by him. Rodomonte is so impressed by her loyalty to Zerbino he makes a temple to her.
–Sansonetto: A saracen turned christian who is the guardian of holy relics. Everyone likes this guy. He joins Astolfo travelling group for a while though he does not do much. - Olivero of Viena: Orlando’s friend and rival, an older, cautious yet brave knight who wields the white sword Hautecler. In older tales describing their stories, both met when dueling at a time Olivier was rebelling against Charlemagne, yet discover they work better together. Olivier does teach Orlando a lesson or two about being too reckless – a lesson he sadly does not remember at Roncesvalles, where both die. Speaking of Roncesvalles, there was a scene there I found most interesting. In the middle of the saracen ambush, Olivier and Orlando (you will have to excuse me using different variations of their names) get into a heated argument, with the first blaming the later of every death presently happening due to his refusal to blow up the horn calling for help from Carlomagno. Olivier says when the fight is over, if they are to survive, he will forbid Orlando from marrying his sister. They keep fighting anyways, and by the end, bloodied and almost blind, Olivier hits Orlando in the head, breaking his helmet. Orlando softly asks if he meant that blow, and Olivier tells him he only knows recognizes his voice – being dying, he just sits and prays until his life vanishes. The ambiguity of that hit amazed me: was it really not meant? Or the fact that he prayed to his last moments proves he, much like Ganelon, felt deep within a rage he could not turn his back to? In either case, they both make peace in the end.
SOME ALLIES OF OLIVERO
–Aquilante the White: His older son, also wise and serious.
–Griffon the Black: His younger son. Once he massacred almost an entire city because they humiliated him thinking he had ran away from a duel (its a long story).
Brandimarte is also apparently his brother, but being another paladin, he’ll get his own space. - Rinaldo of Montalban: I call this guy the Vegeta to Orlando’s Goku, but being honest, I think Rinaldo is a way more reliable knight, and it is Rinaldo who does then most work in winning the wars for Carlomagno in the Furioso despite also being affected with a maddening love for Angelica. Rinaldo comes from a known family, and rides the steed Bayardo, who is renown as the Best Steed ever (fast, and smart enough to understand human speech), and the lighting sword Frusberta, as well as Mambrino’s Golden Helmet which makes him immortal. He has a whole literature about rebelling against Carlomagno with his siblings, which I have yet to read.
SOME ALLIES OF RINALDO
–Bradamante: A lady knight. She falls in love with the saracen Ruggiero and most of Furioso is her saving his ass countless times until he develops into a badass on his own. She is rather passionate beneath her serious exterior – when she thinks he is cheating on her with Marfisa, her mind quickly resorts to murder-suicide, though in the end she loves him too much to go with it. She is also not at all ashamed, unlike him, to wield magical weaponry: she dons Angelica’s magical ring, Atlante’s beam-shooting shield, and ultimately is the final owner of the incredibly fast horse Rabican and of Argalia’s spear, with which she defeats Rodomonte at his Bridge Challenge.
–Ricardetto: Bradamante’s twin brother. He once dressed as her to bang Flordespina, who was madly in love with Bradamante. As a knight, he is clearly not as good as his sister, but you go.
–Alard: Younger brother.
–Guiton Salvaje: A lost, young half brother of the Montalbans, who acted as a masked knight in service of the amazons (they issued a challenge to him, he had to defeat ten men and satisfy ten women). Marfisa faces him in duel during Furioso, and the sexual tension between both could be cut with a knife. I like to imagine they ended up as lovers. - Naimon of Norway: A saracen turned christian and a wise advisor to Carlomagno. He has four children, all of whom become knights and are often named together.
- Uggiero the Dane: A rough guy, he has a whole song about a time he got so offended with Carlomagno he declared war to him (this keeps happening, apparently), but his case is even more impressive as he went on to elope with Morgan LeFay of all people. Ultimately Carlomagno said sorry and asked for his help against the moors and Uggiero agreed. In Song of Roland he helps the emperor against the enemy emperor Balugante, throwing Balugante off his steed and allowing them to fight on foot with swords, as well as destroying Balugante’s banner. He wields the sword Cortan (cut off), a sword made alongside Durandal and Joyouse, which when tested against a rock, unlike Durandal, broke. But its still a hell of a weapon, clearly.
SOME ALLIES OF UGGIERO
–Dudon: His son. Friend of Astolfo. Wields a club, not a sword. Ruggiero fights him and Dudon comes to quickly realize the knight is not even trying: to which he gives up the fight cordially. - Ganelon of Maganza: One of the greatest traitors of history, who comes from the Maganza Clan, the “Malfoys” of this setting. He is Orlando’s stepfather and described as a seemingly genial, handsome man, who nonetheless grows envious of Orlando and resentful of being seen as disposable by the emperor… The result, of course, is the ambush at Roncesvalles, and the deaths of Orlando, Olivero, and Turpin. For his trouble, Ganelon is put to combat trial: Pinabel is to defend him, but loses, so Ganelon is torn appart by horses. His sword is Murglais, the Death Brand, which can cut anything. I quite like this character – even when he allies with the enemies, he is definitely a christian in his heart, and only uses them to get back to Orlando. He is warped, but always smiling, he is, I’ll say it, an interesting fox of a villain.
SOME ALLIES OF GANELON
–Pinabel: In Furioso, Pinabel is a coward who tricks Bradamante and throws her off a well and tricks other knights to fight for him, before she finds him and guts him like a fish. In Song of Roland he is alive, and his characterization is quite different, being a powerful knight who stands for Ganelon in his trial, daring anyone who finds him guilty to face his sword. Only the young knight Thierry dares to face him, and miraculously wins. Headcannon is that Malgueis brought him back to life stronger after Bradamante was done with him.
–Anselmo: Pinabel’s father. In Furioso, he wins the initial jousting tournament – or rather, Carlomagno gives the price to him after the entire Maganza clan goes to brawls with Astolfo once he tries to cheat against the young knight, and he gets almost killed by him. - Malgueis: A necromancer, friend of Rinaldo. He owns a cursed book which allows him to summon demons to do his bidding – he is a christian despite this, though I suppose in a way it makes sense. In Innamorato he is the first to figure out Angelica’s game and tries to kill her – only for Argalia to resist his magic and make him prisoner. Angelica then uses him to try to capture Rinaldo, and he spends most of those books stopping Rinaldo from actually getting into a proper duel with Gradasso, much to his shame. I’ve read Bayardo and Frusberta originally belonged to him. A dark character.
- Astolfo from England: This guy is a lovable dumbass. He is the first to lose to Argalia, then he picks up his magical spear, and keeps winning joust after joust without ever realizing its thanks to the spear (a reverse Dumbo feather?). Either way, he is quite loyal, and he ends up gathering a quite impressive collection of magical objects: Argalia’s Spear, The Horn of Dread, Caligorante’s Net (the one used to tie up Aphrodite and Hephestus, Logistella’s Magic Guide, the Hypogriff… He keeps the horn, the net and the Hypogriff. Astolfo is also quite loyal and well intentioned and is thanks to him that Orlando recovers his wits – he travels to the MOON for that one. He is also, as I said, a dumbass. There are plenty of hilarious scenes with him, like him offering himself to joust for the Christians and Carlomagno not knowing how to deny it, or him blowing the horn to save his friends from the amazons and then being left confused and alone as they are magically compelled to run away from him, much to their shame, or him and Ganelon throwing shade at each other. He ultimately also becomes the King of Nubia through strange circumstances. Arguably he dies at Roncesvalles as well to Grandonio (ironically as he is the one who defeats Grandonio in jousting at the start of Innamorato).
- Brandimarte of Viena: Olivero’s younger brother and Orlando’s close friend. He and his lover Flordelis spend most of Furioso trying to find the count, then he joins the final battle at Lampedusa, where he is slain by Gradasso, allowing Orlando to go full revenge mode on the enemies and finish the battle killing Agramante and Gradasso in short succession. A tragic character.
SOME ALLIES OF BRANDIMARTE
–Flordelis: His beloved. Dies of grief after he dies. I think both met as slaves, despite being royalty. - Archbishop Turpin: Most of the stories are supposedly told from his point of view. In Song of Roland, he is there with Orlando and Olivero at Roncesvalles, and he fights like a wolf against the attack, dying later while trying to get some water for the dying Orlando. He wields the sacred blessed sword Almace.
- Ferbraut: A brave spanish knight. He was an opponent to Olivero, after he stole some Christian treasures, but in the end they made peace and converted. Wields three giant swords: Baptism, Florencia, and Graban.
- Ottel: Wields the sword Corrouse.
- Huon: Wields the sword Sauvage.
- Geoffrey D’Anjou: He does most of the cleaning up at Roncesvalles. In Innamorato he is mostly assisting Carlomagno.
SOME ALLIES OF GEOFFREY
Thierry: His little brother. Saw the results of Roncesvalles too, which is probably why he is the only one who insists on Ganelon being guilty and judged, which results on the duel I mentioned against Pinabel, the post-climax of the story. Carlomagno himself offers his life as a garantee for Thierry since no one else would vow for him.