Gawain

Chretien de Troyes has Yvain and Gawain fighting anonymously for hours without stopping until night forces them to draw back.

As Gawain rides along the bank of a creek, he hears this sickening sound ringing from above.

Gawain is less a personality than a piece of granite, a man “whose glory waxed / as times darkened.”

But Sir Gawain went his way back to court and dismounted within the hall.