Palamedes first appears in the Prose Tristan, an early 13th-century prose expansion of the Tristan and Iseult legend. He is introduced as a knight fighting for Princess Iseult's hand at a tournament in Ireland; he ultimately loses to the protagonist Tristan, to the delight of the princess. Tristan spares him but forbids him to bear arms for a year or to pursue Iseult's love ever again. After Iseult's wedding to King Mark, Palamedes rescues Iseult's servant Brangaine, joins the Round Table and engages in a number of duels with Tristan that are usually postponed or end without a clear winner. They eventually reconcile, but share a love-hate relationship through the rest of the narrative. Palamedes also appears in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, and even gave his name to his own prose romance, the early 13th-century Palamedes that now exists only in fragments, detailing the adventures of two generations of Arthurian heroes. Some stories reveal Palamedes' background: his father Esclabor was an exiled king ofBabylon who traveled to Britain, where he rescued and befriendedKing Pellinore. Many tales also have Palamedes as the hunter of the Questing Beast, an abomination only the chosen can kill. The hunt is as frustrating and fruitless as the pursuit of Iseult, and in most versions remains uncompleted. However, in the Post-Vulgate Palamedes' conversion to Christianity during the Grail Quest allows him release from his worldly entanglements, and Percival and Galahad help him trap the beast in a lake, where he finally slays it. Malory has Palamedes and his brother Safir joining Lancelot after the great knight's affair with Queen Guinevere is exposed. The brothers eventually accompany Lancelot to France, where Palamedes is made Duke of Provence. He is eventually killed by Gawain.
In The Once and Future King by T. H. White, Palamedes appears in Part Two, The Queen of Air and Darkness, as a questing partner of King Pellinore. Sir Palomides attempts to aid Pellinore in his pursuit of the Questing Beast and then assumes the quest himself. Like White's Pellinore, Sir Palomides is a broad comic character. His death at the hands of Gawain receives mention in Part Four, The Candle in the Wind.
