The new trailer for A24's The Green Knight, which is set for release later this summer, took the internet by storm. In the clip, Sir Gawain, played by Dev Patel, plays a beheading game that was commonly found in stories from the Medieval Romantic period of English literature. Some fans may be looking for more information on who exactly Sir Gawain is and the beheading game he was seen playing, so let's break down the most important details about this trope ahead of The Green Knight's release.

Who Is Sir Gawain?

To be clear, Sir Gawain is not the titular Green Knight. He is a knight of King Arthur's court and one of the famous Knights of the Round Table. He is also known to be a formidable warrior who is loyal to his king and helps the poor and needy. Sir Gawain's humanity is a key factor in the stories he is featured in, as he is portrayed not just as a great knight but also as a human man with complexities. His choice to always try and do the right thing is a major part of what makes him so exemplary, precisely because it does not always come easy.

Sir Gawain's most famous story is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which the A24 film is based on. It's a late 14th-century Middle English chivalric romance written by an unknown author that went without a title on the original manuscript and is one of the purest examples of a chivalric romance, which feature stories of a hero on a quest to prove their valor.

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a mysterious visitor in King Arthur's court challenges the king to strike him with a blow under the pretense that he will accept one in return after a year and one day. Sir Gawain accepts on Arthur's behalf and beheads the Green Knight, who gets up and reminds Gawain he has to go to his court to receive his blow. The rest of the story is about Sir Gawain's journey to the Green Knight's castle and the many tests he faces on his journey to receiving his return strike.

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The Green Knight and the Beheading Game

The Green Knight's challenge to Gawain is the most famous and clearest example of the trope called the Beheading Game, which was common in Medieval Romances. This motif can be broken down into six basic story beats, which are all found in the original text and will likely be seen in the upcoming film adaptation.

The first beat is the arrival of an outsider that proposes a challenge to the host, and typically, this individual has distinctively inhuman physical attributes. The second beat is for the challenge to be accepted by the hero of the story, while the third has the hero best the outsider by delivering the blow they've been challenged to hit, which usually results in a beheading. But the story doesn't end there because the strike doesn't kill the outsider.

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The fourth beat compels the hero to travel to the home court of the outsider and become the outsider themselves. While the hero is at the court, they are challenged, which ends up being the fifth beat. At this point, they may or may not fully understand that their experiences in the strange court are tests specifically to prove their heroism. Finally, the last beat is when the hero accepts their return blow before returning to their home court.

The Beheading Game hasn't been seen in popular media in quite some time, but if The Green Knight successfully follows in the footsteps of the story it's based on, medieval tales could once again become a mainstay of the big screen.

Written and directed by David Lowery, The Green Knight stars Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Barry Keoghan and Ralph Ineson. The film arrives in theaters May 29.

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