George Frederick Watts - Sir Galahad - 1943

A white knight is a mythological figure and literary

stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of s ...

. They are portrayed alongside a

black knight The black knight is a literary stock character who masks his identity and that of his liege by not displaying heraldry. Black knights are usually portrayed as villainous figures who use this anonymity for misdeeds. They are often contrasted with t ...

as diametric opposites. A white knight usually represents a heroic warrior fighting against evil, with the role in medieval literature being represented by a

knight-errant A knight-errant (or knight errant) is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective ''errant'' (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric v ...

Mythology

The idea of a positive and negative color symbol being diametrically opposed is very common in ancient mythology, of which the white and black knights are one example, with others including the

white horse A white horse is born predominantly white and stays white throughout its life. A white horse has mostly pink skin under its hair coat, and may have brown, blue, or hazel eyes. "True white" horses, especially those that carry one of the dominant ...

and

black horse Black is a hair coat color of horses in which the entire hair coat is black. Black is a relatively uncommon coat color, and it is not uncommon to mistake dark chestnuts or bays for black. True black horses have dark brown eyes, black skin, an ...

from Indo-Aryan mythology. The white color symbolized innocence, illumination, openheartedness, and gladness.

Modern use

The term "white knight" is used in modern-day parlance to mean any kind of savior, although it is also specifically used in a business context to describe a person or corporation that saves another company from a

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...

and acquires its assets. "White knight" is also used as derogatory slang, often by

men's rights activists The men's rights movement (MRM) is a branch of the men's movement. The MRM in particular consists of a variety of groups and individuals (men's rights activists or MRAs) who focus on general social issues and specific government services which ...

, to refer to men who are trying to curry the favor of women by protecting them, alongside other, similar terms, such as "

simp ''Simp'' is an internet slang term describing someone who shows excessive sympathy and attention toward another person, typically someone who does not reciprocate the same feelings, in pursuit of affection or a sexual relationship. ''Urban Dic ...

" or "whipped". The usage of the term implies that men, when doing nice things for women, are motivated only by sexual desires. The depiction of a morally pure white person and a nonwhite antagonist has been criticized as a modern use of the white knight trope that perpetuates racist attitudes.

Historical origins

Although the term 'white knight' has taken on a colloquial meaning in modern English, the White Knight was a historical noble title in the peerage of Ireland, first bestowed upon the Fitzgibbon family by King

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

in 1333 AD. The other two Irish hereditary knighthoods are the

Knight of Glin The Knight of Glin (; dormant 14 September 2011), also known as the Black Knight or Knight of the Valley, was a hereditary title held by the FitzGerald and FitzMaurice families of County Limerick, Ireland, since the early 14th century. The fami ...

(also called the Black Knight), and the

Knight of Kerry Knight of Kerry (), also called The Green Knight, is one of three Hiberno-Norman hereditary knighthoods, all of which existed in Ireland since feudal times. The other two were The White Knight (surname fixed as Fitzgibbon), being dormant sinc ...

(also called the Green Knight).

References

{{Reflist Fictional knights Stock characters Slang terms for people Pejorative terms for men

Mythology

Modern use

Historical origins

See also

References