Hellawes the sorceress is a character in

Thomas Malory Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, compiled and in most cases translated from French sources. The most popular version of ''Le Morte d'A ...

's 15th-century

Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

compilation ''

Le Morte d'Arthur ' (originally written as '; Anglo-Norman French for "The Death of Arthur") is a 15th-century Middle English prose reworking by Sir Thomas Malory of tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Merlin and the Knights of the ...

''. She is lady of the Castle Nygurmous ("of

necromancy Necromancy () is the practice of Magic (paranormal), magic involving communication with the Death, dead by Evocation, summoning their spirits as Ghost, apparitions or Vision (spirituality), visions for the purpose of divination; imparting the ...

"), associated with the chapel perilous episode in one of the quests of

Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), alternatively written as Launcelot and other variants, is a popular character in the Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend's chivalric romance tradition. He is typically depicted as King Arthu ...

In ''Le Morte d'Arthur''

Hellawes is a treacherous enchantress whom Sir

encounters in his pursuit of a holy sword and special cloth to heal his wounded

liegeman A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

, Sir Meliot of

Logres Logres (among various other forms and spellings) is King Arthur's realm in the Matter of Britain. The geographical area referred to by the name is south and eastern England. However, Arthurian writers such as Chrétien de Troyes and Wolfram von ...

. Hellawes is the widow of Sir Gilbert the Bastard, recently slain by Meliot, and she had magically cursed Meliot so his wounds from the fight would not heal. In the story, she manages to lure the questing knight into her fearsome chapel perilous but Lancelot—who has been the object of her obsessive and

unrequited love Unrequited love or one-sided love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such by the beloved. The beloved may not be aware of the admirer's deep affection, or may consciously reject it knowing that the admirer admires them. Me ...

for seven years—successfully escapes with the items he needed to heal Meliot: A similarly named but different character, also appearing in Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', is Lady

Annowre Annowre (Anouwre) is an evil enchantress who desires King Arthur in Thomas Malory's '' Le Morte d' Arthur''. Malory based her on a nameless character from the earlier Prose ''Tristan'', who was named as Elergia in the Italian '' La Tavola Ritonda. ...

of Perilous Forest. Annowre is an evil sorceress who plotted to kill Arthur out of her love of him after being scorned.

Malory's sources

The motif for her enchanted chapel (complete with the name, ''Chapelle Perilleus''e) originates in ''

Perlesvaus ''Perlesvaus'', also called ''Li Hauz Livres du Graal'' (''The High Book of the Grail''), is an Old French Arthurian romance from the 13th century. It purports to be a continuation of romance (heroic literature)">romance from the 13th century. ...

.'' The character of Hellawes appears to be connected to that of Lady Helaes of Perilous Forest (''Helaes de la Forest Perilleuse''), also known as Helaes the Beautiful,

Gawain Gawain ( ), also known in many other forms and spellings, is a character in Matter of Britain, Arthurian legend, in which he is King Arthur's nephew and one of the premier Knights of the Round Table. The prototype of Gawain is mentioned und ...

's one-night lover from the

Lancelot-Grail The ''Lancelot-Grail Cycle'', also known as the Vulgate Cycle or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is an early 13th-century French Arthurian legend, Arthurian literary cycle consisting of interconnected prose episodes of chivalric romance originally writte ...

(Vulgate Cycle), whose name seems to be also an echo of

Héloïse Héloïse; c. 1100–01? – 16 May 1163–64?), variously Héloïse d'ArgenteuilCharrier, Charlotte. Heloise Dans L'histoire Et Dans la Legende. Librairie Ancienne Honore Champion Quai Malaquais, VI, Paris, 1933 or Héloïse du Paraclet, was a ...

In popular culture

* Hellawes and her chapel appear in the adventure video game ''

'' in a recreation of the scene from ''Le Morte d'Arthur''. * A location named after Hellawes and her chapel appear in the role-playing video game ''

Tales of Berseria is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Windows. It is the twenty-fifth main entry in the ''Tales'' series and a prequel of '' Tales of Zestiria''. It was ...

''. * She is mentioned as Annowre of the Perilous Forest in '' The Idylls of the Queen: A Tale of Queen Guenevere'' by

Phyllis Ann Karr Phyllis Ann Karr (born July 25, 1944) is an American author of fantasy, romances, mysteries, and non-fiction. She is best known for her "Frostflower and Thorn" series and Arthurian works. Life and family Karr was born Phyllis Ann Karmilowicz ...

. * She appears in the card video game ''Age of Ishtaria''. * The story of Hellawes is invoked in the Dutch novel ''Jonkvrouw'' (published in Australia as "A sword in her hand" and in US/Canada as "With a Sword in my Hand") by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem and Pat van Beirs.

References

{{Arthurian Legend Fictional characters introduced in the 15th century Arthurian characters Female literary villains Fictional characters who use magic Fiction about necrophilia