Carados
Arthurian king and knight appearing in two guises in Le Morte d'Arthur.
Carados is an Arthurian king and knight attested across 9 citations in Le Morte d'Arthur, appearing in two distinct guises: as King Carados, one of the eleven kings who oppose Arthur early in his reign, and as Sir Carados of the Dolorous Tower, a later antagonist. His dual presence reflects the loose naming conventions of Malory's compilation, where the same name can attach to different characters across different books.
King Carados first appears among the lords who attend Arthur's Pentecost feast in Wales, arriving "with five hundred knights" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter VIII). He subsequently joins the rebellion of the eleven kings, swearing "to bring five thousand men of arms on horseback" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter XII). In battle he engages King Bors directly, declaring "I will encounter with King Bors, an ye will rescue me when myster is" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter XV). The combat is closely fought: Carados and his host "rode on a soft pace, till that they came as nigh King Bors as bow-draught; then either battle let their horse run as fast as they might" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter XV). He requires rescue by the King with the Hundred Knights, who saves him "mightily by force of arms, for he was a passing good knight of a king, and but a young man" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book I, Chapter XV).
The later Sir Carados of the Dolorous Tower appears as a more conventional antagonist. He enters a tournament alongside Sir Turquine against Sir Percivale and Sir Lamorak (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXVIII), and elsewhere taunts a challenger: "Thou art but a fool" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VIII, Chapter XXVIII). In the tournament chapters, Carados is knocked down by the King with the Hundred Knights (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book IX, Chapter XXXII), and a tournament is held where "Sir Alisander won the prize at the gree that King Carados made" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X, Chapter XXXVI).
Whether Malory intends these as one figure or two is never clarified. The early Carados is a rebel king of some nobility; the later one is a lesser antagonist. The epithet "of the dolorous tower" attaches only to the later appearances.
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition