Ironside
Ironside, also known as the Red Knight of the Red Launds, is a knight in the Arthurian tradition attested in Le Morte d'Arthur with six citations across four chapters of Book VII .
Ironside, also known as the Red Knight of the Red Launds, is a knight in the Arthurian tradition attested in Le Morte d'Arthur with six citations across four chapters of Book VII (Chapters XXIII, XXIV, XXVI, XXXV). He identifies himself upon yielding: "my name is the Red Knight of the Red Launds, but my name is Sir Ironside" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXIII). King Arthur addresses him as "a perilous knight" and offers him a place at the Round Table on condition "that thou must be no more a murderer" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXIII).
The six citations trace Ironside's arc from defeated antagonist to loyal vassal. The Chapter XXIII attestations establish his dual identity and reputation: he is both Ironside and the Red Knight of the Red Launds, "called a perilous knight" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXIII). Arthur's conditional acceptance -- knighthood of the Round Table in exchange for abandoning murder -- frames the standard Malorian pattern of absorption, where former enemies are incorporated into the Arthurian order.
Chapter XXIV shows Ironside speaking with knowledge of errant knights: "such young knights as he is one, when they be in their adventures be never abiding in no place" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXIV). By Chapter XXVI he has become a military ally, summoned to muster his forces, and he takes it upon himself to "hold part against my lord Sir Launcelot and the knights of that court" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXVI). The final citation records his full submission: he "brought with him three hundred knights, and there he did homage and fealty, and all these knights to hold their lands of him for ever" (Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII, Chapter XXXV).
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Le Morte d'Arthur, British Tradition