Iseult

Also known as: Iseult of the Golden Hair / Iseult the Fair / Queen / Queen Iseult / Queen of the Hair of Gold / that other Iseult / the Queen · Family: Ireland · Role: queen · First appears: Chapter 1 · Part 1

At Whitehaven, when Morholt died, Iseult removed the foreign sword splinter from his skull and shut it in a chest. She then used her healing art to restore Tristan from his poisoned wound, though she knew and hated him as Morholt’s killer. When Tristan later returned seeking the woman with the Hair of Gold, Iseult and Perinis found him alive with Brangien, carried him secretly to safety, and Iseult recognized him; she lowered her sword, made peace with him, and accepted King Mark’s marriage offer as part of the peace between Cornwall and Ireland. Tristan formally took her hand for King Mark, and she was brought away with Perinis and Brangien.

On the voyage, Iseult drank the love potion intended for herself and King Mark and gave it to Tristan, after which Brangien revealed that they had “drunk death together.” Iseult confessed her love, and she and Tristan “gave themselves up utterly to love.” Though King Mark married her before his barony, Brangien secretly took Iseult’s place in the marriage bed, and later helped the lovers meet through the spring and orchard. When their love was exposed, King Mark ordered them bound and then condemned; he gave Iseult to Ivan and the lepers, but Tristan and Gorvenal rescued her, and the three fled into the wood of Morois. Iseult remained with Tristan there, refused Ogrin’s call to return to her lawful husband, and chose the protected forest with him, until King Mark found them and spared them before they fled toward Wales.

By the hermitage, Iseult chose to separate from Tristan while maintaining that their love would remain. King Mark agreed to take her back but not Tristan as his liege; Tristan returned Iseult to him, gave her Toothold, and received her green jasper ring. At the Sandy Heath, Iseult asked King Mark to summon Arthur, Gawain, Girflet, Kay, and their knights so she could clear herself by oath. With Tristan disguised as a poor pilgrim, she swore that only King Mark and that pilgrim had held her in their arms, then completed the ordeal with her hands fresh, clean, and cold. Later, Dinas of Lidan honoured her, while Kariado’s suit was disdained; she also sang of Guron, whose love had ended in death.