Grailquest - Characters

Characters

• Pip: The hero of the series. Pip was brought up on a farm as the adopted child of Freeman John and his wife Miriam. One day, soldiers from King Arthur's court arrived to escort Pip to Merlin's log castle, where Merlin assigned the young adventurer the mission of rescuing Queen Guinevere from the evil Wizard Ansalom. Pip fights (and sometimes argues) with a magical sword, Excalibur Junior, and often wears a sturdy dragonhide jacket when adventuring. It should be noted that Pip is never assigned a gender pronoun by anyone in the books and as such could be a female hero, though the assumption is usually taken that Pip is a young boy.
• Merlin: The (supposedly) wise old wizard. He introduces each adventure and is usually the one who gives Pip his mission, providing Pip with items and some magic. Merlin tends to be sarcastic and grumpy, not to mention eccentric. However, even though he treats Pip like a foolish child, he still cares about the young adventurer. In one of the series' running jokes, Merlin acquires a new, bizarre home in every volume.
• Cody: Merlin's young apprentice, introduced in Legion of the Dead, who brings Pip to Avalon via the Net Spell after Merlin disappears and is presumed dead following a fall from a tree.
• Excalibur Junior (E.J.): Pip's magical talking sword. It was created by Merlin, who based its design on King Arthur's sword (hence the "Junior"). E.J. is quite powerful but has the annoying tendency of speaking its mind at inconvenient times, and can even refuse to be pulled from its scabbard (showing an ability similar to its namesake) when in a bad mood. E.J. also suffers from arachnophobia, which is a disadvantage when Pip runs into giant spiders.
• The Poetic Fiend: A vampire poet who is a recurring character through the series. The Fiend believes that he is a great poet, when in actuality his verse tends more towards doggerel (and has been known to make even cockroaches throw up when he gives a recital). He is often helpful to Pip, as long as Pip is diplomatic in his criticism of the Fiend's poetry. In the English-language books, the Fiend is unnamed. In the French translations, however, he is known as Nosferax.
• King Arthur: Ruler of the realm of Avalon. He is rarely encountered by the player in person, but is a prominent and influential figure in the series. He is usually the one who gives missions to Pip by the way of Merlin.
• King Pellinore: King Pellinore of Listinoise appears in the first few books as a running gag, where he is often confused for the Black Knight because of his dark armor. Often it is Pellinore who is assigned the task of taking care of whatever problem is plaguing Camelot, with Pip only coming in later after the poor old king gets himself hopelessly lost.
• The Wizard Ansalom: An evil black-magic-using wizard, who is the main villain in the very first adventure. He returns as a ghost when Pip visits the Ghastly Kingdom of the Dead and Pip discovers that some of his dark influence remains in the last volume.
• The Black Knight: The Black Knight of old legend is the main villain in one of Pip's adventures. He seems to appear in several volumes, but those other appearances are actually King Pellinore (see above).