Sir Balan

Sir Balan is Sir Balin’s brother and companion in arms, whose reunion with him briefly restores the promise of brotherly fellowship to a story marked by loss and estrangement. Their shared victories culminate in a fatal battle: unable to recognize one another, the brothers fight until both are dying, then discover who their opponent was. Their last request—to be buried together—turns mistaken identity into the defining tragedy of their relationship.

Identity and Reunion

Sir Balan enters the story as the brother whom Sir Balin encounters after a damsel, grieving the death of Sir Lanceor, has taken her own life. Balin is troubled by the deaths and ashamed that the damsel has died through love for the knight he killed. Turning toward a great forest, he recognizes Balan by his arms. The brothers take off their helmets, kiss, and weep together in joy and pity.

Balan has come into the country because he heard that Balin had been released from imprisonment. A man at the castle of Four Stones had told him that Balin was free and had been seen at King Arthur’s court. Balan therefore hoped to find his brother there. The reunion is both personal and corrective: Balan welcomes Balin’s deliverance, while Balin recounts the events that have brought him into conflict with the king.

Shared Service and Knighthood

Balin explains that King Arthur is displeased with him and that a knight has pursued him on the king’s behalf. He remains eager to regain Arthur’s favor, describing him as the most worshipful knight then reigning on earth. Because King Ryons is besieging Castle Terrabil, Balin proposes that he and Balan go there together to prove their worship and prowess. Balan agrees, affirming that the brothers will help one another as brothers ought.

Their fellowship soon becomes action. Merlin encounters them on the road and identifies their purpose: they are riding to meet King Ryons, though success will depend on his counsel. The brothers accept Merlin’s guidance. He conceals them in a wood beside the highway, has them rest until near midnight, and then tells them that Ryons is approaching with sixty of his best knights. Twenty riders have gone ahead to warn Lady De Vance. At Merlin’s direction, Balin and Balan meet the king on the narrow road, strike him down, and kill more than forty of his men. The rest flee. They spare Ryons when he yields, place him on a horse-litter, and bring him to King Arthur. Their joint achievement converts the brothers’ declared loyalty and prowess into a concrete service to the king.

The Unrecognized Combat

The brothers’ partnership ends when circumstance makes recognition fail. At a castle, Balan sees a knight riding out in red, and the knight’s two swords suggest that he may be Balin. But he does not know Balin’s shield and decides the rider must be someone else. Neither brother understands the other’s identity when they charge. Their spears knock horse and rider down, and the two rise to fight.

The combat continues despite repeated pauses for exhaustion. Each brother receives seven severe wounds; their armor is damaged, and the ground where they fight becomes bloodied. The castle towers are full of watching ladies, but the fight proceeds without either brother discovering who stands against him. Balan eventually withdraws and asks the other knight’s name, explaining that no one has ever matched him. The answer—that he is Balan, brother to the good knight Balin—brings recognition too late. Balin falls backward in a swoon, and Balan, moving toward him on hands and feet, removes his helmet. Balin’s face is too damaged and bloodied for Balan to recognize him at first; when Balin wakes, he names Balan as his brother and understands that each has slain the other through mischance.

Reconciliation, Rites, and Burial

Recognition replaces combat with mourning. Balan regrets that he failed to recognize Balin: he had noticed the two swords but mistook his brother for another knight because of the changed shield. Balin blames the unhappy knight in the castle, who had caused him to leave his own shield, and says that he would destroy the castle for its ill customs if he could survive. Balan explains that he too had been unable to leave since arriving there, after killing the knight who kept the island. The castle’s customs have ensnared both brothers and helped turn their reunion into a fatal encounter.

The lady of the tower arrives with four knights, six ladies, and six yeomen and hears the brothers lamenting together. They ask that they be laid in one grave, since they came from one womb and will lie in one pit. Balan asks her to have them buried richly at the place where they fought. She agrees, and the brothers ask for a priest so that they may receive the sacrament and the blessed body of Jesus Christ. The lady sends for one and arranges for them to receive the rites.

Their shared tomb preserves the truth that the fight itself obscured: two brothers killed one another without knowing whom they faced. In the wider account, Merlin buries them together and the narrative also records Balin’s sword. The ending sets the brothers’ mutual aid against their accidental destruction: they had joined forces to capture a king, but a changed shield and failed recognition made them enemies. Their final reunion is not a victory over that error, but a moment of understanding and religious reconciliation before death.