Hellawes

Hellawes, the sorceress and lady of Castle Nigramous, is defined by a thwarted attachment to Sir Launcelot. At Chapel Perilous she turns that longing into a supernatural trap: she hopes to make Launcelot her captive in death when she cannot win his love in life. His refusal defeats her design, and she dies within a fortnight of his departure.

Identity and Setting

Hellawes is identified as a sorceress and the lady of Castle Nigramous. Her story unfolds at Chapel Perilous, where Launcelot encounters a sequence of supernatural obstacles: armed figures in black, a dead knight in the chapel, and a sword that he takes with him. The encounter makes the chapel a place prepared specifically for him, rather than an incidental stop on his journey.

The Design at Chapel Perilous

After Launcelot leaves the chapel with the sword, an approaching damsel warns that he must leave it behind. She tells him that he would never see Queen Guenever again if he did so. Hellawes then asks him for a kiss. Launcelot refuses, and she explains that the kiss would have ended his life; because he does not grant it, her plan has failed.

Hellawes reveals that she arranged the chapel for Launcelot and Sir Gawaine. She had previously held Sir Gawaine in her power when he fought Sir Gilbert, the knight whose corpse lies in the chapel. Sir Gawaine struck off Sir Gilbert’s left hand in that encounter. The episode links Hellawes’s enchantment to an earlier chivalric contest, while making Launcelot the intended target of her present scheme.

Attachment and Rejection

Hellawes says she has loved Launcelot for seven years, but acknowledges that no woman can have his love except Queen Guenever. Her desire is therefore presented as both persistent and knowingly frustrated. Rather than accept Launcelot’s refusal, she had imagined possessing his body after death, preserving it, and kissing it in defiance of the queen. The contrast between Launcelot’s loyalty to Queen Guenever and Hellawes’s attempt to circumvent his refusal gives the episode its central conflict.

Launcelot rejects the sword’s threatening guardians and Hellawes’s appeal alike. He leaves the chapel and departs, carrying the sword; the narrative records no reconciliation or change in his attachment. Hellawes’s elaborate supernatural preparation cannot overcome his refusal.

Death and Narrative Role

The account reports that Hellawes dies of sorrow within a fortnight after Launcelot leaves. Her death closes the episode without resolving her love: the power she brings to bear at the chapel secures neither Launcelot’s affection nor the possession she planned. She functions as a dangerous counterpart to the damsel in a rescue or enchantment tale, turning romantic longing into a threat and making Launcelot’s refusal the decisive act that breaks her design.