The Gareth incident is especially great because you feel that on some level he KNOWS that Gareth is fine actually and he should just get over the whole Beaumains thing, but he WILL NOT. He will never let it go. He is intelligent and clear-sighted and also deeply, terminally petty.

In re: Galahad in OAFK we talked about how goodness and likeability can often be at odds, and in Karr's Kay I think we see another facet of this fact: Kay is probably one of the least murdery members of the Round Table, the most stable and trustworthy and responsible, absolutely the guy you would want running your castle... but also it's VERY obvious why almost none of the knights enjoy hanging out with him.