The part where he's explaining that he could have caught Pinel if only he had his own sword!
Actually, the thing I find infuriating and heartbreaking about that particular alibi is how stupidly unnecessary it is. Kay charging out after a self-revealed murderer only half-equipped for combat and carrying the wrong sword is as crazily damn-fool heroic as all the glory-seeking berserkers he scoffs at—he even admits that after he was unhorsed, he shouted for Pinel to face him as if they were taking part in a tourney as opposed to fighting for real—and in light of the odds it's rather less important that Pinel got away than that Pinel didn't kill him in his escape. And of course no one witnesses his moment of reckless chivalry, any more than he gets the chance to fight for the Queen's honor, but there he was being courageous in his own right and he can't stop comparing himself to Gawain and Tristram and Lancelot the whole time and, just . . . dude, it's all right. You don't have to explain. No one thought you weren't trying. It's a great way of working in the boastful Kay of Malory and it is twingingly sympathetic and you still want to shake him upside the head.
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Date: 2022-08-19 02:29 am (UTC)Actually, the thing I find infuriating and heartbreaking about that particular alibi is how stupidly unnecessary it is. Kay charging out after a self-revealed murderer only half-equipped for combat and carrying the wrong sword is as crazily damn-fool heroic as all the glory-seeking berserkers he scoffs at—he even admits that after he was unhorsed, he shouted for Pinel to face him as if they were taking part in a tourney as opposed to fighting for real—and in light of the odds it's rather less important that Pinel got away than that Pinel didn't kill him in his escape. And of course no one witnesses his moment of reckless chivalry, any more than he gets the chance to fight for the Queen's honor, but there he was being courageous in his own right and he can't stop comparing himself to Gawain and Tristram and Lancelot the whole time and, just . . . dude, it's all right. You don't have to explain. No one thought you weren't trying. It's a great way of working in the boastful Kay of Malory and it is twingingly sympathetic and you still want to shake him upside the head.