Tristan and Isolde are second only to Lancelot and Guinevere as the great lovers of the Arthurian legends. The story of their tragic love has been the subject of numerous medieval and modern retellings. The medieval versions of the story are sometimes divided into two branches, called the courtly and the common versions. The former is represented by the Tristan of the Anglo-Norman poet Thomas, which was written in the latter part of the twelfth century. His version in turn influenced Gottfried von Strassburg, whose Tristan, written in the first decade of the thirteenth century, is one of the great romances of the Middle Ages, and the Old Norse Tristrams saga (1226). Tristan, or Tristram in Old English, was a contemporary of King Arthur and a Knight of the Round Table. He was the nephew and champion of King Mark of Cornwall and the son of Meliodas, King of Lyoness. Tristan's mother died when he was born, and as a young man he took service with his uncle, Mark. Tristan became the champion of his uncle after defeating and killing Marhaus of Ireland in a duel. That defeat led to a truce with King Anguish of Ireland and he arranged for his daughter, Isolde to be married to King Mark. It was Tristan who was sent to Ireland to fetch the would be Queen. While in the process of bringing her back to Cornwall, Tristan and Isode fell helplessly in love with one another. Therefore, they fled from Mark and lived the rest of their days on the run. Legend has it that while Tristan was playing his harp for Isode, Mark snuck in behind him and killed him with a dagger or a lance in the back. The Fowey Stone in Cornwall is thought to bear an inscription about a Tristan, son of Cunomorus, to whom the tale may have been transferred. According to the Italian version of the story, Tristan and Isode had two children, bearing their names, while the French view gives them one son, Ysaie, and a grandson, Marc. The name Tristan may be Pictish in origin. It is interesting to note that the Pictish King Talorc III was succeeded by Drust V; were these the Protagonists of the original Tristan story? No one may ever know. My take on this is Tris is in service to Arthur, He is a knight of great honor but, He agonizes over his love for Isolde because he knows it will lead to trouble, He fights dragons if they are around and he hates King Mark but does his duty and service to him .He spends lots of his waking hours trying to find ways to be with Isolde and it has to be in secret. Tris will work with any of the other characters in the story line if it fits their purpose