Sir Ector

Ector appears in the works of Robert de Boron and the Lancelot-Grail, as well as later adaptations such as the Post-Vulgate Cycle and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

[1][2] In these versions, Merlin takes Arthur from his biological parents King Uther Pendragon and Igraine, and brings him to Ector's estate.

Merlin does not reveal the boy's true identity, and Ector takes him on and raises him with Kay as his own son.

In Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Ector also appears in the concluding book to recite a threnody lamenting Sir Lancelot's eventual death; however, the sole surviving manuscript of Mallory's work is missing the pages that would include this material, and at least one scholar has suggested that the speech may have been an addition by the text's printer, William Caxton.

[4] In the earlier Welsh stories, the father of Kay (Cei) is instead named Cynyr (Kyner).