In Arthurian legend, Ban /ˈbæn/ is the King of Benwick or Benoic. He is the father of Sir Lancelot and Sir Hector de Maris, the brother of King Bors, and an early ally of King Arthur.
Ban's wife Elaine is the sister to King Bors' wife Evaine. Together they have Lancelot, but while travelling in Britain in support of Arthur, Ban sleeps with the Lady de Maris, who becomes pregnant with Hector, Lancelot's half-brother. Ban and Bors are eventually killed by their enemy, the Frankish king Claudas, and Lancelot is taken by the Lady of the Lake to her abode, where he is later joined by Bors the Elder's sons Lionel and Bors the Younger. When the children grow up and become Knights of the Round Table, they aid Arthur in finally defeating Claudas and reclaiming their fathers' land.
Famous quotes containing the words king and/or ban:
“Thou hast brought him a pardon from good King John.””
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 108)
“On fields all drenched with blood he made his record in war, abstained from lawless violence when left on the plantation, and received his freedom in peace with moderation. But he holds in this Republic the position of an alien race among a people impatient of a rival. And in the eyes of some it seems that no valor redeems him, no social advancement nor individual development wipes off the ban which clings to him.”
—Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911)