Knights of Pendragon Vol 1 1

	Published
	July, 1990
"Brands & Ashes"
	Writer Dan Abnett; John Tomlinson; Penciler Gary Erskine; Inker Andy Lanning; Colourist Helen Stone; Letterer Annie Parkhouse; Editor Steve White;

Something had reached for me from this dark and terrible place. Something ancient and forgotten. Something in great pain...

-- Dai Thomas

Appearing in "Brands & Ashes"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Captain Britain (Brian Braddock)
Astra-TV (First appearance)
- Kate McClellan (First appearance)
- Nigel (First appearance)
Sir Gawain (Drawing and dream)
Minister Sir Ian Chalmers (First appearance)
Omni Corporation (First appearance)
- Dolph (First appearance)
- Grace (First appearance)
- Thor Karlsen (Only appearance; dies)^[1] (Appears on a computer screen, TV, or hologram only) (Only in flashback)
Mister Hardacre (Only appearance; dies)^[1] (Main story and dream)
Melvin (Only appearance)^[1]
W.H.O.
- Alistaire Stuart
- Brigadier Alysande Stuart
Esper Corp. (Only appearance)^[1]
- Templeman (Only appearance)^[1]

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Races and Species

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

The story has two epigraphs, one from The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats and the other by Ben Elton.
Although unnamed, the knight appearing in Dai Thomas's dream can be recognized as Sir Gawain, based on a drawing in Dai Thomas's copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
The story features several separate internal monologs, which are color coded (with minor errors). The coding is as follows:
- lightblue background: epigraphs and quotes from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in Brian Stone's translation (Fit II, Stanza 31, with some omissions and with the addition of two lines from Stanza 30);
- pink background: Sir Gawain's internal monolog;
- light-yellow background: Dai Thomas's internal monolog.
In addition, an excerpt from Fit II, Stanza 23 of the same translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is quoted in the story by Templeman and is recognized by Dai Thomas.
By contrast, the phrase "Come sweet slumber, enshroud me in thy purple cloak" uttered by Dai Thomas is not from classical literature but rather taken from the song "Paranoimia" by the group Art of Noise.
The yet unspecified connection between Dai Thomas and Sir Gawain is represented by parallel scenes, for instance, the scenes of each of them entering the barn or their faces being half in light half in shadow with the eye in the shadow getting a blue hue. To further strengthen the parallel, the slain knight found in the barn by Sir Gawain has the same facial features as Mister Hardacre.