Grail Quest

A Grail Quest is specialized version of The Quest which seamlessly blends the search for a MacGuffin with personal growth and tests of same for the Quester. The MacGuffin, whatever it is, has strict requirements for what constitutes a "worthy" owner/wielder; it, or Fate, or the Powers That Be, or the natural laws of the universe will conspire to force anyone looking for it to prove at length that he deserves access to it.

As the quester progresses along his path to the item he seeks, he will encounter a series of Sidequests and Wacky Wayside Tribes. Each one will embody some manner of symbolic or metaphoric barrier to the completion of the quest, by presenting a challenge (sometimes obvious, sometimes hidden, and far too often deviously complex) that the quester must overcome. The challenges will range from simple acts of kindness to moral/ethical choices to feats of arms, and sometimes they will be outright surreal in nature; but however they are presented each one is an opportunity for personal growth or a test that the quester meets the MacGuffin's requirements.

Success at each challenge confirms the seeker's worthiness and/or validates his his dedication to the quest. Failure can result in the quester being trapped either blatantly or subtly, or being sent wildly off course to never come near his goal again, or even death. Truly dedicated seekers can sometimes redeem themselves and return to the correct path. Other questers may also rescue them, after which they might give up the quest entirely, or join forces back on the correct path.

The Trope Namer is of course the Quest for the Holy Grail from the legends of King Arthur, most specifically the long and involved version presented in Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

Note that the object of a Grail Quest need not be a good or holy item; it's entirely possible that a malevolent object might present the same challenges to one seeking it, to ensure that they are strong or ruthless or sociopathic enough to use it "properly".

Not to be confused with the series of Choose Your Own Adventure books entitled Grail Quest Solo Fantasy.

Literature

 * As noted in the main text, the Quest for the Holy Grail in the legends of King Arthur. In Le Morte d'Arthur it spans hundreds of pages as the narrative follows many of the knights of the Round Table in their search for the Grail -- and their many and varied failures.  The Grail demanded an almost unmeetable moral standard of the knights seeking it, and threw all manner of temptations in their way -- including the inevitable lures of the flesh, but also some where the knight was tempted to abandon the quest to take up another lesser, though noble, duty than finding the Grail.  Ultimately, the Grail required a state of pre-eminent spiritual purity that most of Arthur's knights could not achieve or maintain; ultimately only three qualified (Galahad, Percival and Lancelot).