Grail Quest

"“What is the grail? Whom does it serve?”"

A Grail Quest is a 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. 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".

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 literal, 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. Sometimes they will be outright surreal in nature, and sometimes they will force the quester to face seemingly Sadistic Choices. However they are presented, though, 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 in his 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.

From the outside, and sometimes from the inside, the quest may resemble a Random Events Plot -- but on a higher level everything all ties together. In some cases the object of the quest is actively grooming its recipients -- leading them through an adventure that will force them to become what it needs in a wielder/owner -- if they aren't killed or driven away by the difficulty of the tasks they face. Ultimately a Grail Quest is a transformative process for the quester, who must always progress from unworthy to worthy before reaching his goal. In many ways a Grail Quest is similar to a Vision Quest, and no few scholars have noted the similarities between the original Grail Quest and various pagan and shamanistic initiatory practices.

Note, by the way, that the person going on a Grail Quest need not be a Knight Errant -- anyone can undergo a Grail Quest.

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 Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

Historically, it's suspected that the Grail legend (and the corresponding quest motif) ultimately derives from rituals from early Celtic shamanism, during which an initiate was required to face and overcome certain tests (symbolic and not) in order to attain a higher state of consciousness and enlightenment, not unlike a Vision Quest. In this context, then, a Grail Quest would have been a quest for the meaning of life, the nature of the divine, and symbolize one's true purpose in living.

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

Anime and Manga

 * See the Visual Novels section for Fate/stay night and its adaptations.

Film

 * Although the plot of Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a typically Pythonian Random Events Plot almost entirely driven by the Rule of Funny, Galahad's encounter with Castle Anthrax, its inhabitants, and the temptations they offer is a perfect example of the kind of challenge found on the original Grail Quest, starting right from the "Grail-shaped beacon" used to lure him in. (Which only makes sense, because Graham Chapman, as we have noted elsewhere on the wiki, was an Arthurian scholar and made sure that the movie was accurate as well as funny.)  The only break from the pattern is the team of knights that rescue him from the castle -- in a proper Grail Quest challenge, Galahad would have had to overcome or fail on his own merits and actions.
 * And ultimately, Arthur demonstrates his worthiness to pass the final barrier to the Grail castle with knowledge he gained in literally the first scene of the film.
 * John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur presents a thoroughly-mystical Grail Quest strongly influenced by that found in Le Morte d'Arthur (see below).

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 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 from 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 and focus that most of Arthur's knights could not achieve or maintain; ultimately only three qualified (Galahad, Percival and Lancelot -- and strictly speaking Lancelot was an "almost but not quite").  Furthermore, one could argue that the quest was so stressful that it effectively shattered the fellowship of the Round Table.
 * The War Hound and the World's Pain, a 1981 novel by Michael Moorcock, revolves around a Grail Quest taking place during the Thirty Years' War. Mercenary freethinker Ulrich von Bek finds himself a damned soul in a castle owned by Lucifer, who bizarrely charges him with seeking the Grail, which will reconcile Lucifer with God and save von Bek's own soul.  As might be expected, the quest tests von Bek almost to destruction.
 * In the 1977 novel Lancelot by Walker Percy, the eponymous protagonist explicitly draws numerous parallels between a Grail Quest and his life in the American South of the 1970s. Despite the setting, it is laced with medieval and explicitly Arthurian allusions, not the least of which is Lancelot's best friend and companion through the book, Percy (Percival).  But Lancelot is seeking the dark reflection of the Grail, what he calls an "Unholy Grail", and sees the violent and disruptive events of his life being his tests and challenges on his way to it.  As the result of his experiences in the novel, he ultimately chooses violence as his path of liberation, and defines his "Unholy Grail" as violent sex, particularly rape.  No, it's not a happy book.
 * T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land draws heavily upon Arthurian sources -- indeed, the central conceit revolves around the original Fisher King and his devastated kingdom as a metaphor for Europe in the wake of World War I -- and he structures the entire poem as a Grail Quest, with the Grail itself a savior for the wounded land. Ultimately, though, the Quest is subverted, as the Grail does not magically appear at its end; instead, the poet suggests that it is up to the individual to find his own salvation.

Visual Novels

 * Actively defied by the Holy Grail Wars in Fate/stay night and the other various Fate works. The Grail cares nothing about the Masters seeking it except that the winner has defeated all the others in what amounts to a brutal tournament.  And while the best results are gained by killing all one's competition, it's not mandatory -- the Grail doesn't care about anything save that there is only a single winner standing at the end.