Editing Knight-errant (section)

==In modern literature==
{{wikt|knight in shining armor}}
The protagonist of [[Cormac McCarthy]]'s novel ''[[All the Pretty Horses (novel)|All the Pretty Horses]]'', John Grady Cole, is said to be based specifically on Sir Gawain, of ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight''. Both characters share a number of aspects and traits; both are rooted in the myths of a past that no longer exists, and both live by codes of conduct from a previous era.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pHypAgAAQBAJ&dq=knight+errant+gawain&pg=PA24] McGilchrist, Megan Riley. "The Ties that Bind". Monk, Nicholas, editor. ''Intertextual and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cormac McCarthy: Borders and Crossings.'' Routledge, 2012. p. 24. {{ISBN|9781136636066}}</ref>

''[[Don Quixote]]'' is an early 17th-century parody of the genre, in reaction to the extreme popularity which late medieval romances such as ''[[Amadis de Gaula]]'' came to enjoy in the Iberian Peninsula in the 16th century.

In [[Jean Giraudoux]]'s play ''[[Ondine (play)|Ondine]]'', which starred [[Audrey Hepburn]] on Broadway in 1954, a knight-errant appears, during a storm, at the humble home of a fisherman and his wife.<ref>Jean Giraudoux Four Plays. Hill and Wang. 1958. p. 175</ref>

A depiction of knight-errantry in the modern [[historical novel]] is found in ''[[Sir Nigel]]'' by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] (1906).

The knight-errant stock character became the trope of the "knight in shining armour" in [[depiction of the Middle Ages in popular culture]], and the term came to be used also outside of medieval drama, as in ''[[The Dark Knight Returns|The Dark Knight]]'' as a title of [[Batman]].

In the epic fantasy series ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', there is a class of knights referred to as ''hedge knights''. A hedge knight is a wandering knight without a master, similar to the concept of the [[Ronin]]— [[Samurai]] who serve no specific master— and many are quite poor. Hedge knights travel the length and breadth of the fictional continent of [[Westeros]] looking for gainful employment, and their name comes from the propensity to sleep out in the open air or in forests when they cannot afford lodging. The life of a hedge knight is depicted in the ''[[Tales of Dunk and Egg]]''.

The protagonist of [[Lee Child]]'s ''[[Jack Reacher]]'' novels, Jack Reacher, is intended by the author as a modern-day reflection of classic lone heroes.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/sep/14/i-wanted-to-write-a-suburban-reacher-richard-osman-talks-to-lee-child-about-class-success-and-the-secret-to-great-writing] "I wanted to write a suburban Reacher": Richard Osman talks to Lee Child about class, success, and the secret to great writing. ''The Guardian''. 14 Sep. 2024.</ref>