Palamedes

Palamedes is one of the Spectral Knights that Gwendolyn can summon through the Dual Frontline Battle System in Tides of Annihilation. He is a fire-affinity knight, he was one of five knights available in the playable build shown in August 2026, and he is the only member of that pool confirmed to fill either loadout slot, with a different kit in each. He was also the second knight to receive a clear showcase in pre-release footage, after Sir Lamorak.

Combat Profile

Palamedes channels orange flame around his strikes. The November 2025 Xbox Partner Preview trailer shows him chaining consecutive fiery attacks against grouped enemies and breaking through a magical barrier with a continuous burn, which points at both single-target and zone-control applications. Players of the August 2026 build described him as the heavyweight of the pool: slow to move, punishing when he connects, and built around the two mechanics the producer named directly, charging and parrying.

Slot Flexibility

Most knights in the playtest pool sat in a fixed role, and one hands-on writer came away thinking the primary or secondary assignment was fixed for everyone. The producer corrected that picture for Palamedes specifically: the same knight, two different movesets, depending on which half of a pair he occupies. A primary knight changes Gwendolyn's main weapon and attack style, and Palamedes as a primary is the slow, heavy, charge-and-parry option. As a secondary he becomes a defensive add instead, feeding her a block and a precise parry rather than a combo extension, and throwing his weapon at range.

Loadouts hold four knights at once, two primary and two secondary, and the player can switch between them at any point during a fight. A primary carries a dozen or more attack moves; a secondary carries two. Knights can be summoned in the middle of a combo, so their moves extend a chain already in progress.

Building Around Palamedes

Because he is sluggish as a primary, pairing him with a knight that slows the enemy covers his weakness. Because his charged attacks strip poise, sending him in as a secondary sets up a partner whose payoff punishes a broken guard. Both halves of that logic came out of the August build as worked examples rather than theory.

Elemental Imbuing

When Palamedes imbues Gwendolyn's active weapon, subsequent attacks apply fire damage and produce visible flame trails. The imbue is the standard mechanic shared across the roster, but Palamedes' fire is one of the few elements shown actively breaking environmental obstacles as well as dealing combat damage. His out-of-combat work runs on the same idea: the wall he breaks and the statue he lifts are obstacles the player cannot clear alone.

Partnered State

In Partnered State with Palamedes, Gwendolyn's merged form takes on a fire-wreathed silhouette and gains access to flame-based ranged bursts the base moveset does not have. The visual change matches the pattern set by other Partnered States: the merged form reads at a glance as Gwendolyn plus this specific knight, and the moveset reshuffles accordingly.

Grail Shards

The in-game lore glossary states that all of the Knights of the Round Table hold Grail Shards, and that gathering those shards is what lets Gwendolyn manipulate the fog. Palamedes' own shard has not been shown.

Arthurian Origins

In the Arthurian legend the game draws from, Palamedes is a Saracen knight who converts to Christianity and joins the Round Table. He is best known for his long pursuit of the Questing Beast, a hybrid creature the Vulgate cycle describes as having the head of a serpent, the body of a leopard and the haunches of a lion. He is also a celebrated jouster, often paired with Tristan in the surviving romances. The game's spectral version reinterprets him rather than retelling those stories, and the game director has said the team is not copying the legend one to one and will have its own interpretation and narrative. Treat the Saracen-knight framing as a starting point for the character, not as in-game backstory. The wider approach to this material is covered on Arthurian Legend in Tides of Annihilation.

Status

Palamedes is confirmed for the roster and was one of five knights playable in the August 2026 build. Official material says the finished game lets the player command a band of over ten legendary knights, so that playtest pool is a slice of the roster rather than the whole of it. His unlock timing, his place in the campaign, and how he comes to fight alongside Gwendolyn are all still unannounced, and the studio has paced roster reveals rather than releasing them all at once.