"When ye see my lord, King Meliodas, commend me to him," she said to her gentlewoman, "and tell him what I have endured here for his love, and how I must die here for his sake, with none to help me. And let him know that I am full sorry to depart out of this world from him, therefore pray him not to forget me. Now let me see my little child, for whom I have had all this sorrow." And when she saw him, she said in tender jesting, "Ah, my little son, thou hast killed thy mother, and therefore I suppose thou that art a murderer so young, thou art full likely to be a manly man in thine age." Then she charged the gentlewoman that she should beseech King Meliodas to call the child "Tristram," -that is as much as to say "born in sorrow."
And with that, this Queen died.
Let's backtrack a little. King Melodias (of Lyonesse) has just gone hunting. He was kidnapped by enchantment by the woman who had wanted to marry him once. His very pregnant wife, Queen Elizabeth, went into the forest to find him with a servant. She wouldn't leave the forest until her husband was found, so she had her baby there and died soon after. But first, she told her servant to name the baby Tristram (born in sorrow).
After the King defeats his kidnappers, he hears that his wife is dead and mourns. When Tristram is older, he is sent to France to learn fencing, jousting, and hawking (a medieval royal sport). He grows up. At one point, he is in a fight to win a beautiful lady. He wins, but was smote (hit very hard) with a poisoned sword. Part of his sword had also broken off mid-smote and lodged in his Irish opponent's skull, or brainpan. They go their separate ways. The Irish man is able to be healed, but Tristram is not, so he is taken to Ireland because it's where the poison came from. He stays at the King and Queen's palace under the pseudonym, 'Tramtrist'. So creative. Anyway, he is only discovered as Tristram when the Queen finds the tip missing from his sword. She matches it to the piece previously lodged in her son's head, and realizes she's been hosting the enemy. In the meantime, Tristram and Iseult (The Irish King and Queen's daughter) fall in love (despite the beautiful lady that Tristram won over earlier)
When Tristram is healed, he stays with his uncle who's more like a roommate. They become friendly rivals. They uncle (King Mark) decides the ultimate finisher is ordering Tristram to fetch Iseult from Ireland so Mark can marry her. Tristram agrees. The queen gives Iseult's servant a potion for her and Mark to take so they'll be in love forever. On the ship back, Tristram and Iseult mistake it for wine and drink it, causing them to fall very deeply in love
