Cymochles: The Lazy Villain in The Faerie Queene

Jason

July 7, 2022

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Cymochles is a villainous knight in book 2 of The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser. He serves as an antagonist to Sir Guyon, and is the brother of Pyrocles.

Cymochles name means “trouble with waves”, and he is the exact opposite of his brother. He chooses to lie around, be lazy, and enjoy earthly pleasures, while his brother is constantly seeking action and violence.

Eventually, he does take some action after thinking that his brother was killed, and he goes out to take revenge. But he is frequently distracted along the way, and is eventually killed by Prince Arthur along with his brother.

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Author

Jason is a huge storytelling nerd devoted to cataloguing storytelling in all its forms. He loves mythology, history, and geek culture. When he's not writing books (see his work at MythHQ.com), his favorite hobbies include hiking, spending time with his wife and daughters, and traveling.