February 26th Writing Prompt: Joust
A grand tournament has been arranged, with brave knights from all over the kingdom coming forth to joust for a sizable reward. It was noted, however, that the rules were never clearly established, and now the knights are bringing out their wildest arsenal. What strange things happen on the jousting field, and who ultimately has the best chance of winning?
Ideas and questions:
A lack of rules could mean many things. A knight who is trying to use this to their advantage might change up their weapon, for instance. Instead of a lance, they could plan on using blunted bolts from a crossbow.
The knights could also determine that they don’t want to be stuck dealing with their traditional mounts. Imagine a knight barreling down on their opponent from the back of a dragon!
Things could also become problematic from other perspectives as well. Though a joust is typically considered a race down a straight path, the lack of rules could mean for a chaotic pursuit across a field.
Does anyone in your story take the lack of rules seriously? Or is it something that can be resolved fairly easily? Perhaps the semantics are a sticking point for some of the characters, and that is the more interesting feature of the tale than the actual joust.
While the joust itself might have a pretty standard interpretation based on years of precedence, perhaps there are knights participating in the tournament who are leaning on magical means of assistance because there have been no rules against such a precedent.
Challenge:
Write about a knight who has made their way up the rankings of a tournament, but they’ve found themselves facing someone who appears to be cheating in some way. What does the fair-playing knight do to prepare themselves against such a challenging opponent?