# Gradasso — Orlando Furioso character guide

> Gradasso in Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** King Gradasso, Martial Gradasso

**First appearance:** 0003-canto-i

## Snapshot

A Saracen king who launched a war for two objects of desire — Orlando's sword Durindana and Rinaldo's horse Bayardo — and will not be talked out of either.

## Who they are

Gradasso is the invader whose appetite for famous trophies helps set the poem's whole machinery in motion, a monarch who treats the greatest Christian warrior's gear as the only prize worth a kingdom. His fixation on Durindana and Bayardo makes him a mirror of Mandricardo, another king chasing another man's sword. In the early–middle cantos he stands as the poem's cleanest example of desire dressed as conquest, a reminder that the war is fought as much over objects as over faith.

## Relationships

### [Orlando](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/characters/orlando)

_rivalry_

Gradasso is a Saracen king who seeks to defeat Orlando and claim his sword Durandal.

### [Orlando](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/characters/orlando)

_rivalry_

Gradasso is a Saracen king who seeks to defeat Orlando and claim his sword Durandal.

## In the story

### [Canto II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/chapters/canto-ii)

Mentioned as having gone with Rogero to challenge the winged rider.

### [Canto XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/chapters/canto-xii)

Found wandering in the enchanted palace.

### [Canto XXX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/chapters/canto-xxx)

Mentioned as having been Mandricardo's prisoner; receives Durindana after the duel.

### [Canto XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/chapters/canto-xxxi)

Contends with Rinaldo for Bayardo; their fight is deferred.

### [Canto XXXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/chapters/canto-xxxiii)

Fights Rinaldo for possession of Bayardo and Durindana.

### [Canto XLI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/chapters/canto-xli)

Fights Brandimart and Orlando; is cleaved by Orlando's Balisarda.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/characters/gradasso
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/orlando_furioso_se/characters