Scholars have pointed out that Kay's scornful, overly boastful character never makes him a clown, a coward or a traitor, except in the Grail romance "Perlesvaus", in which he murders Arthur's son Loholt and joins up with the king's enemies. This strange work is an anomaly, however, and Kay's portrayal tends to range from merely cruel and malicious, as in the "Roman de Yder" or Hartmann von Aue's "Iwein" to humorously derisive and even endearing, as in "Durmart le Gallois" and "Escanor".