Pellam's royal house combines sacred inheritance with a source of violence. In Malory's account he is close kin to Joseph of Arimathea, and his castle contains relics associated with the Passion of Christ. His brother Garlon, however, uses the ability to ride unseen to kill other knights. The king's relationship to a murderer draws Balin into a place that might otherwise have appeared to be a sanctuary. The story does not make the holy reputation of a household a guarantee against catastrophe.

Balin reaches the castle during a feast whose entrance custom requires a knight to bring a wife or beloved woman. He arrives with the damsel connected to one of Garlon's victims. Inside, he identifies his enemy and considers whether to strike despite the danger. Garlon notices the stare and hits him with the back of his hand. Balin responds with a fatal sword blow, then uses the broken shaft carried by the damsel to pierce Garlon's body and identify the vengeance he has taken.

Pellam rises in anger and insists that he will deal with his brother's killer himself. When the king attacks, Balin raises his sword to protect his head, and the blade breaks. The weaponless knight runs from room to room while Pellam pursues him. At last he finds a richly furnished chamber with a bed and a remarkable spear upon a precious table. He seizes it, turns and wounds Pellam so severely that the king falls unconscious. Malory's immediate account does not locate this particular thrust explicitly in both thighs.

The blow brings down the castle's roof and walls. Pellam and Balin remain beneath the fallen structure for three days until Merlin comes to release Balin. The damsel has died. Merlin explains that the spear is the weapon associated with the piercing of Christ and that Joseph of Arimathea lies in the rich bed. Outside, Balin encounters ruined communities whose survivors blame his stroke for the destruction of three countries. A private act of vengeance has become a disaster reaching far beyond its intended victim.

Malory says that Pellam remains wounded for years until Galahad heals him during the Grail Quest. The later healing scene shows Galahad taking blood from the bleeding spear and anointing the Maimed King's legs. This is not another spear-thrust into the wound. The narrative turns the weapon's association with suffering towards restoration. Pellam's place in the story therefore extends beyond the moment of collapse: his injury becomes one of the wrongs that the quest must finally put right.

The names and relationships of the Grail kings vary between works, and the distinction matters. In Malory's later Carbonek scene, King Pelles is present before a crowned, bedridden king is brought into the room; Pelles then departs with his son. It is unsafe to turn these figures into a single uncomplicated biography or to assign Pellam every deed of Pelles. This entry centres on Garlon's brother and Balin's wounded pursuer. The wider Fisher King tradition supplies related imagery, while Pellam's own narrative binds the feast, the broken sword, the sacred spear and the devastated land into one tragedy.