Who was King Arthur's foster father?

King Arthur’s foster father was Sir Ector.

In the medieval Arthurian tradition, Merlin takes the infant Arthur away from his biological parents, Uther Pendragon and Igraine, and brings him to Ector’s household. Ector raises Arthur alongside his own son, Sir Kay, without knowing Arthur’s royal identity.

Ector is therefore Arthur’s adoptive or foster father, not his biological father. Uther Pendragon is Arthur’s biological father, while Merlin acts as the wizard who arranges Arthur’s upbringing. Ector’s household also explains why Arthur initially serves as Kay’s squire before his kingship is revealed.

The character appears under variant names, including Hector, Antor, and Ectorius. His role is especially prominent in Robert de Boron’s Merlin stories, the Lancelot-Grail cycle, later Arthurian romances, and Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. Modern adaptations sometimes portray him as stern, comic, or kindly, but his central function remains the same: he gives Arthur a noble household and childhood before the future king learns his true identity.