Bamsi Beyrek

Bamsi Beyrek was the best friend of Salur Kazan, the main character in the stories. He was also one of the four most handsome men of all the Oghuz noblemen but was quite emotional and he took irrational steps sometimes. His horse's name was Dengiboz or Bengiboz and it was of grey colour.[4]

Legend II (Bamsi Beyrek, Son of Bay Büre Bey or Bamsi Beyrek of the Grey Horse according to translator Geoffrey Lewis[5]) is centered around Beyrek. In the legend, it says that once the Oghuz princes all gathered up somewhere. The father of Beyrek, Bay Büre, wept when he saw everyone had a son besides him. The princes asked why he was crying, he replied that it was because he doesn't have a son to carry on his family. The princes all started to pray that Bay Büre would get a son. Bay Bichen[a 1] also prayed that he would get a daughter that he would marry to Bay Büre's son. And they sooner or later got the children they wanted.

Mention of Beyrek's name in the second legend of the Book of Korkut Ata

Bamsi got his name after Bay Büre sent his merchants to bring some presents. As time went by, the merchants arrived in Constantinople and bought some items, however, on their way back to Bay Büre, they were attacked by some infidels. The son of Bay Büre himself came and helped the merchants by killing all the infidels who attacked them. The son of Bay Büre didn't have any name as an Oghuz Turk was given his name when he beheaded an infidel. So the son of Bay Büre decided to receive these presents from his father instead of introducing himself. When the merchants came back to Bay Büre, they started kissing the young man's hand, the young man had already arrived and didn't tell his father about anything. The merchants then came to know that the young man was the son of their great Khan, Bay Büre Khan. They also told Bay Büre about what had happened in the infidels' attack, and the young man's father found out that his son had cut off the heads of his enemies. Then the young man was given the name of Bamsi Beyrek in a gathering of the Oghuz princes.

After he got his name, Bamsi Beyrek met with the daughter of Bay Bichen, her name was Banu Chichek. After Beyrek gave a deer to Banu's nurse, they spent some time together after which both of them came to know more about each other, they even have a disagreement in which both had an arm wrestle.[6] Bamsi Beyrek also gave her a golden ring as a sign of their engagement. When Bamsı Beyrek went back to his father, his father was already aware of his desire. And after passing a lot of resistances, including having to face Yaltajuk, Banu's evil lover who convinced everyone that Bamsi was dead, Bamsi Beyrek happily got his love, Banu Chichek, and married her.

Korkut appeared as a character in this epic, he helped Bamsi outwit Chichek's evil brother, Crazy Karchar. Karchar later repented.

He was then later mentioned again in Legend XI, this epic was focused on a civil war which happened between the Outer Oghuz and the Inner Oghuz. Once every three years Kazan Khan lets both branches of the Oghuz nobles come to his tent and take anything they wish. One year, he lets the Inner Oghuz come to his tent before the Outer Oghuz arrived. The Outer Oghuz nobles were outraged at being slighted, and they swear enmity to Prince Kazan. Beyrek was from the Inner Oghuz and his wife[a 2] was from the Outer Oghuz. Uruz Koja,[a 3] the Bey of the Outer Oghuz, invites Bamsi Beyrek, his son-in-law, to join the rebels in an effort to test his loyalty. Beyrek refuses to rebel against Kazan, and Uruz kills him. Kazan and the Inner Oghuz come to the Outer Oghuz to avenge Beyrek's death. In the ensuing fight, Kazan kills Uruz Koja. The Outer Oghuz nobles beg Kazan's forgiveness, which he grants, and Uruz Koja's house and lands are pillaged.

His story begins in Diriliş: Ertuğrul where he is orphaned after the Mongols kill his family, and is raised by Hayme Hatun and Süleyman Şah, and becomes a close friend and companion of Ertuğrul Bey. At first, he didn't want to get married and thought of his horse as his wife and his two swords, that he used to fight with, as his children, however, after meeting a Byzantine Tekfur's daughter, he immediately fell in love with her, her name was Helena. Helena's father had been killed by his own adoptive son. The killer's name was Vasilius. Vasilius thought that he could manipulate Helena into believing him that Ertuğrul had killed the Tefkur and then marry her later. However, Bamsı showed the truth about Vasilius to her and married her.[7][8] Ertuğrul also kills Vasilius later in a fight when Vasilius attempted to capture the Sultan of the Selçuk Sultanate of Rum. Helena also converted to Islam and changed her name to Hafsa.[7][8] Later, they got their daughter, Aslıhan,[7][8] who was skilled with a sword, and their son Aybars,[7][8] who at first loved to read and study but later, to make his father happy, started using the sword more often too. In season 4, he became the Chief Alp, succeeding his blood brother, Turgut, and preceding his companion, Abdurrahman Gazi in Diriliş: Ertuğrul.

After 10 or 15 years, into Kuruluş: Osman, where Hafsa and Aslıhan die in a plague and Aybars is also martyred, Beyrek supports Ertuğrul's son Osman, no matter what and even leaves the tribe with him after his trails. He also helped convert Aybars' killer, Salvador, to Islam, who then converted and renamed himself as Sıddık. He also became Beyrek's adoptive son but was later killed, Bamsı became just as sad for him as he was sad for Aybars. He was really upset upon Ertuğrul's death, even the actor, Nurettin Sönmez, said he was left "teary-eyed".[9]

Bamsı Beyrek was a very loving person especially to his wife and children, he would count the days since they died and wouldn't stop remembering them for anything. He also treated his adoptive son, Sıddık, with as much love as he did for his son, Aybars. He was jolly nearly all the time, had a funny character by nature, and would joke a lot. His fighting style was also unique as he used two swords rather than one and he was an aggressive warrior.[8][7]

In Diriliş: Ertuğrul, Banu Chichek[b 3] also made an appearance, however, she married Beyrek's best friend, Doğan Alp.[7][8] In the same way, another character from the Book of Dede Korkut, Selcan Hatun, also made an appearance in the series.[10] Selcan later appeared again in the sequel to the show, Kuruluş: Osman, with Bamsı. Both the Dumrul Alps in the two series are also characters from the Book of Dede Korkut.[11]