Malory's narrator is, for the most part, unobtrusive. His focus is solidly on the story, moving us forward in plot and time. When he does intrude upon the narrative, he does so typically with set phrases such as “Now leve we of this mater” or “And so I leve here of this tale” (Works 769.1 and 1154.1). Occasionally the narrator will break into the story, to address the audience in his own voice. At these points, the narrator's voice cannot be distinguished from Malory's. For example, the narrator praises the young Tristram with the comment “he laboured in huntynge and in hawkynge – never jantylman more than ever we herde rede of” and remarks when he is unhorsed, “Here men may undirstonde that bene men of worshyp that man was never fourmed that all tymes myght attayne, but somtyme he was put to the worse by malefortune” (Works 375.16–18 and 484.18–20, emphasis mine). Such comments sometimes make the narrator sound like a chivalric apologist, but they also remind us of Malory's lived presence behind the narrative. More than that, they suggest the community of “gentlemen” and “men of worship” that the author envisioned as his audience.

Regarding Malory's identity, we know with certainty only what we can derive from his book. In the explicits the author specifically reveals his status, identifying himself by formal title and proper name, “Sir Thomas Malleorré knyght” (Works 845.29, cf. 1037.11–12, 1154.18, and 1260.26–7).