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Arthurian Legends - Blog Posts
A few variants of Guinevere's name and my thoughts on them:
Velivera--sounds like you'd put it in a soap, but still mellifluous.
Jennifer--the name of half the women of my mother's generation; sounds less epic than it might once have because it's used too frequently.
Guanhamara--pretty, if a little difficult; reminds me of the character from Chronicles of the Red King.
Gwenhwyfar--the Welsh option, one of the classics.
Vanora--sounds like a pretty normal fantasy name; does not sound like Guinevere.
Ginevra--also sounds fairly normal; a little more recognizable.
Guendoloena--and her less assuming relative Gwendolen; this is also Merlin's wife's name (Geoffrey of Monmouth thought it was a good wife name, apparently).
Gaynour--I like the sound, but it would be mocked mercilessly in a modern middle school.
Guilalmier--I like it. Not as classic, maybe, but charming enough.
Wenneuereia--"Can you spell that one more time, please?" I had to check Wikipedia for the spelling of this one.
Ntzenebra--from The Old Knight, the only surviving Arthurian romance in Greek. Very cool.
G(ui/we)n(n)(i)ev(i)(e)r(e)--the closest thing we have to a standard formula of the name is this. You can add some letters or you can take away some letters, and the vibes will change, but it will still be the same in essence and pretty recognizable, unlike...
Winlogee--the coup de grâce. My feelings on this one are complicated, but I feel it can speak for itself.
A few things which are “canon” somewhere for people who are worried they’re stretching it too far
Arthur was killed by a giant cat.*
Arthur killed the cat.
Arthur didn’t fight the cat. Kay did.
Kay and Bedivere use salmon as taxis.
Lucan is half giant, half lion. (This Lucan, Lucano in the original Italian, is evil and not related to Bedivere).
King Arthur raided the land of the dead.
The human knight Caradoc Briefbras has three half siblings: a dog, a horse, and a pig.
A large portion of Arthur’s troops was killed a while before Badon by his nephew’s attack ravens in self-defense. Arthur and said nephew were playing chess at the time and neither did much to stop it. [Edit: before Badon, not Camlann, which has apparently already happened despite Arthur and Mordred being alive]
Merlin retired peacefully and went to live in the countryside with his also-magic sister Ganieda, Taliesin, and another of their friends. [Edited]
Wherever Arthur walks, plants die. They don’t grow back for years.
Arthur had a spunky (half?) brother who died in battle after making a mysterious oath.
Dagonet is more or less able to run the kingdom when Arthur is gone. His biggest error is overspending on mercenaries.
Guinevere has an evil almost identical twin half-sister.
Hector beat up all the best knights except for Galahad while possessed by a demon.
Gawain plays tennis.
Gawain has used a chessboard as a weapon.
Near the start of his reign, Arthur left Lot in charge of the kingdom and went on a quest with a sassy parrot.
Gawain or Galahad succeeded Arthur as king.**
*Whether or not this is canon anywhere is a somewhat meta matter. André de Coutance complains that the story that Chapalu/Cath Palug killed King Arthur and conquered England is a slanderous lie while also implying it's widely circulated. He's saying that it's canon in other places and also that it's wrong. As far as I know, no other text mentions a tradition where the cat kills the king.
**Not in different texts--Bhalbhuaidh is either Irish Gawain or Irish Galahad.
💔 for Mordred if you will?
I have a headcanon that Mordred is a little magical, like Gawain and some of his other relatives. I don’t think he’s been trained to use magic, at least not in any grand capacity, or he’d use it in plot-altering ways. Magic is just something that happens to him, like when he doesn’t drown during the May Day massacre.
Where does the angst come in? I headcanon that his powers, which aren’t really within his control, have a dark edge—the shadow to Gawain’s sun. Being around Mordred for too long can do weird things to people, and his presence makes them a bit queasy, even if they like him. Everything around him dies a little. It’s always been that way, he knows it, and it’s part of what drives his arc down: if he acts like a monster, well, some part of him always thought he was one, anyway; and if he’s doomed, well, given what he does, it’s only fair.
I don’t put my own propaganda on the poll blog, but this is technically a separate blog, so I think I’m allowed to show some bias here.
I think it would be excellent if the neglected siblings won. Some of them are awesome and powerful, like Ganieda, Merlin‘s clever seeress sister. Others never get a break, like Lucan, who worked hard to keep things running in the castle while he lived and died in the most selfless and/or ridiculous way. Some of them are just sort of there in the corner, hoping for a scrap of attention. I know nothing about Daniel, but he might be interesting if I got to know him.
Then there’s this:
Arthur has a biological (half?) brother who is known for his battle skills and excellent sense of humor, swears some sort of cryptic oath before dying, and is not featured in any adaptation I’ve heard of. Why isn’t he in adaptations? Because almost no one has heard of him.
In conclusion, these characters are fascinating, and I think it would be great if they got a moment in the spotlight and some symbolic comeuppance on their attention-hog siblings. If they do, then it’s been several centuries in coming.
Alleged A-Listers: Arthur, Bedivere, Galahad, Gawain, Guinevere, Kay, Lancelot, Merlin, Morgan le Fay, Percival, Tristan
Neglected Siblings: Aglovale, Agravaine, Clarissant, Daniel son of Brunor, Dornar, Elaine of Cornwall, Ganieda, Gaheris, Hector de Maris, Kay, Lucan, Madog son of Uther, Safir
I just thought of something which might be really obvious. In the Morte d’Arthur (which I, admittedly, still haven’t read in full), Palamedes and Safir side with Lancelot against Arthur. When I first read that, I thought it seemed slightly random. What just occurred to me is that it makes a lot of sense through the lens of Tristan and Isolde’s death, assuming Palamedes that has made his peace with them and that they’ve already died. Lancelot and Guinevere have some notable parallels with Palamedes’ late friends, and he’s doing what he can to save them the way he couldn’t Tristan and Isolde.
I had a realization the other day:
Gawain was supposed to be the narrator of the Grail Quest.
Before Vulgate cycle and Sir Bors, the only other participant of the Grail Quest was Gawain. Gawain was used as a foil for Percival's story - a counterpart for Percival's character arc.
When reading Chretien's (unfinished) Grail story, it was always funny how Gawain takes up a significant chunk of the tale, but looking back at every version of the Grail cycle, there's this general trend that Percival was never going to return to Camelot to report the entire adventure to Arthur.
Percival's story is meant to end with him staying in the Grail Kingdom. So, someone else had to tell the story so it could be "passed down" and preserved as "history".
And that someone, had to be Gawain, the then-premier hero of the romances and Chretien's favorite.
Gawain isn't just the deuteragonist in Percival's story, he's also the one lives to tell the tale of Sir Percival.
Of Course, Robert de Boron comes along, and suddenly, the Grail Quest is everyone's adventure, but that's a different story...
Let's give a good round of appreciation for Camelot's answer to the Flash: Bedivere
Other translations of Culhwch and Olwen read:
For Comparison, here are Guinevere's servants, Ysgyrdaf and Ysgudydd:
Apparently, these two aren't as fast as Arthur and Bedivere...
I normally don't like Tennyson's narrative around the female characters due to his framing of them being the source of all the faults in Camelot.
But there's a part of this story that often catches my attention and its Guinevere's rejection of Arthur:
Like, I can't help but dig idea that Guinevere rejects Arthur because of his virtue. As if his holy character actively irritates her.
If I was writing, I would take it further and outright imply Guinevere is some kind of demonic being. If Tennyson can get away with turning Arthur into a mysterious, divine entity that Merlin found instead of being born of Uther's misdeeds, then I don't see why I can't apply that to Gwen.
Welsh Myth already provides the idea of Guinevere as a Fae/Giantess so I would just present her as a "Reverse Persephone" -
Guinevere is actually a mysterious girl who came up from the "Kingdom beneath the Earth", "a daughter of a Colossus of Old" and is reared as ward of one of Arthur's vassals. Arthur, being taken by her beauty, took her as his wife. "And so, the Worthiest and Most Righteous King on Earth married a she-devil, the fairest of all her race, and made her his Queen."
The reason she finds Arthur repulsive is because she's a "primal spirit" who was born deep underground and can't stand the presence of someone so "Heavenly", so divorced from "the touch of the Earth". Camelot falls into "sinfulness" because Guinevere is in fact a physical avatar of all Materialism and Worldly Values, both good and bad.
And instead of Guinevere repenting of her actions, I would just take a cue from E.A. Robinson and have Gwen reject Arthur to the very end:
And if Arthur and Guinevere ever meet again, Guinevere could go as far as threaten to eat Arthur - "as is the habit of my kind, says the Queen" - especially if Arthur starts posturing about his (Victorian) morals and being chaste for her.
If there was a way to present Guinevere as a proper Anti-heroine or compelling villainess without the usual sexism/misogyny, this is how I would do it.
She's not so much an actively evil force as she is simply incompatible with the "Blameless" Arthur and indeed, the marriage's eventual failure was inevitable.
But for a time, while the marriage endured, Camelot was the place where the Spiritual and Material meet as fellows and prosperity ensued.
Does anyone know any songs which relate well to Gaheris? He is one of a few gaping holes on my Alarmingly Vast Arthurian Themesong List.
Shoutout to Howard Pyle for shooting down the Lancelot/Guinevere plot line in the funniest way possible.
Arthur, Lucan, Bedivere, and Griflet Incorrect Quote
Arthur: Would you die for me?
Lucan: Of course, my liege. If I had to.
Arthur: Would you die for me?
Bedivere: As the Marshal of Camelot and a man of honor, it is my duty to do whatever is required of me by the throne.
Arthur: Would you die for me?
Griflet: No. That would be stupid. I would hold you in my arms as you died, then burn all your possessions.
Arthur: Out of grief?
Griflet: Yeah. Grief.
Obscure Arthurian text which everyone should read #2: The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne
The name is a bit misleading, since Gawain and Guinevere (here referred to as Dame Gaynour) feature more in the story. The first part concerns their lakeside encounter with the terrifying ghost of Guinevere’s mother, who bemoans her fate, gives Guinevere advice, and doles out prophecies of doom, predicting the death of Gawain and the fall of Camelot to Mordred. The second part is about a fight between Gawain and Galeron, which is more mundane in subject but suggests some of the factors which will make the ghost’s prophecies come to pass.
May I just say, non-condescendingly, that I love how we’re all such nerds about these characters that we take weird, obscure tidbits, like Kai’s laundry list of superpowers (which upwards of 99% of everyone everywhere will never know or care about), for granted as common knowledge.
hello. i was wondering sumn. what makes a knight of camelot ~A Knight of Camelot~? there are so many of them and they’re all different but do they have characteristics in common that are found in the average Famous Knight of Camelot and that when you see you think “ah yes that is very arthurian of them”. i hope my question is not a bother to you and too confusing.
Hi! Like every other answer I ever give, it’s highly dependent on the text.
In the Mabinogion, Arthur’s best knights tend to have special abilities, even magical powers. We all remember Kai’s fun list of attributes.
But generally speaking, fame in Camelot comes from 3 things:
Every successful knight is hot. I don’t make the rules.
They have to be good at beating the snot out of other guys. Obviously.
Branding. I’m so serious.
My basis for this comes from the Vulgate descriptions of the Orkney Bros. Specifically, Gaheriet/Gaheris. Not because he’s famous, but because he isn’t.
It’s no accident that Gaheris never makes it to the big screen the way his brothers do. He is, by design, basic. The quintessential middle child. He doesn’t have a Special Trait (such as Gawain’s courtesy or reputation as a ladies man or noontime powers etc.) and that makes Gaheris forgettable. To be a famous knight, you gotta put your whole pussy into it, in front of a live studio audience, or you won’t be famous no matter how good you are. Makes sense when you think about it!
Not sure if that answers your question, but that’s what I got. Take care. :^)
A post of mine from several months ago about the Perlesvaus self-rearranging forest just wandered across my dash again and made me think about it some more, so I wanted to talk about it a bit.
Perlesvaus, for those who don’t know, is a 13th-century French Arthurian romance. It’s intended to be a continuation of Chretien de Troyes’s Perceval, but it’s mostly known for being completely batshit when it’s known at all. (There’s an old book on Arthurian texts that dedicates a chapter to Perlesvaus and repeatedly speculates that the anonymous author had Something Wrong With Him. This is the longest scholarly treatment of Perlesvaus I’ve been able to find & read.)
Anyway, there’s an odd worldbuilding detail in the text. See, it’s a Thing in chivalric romances that the questing knights happen upon castles & lords & damsels & such that are unfamiliar to them and have to be explained. You know, “this is the Castle of Such-and-Such, where the local custom is as follows. It’s ruled by Lady So-and-So, whose character I shall now describe to you.”
This is a genre convention that largely goes unquestioned, but it’s a bit odd if you think about it. All these knights are at least minor nobility. They don’t know the other nobles in their region? They don’t know what castles are where? Don’t they have, like, diplomatic relations with these people or at least attend the same tournaments? Even if they’re all fully committed to the knight-errant lifestyle and don’t really engage in courtly diplomacy, you’d think they would share information with each other and get the lay of the land. But instead, to use TTRPG terminology, it’s like they’re all on a hexcrawl that was randomly generated just for them to have these adventures.
The author of Perlesvaus decides to address this. In what’s kind of a throwaway paragraph late in the text, he explains that God moves things around so knights always have new quests to do (and, presumably, is also making sure they always arrive at the right narratively-significant moment). So the reason they’re always encountering people & places they have no knowledge of is because those people & places really weren’t there yesterday. They didn’t know about the Castle of Such-and-Such because it’s normally a thousand miles away and the forest path they followed to get there used to lead somewhere else.
And I think that would be a really interesting thing to stick into a novel or a TTRPG or something. When a knight rides into the forest with the intent of Going On A Quest, at some point they go around a bend in the path, cross an invisible barrier, and wind up in the Forest of Narrative. This is a vast forest with no set geography, filled with winding paths and populated almost entirely with questing knights, damsels in search of questing knights, friendly hermits, strange creatures, and allegorical set-pieces. Then, at the narratively-appropriate time, they cross back over the invisible barrier back into the regular world, and find themselves wherever the Narrative has decided they need to be. This could be a different country, a different continent, or a different world entirely.
Whether anyone involved is actually aware that this is how it works is… optional, really. Though if it’s not a Known Phenomenon, the people whose jobs it is to handle trade & diplomacy & god forbid, maps, are going to end up tearing their hair out in frustration.
Six years ago
Me: Knights? Sounds boring. Greek mythology all the way.
Six weeks ago
One of my friends: Something-something-Dwayne Johnson-something…
Me: DID SOMEBODY SAY GAWAIN?!?!?
I just discovered TV Tropes' Wild Mass Guessing page for Arthurian legend. If you haven't read it, check it out. It's absolutely wild. For example, we have...
The theory that Merlin stole Kay’s powers
The theory that Guinevere is sterile segueing into the theory that Arthur is a cis female segueing into the theory that Arthur is Mordred’s mother segueing into the theory that Guinevere is male and Lancelot is gay
The theory that Guinevere wasn’t a historical figure but Arthur and Lancelot were (and Arthur was female)
The theory that Arthur has already returned and its possible Arthur subtheories (Winston Churchill, the Duke of Wellington, Queen Elizabeth I, Prince Harry, Sonic the Hedgehog…)
The theory that Merlin is John the Apostle
The theory that Isolde is Tristan’s mother (ick)
The theory that all versions of the legends, medieval and modern, are retellings by different characters
Also, TV Tropes is a wiki, so you can add your own theories to the page.
The Passing of Arthur by Sidney Harold Meteyard
There used to be a real gothic metal band named Tristania and I don’t know whether that was a coincidence or whether they named it after Tristram’s Tristania. I’m not sure whether I prefer the latter—them appreciating medieval literary characters—or the former—it being a splendid coincidence.
The antidote Palomides procures against death by unrequited love cannot fail to appeal to a modern reader, familiar as we all are with the therapeutic powers inherent in ones creative faculties: 'therewythall he leyde hym downe by the welle, and so began to make a ryme of La Beall Isode and of sir Trystram... [S]ir Palomydes [lay] by the welle and sange lowde and myryly (473-4.86).
— Between Knights: Triangular Desire and Sir Palomides in Sir Thomas Malory's "The Book of Sir Tristram de Lyones" by Olga Burakov Mongan
So the therapeutic powers part is a beautiful interpretation, but also all I can think of now is Tristania modern AU, in which they're all in a band with messy interpersonal relationships and writing songs about each other Fleetwood Mac style.
(Dinadan, the only one not tragically in love with someone, writes weird narrative songs and diss tracks about the people he dislikes)
Being overly invested in the lives of mildly obscure Arthurian characters is like “If you ship Caradoc with anyone other than Guinier or Dinadan with anyone at all then so help me I will go rampaging through the countryside like Lancelot, Tristan, Merlin, Roland (no, not Roland, Roland is a Paladin, to heck with Roland), Dagonet, Yvain…”
The Grail Heroine leading Galahad to the ship, where Percival and Bors wait
Stained glass by Veronica Whall for King Arthur’s Great Halls at Tintagel
Morvran/Sanddef (Sanvran)
I am not only the only person who has tagged a work for Morvran/Sanddef (Arthurian). I’m the only person who has ever tagged for either of those characters on Ao3. They’re both minor knights who are known for surviving Camlann due to their appearances: Sanddef is so handsome that people mistake him for an angel and won’t fight him and Morvran is so hideous/odd-looking (covered in hair like a stag) that people mistake him for a demon and won’t fight him. (Morvran’s anppearance also plays a role in Taliesin’s origin story, inspiring Cerridwen’s actions, though Taliesin gets the awen instead of Morvran and Morvran then disappears from the narrative.) Admittedly, they’re rather obscure and the details about them are sparse, but I feel like they have potential, platonically or romantically. I’d like to think that they fight side by side at Camlann and have no idea why no one is fighting back.
Reblog and put your rare pair in the tags/comments! I want to see the depths people will go to create, for the most random two characters in the most obscure media.
If one-appearance knights are allowed, then Tyolet (from the Lai of Tyolet) has a similar but superior skill set to Percival’s. He too grew up in the forest and he can control wild animals to some degree, like a Disney princess. If he got the mockingjays and/or the mutts on his side, he’d be a force of nature.
Come to think of it, Disney princesses would do really well in the Hunger Games.
Ok if characters from arthuriana were placed in the hunger games arena who do you think would make it out? My controversial opinion is that Perceval would do well because of his survival skills (grew up in forest) and his javelin throwing would give him an advantage
This is a crime.
Arthurian hot takes from before I joined the fandom
Funny story: the way I got into this fandom was a seventh-grade assignment to write an alliterative paragraph using the letter G. Something clicked (or snapped, however you want to look at it) and though I’d never given much thought to the Round Table before, I wrote a paragraph about Gawain, which spiraled into a chapter, which spiraled into an attempt at a novel, which spiraled into a neverending research wormhole and long term fixation. Older and at least a little wiser, I give you ten of my original takes on the characters and how they seem in retrospect.
Guinevere doesn’t really do anything. In my defense, my knowledge of her mostly came from watching the first half of an amateur production of Camelot, which is bound to give anyone the wrong idea.
Mordred is a socially awkward evil wizard. In my book, he made a number of cartoonish villain speeches, mostly to his long-suffering familiar, since no one else would listen. No, I have no idea why I thought he had magic… Is it awful that I kind of like him that way?
Arthur is perfect. Uh…
Gawain is perfect. Uh….
Lancelot is an absolute monster. My version of him was a mix of a guy who bullied me and the god Ares as depicted in D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. Needless to say, he did not have an affair with Guinevere, because she would never cheat on Arthur, because only morally pure characters are good, and she is secretly awesome, even though most people think she doesn’t do anything… Uh… Yeah. I was wrong.
Agravaine is mildly aggravating. Gareth and Gaheris are just sort of there and uninteresting. This opinion was derived entirely from their names.
Morgause is an evil witch but has great style. That sounds more like Morgan.
Morgan is a terrible name. I debated renaming her Marianne or Meredith. Yes, I have seen the error of my ways.
Galahad is a rustic himbo. That was the vibe I got from the name “Gallahad”.
The Lady of the Lake is awesome. I stand by this one and always will.
“The Elder Knight” by Dorothy L. Sayers
Note: the speaker is Galahad; the elder knight is Lancelot. This poem is one of my favorites. It’s unusual in that its version of Galahad is really, really spiteful, and the ending is unforgettable. I.
I have met you foot to foot, I have fought you face to face,
I have held my own against you and lost no inch of place,
And you shall never see
How you have broken me.
You sheathed your sword in the dawn, and you smiled with careless eyes,
Saying "Merrily struck, my son, I think you may have your prize."
Nor saw how each hard breath
Was painfully snatched from death.
I held my head like a rock; I offered to joust again,
Though I shook, and my palsied hand could hardly cling to the rein;
Did you curse my insolence
And over-confidence?
You have ridden, lusty and fresh, to the morrow's tournament;
I am buffeted, beaten, sick at the heart and spent.—
Yet, as God my speed be
I will fight you again if need be.
II.
A white cloud running under the moon
And three stars over the poplar-trees,
Night deepens into her lambent noon;
God holds the world between His knees;
Yesterday it was washed with the rain,
But now it is clean and clear again.
Your hands were strong to buffet me,
But, when my plume was in the dust,
Most kind for comfort verily;
Success rides blown with restless lust;
Herein is all the peace of heaven:
To know we have failed and are forgiven.
The brown, rain-scented garden beds
Are waiting for the next year's roses;
The poplars wag mysterious heads,
For the pleasant secret each discloses
To his neighbour, makes them nod, and nod—
So safe is the world on the knees of God.
III.
I have the road before me; never again
Will I be angry at the practised thrust
That flicked my fingers from the lordly rein
To scratch and scrabble among the rolling dust.
I never will be angry — though your spear
Bit through the pauldron, shattered the camail,
Before I crossed a steed, through many a year
Battle on battle taught you how to fail.
Can you remember how the morning star
Winked through the chapel window, when the day
Called you from vigil to delights of war
With such loud jollity, you could not pray?
Pray now, Lord Lancelot; your hands are hard
With the rough hilts; great power is in your eyes,
Great confidence; you are not newly scarred,
And conquer gravely now without surprise.
Pray now, my master; you have still the joy
Of work done perfectly; remember not
The dizzying bliss that smote you when, a boy,
You faced some better man, Lord Lancelot.
Pray now — and look not on my radiant face,
Breaking victorious from the bloody grips—
Too young to speak in quiet prayer or praise
For the strong laughter bubbling to my lips.
Angry? because I scarce know how to stand,
Gasping and reeling against the gates of death,
While, with the shaft yet whole within your hand,
You smile at me with undisordered breath?
Not I — not I that have the dawn and dew,
Wind, and the golden shore, and silver foam —
I that here pass and bid good-bye to you —
For I ride forward — you are going home.
Truly I am your debtor for this hour
Of rough and tumble — debtor for some good tricks
Of tourney-craft; — yet see how, flower on flower,
The hedgerows blossom! How the perfumes mix
Of field and forest! — I must hasten on —
The clover scent blows like a flag unfurled;
When you are dead, or aged and alone,
I shall be foremost knight in all the world —
My world, not yours, beneath the morning's gold,
My hazardous world, where skies and seas are blue;
Here is my hand. Maybe, when I am old,
I shall remember you, and pray for you.
The back of my Siege Perilous
Going from left to right and down, the symbols stand for Galahad, Percival, Ragnell, Blanchefleur, the Grail Heroine, the Lady of the Lake who gives Arthur Excalibur, Guinier, Gawain, Dinadan, Ector de Maris, Morgan le Fay, Caradoc Briefbras, Griflet, Isolde, Vivian, Taliesin, Tristan, Brunnisend, the Nine Witches, Laudine, the Three Queens or Morgause, Kay, Dagonet, Merlin, Palamedes, Sebile, Guinevere, Igraine, Melora, Yvain, Mordred, and Arthur.
If you’re confused about some or all of them, here’s my rationale/what the symbols are:
Galahad and Percival have slightly different Grails. I think Ragnell is found sitting under a tree, and another story has Gawain in a relationship with the queen of Avalon, isle of the apples. Blanchefleur means “white flower”. The square with the spiral in it is the Grail Heroine’s box of hair. The sword under the wave is fairly obvious. That is the drinking horn from Guinier’s chastity test. Gawain’s is a SGatGK reference. Dinadan’s is an aro ring. Ector de Maris, Griflet, Kay, and Palamedes all have symbols or patterns from their attributed arms. Morgan le Fay takes Arthur to Avalon on a boat. Caradoc has to be saved from a serpent which is wound around his arm. The torch is a Wagner reference. Nimue traps Merlin, whose symbol is the bird who shares his name, so she is represented by a birdcage. Taliesin got his wisdom from a cauldron, and there’s a cauldron in the Preideu Annwfn. Tristan plays a harp. The formation of the relationship between Brunnisend and her eventual husband is defined by their dire yet mutually exclusive needs for a good night’s sleep. The Nine Witches’ symbol seemed cool and has a threefold element. Laudine has a magic fountain. The evolution of the nature and deeds of Anna/Morcades/Morgause/etc. seemed to sort of go with the Maiden, Matron, Crone archetype and I really couldn’t think of anything else. Dagonet eventually became a jester. Yblis, who has a magic mantle, is Sybil scrambled, and there is a strong modern association between magic and capes. Guinevere is sometimes given authority over the knights of the vergescu. My justification for Igraine’s is particularly weak and would take too long to explain. Melora wields the Lance of Longinus. Yvain befriends a lion. Mordred has a broken table because he helped break the Round Table. Arthur is King.
“…Dreams” by Peter Dickinson
Wolves in the roadways, brothers at war,
The sword a tool to be bought and sold,
Savages raiding the eastern shore
And the King old, old.
"Newest of all my knights, now ride,
Quarter my kingdom, search moor and fell.
Find me the mage who stood at my side
When the world was well."
A crazed knight dodders across the hills
Blear-eyed, mumbling and listening at stones.
His armour is rusted away. He feels
Ice in his bones.
The last King lies in a secret grave.
His Caer is sacked and his kingdom gone
Under the savages' conquering wave.
But the search goes on.
Where? Which outcrop on what blank moor?
They swore there was something that could not die.
It might sleep, but would wake when needed . . . Or
Is it all a lie?
On a cliff which the ravens swoop beneath
(He does not see them, but hears their calls)
He lies exhausted and waits for death.
Mild sunlight falls
On limbs and turf . . . There is something there,
Not heard like the calling birds, but felt . . .
A presence filling the tingling air,
Seeming to melt
Times into Time . . . In this Time, this Place
A boy lies watching the ravens' flight,
Not outside, but filling the self-same space
As the dying knight . . .
And others whose times are still to be
Here in this instant, layer within layer,
Mind within mind, like the rings of a tree
Grown fresh each year
Till it holds the centuries, age within age . . .
The last knight dies in the evening dew
Knowing the tale of the sleeping mage
Was a lie, but true.
Nowhere, ever, for him to find
Under any boulder on moor or hill
But buried in minds fresh born that mind
Dreams on, dreams still.
Arthuriana has so many major aspec characters, and it’s fabulous
Here are a few characters who I interpret as aspec:
Dinadan!!! He is an absolute aroace icon. In a source whose name has slipped my mind, Isolde comments on how he ought to be in a relationship and his reaction is something along the lines of, “Yeah, hard pass. How’s that working out for you, by the way?” (Read it with sarcasm).
Galahad, Bors, and the Grail Heroine all seem quite happy about the eternal chastity thing. None of them have any close calls with demon ladies, unlike poor Percival, the one allo person in the friend group. (Yes, Bors has a son, but a cursed ring was involved there, which is why as much as I do not stand Bors’ Morte misogyny, I will always pity him).
Kay is very rarely ascribed romantic relationships, and in one Welsh source, his father prophesies that Kay’s heart will be “eternally cold”, which could be interpreted as never enflamed by love.
Any others who come to mind?