Morgan, Morgause, Mordred, and the Fall of King Arthur

Hello!  I hope you had a lovely week!  Today's post takes us back to wrap up Arthurian legend.  Beginning next week I'm going to be taking a look at Jewish folklore.  Before I begin this post, there's a couple of things I'd like to talk about.

First off, I totally forgot about this blog's anniversary, so we missed it!  My first post, an Intro to Norse Mythology, was published on October 28th, 2014.  That's right - mythdancer has been around for over a year now!  During that time you guys have been amazingly friendly and supportive, and I've loved seeing your enthusiasm for mythology, fairy tales, and folklore.  So, whether you've been reading since the start (thanks Mom!) or have only recently found this blog, thank you for your support.  You're the reason I keep writing these posts.

Next, we are very nearly to 4000 pageviews!  I can't believe it!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Last thing before I get into the post: This coming Saturday I will be at the Bookmans on Speedway and Wilmot for their last Local Author's Fair of the year.  I'll have copies of both Hammerfall and Lovesick, along with a massive number of lightsaber earrings (Come to the dark side!  We have fashionable jewelry!).  If you're in the neighborhood, you should swing by and see me!  You never know who might be there...

Now, on with the post!

Arthurian legend is full of honor, chivalry, and strict ties between knights and their lords.  Unfortunately, it is also fraught with convoluted familial relationships and romances that at times tear the court apart.  One such situation leads to the fall of King Arthur's court, and his disappearance from this world.

I mentioned in my post about Uther that Igraine, the mother of Arthur, had several daughters with her first husband (before Uther killed him).  These girls were married off by Uther to various vassals and lords that he wanted brought under his control.  One of the daughters, Elaine, doesn't really figure into Arthurian legend after this.  Unfortunately, she is the only girl who disappears from the stories.  Her sisters Morgan le Fay and Morgause appear quite prominently.

Now, when I see the name Morgan le Fay I tend to go "Boo!  Hiss!  Evil!"  This reaction is because Morgan is portrayed as a villain in so many parts of popular culture nowadays.  She has been the evil responsible for Arthur's downfall in books, television shows, movies, and videogames.

This is very interesting, because in the original legends Morgan le Fay actually wasn't that bad of a person.  She was depicted in the beginning as a healer who often aided King Arthur and his court. Later the myths changed to make her an opponent of Queen Guinevere (largely because Morgan loved Lancelot, Guinevere's lover), and by extension King Arthur - but she eventually exiles herself to the land called Avalon to study magic and ceases to plague the court.  She even shows up in the end to escort a mortally wounded Arthur to his rest in Avalon.

So how did the Morgan le Fay from the legends become the one now featured so evilly in pop culture?  The answer lies in her other sister, Morgause.  The two women are often combined into one, with Morgan's name and magical prowess merged with the story of Morgause.  It is to Morgause that we now turn.

Morgause, like her two sisters, was married off to a vassal of King Uther.  When the king died she was unaware that he had sired her half-brother, Arthur.  Arthur, being raised away from the court and his heritage, was unaware that he had any half-sisters.  Upon his coronation a dramatic turn of events saw he and Morgause share an incestuous night together - a night that resulted in the birth of a son, Mordred.

In truth, that is about the extent of Morgause's importance to the story.  She bears several sons to her husband, and they and Mordred (raised without knowing his heritage) go on to become knights in King Arthur's court.  Morgause pretty much disappears from Arthurian Legend at this point.

It is to Mordred that we now must turn.  He became a seemingly noble knight for King Arthur, but in reality he often sought to undermine the king's power.  Mordred is often depicted as trying to alert Arthur to the adultery of Guinevere and Lancelot, hoping to plunge the knights into a civil war.  This usually fails, luckily for the court!

Unfortunately, Mordred gets his chance to overturn the order of things when Arthur leaves him in charge while the King wages war far away (sometimes this war is upon Lancelot and his army, since Arthur finally discovered the betrayal of his knight).  Left with no one to stop him, Mordred crowns himself king and seizes Arthur's throne for himself.  He also tries to marry Guinevere - depending on which story you read, she sometimes willingly marries him and sometimes flees to a convent rather than wed him.  In any case, Mordred takes the power of Camelot and has no intention of giving it back.

This is problematic, because when Arthur hears of his young knight's betrayal he marches his army straight back to Camelot to reclaim his throne.  The battle that ensues is known as the Battle of Camlann.  Many died during this battle, which culminated in a confrontation between Mordred and Arthur.  Arthur managed in the end to kill Mordred, but he was struck a mortal blow in the process.

Lying on the battlefield dying, Arthur sends one of his knights to return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake.  The knight tries several times to keep the blade for himself, but Arthur sees through his lies each time.  He eventually gives in to his King's orders and throws the sword into the Lake, where it is reclaimed by the hand of the Lady rising from the deeps.

What happens next is one of the more interesting parts of Arthurian legend (at least to me).  Arthur is taken by a group of women - their identities vary, but they generally include at least one Lady of the Lake and Arthur's half-sister Morgan le Fay.

These women carry the dying king to a boat and escort him to the isle of Avalon, a mystical land of healing.  According to legend, the great king does not actually die.  Instead, he lies on Avalon, regaining his strength until the day of his return.

(Which sounds an awful lot like the story of Fionn, doesn't it?)

With that, I'll end my posts about Arthurian legend for now.  What did you guys think?

As I said at the beginning of the post, next week I'll be starting to take a look at Jewish folklore.  Until then, you guys have a great week!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Mythology in Pop Culture

Hey guys! So tomorrow I'm going to be doing a panel on mythology at my local community college. I needed to type up all of my notes for it, and it struck me as I was doing so that my presentation would make a pretty good blog post. Because of that, you get to read what I'm talking about tomorrow – which is the way that mythology influences pop culture.

Let's start by taking a look at comics, shall we?

Obviously, there's Thor. I wish I could quote Stan Lee and say “ 'nuff said”, but there's actually more to talk about. In both the comics and the myths, Thor is the Norse god of war and storms; Loki is a trickster trying to bring about the downfall of the gods; the Bifrost is a rainbow bridge; and Odin is the king of the gods. Odin is also the god of wisdom. In the myths he has two ravens who fly around the world and tell him everything that they see. One of my favorite parts about Marvel's movie is that in the first Avengers, two ravens fly by when Thor and Loki are arguing – a very nice reference to the original myths!

Although the comics and movie adaptations are awesome, there are quite a few differences between them and the original myths. For one thing, the mythological Thor isn't all that bright. He mostly just wants to hit things with his hammer.

 

Then you have Sif, who is a goddess of fertility and the harvest – she's definitely not a warrior. Perhaps the biggest difference is that Thor and Loki aren't actually brothers! In the myths, Loki is the sworn blood brother of Odin.

Thor may be the most obvious representation of mythology in modern comics, but he's not the only one. Let's move away from him and take a look at the DC comics.

First, you have Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is an Amazonian princess. Some of her origin stories say that Wonder Woman is the daughter of Zeus, king of the Greek gods and lord of the skies. That's right – Wonder Woman is a demigod.

 

Then you have Superman. His story has close ties to the Christian and Jewish faiths – and those ties were written deliberately. There's a story in the book of Exodus about a baby named Moses. During the time period in which Moses was born, the Pharaoh of Egypt had enslaved the Jewish population. Their numbers kept growing, and the Pharaoh feared revolt, so he ordered all baby boys to be killed. To save Moses, his mother put him in a basket and sent him floating down the river. He was adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter and raised by a family not his own. Eventually, Moses grows up to save his people.

Now let's look at Superman's origin story. He was born on a world that's about to be destroyed. His parents put him in a little space-cradle and sent him away to save his life. The cradle carries him to Earth, where he is raised by an adoptive family. Superman goes on to save the world – many, many times.

(This photo was just too hilarious to not share!)

There's definitely some similarities between the two stories – and, like I said, they were put there deliberately. The writer and artist of the original Superman stories were both Jewish. The character of Superman first appeared around the time of World War II, when Jews were facing horrific persecution. Superman's creators wanted to create a figure of hope for their people, so they wove the story of Moses into the character of Superman. Pretty cool, right?

Let's turn away from comics and take a look at another aspect of popular culture. I'm a huge fan of video games – how about you? Do any of you guys play World of Warcraft?

Mythology has influenced a lot of video games, but WoW is a treasure trove of mythology. I can think of about half a dozen different mythologies that show up in World of Warcraft, and that's just off the top of my head – I'm sure there are a lot more. One of those mythologies appears as soon as you go to make a character – the druid.

 

Druids have their origins as sort of priests in Celtic mythology. In the myths they have close ties to nature, and are often depicted as shapeshifters. In various stories druids turn into wolves, bears, boars, swans, and a myriad of other things.

In World of Warcraft the druid class' powers are tied to nature – sun, moon, and plants. Like their mythological counterparts, druids are shapeshifters. These are a few of their various forms.

 

 

Another mythological influence in WoW can be seen heavily in the race of the Trolls. The religion and culture of the Trolls are based on myths from Latin America. An area in WoW called Zul'Drak provides the best example of this. Take a look at the architecture: This is a temple in Zul'Drak.

 

This is the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, found in the Aztec city of Teotihuacan.

 

 

One of the most prevalent figures in Latin American mythology is the god Quetzalcoatl. He appears in the pantheons of several different Latin American cultures, including the Aztec. Quetzalcoatl translates to “the plumed serpent”, meaning a snake covered in feathers.

 

 

Creatures that match this description appear in many places in WoW.

 

 

Let's travel from Zul'Drak and Latin America to the Storm Peaks and the Norse.

 

 

This zone is perhaps the most obvious portrayal of mythology in World of Warcraft – they barely even changed the names! First you have the val'kyr, servants of the Lich King who raise the dead to join his evil army. In Norse mythology the valkyrie are choosers of the slain. They raise worthy dead warriors to a hall called Valhalla, where they have a huge drinking party until the end of days.

Perhaps the most amusing nod to mythology in this zone are the characters of Loken and Thorim. Loken is a nefarious trickster trying to bring down Thorim. Thorim has a hammer named Krolmir.

 

(Thorim with Krolmir)

 (Thor with Mjolnir)

Hmm.

I'd like to look at another genre influenced by mythology: Fairy tales.

How many of you have seen or read Sleeping Beauty? You know the story: a girl is cursed and falls into a 100-year sleep; a wall of roses grows up around her; a dashing prince finds her and wakes her up with a kiss.

Now let me tell you the story that I think inspired Sleeping Beauty – an old Norse saga called the Story of Sigurd.

I mentioned valkyries when I was talking about WoW. In addition to being choosers of the slain, valkyries were also able to influence the outcomes of mortal battles. When the Story of Sigurd begins, a young valkyrie named Brynnhilda has been ordered by Odin, king of the gods, to let one specific side win a battle. Instead, she allows the other side to win.

Not a good mistake to make when your boss is king of the gods.

To punish Brynnhilda, Odin locks her away in a castle and curses her to sleep until a man comes along and wakes her up. She will then marry this man. Odin does take some pity on Brynnhilda – he raises a wall of fire around the castle, so that only a truly brave man will be able to reach her.

That's right. Odin is Maleficent.

 

 

(They even have matching birds!) 

Brynnhilda is eventually woken up by a man named Sigurd, and the two fall in love. Unfortunately, unlike in Sleeping Beauty, the duo do not live happily ever after. Sigurd is given a potion that makes him forget about Brynnhilda. He marries someone else, and his brother-in-law finds and marries Brynnhilda. The jealous valkyrie talks her husband's brothers into killing Sigurd. She then kills herself by jumping onto Sigurd's funeral pyre.

Yeah, Norse stories aren't really known for their happy endings. If it makes you feel any better, a horse was found missing from the stables and a stablehand said he saw Sigurd and Brynnhilda riding off into the sunset together.

But I digress. The Story of Sigurd differs vastly from Sleeping Beauty in its ending, but the core concepts are pretty darn similar.

 

 

Let's look now at one of my favorite parts of modern pop culture: Star Wars.

Is anyone else totally psyched for the new movie? Because I sure am!

Anyway, Star Wars has some of its roots in Arthurian legend. You have a bunch of knights running around trying to save the galaxy from evil. They help the innocent, protect the weak, and are generally seen as virtuous – at least, until they turn evil themselves. That's pretty similar to King Arthur and his knights, right?

Well, Star Wars also has heavy ties to Buddhism. Let's take a look at the Jedi Code, which states:

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force.

In Buddhism there is a concept called The Four Noble Truths. These truths state that:

1. There is suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by desire and ignorance.
3. Suffering can be ended by putting aside one's desires.
4. The fourth noble truth details an Eightfold Path to enlightenment, which leads to the end of suffering and desire. This path includes moral conduct, meditation, and wisdom.

I see a lot of Buddhism in the Jedi Code. If you give up emotion, you will not suffer, so you will be at peace. Ignorance can cause suffering, so it follows that knowledge can prevent suffering. Without passion, one will not desire, so one will not suffer from their desires.

So...I guess the Jedi are a sort of Knight/Buddhist monk hybrid?

 

I hope you guys found this interesting! I really love seeing how mythology influences pop culture, and the way that pop culture adapts mythology to suit its own needs. What have you watched (or read, or played, or heard) that you can see mythological ties in?

The Ladies of the Lake

Hey there! How are you? I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

I mentioned in an earlier post that there was more than one Lady of the Lake in Arthurian legend. In this post I'm going to take a closer look at them.

The Lady of the Lake is a figure who shows up quite often in Arthurian Legend. The Lady is almost always a helpful figure to King Arthur. It was a Lady of the Lake who gave Arthur the magic sword Excalibur, which helped grant him the right to rule. (Of course, to quote Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail: "strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government".) Upon King Arthur's death, Excalibur is returned to a Lady of the Lake by one of his knights. A Lady of the Lake is also responsible for helping Lancelot rise to such prominence in King Arthur's court – although, given his eventual betrayal of King Arthur, that might not be such a good thing. King Arthur's body is escorted to the mystical land of Avalon by several women, one of whom is a Lady of the Lake.

Interestingly, women with the title of the Lady of the Lake are also sometimes quite nefarious and evil. I mentioned in my post about Merlin that a Lady of the Lake named Nimue used Merlin to learn magic and then trapped him in a tree, leaving him to die. Not something you'd think an ally of Arthur would do, right? Before that happens, another figure called the Lady of the Lake shows up at King Arthur's court and is beheaded by a knight named Balin. According to Balin (whose tale is backed up by Merlin), the Lady of the Lake had killed his mother. According the the Lady of the Lake (before she was killed), Balin had killed her brother. The best part? The Lady who gets decapitated is the same Lady who gave Arthur Excalibur! So who, exactly, is the sword returned to after Arthur's death?

As you can see, the Lady of the Lake is a figure who seems to have multiple aspects. Shortly after one dies, another woman with the same title appears. To me, the simplest explanation of the many Ladies is that there's more than one lake in Britain; ergo, there might be many Ladies of the Lake. These ladies go by quite a few names as authors attempt to differentiate them from one another. The names I've heard most often are Nimue, Nineve, Vivianne, and Elaine.

One of my favorite stories about a Lady of the Lake is about a knight named Pelleas. Pelleas had fallen in love with a woman of noble blood named Ettard, but she spurned him and wanted nothing to do with him. The knight was so in love that he allowed himself to be taken captive by Ettard's guards every day. They took him back to her castle and beat him, but Pelleas thought the pain was worth it because each day he got to see Ettard for a few minutes.

It happened that a knight named Gawain, one of King Arthur's knights, came upon Pelleas as Ettard's guards were capturing him. Gawain fought them off and asked Pelleas why he was allowing himself to be so beaten. Upon hearing Pelleas' story, Gawain was moved and promised to go and woo Ettard for the other knight. Gawain swore that he would win Ettard's favor and her hand in marriage, and then give her to Pelleas to marry.

Well, the first part of Gawain's plan worked out alright. He won Ettard's favor. Unfortunately for Pelleas, Gawain fell in love with Ettard and completely forgot about his oath. He wooed the woman for himself, not for Pelleas.

After a few days had passed without word from Gawain, Pelleas went to find out what was going on. 

He walked in to find Gawain and Ettard asleep in one another's arms. Filled with rage at the betrayal, Pelleas drew his sword and prepared to kill the duo – but he couldn't bring himself to do it. His love for Ettard was too great. Instead, the knight left his sword beside them and went home. He dismissed his servants and resolved that he would starve himself to death.

When Ettard and Gawain woke up, she immediately recognized Pelleas' sword. Both were ashamed by their betrayal of the knight.

As it happened, one of Pelleas' servants happened across Nineve, a Lady of the Lake. She asked where he was going, and the servant explained everything that had happened to his master. Nineve was enraged and demanded that the servant take her to Pelleas. Upon seeing his sorrow, she cast him into an enchanted sleep. Nineve then went and fetched Ettard, and shamed her for having broken Pelleas' heart.

(This version calls her Nimue, for some reason.)

But Nineve was not done. She cast a spell on Ettard that made her love Pelleas as much as he had loved her. Ettard flung herself to her knees beside Pelleas, crying for the pain she had inflicted upon her beloved. This woke up Pelleas, who opened his eyes and found that he quite hated Ettard for her treatment of him.

The story ends with Ettard dying of a broken heart. Pelleas leaves the country along with Nineve. He falls in love with the Lady of the Lake, and the two marry. They have a son together, and live happily ever after.

I'm not sure why I like the story so much. I think it might be because Nineve was so furious at the way Ettard had been messing with Pelleas' heart. It just makes me happy!

What did you guys think?

I'm sorry to post and run, but NaNoWriMo has begun and between that and school I am crazy busy.  (Don't know what NaNoWriMo is?  It's short for National Novel Writing Month.  During the month of November writers are challenged to write 50,000 words.  I've done it for four years now - both of my books were written during NaNoWriMo.)  I've got posts planned for the rest of the month, but I'm not sure how many more will be about Arthurian legend.  I'll keep you posted as I learn more!

I'll see you next week!

Merlin the Prophet

Hey guys! How are you? How was your week?

This post we're talking about Merlin, a figure who has been portrayed in a wide variety of mediums. When I think of Merlin, I always think of him as a wizard – a sort of Gandalf-esque figure, if you will. This is because a lot of different modern adaptations of Merlin focus on him as a wizard, a being with magical powers. He had these powers in the original stories, but they have been thoroughly expanded on until the wizard aspect of Merlin overcame his original role in Arthurian legend – that of a prophet.

The story of Merlin's birth is an interesting one. He was born the child of a woman (sometimes a noble, sometimes a nun) and an incubus. The word incubus is not used often in modern American culture, so I'd like to explain it a little. An incubus is a male demon who is incredibly handsome and possesses great powers of seduction. They impregnate females, and the resulting child is usually evil given their part-demonic nature. There is a female version of an incubus, called a succubus, who is seen more often in recent pop culture.

 

(For instance, the succubus is one of the demons a Warlock in World of Warcraft learns to summon.)

Anyway, Merlin's mom was impregnated by an incubus. She confessed what had happened to a priest, and he was able to bless the child so that when Merlin was born, he was not evil. However, Merlin maintained some of the powers he had inherited from his demonic father – notably, a gift for prophecy. He knew the past and was able to see the future, which came in handy when Merlin began to aid first Uther and then Arthur.

One unique catch to Merlin's prophetic abilities was the fact that he had to abide by what he saw in the future. In one story, Merlin becomes the tutor of a woman gifted with magical abilities. The woman has many names in the various translations of the story, but I'm going to stick with Nimue. (Remember the name – it will be important in a few posts!) Merlin falls in love with Nimue and teaches her everything that he knows.

Unfortunately, Merlin also sees that Nimue will betray him and imprison him in a magical tree, leading to his death. He knows that this will happen, but is unable to change the future he has seen – just as he is unable to prevent Arthur's eventual death.

I find this concept fascinating. Let me ask – if you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be? I've known a lot of people who wanted to be able to see the future. It makes sense; if you could see the winning lottery numbers, or whether your crush would ever like you back, you could make your life a lot better...or so a person might think. But Arthurian legend explores another side to the power of prophecy – what if you knew what was going to happen, but were unable to stop it? What if you saw your own death, but couldn't do anything to prevent it? How would you like to see all of your friends die horribly in a vision, then have to live with them knowing that just such a thing would come to pass?

It's a horrible idea, but one that the stories in Arthurian legend play out well.

As I said, Merlin eventually became known more as a wizard than as a prophet. His abilities were made more magical as the stories were retold, and eventually his role as a prophet was almost forgotten. Instead, stories focus on his ability to shapeshift, to teleport from place to place, or other various and sundry magical tricks.

(Anyone remember this shapeshifting duel from The Sword in the Stone?)

But, originally, Merlin was a prophet – and his powers were as much a curse as they were a blessing, given their origin in a demonic father.

I hope you guys found the post interesting! I really do want to know – if you could have any superpower, what would it be?

We'll be taking a short break from Arthurian legend for the next two weeks. I have two very special posts written up...so stay tuned, and I'll see you next Monday!

Arthur and the Sword in the Stone

Hello! I hope your weekend was as totally utterly amazing as mine was. I got to go to a reptile and amphibian exhibit yesterday. There were crocodiles and alligators (one of which I got to pet!!!), some gorgeous snakes and lizards, and for some reason a mammal-filled petting zoo. The capybaras were adorable, as was the gargantuan bunny (20+ pounds – bigger than my cats! Soooo soft and fluffy) – but the porcupine named Cuddles took the cake. Yes, I spent yesterday petting a porcupine's head and getting my hand thoroughly licked in return. Kind of (read: totally) an awesome day.

Anyway, on to today's post!

 I think most of us have probably heard some variation of the story of the Sword in the Stone. The story has Arthur heroically withdrawing the sword from its magical entrapment in the stone (as the name implies). Maybe you've read about it, or seen it in one of these shows/movies. However, the original story is...a little different than you might be familiar with.

For starters, what is the sword that Arthur pulls from the stone? It is frequently assumed to be and portrayed as being Excalibur, the great sword that King Arthur made famous. That assumption is false. There are actually a lot of swords with magical origins in Arthurian legend. Excalibur is a sword given to Arthur during his kinghood (kingship? Let's go with reign) by a Lady of the Lake. (I say a Lady of the Lake because there are actually several women with that title that appear in Arthurian legend. I'll talk more about that in a later post.) Arthur replaces the Sword in the Stone – which, as far as I know, never had another name - with Excalibur as soon as he gets it.

The next major difference between the original legend and modern portrayals lies in Arthur's claiming of the sword. Arthur is frequently shown taking the Sword in the Stone as an adult or older teenager. In fact, he took the sword before he was 10 years old. Even those stories that get Arthur's age right tend to show Arthur claiming the sword and the kingship for himself. In fact, Arthur was considerably more humble than that. Let me tell you the story.

In last week's post I talked about King Uther, Arthur's father. Arthur was born of a union between Uther and Igraine – and the boy was promised to Merlin in exchange for the wizard's...”matchmaking skills”. As soon as Arthur was born Merlin took him and gave him to the knight Sir Ector to be raised.

 

Neither Ector nor Arthur knew of the child's royal origins.

Not long after giving up his son, Uther took ill. The king did not survive for long – only a few years after the birth of his son. Finally, the end drew near. On his deathbed Uther summoned his advisers, including Merlin. Under the wizard's prompting, Uther named his son Arthur his heir and the future king. Uther then died.

Of course, there were a few problems with this. Firstly, none of the advisers (save Merlin, of course) knew who Arthur was. The wizard also faced a dilemma – Arthur was still incredibly young. Were he to take the throne now, youthful and untrained as he was, Arthur would risk being used as a puppet king. Merlin needed to figure out a way to stall for time.

The death of the king left a serious power vacuum. Many lords were wealthy and had large armies, and they expected to be crowned king since no heir was readily apparent. To thwart them, Merlin went to the Archbishop and asked him to summon every noble to the city on Christmas. Merlin swore that God would provide some miracle to show who He would make king.

The nobles all answered the summons, and come Christmas morning they were found praying in the church. When they left, a great stone stood in the middle of the yard. Within the stone was a sword, and an inscription on the rock read that whoever was able to pull the sword from the stone was the rightful king.

(Sounds a little bit like Marvel's Thor and Mjolnir, doesn't it?)

 

Of course, everyone rushed to try and withdraw the sword – but none were successful. Realizing that the rightful king was not present, the Archbishop declared that a great tournament would be held to draw all of the knights of the realm to the city.

Let me back up and change perspectives for a little bit. Arthur had grown up and been educated in his foster father's house. (In some stories, Arthur's education was helped along a bit by some tutoring from Merlin himself.) Sir Ector and his wife also had a son who was several years older than Arthur, a boy named Kay. Kay had recently been made a knight, and his family – including Arthur – were quite proud of this fact.

When news of the great tournament to be held reached Sir Ector's house, Kay immediately wanted to go and compete. His wish was granted, and the day of the tourney came. Ector and Arthur went with Kay to the tournament grounds, where Ector went to find a seat while Arthur helped his foster brother to prepare.

Unfortunately, Kay had been so excited to compete in his first tournament that he had left his sword at home! Kay began to panic and sent Arthur to retrieve his sword and bring it to him before the tournament began.

Arthur raced home, eager to help his foster brother. To his dismay, he found the house locked, since everyone was at the tournament to watch Kay.

Unwilling to fail his foster brother, Arthur came up with a plan. He had heard of a sword just sitting in the churchyard, waiting for someone to claim it. Arthur hurried to the church and easily pulled the sword from the stone.

 

 

He then returned to the tournament and gave it to Kay.

Kay immediately recognized the sword – and, unlike Arthur, he knew the story behind it. He called Ector to him; as soon as his father arrived, Kay said that he had the Sword in the Stone – which made him the rightful king. And Arthur did not protest!

Ector was shocked by the news, but he recognized the sword. He took Kay and Arthur to the church, where he asked Kay how he had come by the sword. Kay replied that his brother Arthur had brought it to him. Ector then turned to his foster son and asked how he had found the sword. Arthur told the story to them casually, not realizing the significance.

Upon hearing of how Arthur had pulled the sword from the stone, Ector asked him to put it back in. Arthur easily slid the sword back into the rock. Both Ector and Kay tried to remove the sword, but they could not. Ector then asked Arthur to reclaim the sword, and the boy did so. Upon seeing this, Ector and Kay bowed down to Arthur as their rightful king.

Of course, the lords of the land were not pleased to hear that a boy had done what no knight or noble could do. Twice they tested his right to the kingship by having the sword placed back into the rock. All the knights and lords tried to remove it, and they all failed. Only Arthur was able to claim the sword.

At last, after tests and protests, the commoners cried out that they loved Arthur, and that he was their rightful king. The boy was crowned, and he became a fair and just ruler, much loved by all.

And so you have the story of the Sword in the Stone! I find it very interesting that the sword is not placed in the stone by magic – at least, not according to Merlin. He claimed that God would show the rightful king. Are we then to assume that the sword was placed by divine providence? Or did the wizard work a little magic to help God's plan along?

What did you guys think? Did you know this version of Arthur's story, or was it new to you?

I'll see you next week with a post about Merlin himself!

Uther Pendragon

Hey there!  This post is going up a little early, since I'm going to be super busy tomorrow.  I figured early was better than late, right?
Did any of you see the eclipse?  I was quite lucky to have borrowed some binoculars from my grandfather for a different astronomy project.  My brother called to let me know about the eclipse, and I was able to use the binoculars to get a closer look.  It was quite lovely - I hope you got a chance to see it!

This week's post is about a character named Uther.  It's kind of sad that I'm more familiar with the Uther of World of Warcraft than I am with the Arthurian one.  While writing this post I kept referring to him as "Uther the Lightbringer" in my head.

Anyway!  On to the post!

Before I talk about Arthur it is important to discuss the circumstances behind his birth.  The story of Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, showcases just how important Arthur was.  Uther's story shows that the great wizard Merlin had an interest in Arthur before he was even conceived.  The story also sets the stage for many events to follow, including the birth of Gawain, one of Arthur's knights, and Mordred...who would one day kill Arthur.

But I've jumped ahead in the story.  Let me start at the beginning.

Uther was not originally a king.  He was the youngest son in his family, and so it was his elder brother who inherited the throne when Uther's father died. Uther was a loyal brother and did not seek power for himself.  Instead, he fought his brother's battles for him.

During a campaign against a nearby kingdom Uther met the wizard Merlin, who aided him in his endeavors.

It was Merlin who bestowed the epithet of "Pendragon" upon Uther.  While out riding one day Uther spotted a comet shaped like a dragon shooting across the sky.

(One wonders if this was the inspiration for the comet in A Song of Ice and Fire...)

Uther pointed the comet out to Merlin, who took it as a portent of things to come.  The wizard claimed that the comet showed the coming death of Uther's brother, and Uther's subsequent rise to power.  Based on the shape of the comet he named him Uther Pendragon.  Basically, the title translates to "leader of warriors".

Shortly after this, Uther returned to his lands and found that his brother the king had been murdered.  Uther became king in his stead, and he adopted the dragon as his symbol because of the comet.

King Uther ruled well for a time.  Eventually his army won a great battle and Uther threw a celebration for his victory.  Many of Uther's allies attended the party - one was a man named Gorlois, who brought his beautiful wife Igraine with him.  As soon as he saw her Uther fell in love with Igraine - which was somewhat awkward, since she was married and all.

When he made his feelings known to Igraine, she and her husband fled from the king.  Gorlois hid his wife in a well-defended castle.  Thinking her safe from Uther, Gorlois walled himself away in another castle and prepared to fight all the king's horses and all the king's men.

Completely smitten with Igraine, Uther started a war to win her.  Gorlois' and Uther's men clashed on the fields, and there were many casualties on both sides.

Unfortunately for Gorlois, Uther had a wizard as an ally.

Uther called upon Merlin, who went to the king's aid.  In exchange for his help, Merlin extracted from Uther a promise that anything which resulted from his night with Igraine would belong to Merlin.  Uther readily agreed.

The wizard fashioned a spell which would disguise Uther, temporarily making him look like Gorlois.  Merlin instructed the king to go and spend the night with Igraine before returning to his forces.  He cautioned Uther to not say too much during the night; the more he spoke, the more likely Igraine was to realize that Uther wasn't her husband.

I'm torn about how to feel about this.  On the one hand, Merlin is pretty much the ultimate wingman here.  On the other hand, Uther is plotting to sleep with a woman who wants nothing to do with him, while trying to kill her husband.  There's some seriously disturbing undertones of rape and adultery here, for all that the story is told from a romantic point of view.

What interests me most about this part of the story are the parallels it has to a couple of other famous stories.  First off: the tale of King David from the book of 2 Samuel.  David falls in love with the wife of one of his soldiers.  He plots to kill her husband, and sleeps with her while the man is out in the field.  Eventually David manages to get the soldier killed and takes the woman as his own wife.  However, he never adopts the form of her husband.  No, that tactic is more along the lines of Greek mythology.  It was one of Zeus' favorite techniques to sleep with a married woman.

I found it quite interesting that the story of Uther and Igraine blended elements from Greek and Jewish stories.

Anyways, Uther successfully spends the night with Igraine.  In the morning he leaves to return to his war camp.  Upon arriving, King Uther is greeted with joyous news: Gorlois was slain in battle during the night.

Of course, Igraine isn't particularly joyful when she hears the same news.  It isn't just that she's mourning her husband's death; Igraine is a smart woman, and she realizes that the man who left her that morning could not possibly have been Gorlois.  Afraid, Igraine keeps silent on the matter.  To admit to sleeping with a man she wasn't married to would have been a great crime - she could have been tried and punished for adultery.

Uther still wants Igraine, so during the truce that follows Gorlois' death he asks for her hand in marriage.  Igraine has been left in charge of her husband's forces, but her advisors tell her that they cannot hope to beat Uther's armies.  Left with no choice, Igraine reluctantly agrees to wed King Uther and become his queen.

It takes a month or two for the wedding to be finalized and the vows exchanged.  Shortly after the wedding, it becomes obvious that Igraine is pregnant.  The poor woman is terrified when Uther asks her who the father is.  She confesses everything that happened the night of Gorlois' death.  Igraine swears that she doesn't know who impregnated her, since he looked like Gorlois.

At this point Uther finally spills the beans.  He admits that he disguised himself with magic to have sex with her.  Since they're now married, Igraine has nothing to fear - the child will be legitimate.  (Bastards were very looked down upon in those times - as was the mother who birthed one, particularly if she was noble.  Igraine had very good reason to be terrified.)

I really do feel bad for Igraine.  Uther not telling her the truth as soon as they were married - and particularly his confronting her about being pregnant with another man's child - is just cruel.  The books I've read try to romanticize his actions, but it's kind of hard to make such things sound pretty.

Still, something good came of the act.  Several months later the child of Igraine and Uther was born.  He's kind of famous - maybe you've heard of him: Arthur.  As soon as the child was born Merlin whisked him away, sending him to be the foster son of a knight named Sir Ector.

As far as the king is concerned - unfortunately, Uther's choice in women would eventually catch up to Arthur, and one day lead to his death.  Igraine had a few kids from her previous marriage, you see.  One was a daughter named Morgan le Fey.  The other, also a girl, was called Morgause.  In a very Luke/Leia plot twist, Arthur would grow up to sleep with Morgause (without knowing she was his half sister).  The child of this union, Mordred, would grow up to kill his father...but that's a story for another time!

What did you guys think?  Is Uther a colossal jerk or what?

If you're familiar with the TV show Merlin, the story is quite a bit different from the legends.  However, King Uther is portrayed brilliantly by Sir Anthony Stewart Head.

I confess to only having seen the first season of Merlin, quite a while ago - before I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer and realized how much I adore its character of Giles, also played by Head.  Have you guys seen Merlin?  Should I revisit the show?

Have a great week!

Intro to Arthurian Legend

Hey guys!  Once again, I apologize for the lateness of this post.  I came down with an ear infection on top of recovering from having my appendix removed, and looking at the computer screen made my head spin like crazy for several days.  I'm slowly getting better, but this post is likely to be a bit shorter and more brusque than usual due to my medical stuff.  Hope you all are doing well!

Arthurian legends are the stories about King Arthur and his knights.  While some of the stories take place before his birth, and some after his death, they all revolve around Arthur - hence the title of Arthurian.

But who is King Arthur?  It has been debated as to whether he actually existed in history, or whether he is entirely made up.  If Arthur did exist, his exploits have been drastically exaggerated in the tales told of him.  Arthurian legend is called such because legends may or may not have had some historical basis.

The stories of King Arthur originated as early as the 6th century.  The tales modern audiences are most familiar with come from a book from the late 15th century.  In the hundreds of years between them huge changes were made to the original stories.  Additional characters were added; those that already existed were hugely embellished.  More drama became present, as did large quantities of romance and unrequited love.  Magic grew in importance, and family trees became complicated as unbeknown incestuous relationships were formed (think Luke and Leia from the first Star Wars).

For a long time most of the stories of Arthurian legend were told in the form of poems.  Perhaps the best known of these poems was the French Vulgate cycle  (When I say poems, I mean as in epics like Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.  These things were long.)  That changed when a knight named Thomas Mallory was imprisoned.  Mallory spent his confinement adapting the Vulgate cycle into a prose form for English audiences.  Several French concepts, such as that of courtly love (a complicated concept that I'll explain more in a later post), were discarded or modified into something that Mallory thought made more sense.  He called his book Le Morte d'Arthur - The Death of Arthur.  (Spoilers!  In the very title!)Le Morte d'Arthur was published in 1485.  Most later adaptations of Arthurian legend stem from this book.

 

As I mentioned, Arthurian legend is full of drama and heartbreak.  You start off knowing that the main character is going to die - of course there's drama!  It focuses on Arthur and his various family and friends.  Main characters include Lancelot, Merlin, Guinevere, Uther, Galahad, Morgan le Fay....the list goes on and on.  We'll focus more on specific characters in later posts.  Many of the cast of Arthurian legend show up in popular culture, ranging from the BBC TV show Merlin to Disney's Sword in the Stone to the many books by T. A. Barron.

Of course, if I'm going to talk about popular culture references to Arthurian legend, there are two things I must mention.  Firstly, the TV show The Librarians.  The Librarians is a spin-off of a movie series that I've watched and enjoyed for years - very cheesy, but very fun.  The TV show has a great cast (Christian Kane, anyone?) and some rather lovely nods to Arthurian legend.  Morgan le Fay shows up, and several characters have their own mysterious ties to Arthurian legend.  I definitely recommend the show!

The other thing I want to mention is a movie called Quest for Camelot.  Until recently, Quest for Camelot was about all I knew of Arthurian legend.  I grew up watching the movie, and I absolutely adore it.  It's one of those animated movies that I always think must be a Disney movie because it is so good, but isn't - like Anastasia!  If you love knights, strong characters, musicals, dragons, and touching stories, I highly recommend you watch Quest for Camelot.

I'll be back next week to tell you about Uther, the father of King Arthur.  See you guys then!