Arthurian Mythos

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The Arthurian Mythos is a body of Historical Fantasy works highly beloved in England and France as the single greatest body of myths relating to knights in general and the High Middle Ages (or the Dark Ages, which is when the first stories developed). The Authurian Mythos is part of a larger body of work known as the "Matter of Britain," though it is the best known part of it, and stands in contrast to the "Matter of France," which largely covers the real-life (if embellished) events surrounding Charlemagne. Whilst usually considered the "mythical history" of England, the fact is that much of what the actual person knows as "canon" for this Mythos was actually developed in France by French authors before being largely codified by English and American authors in later years, particularly in the 1800s and 1900s. Even then, due to the way the story developed, its very hard to claim any one version as the definitive canon of Arthurian legend. Popular elements and storylines tend to be pulled and cross-pollinated over a wide variety of sources, with authors mixing and matching them to their preference. To really develop an understanding of the mythos, one would need to look at the broader body of work and understand when and where they came from.

For a brief overview, some of the more influential sources include:

• History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth - First recorded literature featuring Arthur, presented as a pseudo-historic compendium of pre-Norman monarchs. Despite its accuracy being in question, its still considered the most "original" in content as it focuses on Welsh sources and describes Arthur's battles against the Saxons, before ending at Camlann.
• Lancelot, Knight of the Cart & Percival and the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes - One of the earliest French romances of Arthurian Lore, and introduces both Lancelot and the Grail into the canon.
• Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous - One of the best known knight-centric stories
• Tristan and Iseult by Thomas of Britain - A popular story of non-Arthurian origin that got woven into the canon.
• The Vulgate Cycle, aka the Lancelot-Grail cycle - a collection of prose that expands on Lancelot & Guinevere's affair, as well as the Grail Quest
• The Post-Volgate Cycle - a rewrite of the Volgate cycle
• Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Mallory - a late Medieval retelling of Arthurian lore that attempted to take all the many disconnected stories of the canon and compile them into one complete narrative. Mallory is generally considered the more or less "definitive" version when it comes to telling the whole story of Arthur's life.

More recent works that have become important in modern interpretations of the Arthurian myths include:

• Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
• The Once and Future King by T. H. White
• The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Outline

Stop us if you've heard this before... a young boy in England, guided by a mysterious wizard named Merlin, proves he is the destined King of All England when he effortlessly draws a sword from a stone. Arthur united the various warring petty kingdoms of Britain and founded the legendary city of Camelot. Later, given the magical blade Excalibur by a mysterious fey spirit known as the Lady of the Lake, he creates a kingdom where he leads the knightly order known as the Knights of the Round Table, dedicated to the highest principals of chivalric good. They have many adventures together, including seeking out the legendary Holy Grail. Camelot is ultimately toppled when King Arthur is defeated in battle by the evil knight Mordred (largely accepted as his bastard child, possibly by incest at the hands of his trickster witch half-sister Morgana le Fey), only to be ferried away to the Isle of Avalon where he will recover from his wounds and will one day return to save England from its darkest days and rule over it as a wise and perfect king.

More In Depth

The legend of King Arthur appears to have started as a possibly real person from Sub-Roman Britainnia (the Romanized Celts that ruled Britain after the fall of Rome), who fought several battles against Saxon invaders which then got distorted over generations of oral retellings into being a king who did mighty deeds. Over the years these deeds were slowly written down with multiple authors adding their own characters and quests (the French in particular were fond of pushing their Mary Sues into the mythos) until it really began to be properly codified with Geoffrey of Monmouth (though there's good evidence that Arthur's popularity outside of Britain predates even Geoffrey's account). Because the tales were so popular, though, people continued to alter and tweak the stories over the years to put their own spins on them as ideals and virtues changed with society.

So, what is the widely accepted story then?

Uther Pendragon was a warlord who, with the help of Merlin, finally manages to unite much of what would come to be called England under his rule. His final foe, Gorlois of Cornwall, finally bent the knee after being promised land and wealth and invited Uther to his castle to party it up. There Uther meets Gorlois's wife, Igraine, and falls madly in love with her. Wanting her for himself, he wages war once more on Gorlois but the war doesn't really go anywhere so he decides to be sneaky about it and gets Merlin to shapechange him into Gorlois so he could sneak into the castle and get it on with another man's wife. At the same time, Gorlois is killed in battle fighting Uther's men.

This shapechanging, though, comes with a price - Uther must give up his child born from this tryst to Merlin. When the time comes, Uther does so (willingly or not depending on the author), giving his son Arthur up. Merlin then pawns Arthur off on to another Duke who raises him as his own.

Uther later dies (sometimes by being murdered, sometimes in battle) and an age of anarchy descends over the realm for several years. Finally Merlin shows up, demands all of the Dukes to come to him and reveals to them the Sword in the Stone with the statement that whoever can pull it out is the rightful King of England (technically the kingdom's name is Logres since the kingdom wasn't rules by the Angles yet). This finally ends the Anarchy as people try and try and try to pull the sword out, resulting in the place becoming one of grand tournaments and jousting.

Some years later, Arthur (now a squire to the family who has been raising him) shows up and loses his "brother's" sword, running to the Sword in the Stone and effortlessly removes it in hope of giving it to his brother. Word quickly gets out that Arthur pulled it, Merlin shows up and reveals Arthur is Uther's son, and this leads to a civil war which finally ends when Arthur bests those who oppose him, gets knighted and then crowned king. Things still aren't too good though as various neighboring kingdoms and the Saxons show up to wreck shit and Arthur and his knights spend several years fighting them off. It's around this time Arthur meets his future wife Guinevere.

After all that fighting, culminating in the overwhelming victory against the Saxons at Badon Hill, Arthur decides to make a new capital and castle at a site known as Camelot (and historians and literature enthusiasts have fought for centuries to figure out where Camelot is to be found so best of luck figuring it out yourself). He marries Guinevere and around this time finally meets his half-sisters as well.

With peace finally showing up, Arthur gets a little antsy and rides around his kingdom where he meets Lancelot (one of those French Mary Sues mentioned earlier) who duels Arthur for some time. Arthur finally bests him (some stories say by cheating) and Lancelot becomes his greatest knight (until another French Mary Sue names Percival shows up in later stories). Lancelot then meets Guinevere and those two fall madly in love. Early stories make this out to be a great and noble thing tied up in French ideals of courtly passion but most later (and especially modern) stories make this out to be a mighty sin that sets the stage for all sorts of bullshit later one. This is also the time usually agreed upon he gets Excalibur, though some people argue about specifics. Funnily enough Excalibur is just a good sword and it's actually the scabbard that is super magical, able to heal nearly any wound.

Time goes on, quests are had, monsters bested, armies defeated and in some stories Arthur goes off to Europe to conquer Norway, the Netherlands, most of France and even threaten Rome itself before falling back to Camelot. There they finally get the quest to end all quests - TO SEEK THE HOLY GRAIL! (Again, when the Grail is first introduced its just a magic cup, but then later its explicitly identified as the cup of Christ) Arthur was a little hesitant but when almost all of his knights jump at the chance he has little power to stop them from their zeal. Thus begins an incredibly long chain of quests of mighty deeds and heroics.

At some point before this, Arthur and Guinevere fail to have any children together but Arthur manages to knock up at least three different women and gets sons from each of them. His two eldest sons die (well, one for sure dies, the other just straight up disappears and is accepted as dead) but his third son, Mordred, is still around. Depending on the story Mordred is either his nephew he adopts, a proper bastard child from one of the several "queens" of the realm (it is confusing to modern people but Arthur was more like an emperor than a proper king and had several kings serve him) or is his incestuous bastard child from his sister Morgause. Yep, the idea of Mordred being his incest baby from Morgan le Fey is purely a modern take. In any event, Mordred is somewhat groomed to be his heir but kept somewhat at arms length due to the circumstances of not being a proper heir.

After a time, one (or several) knights find the Grail and either rush back to Camelot to tell Arthur or are swept up to Heaven. In either case, its around this time shit starts to hit the fan. Lancelot's affair with Guinevere is discovered, Guinevere is banished to a convent, Arthur has to rush off to deal with uprisings, famines start to hit, more Saxons invade, and Merlin disappears (either by the machinations of the Lady of the Lake or Morgan le Fay). Morgan also stops trying to murder Arthur around this time and apparently became a nun, though this is a fairly more recent change of her character in the stories (like starting in the 1800s). This is also the time Mordred decides to take the crown and attempts to marry Guinevere as well. This does not go well for him however as this only enrages Arthur all the more.

Finally Arthur and Mordred meet in battle at Camlann. Almost all of the Knights of the Round Table die and Mordred squares up against his father, spearing him in the belly or chest. Arthur, ever the badass, impales himself even more on the spear to stab Mordred to death. Now, Arthur's been fucked up before in fights but having lost his scabbard (the magical one mentioned earlier) in the fighting, he's boned. Calling over some of his remaining knights, he orders Griflet (later stories say Bedivere) to take the sword and chuck it into the nearest body of still water. Griflet (Bedivere) lies twice about doing so but finally does on the third. On his way back to Arthur after doing so, they see him on a ship surrounded by holy women (some stories have his sister Morgan on the ship with him) heading off to the Isle of Avalon to heal. Once fully healed he will return one day to save England from darkness and despair.

After Arthur leaves, the kingdom has a very brief period of calm before largely being overran by Angles, Jutes, and Saxons, thus ending the Arthurian Era.

Knights of the Round Table

One of the most iconic aspects of Arthurian Lore is the Knights of the Round Table - so named because Arthur gathers his knights on Camelot around a table with no head, so that all eyes can meet as equals. Each knight can have their own story associated with the lore; some knights such as Tristan originate outside Arthurian lore altogether and get brought in by various authors. Others get special attention because they are that author’s favorite, either due to representing their country or just being their favorite type of story to tell. In some ways the knights overshadow Arthur, as their quests and adventures take place during the time of peace that Arthur establishes and thus rarely takes part in adventures himself.

The most well-known knights include:

• Gawain - nephew of Arthur, and one of the oldest represented knights, having existed back when the stories were primarily Welsh. Gawain is best known for his story Gawain and the Green Knight, where he must honor a deadly agreement with the Green Knight and the journey he takes to fulfill it.
• Ector - Arthur’s adoptive father
• Kay - Arthur’s adoptive brother
• Lancelot - most famous and accomplished of the knights. Falls in love with Guinevere; in early stories this love is unrequited but turns into a full-blown affair and scandal in later stories. In at least one version, Lancelot takes several knights with him and goes to war against Arthur, only to reconcile and come to Arthur's aid when Mordred's betrayal is discovered.
• Bedivere - returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake
• Tristan - more commonly associated with his own cycle of stories. Nephew of king Mark of Cornwall, and has a secret affair with Mark’s wife Iseult.
• Percival - Locates the grail as being in possession of the Fisher King. In stories where Galahad has not been introduced, he acquires the Grail and goes up to heaven.
• Galahad - Lancelot’s son. He is the only knight who can sit in the Seige Perilous and live, marking him as the one to go on the grail quest; it just so happens that he is also the grandson of the Fisher King (as his daughter, Galahad's mother, tricked Lancelot into having sex with her by pretending to be Guinevere. If it worked one time, why not twice?). Acquires the holy grail in place of Percival when he is featured.
• Bors - Cousin of Lancelot. In one story, he is one of the knights who accompanies Percival and Galahad on the Grail quest; he is both valiant in battle and of pure spirit, so he is able to retrieve the grail and take it back to Britain when Galahad is taken to heaven. In another story, he takes the side of Lancelot when his affair is exposed and helps rescue Guinevere, even though both kill several of their fellow knights in the process.
• Palamedes - A Christian convert from Babylon; initially portrayed as a rival of Tristan for Iseult's affections, he is best known as the knight who slays the Questing Beast; the Questing Beast is a chimera whose appearance is an early foretelling of Mordred's uprising, as it too was a product of incest and appears shortly after Galahad has a premonition of Mordred.
• Mordred - Arthur’s traitorous son. In some cases he’s the one who exposes Lancelot’s affair in order to provoke a civil war. Also introduced very early into the canon, though the earliest versions have him as Arthur’s nephew.

Other Key Characters

• Merlin - Arthur's closest ally and indirectly responsible for Arthur's birth, is frequently depicted as a mysterious wizard whom the normal laws of reality don't apply to; in some versions, he's said to actually experience time backwards. In others, he's the son of a mortal woman and an incubus that raped her, but he was baptized shortly after he was born and thus was protected from Hell while retaining supernatural powers like prophecy and shapeshifting. Merlin is believed to the the combination of two different characters; a Welsh prophet named "Myrddin Wyllt" (whose name basically sounds like "shit" in French, so they renamed him), and a Britannic warlord named "Ambrosius Aurelianus", who was brother to Uther Pendragon. Merlin helps Arthur become king and build Camelot, but is eventually magically imprisoned by his lover (either the Lady of the Lake or Morgan le Fey). His disappearance coincides with Camelot's decline, as without his wise council, Mordred is able to set himself up for his eventual coup.
• Uther Pendragon - Father of Arthur; most stories that involve him mainly include his affair with Igraine, but his backstory also sets up a lot for the background of the setting; After Uther's father, King Constantine, died, the throne was usurped by his advisor Vortigern. Vortigern is infamous not only for his betrayal and overall tyranny, but also for inviting the Saxons to help him fight off the Picts - and the Saxons never left. Uther has to fight both to retake the throne and drive the Saxons out; while able to retake the throne, his betrayal of Gorlois of Cornwall begets his downfall, and he's never able to fully drive the Saxons out.
• Guinevere - daughter of King Leodegrance of Cameliard, and wife of Arthur. The most common depiction of her is that she married Arthur with sincere intentions (though its clear from the start that hers is a political marriage), but was swept away by her feelings for Lancelot; originally in a chaste "courtly love," but later as an actual affair when courtly love fell out of favor. Even earlier than that, however, one early depiction shows her as a willing consort of Mordred and taking part in his uprising against Arthur. Other times Guinevere and Arthur are portrayed as mutually unfaithful, or that Arthur goes to the extreme of sentencing her to be burned at the stake (only for Arthur to later release her, where she disappears into a convent). Regardless, Guinevere almost never has a completely happy ending - in part due to Arthur dying before they can return to being husband and wife - but many stories try to at least give her a fair shake and a chance at redemption after the affair.
• Lady of the Lake - best known as the mysterious magical being who gives Arthur Excaliber, and retrieves it from Bedivere after Arthur's defeat. She also raised an orphaned Lancelot, and is one of the Holy Women who takes Arthur to Avalon. She is sometimes given the name Nimue or Vivian. She sometimes takes the place of Merlin's student and lover and imprisoned him; there's sometimes a contrast between these two roles however; in that the Lady of the Lake who gives Excaliber and raises Lancelot is already a supernatural being, whereas Merlin's lover is his student and has to learn magic from him. As a result, tellings that include both the Lady giving Excaliber and Merlin's lover imprisoning him keep the two roles as separate characters.
• Morgan Le Fay - Arthur's half-sister by Igraine. She's a powerful enchantress, some stories make her an outright villain, some make her more ambiguous (which is common for many magical creatures in ancient lore), others have her recant her ways and retire to a convent. Sometimes she's an apprentice of Merlin, and is later the one to imprison him. As mentioned earlier, her being Arthur's half sister and siring Mordred through her brother is a later invention when she was combined with the character Morgausse, as a way to increase her antagonistic role and make her treachery more personal. Morgan also has a hatred for Guinevere and is involved in plots against her specifically. She rules over the Vale of No Return, a magical forest where she exiles her knight lovers who disappoint her.
• The Green Knight - featured prominently in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as the titular antagonist. The Green Knight has its origins in medieval legends as a pagan-inspired nature spirit of sorts; in the story, the Green Knight challenges the Knights of the Round Table to strike him with a blow, if they promise to receive the same blow one year later. After Gawain decapitates the Green Knight, the knight picks his head back up an reattaches it, reminding Gawain to fulfill his vow. Gawain travels to the home of Bertilak de Hautedesert, who tests Gawain's knighthood through loyalty, chastity (basically throwing his wife at Gawain) and courage (offering a magic sash that would protect him from harm, aka the beheading he's supposed to get). By the time Gawain must face the Green Knight, the Knight only nicks Gawain in the back of the neck and reveals himself to be Bertilak, saying that Morgan le Fay had him show up in Camelot primarily to scare Guinevere, he had no real intention to harm Gawain. Gawain returns home embarrassed but is welcomed back by the other knights.
• The Fisher King - Ruler of a lost kingdom and the owner of the Holy Grail. The Fisher King's realm is dying, and is implied to be a direct result of him receiving a wound to his groin (interpreted as his infertility leaving the realm without an heir, or else some sexual sin has cast a shadow over his legitimacy as king). The Fisher King tests whoever comes to his Kingdom before he reveals the Grail; the winner of the Grail will either inherit his kingdom or go to heaven (depending on the story).

/tg/ Relevance

Bretonnia is a part grimdark part parody send-up of the Mythos.

Fallen Camelot is a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition campaign setting based on the Mythos.

Eldraine is a Magic: The Gathering plane that combines the Arthurian Mythos with general faerie tale aesthetics and elements.

One half of the Ventrue bloodline known as the Bron believe themselves to be descended from the Fisher King of the Arthurian Mythos.

A Japanese twist on the Arthurian Mythos can be found in the Nasuverse where King Arthur is a girl. Yes, really, and it's a major plot point in Fate Stay/Night. You won't believe how far they bend over backwards to get a kid our of her and Gwen...

Pendragon, one of the mostly highly regarded RPGs of all time, is nothing BUT Arthurian Mythos with the characters all being knights around the end of Uther's (Arthur's father) reign and then their children and grandchildren taking up the knightly ways as they die/retire. If one plays the game as intended, they'll be immersed in the entire legend from the rise of Uther to the departure of Arthur.

The Dark Tower (both the RPG and the book series it’s based on) have ties to Arthurian lore. The Gunslingers are the modern day descendants of Arthur’s knights, and the artifacts of King Arthur are the keys to entering the Dark Tower.

Monty Python's most popular film is centered on Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail. 90% of all Python quotes you hear at the gaming table will come from that film.