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mask131 · 6 months

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The fantasy in modern Arthuriana (3)

A follow-up of the previous post.

If the medieval Arthurian literature accumulates the tales of the feats of the heroes, the detail of their thoughts is mostly left in the shadows. Like the prose of Malory says for a good number of knights, “He said but little”, “He seyde but lytyll”. In other words, the Arthurian romance of the Middle-Ages is concerned with actions, not words. It is even truer when it comes to the female characters, a minority among the Arthurian adventures, and who are limited to a specific set of roles: queen and giver of goods (Guinevere), virgin and emissary of adventure (Linette), sad and dying lover (the lady of Escalot)… Such a restriction of functions invited in itself a fleshing out of the characters, not to say a remake. It is even stronger when we come to the sorceresses, another type of women largely used by modern rewrites, probably because they are precisely among the female characters the only one who, in the Middle-Ages, can freely participate to the action. [It is true that the maidens who guide the knights throughout their quests seem to also have an important area of action, but very often it is suggested that they belong to the supernatural world. In the Morte Darthur, the three ladies met by Gawain, Yvain and Marhalt embody the three ages of woman; Linette, who guides Gareth and helps him in his love, is able to “piece back together” and resurrect a dead knight].

If the revisited Arthurian literature likes to give a voice to women, these characters so often overshadowed by their male counterparts who are always in a war or on a quest, it is probably because at first it was an innovation. Since everything was already said in the past, one of the simplest ways to renew the tale is to give a voice to the mutes, here women. This innovation was very quickly assimilated to a feminist, though not always feminine, current, under the major influence of Marion Zimmer Bradley and her “Mists of Avalon”. In it the focus is placed on the enchantresses, Viviane and Morgan mainly. Given the huge success of these novels, the characters within it had a tendency to influence, consciously or not, ulterior treatments of the Arthurian fiction and its female characters. As such, when Cindy Mediavilla wrote about “The Mists of Avalon”, she said “[it] sets the standard for Arthurian fiction told from the female perspective. Heavy with images of the Goddess versus the male dominance of Christianity, this story (…) is highly recommended for all fans of the genre, especially young feminists seeking alternate renderings of the legend.” (Arthurian Fiction – An Annotated Bibliography). Outside of this “feminist” dimension, there is still a great number of recurring trends discernable within contemporary novels that have a direct influence over the idea of magic, and by extension, the genre or sub-genre to which the Arthurian novel belongs. [Maureen Fries heavily nuanced the feminism at work here: Viviane is killed by Balin, Nimue killed herself after betraying Kevin, Niniane is used then killed by Mordred, Morgan ens up admitting the universality of religious symbols even assimilated the Great Goddess to the Virgin Mary… “Indeed, real empowerment escape all of the women in the book except perhaps (and indirectly) Gwenhwyfar, whose narrow Christianity Arthur embraces.” – “Trends in the Modern Arthurian Novel”, in “King Arthur Through the Ages”]

The duo Viviane/Morgan is most often treated as an antagonism. In line with the sources, Viviane appears as a kind fairy who raises Lancelot and acts to help Arthur dispel the schemes of his malevolent half-sister. [With a rare set of exceptions, including Fred T. Saberhagen’s Dominion which subverts many preconceptions by making Viviane a bloodthirsty high-priestess and Merlin a drunkard with a failing magic, closer to the buffoon that appears in the BD “Le chant d’Excalibur” by Arleston and Hübsch than to the medieval prophet] But the shadows among the medieval characters are enough to allow anyone to interpret them in various ways. Indeed, this sweet Lady of the Lake is also the woman that used Merlin to augment her own power before imprisoning him for all of eternity. And Morgan is at the same time the enemy of the Round Table and the crying sister which takes a dying Arthur in her arms to carry him away to Avalon. This ambiguity is complexified by numerous possible divisions or assimilations: Viviane is also Niniane or Nimue, except when they are all different characters. Mordred is either the son of Morgan, or of her sister Morgause. The sources vary a lot about these facts, and so do the modern authors – and the same thing applies to the love-romances that are woven between the enchantresses and their victims, between Merlin and his students. [Within the “Lancelot-Graal”, Morgan is said to have been the student of Merlin, but she is different from Viviane, another of his student who ended up imprisoning the wizard. Yet, there is a temptation to synthetize in one character the student, the mistress and the enemy. On another subject, the hatred of Morgan for the Round Table could be explained by her love for the cousin of the queen, a love that said queen managed to destroy. As early as the Middle-Ages we see the beginning of, not a rehabilitation, but at least excusing circumstances for Morgan’s criminal behavior towards her brother and his kingdom.]

The opposition of benevolent sorceresses and malevolent wizardesses is inscribed in a broader way within a specific conception of magic. If we can easily admit that there are things such as “white” or “black” magic, if we admit that there are wizards opposing witches (or necromancers), than this duality invokes the symbolism of good versus evil. In the context of the Arthurian legend, the magic that serves Arthur and his chivalrous ideal is supposed to be white, while the one of those that stand against him is black. It is the case with Stephen Lawhead or Gillian Bradshaw, where the future of the world depends on a battle between Light and Darkness. [Gillian Bradshaw created “Hawk of May” and “Kingdom of Summer”. The expression “Kingdom of Summer” is also very present within Lawhead’s work, reinforcing the link between those two authors. Lawhead prefers to name two of his characters Gwalcmai and Gwalchavad, “hawk of May” and “hawk of Summer”, rather than Gawain and Galahad. As for the opposition of the Light and the Darkness, we can be reminded of the two sides of the Force within “Star Wars”, which is filled with Arthurian references.]

But this symbolism also evokes several moral values that already prepare the question of how magic and religion coexist. Already in the Middle-Ages the limits are blurry when it comes to separating magic, religion, and science – especially medical science. (See Richard Kieckheffer’s Magic in the Middle-Ages) The knowledge of plants can be seen with suspicions, and the various invocations look very similar to each other, no matter if they are for a saint or a demon. All those contradictions coexist within the modern Arthurian literature as a whole, even though if most authors take care to establish a cohesive magic system within the setting of their tale.

As such we frequently have an opposition between magic and religion, where magic relies on nature and traditional beliefs of which women are the bearers, while religion relies on a recent importation of Christianism and is presented as repressive and misogynistic. It is the case in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s work, where the magic is natural, “sympathetic”, against fanatical Christians who only dream of absolute power. Bernard Cornwell depicts a desacralized Christianity in an even darker light, as a religion only concerned with accumulating wealth by exploiting naïve pilgrims. The prayers are emphatic but useless, and the priest Samson, a future saint, has a rat-like face, a strong dislike of Guinevere and Nimue, as well as a heavily hinted preference for very young monks. The only Christian that is acceptable to the eyes of the narrator is the bishop Bedwin, who turns out to not be a quite faithful Christian, and an emblematic example of the improbable reconciliation of the extremes within modern Arthurians – a treatment of magic an religion that prefers the opposition of forces rather than their complementary. It forms indeed an explosive situation that is able to captivate more the attention of a reader rather than an idyllic statu quo. As such, what imposed itself as an Arthurian topos is the idea of a mostly pagan Britain attacked by the hegemonic projects of Christianism – despite the historical and archeological informations contraicting this view. The historicizing of the Arthurian setting is thus sometimes independent from the story, while not negating its realism or “vraisemblance”. [Adam Roberts, in “Silk and Potatoes” pointed out that in Lawhead’s work the Briton peasants are wearing silk, which is highly improbable, and that they cook with potatoes, an obvious anachronism.]

Stephen Lawhead tries to have a pacific shift from the old religion and its beliefs (assimilated to magic) to the Christian religion of the God of love. Taliesin, then Merlin, both have a revelation of the unicity of the divine, and as such their bardic invocations are now addressed to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but they stay unchanged in language or effect. What was once a spell or a trick becomes a miracle. Lawhead’s tale however is flawed by an oversimplification. If all this “magic” comes from God, then where do Morgian’s wicked powers come from? The unbreakable faith of Merlin within the superiority of God over Satan is admirable in a catechism context, but it removes an essential tool of the tale: its suspense. A duel between Morgian and Merlin during which the latter won’t suffer any blow, protected as he is by the armor of his faith, is quite disappointing, not to say boring. And what about the magic of the Small Folks, which seems to need a technical learning? The tale cannot fully escape a certain number of expectations, such as the oppositions between white and black magic, or between paganism and Christianity, or the presence of another “fairy”-like people cohabiting discreetly with the Britons. As such, while the attempt at Christianizing the supernatural is interesting because quite rare today (though it was very common in the Middle-Ages), is works badly.

It is a testimony of the weight of obligatory elements within the modern Arthurian fiction, a fiction that was shaped as much by contemporary successes as by, if not more than, its relationship to the medieval sources. If the articulation between magic and religion can be done in various ways, it stays in many cases a strong opposition between white magic/women/tradition, and religion/men/change. And since, outside of Merlin, most of the wizards of the medieval romances are women, magic is thus colored by femaleness, not to say feminism. In a world where male characters kill each other with weapons, women heal wounds with herbs and words. The image of the healer-Viviane, sweet and motherly, is opposed to the brutality of a world of warriors. At another level, it seems that the sorceresses embody the “fantasy temptation” while the warriors embody the “historical temptation”. [Raymond H. Thompson notes the gendered polarity within Arthurian rewrites since WWII, between a feminine movement closer to heroic fantasy, and a male movement, bloodier and closer to sword and sorcery (“Arthurian Legend in Science-Fiction and Fantasy”, in “King Arthur Through the Ages”)] As such, the novels that focus on the female characters also focus on magic, while those concerned with men and their wars are historicizing the Arthurian era. As Thomson said: “The focus thus shifts from warfare to the political and domestic conflicts that raise Arthur to power, and then destroy him.”

But if this is the case, where do we place evil wizardesses such as Morgan? They find their place within the rewrites that use abundantly of the supernatural, which is then vast enough to include both good and evil. Moreso, if the Middle-Ages offered a complex depiction of the enchantresses, the dark side of Morgane/Morgause stays dominant. Modern rewrites thus very easily use this malevolent aspect. It is the case of T.H. White whose second book, “The Witch in the Wood” was later renamed “The Queen of Air and Darkness” to designate Morgause. Gillian Bradshaw also depicts a fully evil Morgause who tries to teach her son Gwalchmai the occult arts. But he prefers the side of Light, and he joins Arthur and his knights. We find these two influences within Lawhead’s Morgian, also qualified of “Queen of Air and Darkness”, and who serves the Devil while Merlin fights by the sides of Arthur, the champion of Light. This distribution of the magical forces intensifies the motif of the conflict on several levels. The Darkness can be historical: the one of the “Dark Ages” at the beginning of the Middle-Ages, the one of the various disasters (war, plague, famine, insecurity) brought by the Saxon invader. But in a cyclical point of view, which extends the mythical side of the Arthurian theme even in rewrites that try to be historical, the fight between Good and Evil becomes recurrent. Arthur and Morgan (or her avatars) are easily identifiable archetypes. This repetition ability highlights the non-temporality of the myth and justifies the growing number of Arthurian rewrites: the myth is eternal, and thus must be eternally retold.

But these retellings do not simply replay the classical gigantic fight between the servants of the Light and those of the Darkness. A quite important number of modern authors chose to rehabilitate the unloved characters, mostly by giving them a voice. As such, the grudge-bearing, jealous witch of the medieval romances disappears, replaced by a loving and healing sister. Phyllis Ann Karr, within “The Idylls of the Queen”, offers a clever treatment of the character of Morgan, rehabilitated by a systematical refutation of the rumors, those that will become the “official” version of the legend later on. Morgan recognizes the facts, but offers other explanations for them, motivations misunderstood by her contemporaries and thus doomed to stay unknown (until the modern author reveals them, of course). This modern process of subverting the medieval stereotype (here the wicked witch that becomes the most faithful and loving servant of the Arthurian grandeur, pushing the devotion to a refusal to be offended by her bad reputation) can be declined in an infinite way, even on a parodic tone. Thomas Berger offers an anemic Galahad barely able to ride a horse, instead of the invulnerable knight supposed to be an “improved” version of his father Lancelot. John Gloag paints a Merlin prone to mistakes within his prophecies, and makes the entire announced and expected Arthurian glory a huge prank. T.H. White made his Lancelot ugly, where the Middle-Ages encouraged to see him as beautiful since he was “the perfect lover”.

However, as with all process, this technique has its limits. By constantly subverting the reader’s expectations, we create new demands. Morgan is constantly rehabilitated, Lancelot is constantly made darker or disgraced by modern authors, who are numerous (maybe too numerous?) in trying to set themselves apart from their predecessors. Cornwell’s Lancelot is an arrogant coward, while in other novels he simply disappears as the lover of the queen and/or the right arm of Arthur. He is replaced by characters deemed more historical (Bedwyr for Rosemary Sutcliff or Joan Wolff), or by characters invented for the plot (John Gloag’s Wencla, Victor Canning’s Borio). As if suppressing the greatest Arthurian knight was needed to surprise the modern reader. Under such a light, the rehabilitation of witches as misunderstood sorceresses is almost becoming more stereotypical than the original model of the “truly wicked”.

It seems that, for now, the only true novelty that modern authors have not dared is an Arthurian novel without Arthur. But this path seems to be under exploration: Arto, Artos, Artorius, all spellings that can establish a difference with the original character is welcome, especially if it establishes a gap between the foggy and uncertain time when the legend was born and the era of the modern rewrite. The exploitation of the Arthurian prehistory is another sign of it. The Arthurian novel without supernatural is also another facet of this quest for a renewal. But since the “pure” historical novel has already been done in the past, the “new novelty” is the reintroduction of the marvelous – not in its original form, but in a subtler one influenced by the past historicizing. We entered an era of “rationalizing” and “walling” of the “merveilleux”. Rationalizing the wonderful means exploiting events and actions that can be given the appearance of magic ; “walling” the marvelous means limiting magical abilities to a specific group of characters, usually non-humans and thus marginalized.

#fantasy #arthuriana #arthurian novels #arthurian literature #viviane #lady of the lake #morgane #morgan le fay #magic #magic system #fantasy novels #fantasy worldbuilding #magic vs religion #merlin #nimue #morgause #lancelot

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residentsofhollowville · 6 months

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Howdy, Magnus Archives roleplaying community! My name's Guy, my pronouns are he/they, and I just discovered you exist! I wanted to make a blog to rp with my Magnus Archives OCs, but the trouble is that there's a lot of them, so before I start trying to talk to anyone, I wanted to make a master post to help keep track of them all and establish an organization system, so, here we go.

Judas Trinidad

Avatar of the Desolation, marked by The Flesh and The End, he/him, a contrarian, rebellious young man who moved away from Hollowville after a terrible house fire destroyed his family home. He's recently returned to find his brother missing, and is struggling to find his place in the world and, ideally, make meaningful social change along the way. Failing that, he's perfectly willing to just start throwing rocks through rich people's windows. Posts from his perspective will be tagged with BURN IT ALL DOWN.

Brutus Herald

Currently not an avatar, marked by the Desolation and the Buried. The son of a rich man who lost everything more or less by happenstance. His terrible experiences have made him resilient, moreso than anyone his age ever should be. Posts from his perspective will be tagged with My Name Means Heavy.

Cassandra Herald

Currently not an avatar, marked by the Desolation. Cassandra is a brave, tempestuous girl who is willing to destroy anything or anyone to be revenged for the damage done to her, even if that means burning herself out in the process. The only life she truly values is that of her younger brother Brutus. Posts from her perspective will be tagged with The Infant Immortal.

Anna Holloway

Avatar of the Extinction, marked by the Corruption, she/her, Cerise's former foster daughter and a deeply troubled girl who's quite sick of being told that her generation will have to be the ones to save the world. She's familiar with the startling speed at which the world is deteriorating, and at this point in her life, she welcomes it. Posts from her perspective will be tagged with The Poison Child.

Teddy Lukas

Avatar of the Lonely and the Spiral, he/kit, an odd, quiet, and strangely docile young boy. Supposedly a ward of the Lukas family, though no one's ever seen its patriarch give him a kind word. He's wandered into Hollowville seeking out shelter and hopefully kinship, which he isn't likely to find, given his generally antisocial demeanor. Posts from his perspective will be tagged with The Lost Boy.

Jack Trinidad

Avatar of the Stranger and the Desolation, marked by the Hunt, he/they/it, Jack recently returned to town after wandering the world for many years, getting into plenty of trouble along the way. He's not unkind, but people have a tendency to get violent towards him, especially after hearing them play their guitar. Their gentle, mirthful demeanor belies a rather uncanny nature. Posts from its perspective will be tagged with Jack.

The Dreaming

Avatar Entity of the Spiral, it/she, The Dreaming exists purely in the subconscious mind, feeding from the fear provoked by nightmares and fantasies grown out of control. She has the demeanor of a benevolent trickster, but her true motives are difficult to discern. It's something of an enigma, and even those who trust it aren't sure whether or not she was ever human. Posts from its perspective will be tagged with Dream Within A Dream.

Mort Graber

Avatar of the End Eye, marked by a frankly stupid number of other entities, he/him, Mort is the last in a long line of gravediggers, serving the only cemetery in Hollowville. He's patient, calm, and unshakably temperate, rarely growing truly angry with anyone. Perhaps the increasing certainty that the fears will rise up and consume this hateful world does him some good in that regard. Posts from his perspective will be tagged with The Gravedigger.

Morgause Graber

Avatar of the Slaughter, marked by the End and the Dark, he/they, Mort's uncle who's best known for breaking the family's oath of nonviolence and promptly being exiled. He's not a sadistic man, but the cold ruthlessness with which he carries out acts of violence strikes fear into the hearts of many. He has often been described as heartless. This is not a description he rejects. Posts from his perspective will be tagged with Morgause the Traitor.

Wichita Fairchild

Avatar of the Vast, marked by the Hunt, the Spiral, and the Desolation, she/her, a religious fanatic with an increasingly intense obsession with natural disasters, particularly those that come from the sky or sea. Her difficult past has left her bitter and vindictive, and she's grown to consider herself a designated bringer of the wrath of God. Posts from her perspective will be tagged with Wichita Falls.

Azazel Blake (Az)

Avatar of the Flesh, marked by the End, the Desolation, the Spiral, and the Hunt, he/they, a local boy who took his quest for perfection via self-modification a bit too far. Something of a flirt, although he tries to avoid crossing any lines, and obsessed with beauty and perfection in all things, including himself. Posts from their perspective will be tagged with Ideal Male Body.

Belladonna Hirschell (Bella)

Avatar of the Eye, she/her, a high-profile influencer and self-proclaimed reputable source of supernatural news. Her entire existence is digitized, repackaged, rebranded, and wrapped up neatly with a bow, seemingly whenever it suits her. Hypothetically, she works for the Usher Foundation, managing their social media pages and uploading as many statements as she can to the world wide web, but her poor conduct and disregard of personal boundaries lead people to question her usefulness. Posts from her perspective will be tagged with Stay Connected!

Shrike Moonstone

Avatar of the Web, marked by the Corruption, he/they, a prolific, albeit rather reclusive, author. His work is known to tug at the heartstrings of its readers, sometimes even influencing the choices they make in the future. He is virtually the embodiment of authorly sadism and as sharp as a tack, but even a web-weaver like him can't escape the constraints of fate. Posts from their perspective will be tagged with The Author.

Alexis "Creep" Lotis

Avatar of the Eye and the Corruption, she/her, a journalist and researcher known and renowned for being willing to get down in the muck and resort to tactics other people would never dare to. She's been accused of being a muckraker, insensitive and, as the nickname would imply, a creep, but for the most part, she's just a girl who believes people have the right to knowledge, including knowledge they don't want. Posts from her perspective will be tagged with Creep Show.

Posts in which other ocs are mentioned will be tagged with #(insert tag name here) mention, ex. a post by Judas that mentions his brother Jack will be tagged #burn it all down #jack mention, and anything else that's relevant. Posts that remind me of a given character will be tagged with #(insert tag name here) inspo, ex. a really cool photo of a moth would get tagged with #the widow inspo. I have somewhat unintentionally started tagging posts that make me think of all of them with #hollowville inspo, I promise I plan things so well

All images but The Dreaming, Mort, Judas, and Creep are from wxarringtxn's Magnus Archives Fear Avatar Picrew. Mort and Judas are from Bright's Picrew Hell, Creep is from PotatoLord's Picrew, and the Dreaming is the only one I drew myself. I hope I get to do some cool stuff with them sometime, I hope people like them, and I hope you have a good day.

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