#im playing tis and trying to optimize stuff lol

[foxgirltail]

I seem to have forgotten that programming puzzles are fun <- girl who sometimes encounters programming puzzles at work, and enjoys those more than anything else for work, but still regularly forgets this

[tboymordred]

this got super long so i put this under a cut lol. the most importnat fact is hes my little nya nya and hes never smiled once in his life. meow

I think the number 1 most important thing regarding any character of Mordred is obviously his narrative position in relation to Arthur. Like you literally can't discuss him without understand Arthur's position and portrayal in the narrative. Here's a good analogy from one of my favourite journals on the matter:

Re-Presenting Mordred: Three Plays of 1895 - Pamela Yee

I play to my own biases lol. I'm someone who who's always considered Mordred a very sympathetic character, and I prefer interpretations of Arthur that play on his darker elements - warmongering, his role as a king and authority figure ect, so for my own projects the see-saw tips in favour of Mordred since he's literally a revolutionary against Arthur's assumed divine authority. Another banger section from Yee about Newbolt's Mordred that really influenced his writing to me personally.

That being said I do like finding instances in interpretations where the two have parallel worldviews - see these two passages, one from Lacy's Camelot Triptch (top) about Arthur and compare it to how Mordred talks in Newbolt's Tragedy (bottom):

Its fascinating to me the idea of them having the same starting point, but Arthur's optimism faith in other rotting away under Merlin (Triptch) and literally being the ideological opposite (Newbolt) - how much risk is there of Mordred own optimism and empathy rotting like Arthur's? And similarly, if a young Arthur existed in the same system his older self built, would he be his own Mordred? Much to think on but this post isn't about him lol

The main big factor that ties in with the above is I like to put onto Mordred is optimism and empathy giving way to righteous anger. I don't particular see him as someone who really inately enjoys warfare or bloodshed, but if the language of an empire is violence, one must be fluent in it to enact any kind of meaningful change against it. If Mordred is guilty of anger and violence then it was done so in the name of striving for a better tomorrow. 

but honeslty the next thing main thing I need to point and gesture at is is just his speech to Gawain's corpse in Alliterative Morte:

Alliterative Morte Arthure - Richard Scott Morrison trans.

Crying in the club literally fr. Honestly next to Arthur I care most for trying to create a foil relationship with Gawain in general really. Pauper upbringing (Mordred) versues the acclaimed heir apparent (Gawain), both have an idealised view of Lancelot (Mordred's mentor and Gawain's. Gawain) that gets gutted when he kills their brothers, their respective relationships to Arthur (Gawain's reverence for Arthur and Arthur himself having preference for him, but Gawain having envy for Mordred being Arthur's son, meanwhile Mordred's perception of Arthur as God eroding the longer he spends in court. also literally almost being killed by him as a baby <- not favourite child lol) I COULD GO ON thats brainrot for another time. their dynamic is literally so important to me its sooo versatile <3 BROTHERS OF ALL TIME

theres also differences in bc the plot is not anything actually truly arthurian (post-camlann (but not really) (hes dead (but not really) (minor war/demon apocalypse (might get better)(might not)) (and transgender. pick a stuggle) + i very loosely play w/ jungian stuff + theatre motifs (bc im pretentious 🙈) but thats getting too specific and niche KAMD-wise lol THESE ARE JUST THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS 2 NAIL FOR ME:

ideally an actually interesting foil for arthur not just a random guy who causes problems and dies

ideally an anarchist of sorts even if hes a little confused at first he's got spirit ('Systems of power are ruining everyones lives. I can get rid of it if I control the system of power' so close buddy <3)

tragic big brother-little brother relationship

serves cunt transgenderly

How do you personally envision Mordred?

mordred, i find, is a character that's extremely versatile. he can either be an irredeemable villain or written in a more sympathetic light

as for me, i like writing him as an idealistic luciferian antihero very much inspired by Mordred, A Tragedy by Henry Newbolt. a word i associate the most with mordred, apart from rebellion, is vengeance. he's the main protagonist alongside percival in one of my current wips, LidERi: Paradise Lost. it's not quite a traditional arthurian retelling but rather an original story of his ruthless carnage against the Father, the ruler of Linawasa (Camelot in my setting), who he views as the root of all evil. here's a picture of him!

it's hard for me to summarize my thoughts on him and how he is in my writing, but this poem by louise glück reminds me of him.

feel free to reblog with additions about your take on mordred! 💞