#lancelot and co.

[tiodolma]

so like

Then he called Sir Bors, Sir Ector de Maris, and Sir Lionel, and told them how the queen had forfended him the court, and so he was in will to depart into his own country.

did Sir Bors and Sir Lionel forget that they tried to kill each other? was their reunion awkward? do they look at each other in the eye?

[mortiscausa]

i had forgotten that lancelot and gawain kept trying to give gareth food and clothes and gold and stuff when he was playing kitchen boy lmao

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

only the best and most badass kids like Gawain and his brothers and the various Yvains are cool enough to roll up dressed to party and holding hands:

The story says that the young men rode until they came to the bower where the three kings and the companions of the Round Table had dismounted. And as soon as the young men saw them, they got down from their horses and ran to where the knights were seated on the green grass in the forest shade; they were taking the fresh air and cooling off, for it had been very hot all day and they had ridden with all their armor on, for they did not dare take it off because of the Saxons who had run into the land. And it was warm as it should be at the end of May. The companions of the Round Table saw the young men coming closer — they had taken one another by the hand, and they were so delightfully dressed and adorned, and they were so handsome, that it seemed clear to those watching them that they had come from good stock; and it was most fitting that they were holding one another by the hand, and they took it as a mark of their high birth that they got along together so flawlessly.

— The Story of Merlin, Chapter 32, Rupert T. Pickens translation

[uwmspeccoll]

Special Collections Erasure Poetry

As a creative writer, it was suggested to me that I might try my hand at erasure poetry using material from Special Collections. No fairy tale nor fiction may be used (darn!), but something informational that may spring forth ideas from its original text into something new. I was a bit hesitant, considering poetry has never been my strong suit, but it was exciting nonetheless and I took to our collection in search of something that would spark inspiration.

After taking my time poking around, the book I came across was Readings in Welsh History by the Welsh-English writer Ernest Percival Rhys (1859-1946), and published in London, New York, and Bombay in 1901 by Longmans, Green, and Co. The volume has seventy-three illustrations, including twenty drawings by British illustrator Lancelot Speed (1860-1931). 

It was not something I would normally pick out, considering I have never been much of a history buff. Still, with the task at hand, something about the worn brown-orange book made me curious, so I decided to take a peek. To my surprise it was enticing, as the words already had a melodic charm to them - something I never quite experienced when it came to a history text. 

To pull a new meaning from something concrete is a challenge in itself, but the further I dove, the more excited I became. With the already beautifully-flowing words, it was not hard to weave a new creation from its source:

Readings In Welsh History - The Rites of the Druids

To strive, Wild beasts look upon night With dread; Fear grew into Savage religion.

Groves of oak, Precious in their eyes; Revered.

Words of fate by the wind Its branches gave shelter For prayer And magic.

And there you go -- Magic!

-- Elizabeth V., Special Collections Undergraduate Writing Intern

[galacticjoelle]

Shhhhh the babies are sleeping :>

[caerulearosae]

Lancelot doesn’t understand how Tao likes baths

[gawayne]

kay for character bingo 🙏

hey double bingo! well as i'm sure you're aware, kay is a flawless character. he gets done dirty every day every single time he doesn't appear in an arthurian adaptation. i love when he's a terrible nasty little coward and i love when he's secretly soft especially with kids and arthur. he is not my blorbo bc he's more powerful than me, i can't rightly carry him like a tiny dog but i did like when he carried a tiny dog. i know in my heart that if i were a medieval knight i'd definitely turn into a bitchy accountant too

[men-in-knights]

[confused-wanderer]

Hunith is completely desensitised to murder and all that comes along with it being Merlins mother.

So what if when Merlin and everyone go to his village during that Will episode, Huntih recognises early signs of magic in Morganna. And so she teaches her some herbs that she can use for her headaches and so on, forming a bond of trust between them.

A few months later, she’s not surprised to see Morganna arriving at her doorstep crying about everything that’s happening and her nightmares that wouldn’t seem to leave her alone.

Merlin and Morgana become murder siblings where Merlin doesn’t like killing but Morgana actively advocates for it.

And Merlin’s jealous Morgana’s stealing his mother.

When Mordred comes back Merlin and Morgana just keep it a silent thing and co -parent the poor child. Merlin is obviously paranoid and Morgana slaps his head and tells him “I can literally see the future you dummy if anything happens I’ll let you know but till then he’s a baby”.

Arthur is very confused and jealous as to why Merlin and Morgana are suddenly very close. It doesn’t help when Gwen find out and suddenly Lancelot Gwen Morgana and Merlin hang out. without him.

Morgana and Gwen teach Merlin sword fighting and all that and in turn Merlin teaches them about magic. Merlin also has leeway in saying “Morgana sent him to do __” while hiding bodies or being suspicious around the castle. She always backs him up, and Merlin does the same for her.

One day when Arthur’s passive aggressiveness gets too petty for Morgana, she looks at him and makes a comment along the lines of “Why, you want him all to yourself?”

Arthur chokes on his drink, Morgana stares in amusement.

Both the pendragon siblings have a realisation that day.

They thwart the threats, Morgana becomes the ruler of the Druid’s and Merlins also like an honorary king but no thank you doesn’t want all that he’s had too much responsibilities for a while.

Both pendragon marry merlin and Gwen, peace in Camelot and balance is restored.

[roosterlasagne]

BBC Merlin writers really missed out the best friend energy with Gwen. She's the first friend Merlin meets in Camelot, what do you mean he didn't tell her of his magic?

I would love to have a few episodes of the Merlin, Gwen, Lancelot trio where Merlin is trying to discreetly-not-discreetly take care of the villain while Lancelot is trying his best to help him with the stealth and makes excuses for him while Gwen is the one with the braincell making sure it all doesn't go to shit.

Merlin would find out of the threat from Arthur or due to Arthur and he would then relay this to Lance and Gwen. They talk about how best to deal with it and they ALL go down to see Kilgarrah cos more people need to question his bullshit, it's extremely hard to do that when you're the only one confronted with it. And same with Gaius, although his is more caring but still detrimental at times.

Gwen will be the one to persuade Merlin to tell Morgana of his magic and help her. While both Gwen and Lancelot, and later also Morgana, make sure that Arthur learns that magic isn't so bad. And then Merlin would tell him of his magic and Morgana will feel safe to also come out with her magic.

And then for bonus points merthur

[raviollies]

TAVERN NIGHT!

Been chipping away at this for several months, but finally completed! Featuring our entire CoS party, from the left: Lancelot, Arameia, Eirwen, Ez, Jien, Vasilli, Blythe and Ireena (& Rahadin lurking in the back)

[ecto-stone]

"When People realize that the ghost infestation didn't go away even after the Portal under the Fenton basement is deactivated. They were devastated. People started moving out of the town left and right in the mattered of Week leaving Amity Park a Husk of it former self. Neighbor, Co-worker, Student ect... all gone in a blink of an eye But those who is less fortunate and can't leave .Stay and eventually get used to it and learn to co-existed with the Supernatural

-Lancelot Lancer -AmityPark the World Most haunted town-" line art by Penner

[dekusheroacademia]

Deku vs Kacchan part 2 as a trial by combat

My main life passion is King Arthur and medieval literature, so when I read Deku vs Kacchan part 2 it was clear to me that this was a trial by combat resolution. I have noticed a couple of comments here and there, of people who seem to not understand the point of Deku vs Kacchan part 2 at all, or even what it meant for Bakugou's character, so I thought I would write the summary of what I could get from it, and the most likely (in my opinion) explanation of what the whole thing means.

This is just from Bakugou's side, given that Deku's side of those chapters are a bit more complicated (he is confused as he never knew what was going on in Bakugou's anger filled head).

First of all, what is a trial by combat?

It was simple a trial, a way to demonstrate something (who is right and who is wrong) by combat. There is a A side, and a B side, and two fighters, each representing one of these two sides. Whoever win demonstrates that their side is correct.

Usually this was for something unrelated to fighting ability. Ex. Did my wife cheat and slept with you? (classic Lancelot and Guinevere situation), Lancelot says nope, and he wins, so nope it is.

In Deku vs Kacchan part 2 we have something more attached to the "strength" of the characters, so a combat to get the right answers make a little more sense.

Now, what are the two points, and what is the question?

Bakugou's question is "Which one of us has the correct way to admire All Might?" and the two sides are:

A) Bakugou's side: focusing on dominance/strength, winning over saving

B) Deku's side: empathy, kindness, focusing on saving

They both admire All Might but in two different ways. For Bakugou these two ways are not compatible, impossible to co-exist, only one of them is correct. In a trial by combat, if Deku wins, then (B) is correct, if Bakugou wins then (A) is correct.

The problem here, is that Bakugou has more information that can suggest to him a possible answer. In particular, we know that Bakugou's way of admiring All Might had led him to a bunch of negative consequences: being saved by Deku, being not chosen as successor, failing the first combat against Deku, failing the license exam, getting kidnapped, having to be saved again. And of course, being the cause of All Might's retirement. So he feels guilty, and he already can sum up that his way (A) of admiring All Might... surely cannot be correct, because look at what led him to.

I think this is why Bakugou wants to use this trial by combat to demonstrate to himself that he is correct in his guilt, he was the one being wrong, and this is why we see him surprised or even mad at having won:

Because now he has these two conflicting points:

Trial by combat says he won, he is correct

Actual life consequences say he is not correct

So now that Deku lost, what does this mean? I think this conflicting answers can only be resolved in completely nullifying Bakugou's way of seeing the world. He can only accept that this is not a correct way of identifying an answer, that winning and force are not the only way to go, but also their two modes are not as incompatible as he thought, maybe not ALL of his mode of admiration was incorrect.

This also reminds me of Javert from Les Miserables, someone who also saw everything in black and white, and that had to face the crumbling of "black/white incompatibiliry" of different ways of seeing people and the world (sadly, it did not end well for him).

[oneknightstand-if]

So a 60 year reign + 15 years old when he pulled the sword in the stone = 75 years old grandpa. The next generation after Arthur (Mordred, Lancelot, Gawain* etc) would be 15-25 years younger than him.

So Lancelot and Arthur are different generations? How old are some of the other characters in comparison? Like Guinevere, Morgana, Morgause, Elaine of Corbenic, Galahad, etc.

Yes, it usually gets ignored in modern reinterpretations (except for things like First Knight) but Lancelot is part of Mordred's generation (who was of course young enough to be Arthur's kid in many versions).

Arthur had been aligned with King Ban (Lancelot's father) for many years with them fighting off the the rebelling kings, Saxons & co, King Rience etc before Benoic fell and Lancelot gets yoinked as a baby by the Lady of the Lake (Ninianne in OKS).

I've got a detailed timeline for major events (reigns of rulers, famous battles & invasions, deaths of major players) but I haven't bothered to nail down the exact birth dates of the Camelot characters since that's not really something that's going to come up.

It's more important what generation they belong to than anything else.

Mordred - 15 years younger than Arthur born the same year that he pulled the Sword in the Stone (460 AD - yes, it's plot relevant)

Guinevere - She was betrothed to Arthur as a kid (to secure Leodegrance's troops against the Saxons/rebelling kings/all the clusterfucks at the start of Arthur's reign) so she straddles the line between Arthur & Lancelot's generations. 10-ish years younger than Arthur.

Morgana - She's a fae, so she's old as balls. There are stories where she had a kid with Julius Caesar (who lived 100 BC – 44 BC) to give you an idea how long she's been around.

Morgause - A couple years older than Arthur. Of all the kids of Gorlois & Igraine (Morgause, Elaine, Cador), she's the only one old enough to even remember her biological father. Would've been around 18-20-ish when she met 15-year old Arthur.

Elaine of Corbenic - About five years younger than Lancelot, so that'd be around 25-30 years younger than Arthur.

Galahad - Two generations removed from Arthur. He'd be 37-45 years younger... depending where I end up putting the conclusion of the Grail Quest (sometime between 500-510 AD).

[achillesuwu]

Well, after many research on ao3 for very specific kind of fic I guess I will have to make my own food.

Hopefully I won’t forget and write the fic but : post canon AU where Arthur, Gwen (*insert awkwardness of Arthur finding out he was in love with Merlin in the last ep and Gwen trying to break the new that she and Leon got married + Lancelot in the background *) and the knights come back but like… 300ish years after their time and like. They get caught with a group of strangers by *insert guys who were ‘just’ doing ‘mildly’ illegal magic things but Arthur &Co walked into it so they caught them*

Anyway, Arthur Gwen and the knights are like stressed + trying to find out what is happening (while being in a cave and chained. What a way to come back to life—)

Meanwhile the others people who got cough a bit after and are now with them are like

Bad dude 1 : *feed up monologue about their mess up work*

Dude 1 : lol

Bad dude 1 : do you wish to die ?!?

Dude 2 : lmao you are such a moron

Arthur, internally : why am I stuck with suicidal people—

Bad dude 2 : how dare you—

Young boy with squire looking clothes but also not really looking like it’s a squire’s clothes : dude, just look *point at a boy* at who it’s

Bad dude 1 & 2 & the rest of the bad dude : ????

Older lady in the background : for goddess’ sake ! The prince, you moron !!!

Arthur & co : ???

Gwen & Leon : *confuse face*

Bad dude 1 :

Bad dude 2 :

Bad dude 3 : when you say the prince you mean —

Another boy : THE prince

The prince in question, last descendant of Gwen & Leon:

Bad dudes :

Dude 1 & 2 : you are so freaking death lol Lord Merlin is going to kick your ass

Gwaine : *mouthing confusingly ‘Merlin’ right behind Arthur*

*door flying open and getting smashed on the wall*

*Insert badass (unwilling) King Regent with eyes glowing who pull out a sword from his heart, blood everywhere, looking totally unbothered as he let the sword fall on the ground and says ‘I will ask one more time. Do you surrender ?’ *

I just think it would be very neat.

Also Merlin had been king regent for like… 130 years. My man want to retire but the 2 first heir just… fucked off to live their lives add the fact that after 60 years people are like ‘another king ??? Wtf that one is very good’ + very few actual heir + magical being not giving a fuck about mortal king and only listening to Ermys and you get an unwilling warlock doing State paperwork for a century

(Arthur new found queerness is making hard to fonction in these conditions)

*this was written at 4 am by a non-native speaker in the middle of his pre-exams session*

[merlincersei]

Merlin BBC UK TV Show - Opinion Piece Part 7 - How The 2008 Series Reinterprets and Subverts Arthurian Legends

I was talking to a mutual friend about movies and TV shows in the fantasy genre and this friend bought up the fact how Arthurian legends have influenced most of them.

As that conversation progressed, we both agreed that the best adaptation of Arthurian legend was John Boorman’s 1981 classic "Excalibur".

However he seemed very amused when I told him that I was a huge fan of the 2008 BBC TV series Merlin. His opinion was that the TV series was "so childish, historically inaccurate and farcical" when he watched it.

I disagreed with him profusely and decided to make this post to outline my love of the TV series. I will share this post with this person so we can have further discussions on this topic. So here it goes:

Creators wanted to reinterpret Arthurian legend.

PROOF:

Julian Murphy, co-creator and executive producer: It all began in a restaurant on Kensington Church street, where I had lunch with the writer Jake Michie. And the pitch I gave him was very simple - It was 'I'd like to do the Arthurian story, but as an origin story in the same way that the Superman story had been done in [US TV series] Smallville.' And I think from there, it evolved.

But the decision that I think was at the heart of it, which was to make Arthur and Merlin contemporaries, rather than make Merlin the old man looking after the young Arthur, was there from the very beginning.

Source : https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/merlin-at-10-the-cast-and-creatives-on-how-they-made-the-bbcs-boy-wizard-drama/

If you are a fan of the series i would recommend to read the article above for more information and details about the TV Show.

______________________________________________________________

There has never been a concise Arthurian story. The legends are an amalgam of numerous versions, the most popular of them being as follows:

 History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth

Geoffrey’s account of the legendary king contains the first appearance of many of the iconic features of the Arthurian legend, including the wizard Merlin.

Lancelot by Chrétien de Troyes

Geoffrey of Monmouth never mentions Arthur’s most famous knight, and it wasn’t until Chrétien de Troyes wrote Lancelot and introduced the idea of an affair between Guinevere and Arthur’s most noble knight that Arthurian legend really got the ‘romantic’ treatment

The Mabinogion by Anonymous

The Arthur we glimpse in the Mabinogion is usually a marginal figure so it’s worth reading if you’re a fan of early legends containing King Arthur.

Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

This is a vast prose retelling of the story of King Arthur and the Round Table.

Idylls of the King by Lord Tennyson

Here we find the stories of Lancelot and Elaine, Geraint and Enid, Merlin and Vivien

______________________________________________________________

So for the 2008 series to collect Arthurian stories from various sources and try to repackage it to a modern audience is nothing new as the trend has already been established through works of T. H. White in The Once and Future King, Mary Stewart in The Crystal Cave, Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court etc...

But it is through reinterpreting Merlin & Guinevere's storylines and using Magic as a motif that we get a brand new Arthurian story.

Guinevere

The name Guinevere means The Fair One in old Welsh.

To cast Angel Coulby, a woman of color as one of the most famous white woman in history was a revolutionary act by 2008 British TV standards.

In the legends, Guinevere is of royal blood. Gwen in the TV series is a servant of common birth who ascends to become a queen.

Here the audience come to see Gwen as the fair one based on the strength of her character and not the color of her skin.

In the TV show Arthur forgives Gwen's infidelity with Lancelot rather than having her sent to a nunnery or worse having her die. The old male authors were okay with Arthur bedding several women but expectation of chasteness placed on Guinevere always contained an undercurrent of misogyny.

In the TV Show, Gwen leads Camelot into the golden age, instead of being blamed for the downfall of Camelot due to her affair with Lancelot

PROOF : Excerpt From Hyable Article:

Meanwhile of course, Guinevere was left to lead Camelot into the golden age. “We’ve had that in our minds for about three series,” Julian Murphy says. “We felt that to take Gwen from a servant girl to a powerful and strong queen, a person who can bind the kingdom together, was the journey we wanted to do, and I think Angel [Coulby] delivered that brilliantly.”

Merlin

By having Merlin be of a contemporary age to Arthur they effectively changed Merlin from being a father figure to being a companion of Arthur.

The close bond that Merlin shares with Arthur in the TV Show effectively replicates Lancelot's close bond with Arthur in the historical legends.

Bradley James here confirms how in some legends Lancelot was in love with Arthur.

The gay subtext that was prevalent between Lancelot and Arthur in the historical legends is played out in all its glory between Merlin and Arthur .

Motiff of Magic

Throughout the history of Abrahamic religions, there has been a connection between magic and (deviant) sexual practices. From the osculum inafme (kissing of donkey’s anuses and kissing the Devil’s anus) to witches who were supposedly inserting hallucinogenous mushrooms into their vaginas. The series association between magic and non heteronormative people becomes pronounced as series progresses.

And therein lies the appeal of the 2008 Merlin TV Series. With this modern retelling it succeeds in addressing certain historical wrongs, make it more representational, address issues and highlight subtext that have been historically ignored in popular media for the time frame it aired.

Arthurian legends no longer becomes the domain of a patriarchal Judeo Abrahamic narrative about a return to the good old days but of class mobility, race, feminism, queer acceptance and the belief of a better world to come in context of the TV Show.