#medrawt

[queer-ragnelle]

Any books that shows us out right that Mordred could actually be a good, or at least capable ruler?

Hi! I’m gonna suggest medlit as well as retellings for you.

Medieval Literature

The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth

Modred is present here for only a little while, but he comes in hot. He’s considered “boldest of men” in his audacity against Arthur. He marries Queen Guanhumara [Guinevere]. Modred's army is huge in part because he welcomes Christians & Pagans to his ranks. He's skilled at war & although Arthur overwhelms him tp retreat repeatedly, he's quick to return the attack each time. In the end, he makes a final push to "either conquer or die." So a decidedly brave & savvy Modred if not a successful one.

Vulgate

Mordred has the most depth here of any medieval story simply because this gives him the most page time of all. He's very clever in his wording when he joins Agravain to tell Arthur of Guenevere's infidelity. He says, "We’ve concealed this from you as long as we could; but now the truth must be known, and we must tell it; and by hiding it from you for so long, we’ve been deceitful and disloyal to you. Now we’re doing our duty." Mordred's quick tongue continues to aid him even after all his brothers but Gawain had died. He ends up with Arthur's entire treasury plus an army of soldiers oath-bound to him. After falling in love with Guenevere, Mordred's people encourage her to marry him, saying, "We know of no knight more worthy to rule an empire or a kingdom, for he is a valiant man and a good and courageous knight." It's stated that many nobles "invested" in Mordred & provided him even more wealth as they believed in his cause. He also got Saxony to pay tribute, which Arthur had failed to do.

La Tavola Ritonda | Italian Name Guide

Mordarette [Mordred] is first shown to be really competent as King Artù [Arthur] makes him a viceroy, messenger, & army commander alongside his cousin Ivano [Yvain] in the same way Calvano [Gawain] was in the Vulgate. After that, while Artù & Calvano have run off to battle Lancelotto [Lancelot], Mordarette is left behind as "viceroy & king." He took that to heart & attempts to marry Ginevara [Guinevere]. It's stated that Mordarette's people "Swore to stay by him and never abandon him because of King Mordarette's great joyfulness and courtesy."

Alliterative Morte Arthure

Iconic. This is the prime example I think of when I consider capable ruler Mordred. Arthur has gone all around the world wielding Excalibur to battle & acquire more & more territory. He leaves Mordred behind to essentially rule in his place, even though Mordred begs to come & win himself honor. Arthur leaves & is gone so long that Mordred just… assumed the kingship. He & Guinevere marry, have children, & Guinevere shows Mordred where to find Arthur’s other sword, Clarent. Eventually it comes to blows but Mordred's following is exceedingly loyal as it's been so long that Arthur's return feels like an invasion! Mordred had appointed all new dukes & earls that were loyal to him, & filled out his army with Pagans that Arthur had previously shunned. The ending battle is epic & really showcases what a great fighter Mordred is. He leads his men by example.

Retellings

Mordred: A Tragedy by Henry Newbolt

Mordred play of all time. After Mordred reveals to Agravaine that he’s Arthur’s son, he manages to get all 4 of his elder brothers to support his claim to the throne. He speaks of freedom & truth—he really thinks he’s doing the right thing, & successfully canvasses his case to many. He rides this mindset all the way to the end with an army equal to Arthur’s, they each lose the same number of folks on each side, despite Mordred jumping between them to try & prevent the charge. Incredible piece of literature. Wish I could see it on stage.

Arthur The Bear of Britain by Edward Frankland

The oldest Welsh-inspired retelling I have & likely a huge inspiration for much of what came after. Medraut is just a year younger than his uncle Arthur, not as big or strong as Arthur, Kai, Bedwyr, or Gwalchmai, but he's cunning, & a skilled harper who uses music for political gain. He falls in love with Gwenhyvar & fantasizes about what a better husband he would be to her, & in turn, a better guardian of the land. (This book has by far the most Gwenhyvar of all the Welsh-inspired retellings on the list, so that's a huge bonus.) Medraut has contrasting ideas about how to handle the Saxons & Engels, as he sees they have integrated into society & had children with Britons, so he reckons to fight them is to fight themselves. Arthur disagrees & wants to see them all slaughtered or expelled. This causes a rift that worsens throughout the story & culminates in their split, with Medraut amassing an army efficiently as Arthur can combat him.

The Queen's Knight by Marvin Borowsky

Mordred is a warlord & the major opponent of Arthur as he rises to power. Many fear Mordred because of his military prowess & successful campaigns. He's formidable & clever. Later in the book, after a peace agreement, he basically goes sleeper agent & pretends to be chill for many years biding his time until he can land the final blow against Arthur & be king. Fascinating character & I love the writing style. Content warning for pederasty between Mordred/youth.

The Great Captains by Henry Treece

Medrodus or Medrawt is the "younger brother" of Artorius, the Count of Britain, who doesn't receive the legendary sword Caliburn from Uther. Medrodus is by rights entitled to the role that Artorius has won for himself, but ends up his confidant & a general alongside Cei & Bedwyr. After being initiated into the Celtic way of life, Medrawt, as he's then known by, slowly learns of war from his superiors & wrestles with his conflicted feelings about Artos's position, believing him both capable & incompetent, cruel & kind as a leader. His harbored doubts fester over the years until Medrawt at last makes his move with the skills & allies he accumulated in that time. The "brothers" eventually clash as is expected but nothing can prepare you for the ending. Content warning for incest between Artos/Gwenhwyfar.

The Green Man by Henry Treece

Treece loved Arthurian legend so much, that 10 years after The Great Captains, in the year of his death, he published his final book The Green Man, which tells the whole story over again but differently. Medraut is a son of King Lot of Orkney & nephew of Arthur the Bear. Instead of Roman, he's Pictish. But Medraut's once again subordinate to Arthur, distrusted by Kei & Bedwyr One Hand, & harbors a dislike for Arthur's leadership. I don't know whether I like this one better than The Great Captains, but it shakes things up, as Gwenhwyvar is Medraut's aunt by blood, his mother's sister, so Arthur is his uncle by marriage. This changes the dynamic considerably as the animosity between them stems from seeing Arthur as an outsider, rather than competition as in the first book. Medraut is on his same routine here making allies behind everyone's backs & plotting. He's a pro.

The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart

Mordred is shockingly normal considering the circumstances of his birth. His first impression of Arthur is when he's picking out a new puppy from the litter descended from Cavall. Arthur accepts him as his son immediately, but Mordred is haunted by the prophecy which dictates he'll inevitably be Arthur's "bane." Despite his legitimate respect & even love for his father, things spiral out of control, & Mordred is forced to take up arms against Arthur. Devastating resolution I fear I'll never recover.

The Book of Mordred & The Last Knight of Albion by Peter Hanratty

Mordred is introspective & philosophical. He's not incompetent as a fighter, but certainly of a stronger mind than body. The first book follows him from childhood as his worldview is shaped & corrupted by his treatment from Arthur's inability to handle his own son. The second book follows young Percival in the aftermath of Camlann. Mordred is in it but not as much of a focus, although Percival is determined to track him down & finish what the other knights of the Round Table started. Getting an outside perspective of Mordred is interesting. These books are a great example of unreliable narration.

A Camelot Triptych by Norris J. Lacy

Mordred in the third story in the triptych but all three together really paints an interesting picture of him as a person. He's a tortured soul who believes he meant well & ultimately became the evil thing everyone always believed him to be. The final portion is Mordred raving right before the battle of Camlann where he expresses his feelings regarding Arthur's tyranny & that he intends to martyr himself to save his country from it. Written by the guy who was head editor of the Vulgate so you know it's good.

That's what I got for ya!

There are definitely other examples I could squeeze in here. But these are the books I found most compelling and followed the story through to the conclusion so we get to actually see Mordred as a leader. This list offers a variety of interpretations, some drawing more heavily on on Welsh mythology while others pull lore exclusively from the French Vulgate. Honorable mention to Phyllis Ann Karr's Idylls of the Queen, which doesn't show Mordred as a competent leader, but sets up his motivations in a fascinating way. It's also just a damn good book.

Hope you find some stories among these that resonate with you. Many Mordreds to choose from! I'd love to hear from anyone who reads these and enjoyed them. Take care. :^)

[moon-touched-vn]

Funny you guys should mention a Medrawt/Gwen affair in the notes of my previous post, because I took some artistic license and made Medrawt and Gwenhwyfar brother and sister here.

One reason was to draw parallels between Arthur and Medrawt's relationship to Cynric and Creoda's. Both pairs of brothers were originally tight-knit before betrayal and tragedy pit them against each other. Where Arthur kills Medrawt using the spear Creoda planted in his back, Creoda plans to use Arthur as a spiritual sort of spear to kill his own brother and break his curse.

Another reason was to give Medrawt an emotional investment in Gwenhwyfar without veering into adultery territory, because, as I've alluded to before, I'm not keen on exploring that element. Despite whatever enmity has come between them, he and Arthur can both agree she ought not to see the ugliness of their war.

There is no affair, just a whole lot of emotional scars. And a stabbing. Can't do without the violence lol.

...That being said, Arthur does call Jesus Gwen's "second husband" as a kind of tongue-in-cheek thing. He's only joking. Maybe. Sorta.

There's a scene where he gets a little grouchy because, after an entire day of shunning him to pray, Gwen slips into bed and asks him to hold her. In his head he's like "oh so you visit your holy husband all day but you come to me at night because he doesn't rev your engine. I feel so loved >:L"

and when she says pretty please, he caves, cuz he's a sap. that's how they get ya :v

[archivist-crow]

CATH PALUG

This giant cat features in several early Welsh poems. Cath Palug's name means 'the cat with the sharp claws'. It is described as one of the offspring of the sow Henwen, which having been chased to the edge of the sea dropped a litter of kittens which took to the water and swam away. Henwen resembles the many monstrous Murchata or sea cats of Irish tradition. Cath Palug itself was no stranger to the sea, having swam the Menai Strait between North Wales and the island of Anglesey where it was said to continue its marauding. It was successfully slain on that island by Cei (the Sir Kay of later medieval Arthurian legend) who went against it with a shield that looked 'a mere fragment' next to the gigantic cat. A medieval French story tradition tells how a cat called Chapalu or Chatloup (a corruption of Cath Palug) pushed King Arthur into a bog and then overcame him in war, passing through Britain to conquer it, wearing the crown of Britain. This tale may relate to the early medieval stories of the conflict between King Arthur and Mordred (or Medrawt), in which Mordred's symbol is the cat.

Text from The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures by John and Caitlin Matthews (HarperElement, 2005)

[dumb-but-happy-trist]

List of fate gender bends

Atilla the Hun-Altera

King Arthur-Saber

Okita Souji(male)-Okita Souji(female)

Brothers Dioscuri- Twins Dioscuri

Euclid-Hastur's Euclid

Francis Drake-Captain drake

Frankenstein's monster-Fran

Guerrehet-Lady Garret

Double Clubs-Huyan Zhuo

Rōba Oni Ude wo Mochisaru Zu-Ibaraki-douji

Ibuki-douji-Alcholic Bisexual pervert

Jack the Ripper (beserker)-Jack the ripper (Assasin)

Jacques de Molay (email)-Jacques de Molay (Female)

Jing Ke the quick- Jing Ke the drunk

Katō Danzō- the Flying Katou

High Renaissance painter Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci of italy-Da Vinci-chan-Vinci Lily

Myrddin Emrys-Proto Merlin

Ushi Gozen-Minamoto-no-Raikou-Ushi Gozen

Old man Musashi-young lady Musashi

Medrawt-Mordred

Mori Ranmaru-Mysterious Ranmaru X

Uesugi Kenshin-White haired lancer

Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus-Emperor of Roses

Nalakūbara-Nezha

Bitch-Paul Bunyan

Quetzalcoatl-Quetzalcoatl

Shuten-dōji-Shuten-douji

Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune-Ushiwakamaru

वृत्र-Vṛtrá

Hsu Fu-Xu Fu

Mokṣadeva-Xuanzang Sanzang

Yui Shousetsu-Bitch

Fun fact : You can find an interesting explanation for a lot of them.

Altera : That’s an alien.

Artoria : It’s a good spin on the Arthurian Myth.

Okita Souji : We don’t actually have a picture of him so who knows!

Twins Dioscuri : No good explanation for this one.

Euclid : Foreigner and very mysterious personage.

Captain Drake : That might be Queen Elizabeth.

Fran : Again, that’s a good spin on the original story.

Gareth : That’s lb6’s fault.

Huyan Zhuo : Empusa.

Ibaraki Douji : Money.

Ibuki Douji : Money.

Jack the Ripper : Not Actually Jack the Ripper.

Jacques de Molay : Foreigner, actually a man.

Jing Ke : I don’t even know.

Kato Danzo : She’s a puppet.

Da Vinci : Trans representation.

Proto Merlin : Incubus.

Minamoto-no-Raikou and Ushi-Gozen : Check the wiki, it’s interesting.

Musashi-chan : Not Actually Our Musashi.

Mordred : Again, a good spin on the Arthurian Myth.

Mysterious Ranmaru X : Servantverse Bullshit.

Uesegi Kenshin : There’s actually a theory that he was actually a woman.

Nero : Very little trustworthy information about him, and what is trustworthy describes him as effeminate.

Nezha : Actually Genderless

Paul Bunyan : Can’t remember his/her gender. That’s why Berserker.

Quetzalcoatl : Fate Bullshitery To Make More Money.

Shuten Douji : Money.

Ushiwakamaru : From What I Understand, Money.

Vritra : Choice on her part, usually genderless.

Xu Fu : Bureaucrat’s fault apparently.

Xuanzang Sanzang : Was played by a woman once. Chaos ensues.

Yui Shousetsu (how dare you?) : Homunculus.

[gawrkin]

Apologies for dropping in your inbox like this without warning, but I felt the need to thank you for your post on Welsh Arthurian tellings. Particularly this part:

No Lancelot and No Affair. PERIOD. And absolutely no compromise or cheating on this one: you cannot turn anyone else (coughBediverecough) into a Lancelot analogue. You must sacrifice the Love Triangle completely - no "duty vs. love" drama. You're going to have make do without that conceit. You must exercise your own creativity and forge a different dramatic conflict for Arthur and Gwenhwyfar, if at all.

Turning Bedwyr into a Lancelot analogue, as if he has no character of his own, for some overplayed drama when other potential sources of conflict exist is one of my biggest pet peeves in Arthurian fiction. Right next to "You marketed your book as historical fiction, why are Lance and his gang all here?"

Whenever I complain about it on my blog, though, folks act like I just spoke some sort of literary blasphemy, lol.

I'm developing a visual novel that uses elements from Welsh Arthuriana; while I find the creative process fulfilling because heck yeah be the change you want to see in the world, the downside is it really does feel like it's near impossible to talk about. Mostly because everyone expects The Usual(tm), you know? And then you have to sit there and be like "Well, it doesn't have Merlin... or Lancelot... or Galahad... or the Round Table... and Excalibur is called Caledfwlch... uh... May I interest you in a Saxon OC? How about a drawing of Arthur lathered in the blood of his enemies?"

The VN takes place after the Battle of Camlan, and essentially functions as a "what-if" exploring Arthur's fate if he hadn't died. (As tl;dr as I can make it: he's conscripted for spiritual warfare by a strange Saxon man, Creoda, who's curse-blessed by the moon god to resurrect from death on the condition that he visits justice on his murderers. Arthur's seen weirder stuff, lmao.)

I've always been fascinated by Camlan's aftermath and wanted to explore Arthur's characterization when he's "forced" to continue living past the end, so to speak. At first, he simply wants to join his men, but he slowly regains agency as he tries to extricate himself from Creoda's machinations and the sins of his past. The world believes he's dead, so he's freer to act as he wishes.

For the central conflict underpinning Camlan, I decided to streamline the Gwenhwyfach subplot. Gwenhwyfar is instead Medrawt's sister, and he delivers her the fatal blow when she mocks his inebriation one too many times (context: he drinks to cope with the guilt of failing to protect the etifedd, Amr, from dying at the hands of Saxon captors). The blow forces Arthur to respond as a matter of honor, and here we get a long, dragged-out war of attrition between the two men.

Gwenhwyfar turns to Christianity for comfort. In tandem, she grows to resent both Arthur and Medrawt, as she believes neither truly had her in mind when they marched to war. She merely served as a convenient excuse for them to "rattle their spears" at one another.

The antagonist, who is meant to foil Arthur, is Creoda of Wessex. (Well, technically Creoda of the Gewisse, since Wessex kinda ain't established yet). He seems to have been invented to explain a 19-year gap between differing versions of West Saxon genealogy, because his name is otherwise oddly absent from the records. The sources I've read online on his lineage are contradictory and fragmented. So due to a paucity of information, I basically went "my city now." :P

Where Arthur is hotheaded but an active leader, deriving authority from his role as protector of the island of Prydain, Creoda represents a more dehumanizing view of nobility and the corrosive effects of the divine right of kings on the psyche. I won't wander too deep into the weeds here because this ask is already pretty long as it is, but that's the gist of it, lol.

Welsh Arthuriana offers ample creative material. I just wish more people seized the opportunity to flesh out less explored avenues.

@skaruresonic

You're very much welcome on that front!

Very interesting premise with a Post-Camlann!Arthur. I would suggest looking into the Wild Hunt and Sleeping-in-a-Cave Traditions of King Arthur if you want expand on the "Forced to live on after Camelot" aspect.

Whenever I complain about it on my blog, though, folks act like I just spoke some sort of literary blasphemy, lol.

I believe it's because their Bible of Arthuriana - and more importantly, it's preferred themes, meaning & interpretation - begins and ends with the "Holy Trinity" of Modern Arthuriana: Le Morte D'Arthur, Idylls of the King and Once and Future King.

This Modern Trinity has been the writer's reference point and source material for their own stories and pretty much dictates the plotting and thematics of all modern retellings, including the retellings trying to subvert it, like Mists of Avalon or Warlord Chronicles.

Welsh Arthuriana offers ample creative material. I just wish more people seized the opportunity to flesh out less explored avenues.

I feel that a lot of people find looking into the Welsh Traditions difficult not only because the material is obscure and fragmentary but also because it entails removing and replacing the themes and characters they have come to prefer from classical sources: Courtly Love, the premise of a Utopian setting, Romantic notions of Monarchy, Fellowship of Cool Knight Bros, Religion and Lofty Ideal debacles, etc. - none of which is prominent within the Welsh Matter.

The Welsh Matter, if anything, is about Worldly concerns - Marriages, Wealth, Raiding, Ethno-National Politics, etc. - intermixed with Otherworldly (but not Religious unless its a Hagiography or an adaptation of the French) ventures - Mystical Cauldrons and Objects, Giants, Trips to Annwfn, Monster Hunting, Shapeshifting, etc.

[girl-bateman]

thank you @godspetdog for tagging me to shuffle my on repeat on spotify and list off the first ten songs <33

(ok so I tried to go on the repeat playlist on spotify but its all infested with my sisters horrible music so im gonna go shuffle my own playlists instead lmao.)

Say Yes To Heaven, Lana Del Rey

Me and the Devil, Soap&Skin

Romantic Homicide, d4vd

The Night We Met, Lord Huron

Cracker Island, Gorillaz (Feat. Thundercat)

NFWMB, Hozier

Let Me Follow, Son LuX

No Shade in the Shadow of The Cross, Sufjan Stevens

I Kissed a Girl, And She Kissed Me, Kid Bloom

A Certain Romance, Arctic Monkeys

Tagging: @lawrencebarkley @expromqueen @medrawt @glorioushorror @some-say-kosm @knowby @twinprime

[skaruresonic]

"Mordred was originally his nephew, not his son"

depends on which source you're looking at tbh

Medrawt may or may not have been related to Arthur. The Welsh Triads say he was prince of Gododdin. Maaaaybe you could say he was some sort of brother-in-law, if you think he married Gwenhwyfar's sister.

You always have to walk a tightrope between being historically accurate and accessible to the audience's reference pools, though, so I just decided to split the difference and made him Arthur's brother-in-law via Gwenhwyfar instead.

Arthur's beef with Medrawt is really funny because he's simultaneously like "fuck that guy, all my homies hate Medrawt" and "I don't want to talk about it ('nam stare)"

[lacunose]

medrawt > porfyreos. back to my hellenist origins <3

[queer-ragnelle]

Arthur The Bear of Britain by Edward Frankland | More quotes at Arthuriana Daily

[moon-touched-vn]

Ngl whenever someone describes Bedwyr as a "Welsh version of Lancelot," it makes me want to eat drywall. For several reasons.

One being that Bedwyr is his own character, and I feel like it borders on erasure to force him into a role he was never implied to have held. People assembled the pieces together that he was A.) handsome, B.) one of Arthur's closest companions, and just mashed the two together with the thought that "...and so he has to betray Arthur, right?" It feels very remiss towards his character, treating him as though he's so hollow or lacking that he could be replaced with something else without much substance being lost.

Plus, a cursory reading of Culhwch and Olwen will tell you that he was hella gay for Cai, okay.

Second is the idea implicit in such descriptions that post-Galfridian Arthuriana is the definitive version of the Arthurian narrative, that Welsh material is not worth engaging with on its own merits except to support post-Galfridian material.

Nobody's really saying Lance should be out here helping Arthur hunt Twrch Trwyth, for instance, but when it comes to Bedwyr, he's suddenly the "Welsh Lancelot"? Huh?

Also, if that's the case, isn't that a little backwards? Shouldn't we be calling Lancelot the "French Bedwyr" instead?

Third - and this one is most subjective - I kind of feel like if you absolutely had to go this route of adultery, there are other candidates. Bedwyr often gets pinged as Arthur's best friend, and not without reason, but in Culhwch Cai is his right-hand man who spearheads some of the tasks of Culhwch's quest. There's also Gwenhwyfar's praise of Cai in The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhwyfar to take into account. I've also seen Melwas and Medrawt floated as possible alternatives, but ehhhh, like. Why does Gwen need to cheat for everything to fall apart, necessarily?

I guess I'm also peeved by the idea that adultery is considered such a necessary ingredient to the psychological conflict at the heart of Camlan that we can't imagine Camlan without it... When it was the blow to Gwenhwyfar's dignity, coupled with the insults exchanged between Medrawt and Arthur, that resulted in Camlan.

There's also the historical context to consider. 536 AD being "the worst year to be alive" based on climate change from a volcanic eruption resulting in an apocalyptic fog, preventing crops from growing and shrouding the sun in an eerie mist for half a year. One can imagine the lawlessness and violence that abounded.

It doesn't escape my notice that the date roughly coincides with the dates for Camlan. The Annales Cambriae also contend that plague broke out in Britain and Ireland after Camlan, which would make sense: illness often follows famine.

I strongly feel that with a little imagination, those elements could be made just as psychologically compelling as an affair. Part of the reason I'm even writing this VN is to try and explore those avenues.

Kinda strayed from the main point there, but yeah :v

[gawaincomic]

Day 2!

Two brothers who want rather different things from life...

I think this is probably the first time I have posted Mordred here :).

[alienjaylien]

@nocturna-medrawt

d<oes any body else's family keep naked ken dolls around their kitchen cabinets like a personal magic mike show every time i open a door

[polupenthes]

@sacramort. | CLOSED STARTER FOR LOKI.

So that the sky may become like thunder. So unraveled, so bone-bright. Lightening, through the space between the clouds’ shoulder-blades: scapula wind-like, wing-like, split open by Bheur’s hands. By her winter’s magic.  

It is storming: the thunder announces its opening ravages. Bheur sits atop the highest upright rock of the stone circle. Her feet dangle below and her head is thrown back: she listens to the storm as the composer listens to the symphony. Her brother, in his white raven form, sits on a branch beside her.

To be young gods. To be a world opened to the possibility of becoming. To be made of their father’s essence and reflect it back tenfold. The Storm Hag’s hair is wet, stuck to her skull, and her eyes are bright in those bones of animals she’s chosen as her own. 

Look at her through the rain-fog, and she will appear much less human, much more the black-winged raven. Look at her through the thunder: she is sound, roar, hooves’ beating. 

Medrawt announces the newcomer with a caw. He turns his head to look at Loki and lifts himself off of the branch with the strong beating of wings. His sister’s winds do not concern him: he lands boots-first, now person-like, in front of the trickster and waits until his sister floats down too. Side-by-side, it becomes that much more clear how the notion of twinhood may apply to them: of the same substance, their human forms choose to reflect it in the same light eyes (hers green, his blue), the same dark hair, the same thin thoughtful face, the same lanky height.

They watch, unsettlingly quiet. Were the interloper a human they would have buckled under the power of their gazes long before they reached the edge of the stone ring. 

Which is why, perhaps, the twins are so curious about them.

[lacunose]

likemicheletto>medrawt. sorry for loving to change my url atm. <3

[versegm]

I'm using the askbox meme as an excuse but mostly I'm just really curious: for the Awakening soulmate AU you wrote, what happened from Grima/Robin's perspective? How do they manage to integrate back into the world? *do* they manage?

(The fic in question)

OKAY SO (I'm gonna call our favorite god Robin for facility's sake, even if technically they're like. A fusing of both Grima and Robin lmao.) From Robin's perspective, the entire time from the moment they sacrificed themself all the way to modern times, they've been... asleep? Kind of? Floating in some empty space, tangled in bonds that prevent them from truly sinking and dying, but also unable to get out on their own. They're vaguely aware of what's happening on the other side of the strings, but it's kind of like dreaming or sleepwalking (hence why they could react to Lucina being unable to sleep like "go to sleep, my child, and take ur meds") mostly they're just stuck greiving in a lonely limbo (hence why Lucina and Morgan both hear rain/thunder; that's them weeping/crying out.) Morgan's prayers were the equivalent of patting someone on the back like "there, there," which is calming even when you're not fully aware of your surroundings.

Tbh integrating back in the world is gonna take a LOOONG time. There's so much that Robin has to catch up on!! Technology! Magic! Basic geography! (for exemple, Plegia & Ylisse don't exist anymore, hence why countries are never named in that fic. They probably fused and broke apart multiple times along the years.) AND that's on top of Robin basically being like "I have been isolated from everyone and everything for centuries so if I touch a cat a bit too soft I WILL cry I have literally not known touch for the entire time.)

So I imagine they start by hosting Robin in the church, yknow, get them slowly used to sensory stuff + normal house appliances, and they work their way from here. Take a walk around the church one day, go a bit farther everyday, ect. Same with people, at first it's just Morgan & Lucina helping Robin out, but as time goes on they slowly introduce more people to them, starting with Chrom.

Getting everyone in the loop takes months and it probably takes years before Robin can successfully speak to strangers without sounding like a huge weirdo. I don't think they ever like... fully integrate society or anything (they probably pull a Tiki and go hole themself in a mountain nearby or something) but on the weekend they can share a warm meal with their family and sometimes they go visit a library or chill at a café and all is well, and honestly, that's all they've ever asked for.

(I don't remember if I ever made you read May The Moon Shine Upon Camlann, but if I did, basically imagine Medrawt's character development lmaoo)

[amashelle]

The thing about name variations between texts is that most of them are not so much alternate spellings are they are translated: Modred (Cornish) is not an alternate spelling of Medrawt (Welsh) but rather a common name that had similar sounds. French added the r to make Mordred and thus associate him with bad tidings and evil because of the phonetic similarity to ‘mort’ (French for death).

Some names are translated by choosing a local name with similar phonetics. Some are translated by recognizing the meaning behind a name and choosing a local name with the same or similar meaning (the way Usagi Tsukino [Rabbit of the Moon] was named Serena and Bunny in different English adaptations of Sailor Moon). Others are translated by localizing names—that is, by adding phonemes that sound local even if the name didn’t exist before (like the French did to Mordred in the example above).

What manuscript/language does Keerz appear as Kay? I’d be interested to try and determine what form of translation is in use here.

i must be hallucinating there’s absolutely no way you’re suggesting that keerz is an acceptable spelling of kay