King Arthur: Difference between revisions

King Arthur (view source)

Revision as of 15:40, 7 January 2023

391 bytes removed , 1 year ago

Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators

213,481

edits

Revision as of 12:08, 15 October 2015 (view source) DHBirr (talk \| contribs) No edit summary ← Older edit		Revision as of 15:40, 7 January 2023 (view source) Robkelk (talk \| contribs) (→‎Video Games) Newer edit →
(23 intermediate revisions by 9 users not shown)
Line 1: {{work}} {{cleanup\|This page is about both the character and the legends that the character features in. This should be split in two: "King Arthur" and "Matter of Britain".}} [[File:king_arthur.jpg\|frame\|link=http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/42-25648773/arthur-draws-the-sword-from-the-stone\|Now me, [[Discworld\|I'm more impressed by whoever put the sword there to begin with]].]] Line 12 ⟶ 13: This version incorporates many originally separate stories about the Knights of the Round Table, and other legends such as ''[[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight\|Gawaine and the Green Knight]]'', [[Courtly Love]], and the myth of the Holy Grail. This holds true for the English-speaking world. As far as the French are concerned, [[Chrétien de ~~Troyes\|Chretien De~~ Troyes]]' romances are the most important version of the Arthurian myth and for German-speakers it is the verse epics of the trio of Hartmann von Aue, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and Gottfried von Straßburg, especially Wolfram's ''Parzival''. This is not founded on priority, but also on the superior literary quality of these four authors in comparison with their successors. In general, the way the Arthurian myth is viewed can depend very much on the nationality of the viewer; for people from the British Isles (and by extension, from the rest of the Anglosphere), it usually goes without saying that the Welsh (and English) medieval texts reflect an older and more "genuine" version of the myth than the French ones, even though they were in fact written down later. Here a lot is speculation and inference, as the (presumably mostly oral) traditions on which Geoffrey of Monmouth, Maistre Wace, Chrétien de Troyes and others based their works are lost to history. Any modern Arthurian story that is not about either a) Lancelot/Guinevere/Arthur/Mordred/Morgan and the subsequent collapse of the court or b) specifically about Merlin, is generally going to be about the Grail Quest, despite dozens of other possible plots. However, Tristram and Iseult (usually under the German forms of their names, Tristan and Isolde) by themselves are also becoming more popular, mainly due to the popularity of romance stories. ~~=== The Main Plot Features Are: ===~~ The genres used may vary from [[Historical Fiction]] ([[Doing In the Wizard\|no magic]] and Saxon [[The Horde\|hordes]] as [[Mooks]]), to [[Heroic Fantasy]], and the story can be set either in the Dark ages [[After the End\|after the fall of Rome]] or in the present day, when King Arthur [[Rightful King Returns\|has returned]]. The main characters of the stories that are collectively known as the [[Matter of Britain]] are: * King Arthur: [[The Hero]], [[The Captain]] and [[Knight in Shining Armor]]. * Sir Bedivere: Arthur's [[Power Trio\|oldest companion, besides Kay]]; [[Bash Brothers]] with Kay and vice-versa. As the spotlight shifts to other (newer) characters, both remain Arthur's [[The Good Chancellor\|court officials]]. * Sir Kay: Arthur's foster brother, originally a [[Boisterous Bruiser]], later the [[Butt Monkey]]; also [[The Big Guy]] (literally "The Long Man" in Welsh). * Galahad: [[The Messiah]] and an early [[Marty Stu]]. * Guinevere: [[The Chick]], [[Damsel in Distress]]. * Gawain: [[Badass\|Originally]] [[The Lancer]], then [[Badass Decay\|wimpified]]. [[Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys\|by the French]]. [[Pragmatic Adaptation\|Modern versions]] [[Took a Level in Badass\|are more forgiving]], [[Anti-Hero\|in their own way]]. * Percival: [[Kid Appeal Character\|The young, naive fool]] who became a knight and saw the Grail... until later stories had Galahad see it instead. * Lancelot: [[The Lancer]], The [[Tragic Hero]], The [[Sixth Ranger]], [[Sailor Earth]] (He is a latecomer in two senses: first, in that he first appears at the Round Table long after the vast majority of its membership has assembled; and second, the character entered the myth cycle several hundred years after it was first compiled.) * Morgause: Arthur's half-sister, Mordred's mother, sometimes blended with her sister Morgana. * [[Merlin]]: [[Ur Example\|The original]] [[The Obi-Wan\|Wizard]], [[Mentor]], [[The Professor]], sometimes [[Half-Human Hybrid\|half-demon]]. Based on legendary Welsh mystic Myrddin Wyllt, who [[Walking the Earth\|wandered the woods]] as a [[Hermit Guru\|wild haired mystic]] and converted to Christianity, later adopted as an oracular figure for Arthur, since both of them were basically Welsh; the Welsh maintain [[Adaptation Displacement\|separate accounts]] of the "historical" Myrddin's life and places he visited. * Morgan Le Fay: Sometimes [[The Man Behind the Man]] and would-be [[God Save Us From the Queen\|Queen]], sometimes a [[Trickster Mentor]], almost always an [[Evil Sorcerer]]. Except in certain feminist and/or neo-pagan retellings of the stories, in which she's usually the hero and Arthur is an evil patriarchal Christian bastard, or the pawn of same. * Nyneve/Nimue: Merlin's pupil, and lover. She eventually goes [[Deceptive Disciple]] on him and, in the classical version, places him under an enchantments and [[Sealed Good in a Can\|seals him in a tree or rock]]. Whether or not this is justified [[Alternate Character Interpretation\|depends on how she and/or Merlin are portrayed.]] Frequently blended with Morgan for the convenience of having a [[Composite Character]] be responsible for all of Arthur's woes. * Mordred: [[The Dragon]], Arthur's illegitimate son [[Brother-Sister Incest\|and nephew.]] * The Orkney Brothers (Gawain, Agravaine, Gaheris, Gareth and Mordred): [[Five-Man Band]] [[The Hero]]: Gawain [[The Lancer]]: Agravain [[The Smart Guy]]: Mordred (though he swaps roles with Agravain later on.) [[The Big Guy]]: Gaheris [[The Chick]]: Gareth * This troper finds the Orkney brothers are rarely presented as a "well oiled" team. When they are (chiefly in French cyclical literature), they are sans Gareth and a [[Goldfish Poop Gang\|pesky, relatively harmless band of dishonorable murderers]] who have to rely on attacking as a group to do any real harm and are usually just tourney-fodder for whatever hero the author is currently espousing. * Tristram and Iseult: [[Star-Crossed Lovers]] * [[Monty Python and the Holy Grail\|Sir Not Appearing In This Film (or Epic, or whatever)]]: Obviously. There are many other [[Knight in Shining Armor\|knights of the round table]], each with their own complex storyline, and, just in case you thought that wasn't enough, most of the names [[Spell My Name with an "S"\|also have other, wildly different spellings]]. The worst offenders are probably 'Guinevere', 'Mordred', and 'Iseult', with special mention going to 'Nyneve', who sometimes gets entirely new names such as 'Nimue' and 'Vivien.' (Then again, try telling those names apart in cramped Gothic handwriting.) It's pretty much [[Depending on the Writer\|up to the individual]] what you chose to call them. The primary [[Public Domain Artifact]]s associated with the myths are: * [[Excalibur (sword)\|Excalibur]], which is part of the early legends, originally known as Caliburn. There are two origins to Excalibur: the first, and older tradition, stating that Arthur received it from a surprisingly benign member of [[The Fair Folk]], the Lady of the Lake, after the Sword in the Stone was broken; the second, that Excalibur was the Sword in the Stone from the beginning - this is a more modern origin, as writers thought it simpler to have only one magical sword, rather than two. The only magic power Excalibur was ever traditionally specifically accredited with was [[Power Glows\|glowing brightly]], and that not always, but the ''scabbard'' was said to stop the wearer from bleeding, making it almost invaluable on the battlefield. It was said that the wielder of Excalibur could never be defeated in combat, but the actual mechanics of how this was possible were never traditionally [[Incredibly Lame Pun\|set in stone]] (if even stated at all). [[Absurdly Sharp Blade\|Insane sharpness]] is another reasonably-constant quality of the sword * [[Only the Chosen May Wield\|The Sword in the Stone]], which is featured as an entirely different sword than Excalibur/Caliburn in most versions of Arthurian myth. * The Round Table: Barring Excalibur, the most iconic item in Arthurian Mythology - the freakin' furniture they installed. The congregation of knights are named for it, after all. ** The Siege Perilous, the last chair of the Round Table to be filled, prophesied to be filled by a knight who would not live long thereafter. * The [[Holy Grail]], an addition which [[Plot Tumour\|came to dominate]] the late medieval version of the myth, though it is [[Grail in the Garbage\|often excised]] in modern works. There are also [[Gotta Collect Them All\|a metric ton]] of other lesser-commonly-known artifacts from the myths. Just a few are: * The Broken Sword - The Grail Sword * The Sword of the Red Hilt * The Shield of Joesph of Arimathea * The Shield of [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast\|The Burning Dragon Knight]] * The Green Sash * The Thirteen Treasures of Britain * The Ship and Armaments of Arthur (including his knife, shield, spear, chain-mail, tabbard, and ship) * The Shield of Judas Macabee * Fail-Not, the Bow of Tristan * The Dispelling Ring of Lancelot * The Stone of Giramphiel * Excalibur's ivory scabbard, which could shield life {{tropenamer}} * [[Grail Quest]] {{tropelist}} * [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: King Arthur's sword (called [[Excalibur]] or Caliburn or whatnot) is almost always portrayed this way. * [[Adaptation Expansion]]: Oh. Dear. Christ. To call this the greatest example in history is an understatement. As stated above, Arthur (may have) started out as a prominent <s>Celtic chieftain</s> [[The Remnant\|Romano-British]] warlord and leader of a band of warriors. Think [[Jason and the Argonauts]] in fur with Welsh accents. Several centuries and several foreign conquests later, Arthur has ''his own entire extensive mythology named after him!'' Also before Malory, come to that. Line 50 ⟶ 106: * [[Give Me a Sword]]: Arthur sometimes pulls out the sword without noticing, because Kay sent him to get him a sword. * [[The Good King]]: Arthur is the [[Trope Codifier]] * [[Grail Quest]]: Arthur sent his knights to find the Holy Grail, and they would undergo quests to find that cup. Sometimes Galahad and Percival, on finding the Grail after these trials, ascend to heaven. * [[Half-Human Hybrid]]: [[Merlin]] is only half human. His father may have a been a [[The Fair Folk\|Fae]], [[The Devil]], an incubus, or [[The Messiah\|no one]]. * [[Heroic Bastard]]: Most prominently, Galahad, son of Lancelot. Sometimes Mordred, [[Depending on the Writer]]. Though he is conceived out of wedlock, Arthur himself is not technically a bastard since his father marries his mother before his birth. In Malory, Arthur also fathers a son named Borre before he meets Guinevere - later a knight of the Round Table. * [[Heroic Lineage]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130515112657/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/mostyn117.html Mostyn MS. 117] and ''Bonedd y Saint'', Welsh manuscripts dating from the 12th-13th century, describe Arthur as a direct descendant of Llŷr Lledyeith, who also fathered the heroes of the [[Mabinogion]]. ** This has also been [[Invoked Trope]] by "descendants" of Arthur on many occasions. Most notably, Henry VII following the Wars of the Roses, who named his first-born son Arthur and claimed him to be the prophesied [[King in the Mountain\|second coming]] who would herald the Golden Age. [[What Could Have Been\|Might have been cool if he'd lived longer than his dad]], but we got Henry VIII instead. * [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]: Possibly Mordred. He is first mentioned (as Medraut) in the 10th-century ''Annales Cambriae'' (Annals of Wales) as having been killed in the battle of Camlaun along with Arthur, but the entry is ambiguous as to whether they were fighting on opposing sides. Line 108 ⟶ 165: * [[You Can't Fight Fate]]: The fall of Camelot. {{examples\|Prominent Versions of the Story:}} ~~=== The Main Characters Are: ===~~ * King Arthur: [[The Hero]], [[The Captain]] and [[Knight in Shining Armor]]. * Sir Bedivere: Arthur's [[Power Trio\|oldest companion, besides Kay]]; [[Bash Brothers]] with Kay and vice-versa. As the spotlight shifts to other (newer) characters, both remain Arthur's [[The Good Chancellor\|court officials]]. * Sir Kay: Arthur's foster brother, originally a [[Boisterous Bruiser]], later the [[Butt Monkey]]; also [[The Big Guy]] (literally "The Long Man" in Welsh). * Galahad: [[The Messiah]] and an early [[Marty Stu]]. * Guinevere: [[The Chick]], [[Damsel in Distress]]. * Gawain: [[Badass\|Originally]] [[The Lancer]], then [[Badass Decay\|wimpified]]. [[Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys\|by the French]]. [[Pragmatic Adaptation\|Modern versions]] [[Took a Level In Badass\|are more forgiving]], [[Anti-Hero\|in their own way]]. * Percival: [[Kid Appeal Character\|The young, naive fool]] who became a knight and saw the Grail... until later stories had Galahad see it instead. * Lancelot: [[The Lancer]], The [[Tragic Hero]], The [[Sixth Ranger]], [[Sailor Earth]] (He is a latecomer in two senses: first, in that he first appears at the Round Table long after the vast majority of its membership has assembled; and second, the character entered the myth cycle several hundred years after it was first compiled.) * Morgause: Arthur's half-sister, Mordred's mother, sometimes blended with her sister Morgana. * [[Merlin]]: [[Ur Example\|The original]] [[The Obi-Wan\|Wizard]], [[Mentor]], [[The Professor]], sometimes [[Half-Human Hybrid\|half-demon]]. Based on legendary Welsh mystic Myrddin Wyllt, who [[Walking the Earth\|wandered the woods]] as a [[Hermit Guru\|wild haired mystic]] and converted to Christianity, later adopted as an oracular figure for Arthur, since both of them were basically Welsh; the Welsh maintain [[Adaptation Displacement\|separate accounts]] of the "historical" Myrddin's life and places he visited. * Morgan Le Fay: Sometimes [[The Man Behind the Man]] and would-be [[God Save Us From the Queen\|Queen]], sometimes a [[Trickster Mentor]], almost always an [[Evil Sorcerer]]. Except in certain feminist and/or neo-pagan retellings of the stories, in which she's usually the hero and Arthur is an evil patriarchal Christian bastard, or the pawn of same. * Nyneve/Nimue: Merlin's pupil, and lover. She eventually goes [[Deceptive Disciple]] on him and, in the classical version, places him under an enchantments and [[Sealed Good in a Can\|seals him in a tree or rock]]. Whether or not this is justified [[Alternate Character Interpretation\|depends on how she and/or Merlin are portrayed.]] Frequently blended with Morgan for the convenience of having a [[Composite Character]] be responsible for all of Arthur's woes. * Mordred: [[The Dragon]], Arthur's illegitimate son [[Brother-Sister Incest\|and nephew.]] * The Orkney Brothers (Gawain, Agravaine, Gaheris, Gareth and Mordred): [[Five-Man Band]] [[The Hero]]: Gawain [[The Lancer]]: Agravain [[The Smart Guy]]: Mordred (though he swaps roles with Agravain later on.) [[The Big Guy]]: Gaheris [[The Chick]]: Gareth * This troper finds the Orkney brothers are rarely presented as a "well oiled" team. When they are (chiefly in French cyclical literature), they are sans Gareth and a [[Goldfish Poop Gang\|pesky, relatively harmless band of dishonorable murderers]] who have to rely on attacking as a group to do any real harm and are usually just tourney-fodder for whatever hero the author is currently espousing. * Tristram and Iseult: [[Star-Crossed Lovers]] * [[Monty Python and the Holy Grail\|Sir Not Appearing In This Film (or Epic, or whatever)]]: Obviously. There are many other [[Knight in Shining Armor\|knights of the round table]], each with their own complex storyline, and, just in case you thought that wasn't enough, most of the names [[Spell My Name with an "S"\|also have other, wildly different spellings]]. The worst offenders are probably 'Guinevere', 'Mordred', and 'Iseult', with special mention going to 'Nyneve', who sometimes gets entirely new names such as 'Nimue' and 'Vivien.' (Then again, try telling those names apart in cramped Gothic handwriting.) It's pretty much [[Depending on the Writer\|up to the individual]] what you chose to call them. ~~=== The Main [[Public Domain Artifact\|Public Domain Artifacts]] Are: ===~~ * [[Excalibur]], which is part of the early legends. Alternately known as Caliburn. There are two origins to Excalibur: the first, and older tradition, stating that Arthur received it from a surprisingly benign member of [[The Fair Folk]], the Lady of the Lake, after the Sword in the Stone was broken; the second, that Excalibur was the Sword in the Stone from the beginning - this is a more modern origin, as writers thought it simpler to have only one magical sword, rather than two. The only magic power Excalibur was ever traditionally specifically accredited with was [[Power Glows\|glowing brightly]], and that not always, but the ''scabbard'' was said to stop the wearer from bleeding, making it almost invaluable on the battlefield. It was said that the wielder of Excalibur could never be defeated in combat, but the actual mechanics of how this was possible were never traditionally [[Incredibly Lame Pun\|set in stone]] (if even stated at all). [[Absurdly Sharp Blade\|Insane sharpness]] is another reasonably-constant quality of the sword * [[Only the Chosen May Wield\|The Sword in the Stone]], which is featured as an entirely different sword than Excalibur/Caliburn in most versions of Arthurian myth. * The Round Table: Barring Excalibur, the most iconic item in Arthurian Mythology - the freakin' furniture they installed. The congregation of knights are named for it, after all. ** The Siege Perilous, the last chair of the Round Table to be filled, prophesied to be filled by a knight who would not live long thereafter. * The [[Holy Grail]], an addition which [[Plot Tumour\|came to dominate]] the late medieval version of the myth, though it is [[Grail in the Garbage\|often excised]] in modern works. ~~There are also [[Gotta Collect Them All\|a metric ton]] of other lesser-commonly-known artifacts from the myths. Just a few are:~~ * The Broken Sword - The Grail Sword * The Sword of the Red Hilt * The Shield of Joesph of Arimathea * The Shield of [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast\|The Burning Dragon Knight]] * The Green Sash * The Thirteen Treasures of Britain * The Ship and Armaments of Arthur (including his knife, shield, spear, chain-mail, tabbard, and ship) * The Shield of Judas Macabee * Fail-Not, the Bow of Tristan * The Dispelling Ring of Lancelot * The Stone of Giramphiel * Excalibur's ivory scabbard, which could shield life ~~==== The Grail in Detail: ====~~ The history of the Holy Grail is rather complicated. Ostensibly the cup that Jesus drank from during the Last Supper, brought to Glatonsbury by Joseph of Aramathea, it's a [[Celtic Mythology\|Celtic invention]] that was unknown on the continent before the Arthurian mythos brought it there. It first surfaced in the late 1100s, in an incomplete poem by [[Chrétien de Troyes\|Chretien De Troyes]] (whose contributions to Arthurian canon were action packed and unconcerned with spiritual matters), in which a naive Welsh knight named Perceval meets the [[Fisher King]]. A grail appears as part of a larger and quite bizarre mystical procession and is referred simply as "a grail" with no holy context, apart from carrying a host wafer. Perceval fails in his quest by not asking the Fisher King what the hell's going on (making this story the first ever [[Sierra]] adventure game). Over subsequent centuries, the Holy Grail grew into the entire ''raison d'etre'' of the entire Arthurian Court, when originally the Grail Quest was so singularly dangerous that there was a special chair at the Round Table reserved for those who dared attempt it, called the Siege Perilous. By giving the knights a single sacred focus rather than having them [[Walking the Earth\|stumbling around Britain]] falling ass backwards into [[The Quest\|quests]], this transformation made the sprawling tangle of stories more coherent, and elevated the moral standing of the knights. The Holy Grail itself also grew hugely in significance, in some cases taking on parts of various other magic hamper and cauldron myths, which created a [[Continuity Snarl\|mythological snarl]] whose origins modern scholars are nowhere close to deciphering (compare to the several lucid theories about the Sword in the Stone that have cropped up in modern scholarship). By the first decade of 13th century, in ''Parzival'' by Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzifal's calling to the Grail Quest is explicitly a calling to a higher and better world than the normal quests of Arthur's court. The text claims that the Grail itself was the stone the neutral angels of Heaven stayed in during the war against Lucifer. By the 15th century, Malory depicts the Grail [[Cosmic Keystone\|as so powerful]] that when Galahad (the most pure and dedicated of all the knights) succeeds on the Grail quest he [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence\|instantly ascends to Heaven]]. ~~=== The Main Storylines Are: ===~~ Any modern Arthurian story that is not about either a) Lancelot/Guinevere/Arthur/Mordred/Morgan and the subsequent collapse of the court or b) specifically about Merlin, is generally going to be about the Grail Quest, despite dozens of other possible plots. However, Tristram and Iseult (usually under the German forms of their names, Tristan and Isolde) by themselves are also becoming more popular, mainly due to the popularity of romance stories. The genres used may vary from [[Historical Fiction]] ([[Doing in the Wizard\|no magic]] and Saxon [[The Horde\|hordes]] as [[Mooks]]), to [[Heroic Fantasy]], and the story can be set either in the Dark ages [[After the End\|after the fall of Rome]] or in the present day, when King Arthur [[Rightful King Returns\|has returned]]. ~~''Major Arthurian Stories:''~~ * [[wikipedia:Historia Brittonum\|Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons)]], traditionally ascribed to Nennius in the 9th century, although it may be much older. While not a story, per se, it contains the oldest written record of Arthur and lists the twelve battles he fought against the invading English. Of note is the fact that Arthur is not depicted as a king here but a ''dux bellorum'', a warlord fighting on behalf of the native kings of Kent. According to ''Historia Brittonum'', Arthur was so successful against the English that they were forced to bring in further troops and kings from Germany, increasing their numbers dramatically until the island of Britain was finally subjugated. * ''Pa Gur yv y Porthaur?'' ("''What Man is the Gatekeeper''?"): a poem found in the [https://web.archive.org/web/20070607035835/http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=blackbookofcarmarthen Black Book of Carmarthen], the oldest known list of Arthur's warband and the first mention of Cei and Bedwyr (later to be Kay and Bedivere). Arthur seeks entrance into a fortress, recalling the heroic feats of his retinue for the gatekeeper. This list was expanded on over the centuries, with each tale adding more and more characters from both history and folklore. A decendant is found in [[Mabinogion\|''How Culhwch Won Olwen'']], at which point the retinue has swollen to over 260 warriors, not counting [[Cool Horse\|fantastic]] [[Full Boar Action\|animals]]. * ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'' (History of the Kings of Britain) by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who is thought to have been of mixed Breton and Welsh stock. Completed ca. 1138. * ''[[Roman De Brut]]'' (Romance of Brutus) by Maistre Wace from Jersey, an expanded version of Geoffrey's ''Historia'' written for king Henry II of England in French verse and making even greater use of Breton traditions, completed in 1155. The Round Table is mentioned here for the first time. Line 192 ⟶ 183: * ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur\|Le Morte Darthur]]'' by Thomas Malory, an Early Modern English compilation of the earlier stories and epics, fusing the French ''Lancelot'' cycle with other stories like ''[[Tristan and Iseult\|Tristan and Isolde]]'', completed in 1470 and printed in 1485. * T. H. White's ''[[The Once and Future King]]'' ~~----~~ {{examples}} == [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] == * [[Fate/Zero]] revolves around mages [[Summoning Ritual\|summoning heroic spirits]] to help them fight for the [[Public Domain Artifact\|holy grail]]. Since the strength of a summoned hero is [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe\|proportional to the renown of their legend]] Arthur is unsurprisingly considered to be one of the perfect saber class summon. Well, [[Sadly Mythtaken\|almost]] [[Gender Flip\|perfect]]. * In an episode of ''Time Trouble Tondekeman'', our time-traveling protagonists accidentally screw up the part where Arthur is supposed to draw the Sword from the Stone, and once they realize who their new-found friend actually is, must set "history" back on track, coincidentally also sparking the British love of footy. Line 200 ⟶ 191: * ''[[Code Geass]]'' draws from Arthurian myth, most prominently with Britannia's [[Super Prototype]] [[Humongous Mecha]] being named for Knights of the Round Table (Lancelot, Gawain) and the presence of the Knights of the Round, described as the Emperor's twelve elite soldiers. There's also Arthur, the stray cat that follows the Lancelot's pilot around, apparently for no other reason than to bite his hand whenever he lets his guard down. == [[Comic Books]] == ~~== Comic Books ==~~ * Camelot is a recurring element in [[The DCU]]'s [[Backstory]]. Characters linked to Arthur's court include: ** The Demon [[Etrigan]], a fiend from Hell summoned by Merlin to defend Camelot in its final hour against Morgaine le Fey. Morgaine has gone on to become a recurring foe of both [[Wonder Woman]] and the [[Justice League of America]]. Line 216 ⟶ 206: * In one ''[[The Phantom (comic strip)\|The Phantom]]'' comic, it was revealed that one of [[Legacy Character\|the ancestors of]] the Phantom was a Knight of the Round Table. * In ''[[Camelot 3000]]'', Arthur and Merlin return in the year 3000. The knights are reincarnated in various forms (Tristan is female, Perceval is a grotesque mutant). * Matt Wagner's ''[[Mage The Hero Discovered]]'' and ''[[Mage The Hero Defined]]'' utilizes Kevin Matchstick as [[King Arthur]] reborn, Edsel as the [[Lady Ofof ~~The~~the Lake]], Mirth as Merlin, et al. The Fisher King, the Marhault Ogre, Crom Cruich and the Wild Hunt put in appearances, often with some [[Modernisation]]. * The eponymous ''[[Witchblade (Comic Book)\|Witchblade]]'' is the feminine counterpart to Excalibur. * [[Don Rosa]]'s [[Donald Duck]] story "The Once and Future Duck" has Donald, his nephews, and Gyro Gearloose traveling back in time to meet King Arthur... only this Arthur is a lot closer to the historical figure that may have inspired the legends. Once again, Don Rosa [[Shown Their Work\|shows his work.]] Line 226 ⟶ 216: * ''[[Dracula vs. King Arthur]]'': In which [[Dracula]] is transported to his timeline and begins a conquest to take over Camelot, turning many of Arthur's knights {{spoiler\|and even his wife}} along the way. == [[Film]] == ~~== Films -- Animated ==~~ * ''[[The Sword in the Stone]]'', a [[Disney]] animated version of the first book of T.H. White's ''[[The Once and Future King]]''. ~~== Films -- Live-Action ==~~ * ''Lancelot du Lac'', a deglamorized telling of the Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot story by Robert Bresson * ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'' is essentially a parody of various facets of the King Arthur legend, the Round Table, and medieval fiction in general. Ironically, because one of the Pythons was in fact an Arthurian scholar, this film is at times also one of the most ''accurate'' cinematic representations of the myths. For instance, it is the ''only'' film to properly depict Lancelot as he is written in Malory. No, ''really'' -- Malory's Lancelot is a mentally unstable berserker prone to slaughtering innocents at almost no provocation, then collapsing in abject apologies afterward. ''Spamalot'', the film's musical adaption, makes him [[Invisible to Gaydar]], which is...tangential from Malory, to say the least. (Other writers were apparently more [[Ho Yay]]-oriented with Lance.) Line 241 ⟶ 227: * ''[[King Arthur (film)\|King Arthur]]'' (2004), in the Dark Ages setting. A bit of a flop, it was infamous for a poster that gave flat chested [[Keira Knightley]] [http://badtaste.it/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/alg_keiraknightley_3.jpg what can only be called Photoshop surgery on her breasts.] It's unusual among popular portrayals for having Arthur as a Roman officer. It was also unusual for [[Dan Browned\|claiming]] to be [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story]]. The writers studied up on the various candidates for the historical Arthur and settled on a "historical" account (actually written several hundred years after the events supposedly took place) that the public are [[Aluminum Christmas Trees\|generally unfamiliar with]], namely that Arthur was the commander of a legion of [[Fish Out of Water\|displaced Sarmatians]], [[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]] and [[Fighting For a Homeland]], who became leader of the Britons after the fact. Ironically they got it [[Golden Mean Fallacy\|from both sides]] [[Unpleasable Fanbase\|for their trouble]], in part because they decided to mix up an [[Demythtification\|unfamiliar historical portrayal]] with [[Executive Meddling\|newly bizarre]] [[Hollywood History\|Hollywoodisms]], such as the aforementioned Kiera Knightley as Guinevere, a blue, [[Breast Plate\|Breast Plated]] Pictish (!) [[Warrior Prince\|Warrior Princess]]. == [[Literature]] == ~~== Literature ==~~ * Edmund Spenser's ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' contains a barely recognizable version of Arthur. * Alfred Tennyson's ''[[Idylls of the King]]'', a series of long poems, was very influential in the 19th century. Line 248 ⟶ 233: * [[Mark Twain]]'s ''[[A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]]''. * T. H. White's ''[[The Once and Future King]]''. * [[C. S. ~~Lewis\|CS~~ Lewis]]' ''[[That Hideous Strength]]'' brings back Merlin as a person who trod the line between light and darkness when the distinction was less sharp. Both the heroes and villains are concerned about which side he'll be on when he awakens. It also depicts "Pendragon" as a divine title, now held by one of the heroes, and implies that it descends from [[The Silmarillion\|"Numinor"]]. * ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'' by Alan Garner conflates Norse and Arthurian myth with real places in England. The cave with the sleeping Knights (and their horses) is a local legend in Alderley. Well worth reading. * ''Sword at Sunset'' by Rosemary Sutcliff takes the legend back to its roots, including partly Romanized Britons fighting off invading "Sea Wolf" Saxon raiders, the difficulty in gathering and maintaining mounted warriors, horses barely big enough to carry large men and saddles without stirrups, near-starvation every winter, ambiguous mysticism and superstition regarding both curses and the Hill Folk, rare chainmail armor stolen from enemy war chiefs in place of "shining armor", and a dilapidated ex-Roman hill fort replacing "Camelot". Line 294 ⟶ 279: * [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] series ''[[The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel]]'' uses Sir Palomedes the Saracen Knight, one of the more obscure Arthurian characters. * Adrienne Martine-Barnes' [[Space Opera]] ''The Dragon Rises'' supposes that the principal characters are immortal spirits who every so often through the millennia involuntarily take over people's bodies <ref>It's sort of [[Reincarnation]], as in every life, the characters look fundamentally the same</ref> and proceed to play out the story again, '''possibly''' with some ability to vary the events. In the current cycle, "Arthur" is the admiral of a space fleet, and "Guinevere" has been [[Made a Slave]] and given to him, as a way of punishing her treasonous father.... * In [[Andre Norton]]'s ''Merlin's Mirror'', Arthur, like Merlin and Nimue, was produced by [[Ancient Astronauts]] artificially inseminating his mother with an "improved" line of humanity. * ''[[Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit]]'' is a [[Historical Fantasy]] novel by [[Mercedes Lackey]] [[Word of God\|inspired by a Welsh tradition]] that King Arthur had not one but ''three'' different queens, all named Gwenhwyfar ("Guinevere"). The protagonist is the third and youngest, the [[Action Girl]] daughter of a Celtic king. == [[Live-Action TV]] == ~~== Live-Action TV ==~~ * The ''[[Fantasy Island]]'' episode "King Arthur in Mr. Roarke's Court", which brings Arthur (played by Robert Mandan), onto that 70s island, leaving a guest whose fantasy was to meet King Arthur (Tommy Smothers) to keep him out of trouble 'till Roarke can put him back in his proper place and time. * ''[[The Adventures Of Sir Lancelot]]'', the first UK series made in colour. Line 313 ⟶ 299: * ''[[The Goodies]]'' protect a descendent of King Arthur from having Camelot seized by a greedy land developer. Because medieval law still applies on Arthur's land [[Hilarity Ensues]] as both sides resort to torture and jousting to force the issue. Gags include Excalibur being used as a club (because no-one can remove the stone from the end) and Ye Secret Weapon -- a giant magnet that proves highly effective against metal armor and swords. * ''[[Camelot (TV series)\|Camelot]]'': A 2011 series co-produced by Starz and GK-TV. * An episode of ''[[The Time Tunnel]]'' of course had the main characters drop into Arthur's Britain — while [[Merlin]] appeared in the [[Mission Control\|control room]] to paralyze the technicians and make sure they couldn't yank the travelers out until they'd helped Arthur with his current problem. == [[Music]] == ~~== Music ==~~ * [[Led Zeppelin]]'s "The Battle of Evermore" contains numerous references to Arthurian legend. * Rick Wakeman's [[Concept Album]] ''The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table''. Line 327 ⟶ 313: ** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpiT1HoqzZI Kingsword] Go ahead and guess what this one's about. * There is a power metal band called Kamelot. While they haven't really played on Arthurian themes in any of their recent work, their fourth studio album featured a song titled "The Shadow of Uther". And their third album was titled ''Siege Perilous''. * "Blood of the Kings" (from album ''Armageddon'') by [[Ariya]] deals mostly with the perception of the events and spirit of the legend. It's [[Never Accepted in His Hometown\|not optimistic]] about the likely outcome of his return. == [[Newspaper Comics]] == ~~== Newspaper Comics ==~~ * ''[[Prince Valiant]]''. == [[Tabletop Games]] == === Role-Playing Games === * ''King Arthur Pendragon'', of course. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin\|It's there in the title.]] Heavily based on Malory's ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur\|Le Morte Darthur]]'' but not afraid to plunder other sources if need be, and notable for magic causing the timeline to advance rapidly from the Dark Ages (complete with marauding Picts and Saxons) right through to the 15th century during the course of Arthur's reign allowing just about any Arthurian tale from any of myriad versions of the myth to be fit in somewhere. The ''Great Pendragon Campaign'' explicitly identifies the phases of Arthur's reign with periods in the history of England, from the Norman Conquest to the Wars of the Roses, in terms of the political situation and the available technology. * ''[[GURPS]] Camelot'', which includes rules for three possible settings: "Traditional", "Historical", and "Cinematic" with the option of mixing-and-matching depending on what you want to be accurate mythology, what you want to be realistic Dark Ages, and what you want to be [[Rule of Cool]]. All three Camelots are referenced in ''GURPS [[Infinite Worlds]]'', which notes that the "Historical" Arthur (Artotrius Riothamus) is one of many Arthurs found in otherwise non-mythic timelines, fitting just about any theory as to who the "historic" Arthur was. Line 339 ⟶ 325: * TSR's ''Amazing Engine'' game, ''Once And Future King'' supplement. The game takes place during the 46th century (4,500-4,600 A.D.) throughout the Earth's solar system, with everyone involved (including King Arthur and his knights) using high tech devices and weaponry. Merlin is a computer program with [[Artificial Intelligence]]. How did this come about? Scientists created clones using DNA from 5th century British warriors and programmed their brains with the principles of chivalry. The clones [[Turned Against Their Masters\|rebelled against their creators]] and took over the solar system by force. === War Games === * The Kingdom of Bretonnia ''[[Warhammer]]'' is heavily based on Arthurian myth [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture\|mixed with medieval France for good measure]]. Not only is this blatantly evident in the chivalric codes and customs of its knights (including a recurring motif modeled on the Holy Grail), but also in the realm's devotion to the "Lady of the Lake." == ~~Theater~~[[Theatre]] == * Henry Purcell wrote the "semi-opera" ''King Arthur, or The British Worthy'' (1691), at least one number of which, the ''Cold Song'', is popular today. The libretto by John Dryden dumps pretty much all characters apart from Arthur and Merlin in favour of a new cast of new characters; Arthur ends up marrying Emmeline. * [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''Parsifal'' is somewhat loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Arthurian romance ''Parzival''. Wagner's earlier ''Lohengrin'' also tangentially touches the Grail myth. Note that Wagner moves the action from the 5th to the 10th century A.D. Line 346 ⟶ 334: * Eric Idle and John Du Prez's musical ''[[Spamalot]]'', an adaptation of ''Monty Python And The Holy Grail'' focusing on being very silly. == [[Video Games]] == * One of the early Sierra games was ''[[Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail]]'', involving King Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail and the three knights that went missing in search of it. It combines almost every aspect of the Arthurian mythos, and naturally, has room for several [[Monty Python]] references. ~~== Videogames ==~~ * One of the early Sierra games was ''[[Conquests of Camelot]]'', involving King Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail and the three knights that went missing in search of it. It combines almost every aspect of the Arthurian mythos, and naturally, has room for several [[Monty Python]] references. * Though they don't appear in the story proper, the [[Last-Disc Magic\|exceedingly powerful]] Knights of the Round summon in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' is clearly based on Arthur and his knights. ** The name is a reference to ''[[Knights of the Round]]'', an old Arthurian-themed side-scrolling beat-em-up. * ''[[Backyard Sports\|Backyard Skateboarding]]'' has the unlockable Excaliboard ([[Exactly What It Says on the Tin\|obviously]] based on Excalibur) and mentions of the Knights of the Round Table in the [[Medieval European Fantasy]] level, Merry Old Englandland. * ''[[King Arthur: ~~the~~The Role -Playing Wargame]]'' is... [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin\|more or less that, yeah.]] * ''[[Warcraft\|]]''{{'}}s Prince Arthas]] is a inversion of King Arthur. The sword he pulled from a stone (actually, magic ice or something) was very powerful, and marked him as destined for a throne. But it stole his soul, and the throne in question was that of an undead [[Evil Overlord]] rather than the throne of [[The Kingdom]] he was born to. He's advised by a wizard with an odd life cycle, like Merlin, but the weird thing about this wizard is that he's a ''necromancer'' who Arthas ''killed'' and later helped come back as a lich. He disbanded the Silver Hand, an order of paladins, and while he later founded an order of death knights, which is an inversion on more than one level: not only are they ignoble and unholy but it wasn't even a new idea or original in-world, making it the reverse of both the Round Table and the Silver Hand. * ''[[Tears to Tiara]]'' is a prequel of sorts in an [[Alternate Universe]], showing the rise of King Arthur with the help of a Demon King, Arawn. * ''[[Tomb Raider]]: Legend'' [[Deconstruction\|deconstructs]] the King Arthur myth by making Excalibur in reality a really, really ancient artifact that [[Older Than They Think\|predates the Arthur myth]] and is mentioned in various other myths and legends. "Every culture's got one." ''[[Insufferable Genius]]'' [[The Scrappy\|Alister]] constantly states how [[Lampshade Hanging\|unlikely the legend is to be true]], while Lara remains optimistic and [[The Ditz\|Zip]] just thinks Excalibur is a cool sword and [[Overused Running Gag\|constantly]] confuses it with the sword in the stone. When he realises this is [[Berserk Button\|irritating]] [[The Chew Toy\|Alister]] greatly, he continues to do this [[Obfuscating Stupidity\|deliberately]]. Lara approves. In the end, it turns out that {{spoiler\|Excalibur is real, as is King Arthur and Avalon, and Lara gets to use the sword as a weapon on the final boss.}} ** Sent up by the real location of the Sword being hidden beneath a fake, theme-park-ride version of Arthurian myth. * The Arthurian motifs in ''[[Ace Combat]] Zero'' deserve more than a passing mention and are significant enough for people to be able to write papers on them ? just check the page. * ''Sonic and the Black Knight'' involves [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] as a [[Fish Out of Water]] as he is summoned the legends of Arthur, for he must save the kingdom from Arthur himself, who is now [[Brainwashed and Crazy]], with a new getup akin to [[The Lord of the Rings\|Sauron]] and a very unique sword, and is ruling the land tyrannically as the eponymous Black Knight. Oh, and Merlin has a grand daughter in Merlin'''a'''. And other ''Sonic'' characters serve as the likeness for Arthurian characters: Knuckles is Gawain, Shadow is Lancelot, and Blaze is... Percival? Tails being a blacksmith and Amy being the Lady Ofof ~~The~~the Lake makes more sense, though. * There are several references in the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' video game series to the Arthurian legends. In Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword there is a Lord called Uther who has a brother named Hector which may be a reference to Ector, Arthur's foster father. Also in Blazing Sword, there is a tome called Excalibur. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance has Gaiwain{{spoiler\|, also known as Greil}}and an early sword called Ettard could be named after the Lady Ettard. In the sequel to POR, Radiant Dawn, there is a mage called Pelleas which is the name of the knight who loved the Lady Ettard. There are also the twin swords Ragnell and Alondite. Ragnell was the name of Sir Gawain's wife, Alondite is supposedly the Japanese pronounciation for Lancelot's sword, Arondight. === Visual Novels === ~~== Visual Novels ==~~ * In ''[[Fate/stay night]]'', {{spoiler\|Saber is a female Arthur}}. The prequel ''[[Fate/Zero]]'' also has {{spoiler\|Lancelot as Berserker, bearing the appropriate grudge against Arturia/Saber}}. The [[Alternate Universe]] ''Fate/Extra'' also has {{spoiler\|Gawain as an enemy-exclusive Saber (your Saber is a gender-flipped Nero)}}. == [[Web Comics]] == * ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' presents different perspectives on the King Arthur story as seen from different times and places ? the basic [[Heroic Fantasy]] England, [[A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away]], [[Present Day]] America, and so on. == ~~Webcomics~~[[Western Animation]] == * ''[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com Arthur, King of Time and Space]'' presents different perspectives on the King Arthur story as seen from different times and places ? the basic [[Heroic Fantasy]] England, [[A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away]], [[Present Day]] America, and so on. ~~== Western Animation ==~~ * ''[[The Legend Of Prince Valiant]]'' * ''[[King Arthur and the Knights of Justice]]'' had a modern professional American football team transported back in time to fill the roles of the knights of the round table. Line 380 ⟶ 364: {{reflist}} [[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]] [[Category:Royalty and Nobility Tropes]] [[Category:Dark Age Europe]] [[Category:Classic Literature]] [[Category:Oral Tradition]] [[Category:~~King~~Public ~~Arthur~~Domain Character]] [[Category:Character]] [[Category:Matter of Britain]]