Book III is the tale, apparently, of Arthur’s wedding to Guenever. Malory starts off by reminding us of a few salient points: 1) Arthur is a young and unmarried king. 2) When he became king, a bunch of folks … Continue reading →
So Morgan le Fay and Igraine are at Arthur’s court, and before anyone says two words of greeting Sir Ulfius stands up and starts hurling invective. He’s been sitting on this hurt for a long time, and he gets all … Continue reading →
Arthur sends someone to get him another horse, and lies down and tries to process the whole bizarre experience, and along comes Merlin. Merlin, for funsies, is disguised as a fourteen-year-old gossipy junior-high girl. “Helloooo Arthur,” says Disguised Merlin. “Uh … Continue reading →
Margawse comes back into the picture at this point. You may have forgotten her: she’s Arthur’s older half-sister, child of Igraine and Igraine’s first husband Gorlas. Uther married her off to Lot before he died. Now Margqwse is the Queen … Continue reading →
Early the next morning, in his tower, Arthur wakes up to find a soothsayer in his bedroom. “Who are you and how did you get in here?” Arthur not unreasonably wants to know. Merlin says not to worry, he’s Merlin, … Continue reading →
So at the end of the last chapter Malory explains to us that Arthur ends up ruling all of Great Britain, Wales and Scotland and all, but it turns out that was just a spoiler for future events, because the … Continue reading →
As the chapter (Chapter 7 of Book I) opens it’s been months, months of Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and the barons and the landed gentry and the knights all refusing to accept him. He keeps trying, though. … Continue reading →
Special double post! It’s only because chapters 5 and 6 of Book I run together without a good breakpoint, mid-conversation. There are several bits like this scattered about later in the text; I’ll deal with them on a case-by-case basis. … Continue reading →
Uther’s death! As promised! It’s actually pretty sad. Time goes by, a year or two, and before things have really gotten properly settled Uther gets some kind of unnamed lingering disease, which could be anything from tuberculosis to stomach cancer … Continue reading →
Right, Sir Ulfius and Merlin. Ulfius runs back to Uther, tells him how Merlin was there, and Uther’s like, what? you liar, I don’t see Merlin. Merlin is waiting outside, in fact; apparently he’s like a vampire in that he … Continue reading →
