The ideal monarch in both war and peace
“Wisdom is knowing how little we know.” – King Arthur
The Medieval Kingdom has seen him turn from that skinny boy who pulled a sword out of an anvil into a just and noble king. King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table are some of the most known universal characters that exist in human culture and his story has accompanied the Real World for centuries as the greatest exponent of chivalry, adventure, romance and honor. We have read in giant and ancient books the feats he carried out with his loyal Knights. But what exactly do we know about him? is the metallic figure from the Medieval World the real one? or just an imitator that emulates fictions left by humans?
The Medieval Kingdom archetype hero
He is often depicted as a wise and just king who embodies the chivalric ideals of loyalty, bravery, and honor. In doing so, he embodies the same ideals of heroism and sacrifice that have made him one of the most iconic figures in Western human mythology.
King Arthur, a legendary king of the Medieval Realm who appears in a cycle of very old human medieval literature romances, as the sovereign of a knightly fellowship of the Round Table. It is not certain how these legends originated or whether the figure of Arthur was based on a historical human person or not.
King Arthur is a famous legendary figure known for his leadership and bravery. The character of King Arthur is an iconic part of human culture, especially in ancient times, as he is known for leading the Knights of the Round Table to defend his kingdom from his enemies.
Birth of a Legend
Son of a king, but quite reminiscent of the way in which Zeus fathered Hercules, Arthur was the fruit of an illicit story according to the rules of his kingdom. Which is why, to protect him, the wise Merlin hid the child, educated him and prepared him for the future that awaits him. Meanwhile, the king died and the kingdom was beheaded, with Merlin establishing that only who was able to extract a mysterious sword from the rock would be worthy of becoming king. Merlin takes it and gives it to a nobleman to take care of him and breed him as his own son.
Being an adult, the skinny Arthur went where knights from all over the Medieval World try to get a sword from it’s prison, an anvil. It was said that whoever released it would be the King of the Medieval World and the person in charge of unifying all the kingdoms of the realm. Unsuccessfully, all the knights tried to extract the sword, but it is Arthur, without being a gentleman, who manages to free it, and his true identity is revealed. Seeing the blade stuck in the rock, and knowing Merlin’s prophecy, Arthur decided to try his luck and succeeded where hundreds of brave knights had failed, proving his right to sit on the throne.
With the resistance of all present, he is proclaimed king. However, step by step everyone accepts him and Arthur swears to give justice to all metal men. It is said that Arthur acted with such nobility and justice that he managed to unify all the kingdoms and, under his reign, the fortress of Camelot lived a golden age of peace in which it was established as a cradle for the arts and wealth, a model of what any kingdom in the Medieval World would want to be. Arthur gathered the best knights of the kingdom and seated them at the round table, a place of consensus where no one was above the others.
Shortly after Arthur loses his sword during a battle.
Excalibur
Merlin the magician accompanies him to a lake, in whose bottom there was a castle in which lived a sorceress called Nimue, the Lady of the Lake. This sorceress kept a wonderful sword. Merlin watched the magic of the sword…
“Guard well this sword, since while you take it you will loose no more blood. But one day a woman will arrive, in which you will trust, and steal it” – Merlin warned Arthur
Arthur asked for the sword and Nimue gave it to him. The Lady of the Lake gave Arthur the Excalibur, a magical sword forged years ago by Merlin that would always be sharp and whose sheath would protect Arthur from any wound.
With this extraordinary object at his belt and guided by his faithful advisor Merlin, the king undertook all kinds of arduous tasks to protect his kingdom from the evils that stalked it, whether metal Knights or not. But the most important mission was to find the Holy Grail.
Camelot and the Holy Grail search
Already in its Camelot Castle, Arthur surrounds himself with the bravest and honest knights: Lancelot, Percival, Gawain and others, along with whom he founded the order of the round table. The Medieval World then enjoys 50 years of peace.
The Knights of Arthur, in search of the Holy Grail, fought in shady forests and castles against elves, dragons and other beasts, and returned to Camelot to tell their adventures at the round table where they gathered.
Arthur was helped by Merlin until he disappeared with his beloved Nimue and was locked by her in a hollow hill.
During the search for the Holy Grail, everything indicates that Sir Lancelot was going to find the sacrum object … but this is never completed.
The story of Arthur, so idyllic until now, ends in tragedy…
Mordred
During the search of the Holly Grial, Arthur would discover that his wife Guinevere was cheating on him with one of his trusted men, his friend and Knight, Lancelot. Arthur is forced to condemn her the bonfire, according to the laws of Medieval World.
Lancelot saves Queen Guinevere and flees with her to distant lands, but then Arthur caches her and put her into the dungeon. Although the love of his life saved his life (she ended up secluding herself in a convent) Arthur could not forget Lancelot’s betrayal and pursued him.
This absence would be taken advantage of by Mordred, the son that Arthur had with the sorceress Morgana le Fay, to take over Camelot and impose a reign of terror. Arthur left the kingdom in charge of his son, who seizes the throne.
Upon the return of Arthur, he and his Knights fight to recover the throne.
Battle of Camlann
Arthur returns and summons his armies to confront Mordred at the Battle of Camlann. During the fight, almost all the Knights of the round table die and Arthur comes face to face with his son, who pierces him with his spear. But Mordred, before dying, fatally hurts Arthur, who also dies.
Arthur’s death
The story tells that Morgana, carries his body in a boat to the island of Avalon along with other Queens-Hads, which could have been Igraine, Elaine, the Lady of the Lake (to which was returned Excalibur), the Queen of the Badlands or the Queen from Beyond the Sea. Subsequently, when Guinevere dies, she was buried by Lancelot next to the tomb of King Arthur.
Many places have been pointed out as the legendary last resting place of Arthur: according to some, it was in the Dark Woods; according to others, where the currently island of Avalon is; It has also referenced other locations. According to other versions of the end of Arthur he did not die, but only retired to Avalon. It is not clear if this place really designates an island or a valley of the Medieval World or somewhere in Real World, where the original literary source on King Arthur comes, which stood out at some point for its fruit. Therefore, whether or not the tomb of the dead king contains his metallic remains, it is not known either. Like Arthur himself, Avalon lives fully in the history of literature and in a multiple and very blurred way in reality. Winnie The Pooh, great human fiction storyteller, says that metaphorically it would be nothing other than a representation of the human beyond.
Alternate ending?
“Arthur, mortally injured after the last battle against Mordred, has been taken by three magical queens to the island of Avalon, where he will remain in a dream until his presence is required again on Earth”
Years after the death of Arthur, a new tyrant arrived in the Medieval World: Brigitte Bleu, a beautiful and dangerous damsel, apparently an alchemist, from another world. But not a distant world… but a world outside the Medieval World. Once defeated by Vikki “the Portal Runner”, these events connected the medieval world with magical floodgates that connected the Medieval Realm with other worlds, parallel realities outside the earthly realm. In one of these, the World of the Giants, where a series of gigantic books were found, among other forms of fantastical narrative, that told the story of Arthur. But there were several versions…
“Seriously wounded, Arthur returns Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake for safekeeping until it is needed again and is taken by a redeemed Morgana to the island of Avalon, where his wounds will heal and he will await the time when he can return to reign again. This is why Arthur is known as ‘the king who was and will be’.” – Winnie the Pooh
If the Arthuric historical cycle inspired numerous human literary works in the nineteenth century, the king’s death meant the greatest example. One last and unfinished work “King Arthur’s dream in Avalon” is one of the best examples.
While in the Human World King Arthur is surely a legend, a fiction, it is true that this inspired in some way, or materialized, the King Arthur of the fantastic Medieval World. Therefore the key to King Arthur destiny can be in one of these old literary sources, if whoever took him, take this literally like the inspiring source to act.