Much comes to Light and it's...Anticlimactic

Lords and Ladies, Knights and Maidens, I have to say… I am a little disappointed. How can the King Arthur we have just heard about be the King we have come to know so well? Yes, he seems a little idiotic, and makes his share of mistakes, but we do not expect him to fall this way. Remember Uther Pendragon? Now that was a King that deserved retribution for his actions. Yet Uther was never punished. Kings are not punished for their actions. That is the rule in the world in which we live. Regardless of the fact that Arthur slept with his sister and fathered a child, and the fact that he killed almost an entire generation of children, Arthur’s original sin was ignorance. How can our King be punished for that, when Kings who committed far worse escape unscathed?

Even if one accepts, with great difficulty, the downfall of King Arthur, the mode of his end is so pitiful. With all the adventures we have seen for the Knights of the Round Table, the thing that harms him and Camelot should be something worthy of fables and bards. We expect a magical beast, a horde of knights, a magic spell. Instead of all that, the catalyst for the banishing of Sir Lancelot and the near burning at the stake of Queen Guinevere is a spiteful young man. Mordred. Despite the fact that Mordred shares King Arthur’s blood, he has had no special training, or done anything of note other than stab a man in the back, and cry like a child when he is accused of running away from a fight.

Yet this is the creature that manipulates King Arthur to harming himself and Camelot by bringing to light Guinevere's affair and eventually robbing Arthur and Camelot of Lancelot. The problem seems to be Arthur’s inability to abandon his rules and his responsibility to uphold the rules fairly. Mordred does not operate on such a code of honor.

We remember from Gawain’s run in with me and the green girdle that self preservation is the one valid reason for abandoning the rules of honor. Yet, King Arthur does not do this. Perhaps it is not Mordred’s manipulations that shaped the ending of this story, but Arthur’s own inability to bend and use practicality. In a way, that may be even sadder than being brought down by your own son.

Another disappointing turn of events was that of Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot. They seem to have become very meek in their old age. The pair seems to accept all the misfortunes that befall them, and even with a WARNING, do nothing to protect themselves. Is it that the reign of King Arthur has made Camelot so peaceful that the people of court have lost the ability to engage in twisty court politics?  Or is it that the passions of these star-crossed lovers has cooled in their old age? Do Lancelot and Guinevere seem so accepting of their misfortunes because they have gained some wisdom or retained their thoughtlessness and lack of foresight?  They are both still alive however, so their story must not be finished. Maybe we shall get more answers.