Monday, April 11, 2016

The Weirdness of Avalon

I am so glad that I do not live on Avalon… Seriously, what the hell were these people drugging themselves with? Morgaine starves herself and drugs herself enough to have some sketchy visions, wander around in a trance-like state, and not recognize her own brother. Morgaine really seems to have something for her family members. She was crazy about her cousin Galahad/Lancelet, and now she (temporarily at least) wants her brother. We have yet to see her be attracted to anyone who is not related to her. While reading the story, I was completely expecting this Horned God to be Morgaine’s cousin Galahad/Lancelet. Of course, that would not have been creepy enough so she had to upgrade to her brother. This whole ordeal seems to have thoroughly messed up Arthur too, since he seems to still view Morgaine now as a ‘woman’ rather than a goddess.

            It seems odd that there is only one sword/sheath like the one Morgaine made for Arthur. For a sword that epic, I was expecting it to need the blood sacrifice of 1000 men and a dragon’s breath or something along those lines to be created. Instead, Morgaine just has to do a bit of magic and not talk for a little while. This seems comparatively easy, so why doesn’t she give Arthur’s knights a bunch of these swords? At the very least, why not give them to Galahad/Lancelet since he is her family. Perhaps she did give him one, which might explain some of his crazy fighting skills. However, I suppose it would not help him taking down a knight with a wooden stool, so, regardless of whether she gave him one, he is a great warrior.

It was also interesting that Morgaine addresses Arthur as Gwydion. I do not recall this name being mentioned in any of the other texts. Based on the previous reading, those of Avalon have some belief that knowing the true name of someone gives power over that person. This obviously leads me to wish that I had known Arthur’s true name while I was alive so that I might have had him command his knights not to pursue me. Alas, I was not so fortunate.

Meleagant

1 comment:

  1. Meleagant,
    You make a good point about names. I don't recall Arthur as Gwydion either. But even if you knew Arthur's real name, that would not have helped you with Lancelot. It is too bad that no one told you that he was Galahad. However, you probably need the magic of the Goddess to control the named one anyway.

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