King Arthur is a High School Jock!

How do you like King Arthur as a high school quarterback? I do. This new characterization of Arthur as A. William Wagner is another opportunity for our great king to demonstrate strong moral qualities—what we called chivalry back in medieval times.  For instance, look at the way Will stood up for the class geek outside of Mr. Morton’s class. I could have cheered. Even though we who have known Arthur for a number of centuries have become used to his acts of honor, it is refreshing to see him take command of a situation in modern times. Seeing Arthur as a high school quarterback is almost as if he is born again to delight us again.

This time our great king has a woman as devoted to him as he is to his brother, his father, his team mates, and his school mates. Ellie has good taste. She knows instinctively that Will is a good man, and I am not surprised that she falls for him. What an interesting twist to this old familiar story that Elaine (Ellie) has not chosen Lancelot (Lance) to whom to give her love. Perhaps this new version of Lancelot is not as dreamy as the older version. I wish I could say that Will has good taste in women, but I cannot. What is it about Guinevere (Jen) that even after fifteen hundred years, he still falls for her only to be hurt by her?

However, I must say that I am intrigued by Will’s attraction to Ellie. Is he, after all these centuries, finally able to appreciate moral goodness to match his own in a woman? If Ellie is able to stay close to Will and to protect him from the forces of evil that seem to be around him, maybe there will be a better outcome to our king’s life. The presence of water and all the floating that happens—on an inflatable raft or on a sailboat—is a clever connection with Tennyson’s beautiful poem. It is pleasing to imagine that The Lady of Shalott may not only reach Camelot alive, but may also do some good for its inhabitants.   

My heart goes out to Marco. Even though he is a bitter young man and seems determined to hurt Will, I believe that his character could be improved with professional counseling and with a good woman of his own—someone like Ellie. After all, think of what he has endured. He has seen his father die under questionable circumstances and his mother marry the man either directly or indirectly responsible for the loss of his father. 

May the blessings of Camelot be with you all.

Bertilak.

I Am Not That Crazy

Hello my beauties!

When reading about the story that comes along with the Mists of Avalon, I really only had one thought: I'm not as crazy as you all think! Morgaine is absolutely psychotic, and she can never seem to have any romantic thoughts about anyone who doesn't share her blood. You cannot possibly justify that to me in any way, so I'm just going to go ahead and say that Morgaine is crazier than me, which is really a breath of fresh air.

Can we also just touch upon the fact that she made this crazy sword out of nowhere? So she's really not only crazy, she's a blacksmith with crazy good skills to make a weapon so powerful. Part of me wishes I could get my hands on a sword like that in order to take out Guinevere... But alas, I cannot do so. Plus, I think I wouldn't really be making my point of sanity if I went out and chopped the woman's head off. But hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Ahh well, I do have to say that I have taken a liking to Morgaine. She makes me seem like a pleasantly normal woman, and I can really get behind that idea. Cheers girl, maybe we can go out and get mutton sometime.

Love and lilies,
Elaine of Astolat

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

Yikes x3

Greetings to all,

This was a rather interesting story. One that I can say was filled with some surprises and let's be honest it gets a little weird. I don't even wanna go into detail about all the suspect actions by some women such as drugging each other, prophecies, blood rituals, and sacrifices.  To start things off what is it with Arthur? Does he enjoy being put in such awkward positions? The man is supposed to be a King, sure I can understand his sexual urge, but come on now this crosses way to many lines. I'd honestly be shocked to hear someone say this isn't absurd regardless of the situation or circumstances. However, this brings me to my next point, when did it become a good idea for people to have sex with what is seemingly a horned being or the fact that it was a random person. I can't understand this solely because it's rather creepy. Hey, maybe she was into that kind of thing I don't know. This is not really my place to judge, but I think I may have to judge her based on her decision making. It is very poor to say the least. Who the hell has sex in a cave. The negative potential is very high. It could be dirty, filled with rodents, insects and anything else that would reside inside caves. It's just all a little to creepy and if I may say un real. Honestly, these types of actions taken by Arthur don’t surprise me even a little. Shit, I don't know if the man is my uncle or my father. He's very out here in terms of reckless acts. I for one can't see how he is worthy of being a king and I'm sure others would agree. “Yikes” is about the only thing that can sum up this entire ordeal.

Best Regard,
Mordred

Ps. I still don't know if Arthur is my dad or uncle :(

Horned and Horny

To be quite honest, I never realized how awfully insane our traditional rituals sound on paper. I can assure you, we are not the drug addicted, incest encouraging people you must think us to be after such a tale. Sure, some of our customs are a little...what's the phrase...fucked up? Like, what kind of drugs are we on when we think smearing the blood of a deer on someone's nipples is somehow normal, sanitary, and symbolic of virginity? Well, it's not like that. Our incest-born children will have some problems, so we figure we might as well get some too by just putting a bunch of blood all over ourselves. I'm kidding! You have to at least give us credit for the symbolism we incorporate that really does make sense, such as stringing crimson berries at a virgin's loins. I know you're imagining fruity look-alike christmas-lights tied at her who-knows-what, but it really is a beautiful, spiritual, and just plain creative kind of thing.

I wish it weren't so that Morgaine discovers she slept with her brother, let alone lost her virginity to him, and I especially wish it weren't so that Morgaine discovers this when she is still laying naked with him...in the cave. Why do we have them make love in a cave again? Isn't it cold? I don't know - never mind. My point is that young people don't really need to know everything because they'll only learn it effectively in time. This is similar to the philosophy I had in my telling Morgaine when she reached a stage where obedience could be tempered with her own judgement. Morgaine is a smart girl, and Arthur is even smarter, so I know they'll fare well. It is a little funny though because today is apparently National Siblings Day...Cheers to you, Morgaine and Arthur!

And if she hasn't gotten enough of Arthur's swords, I give her the noble task of fashioning a scabbard for a sword soon-to-be his with boundless spells to prevent him from shedding blood (because there has been more than enough blood involved in this so far). Of course, she doesn't initially know the sword will be Arthur's, and she wonders why I give her this task because, still, she does not fully understand what she means for Avalon. Regardless, the Goddess works through her hands; Morgaine remains focused and tranquil while completing the task. I like how she says nothing until she says, "It is done," as if she were a college student writing the same agonizing history essay from 8pm to 2am without getting up to go to the bathroom, and there aren't any snacks in the house or anything. I digress, but she had food and water, and she had a whole room full of people to help her out, so it wasn't that bad.

What is bad, however, is how Arthur is basically attached to his sister in the worst way possible - because she took his virginity? Although, he'd probably do and say the same things if neither of them were virgins when it happened. Let's be real, Arthur is just an emotional guy, but he's still pretty weird about it too. "Come to my crowning if you can, sister," he says while gently kissing her hand and probably pausing creepily before "sister" to look up at her with seductive eyes. Ew! I'm out!

Until next time,

Viviane

P.S. Doesn't Morgaine's legend kind of remind you of the Avatar? She even has the blue tattoos to match. I know they made some female version as a sequel to the real deal, but let's just forget about that.

Source:

The Mists of Avalon

The Women of Avalon

Frankly, I don't know how I feel about what has happened here in Avalon. It is hard to tell what really happened to Morgaine regarding her involvement with the Horned One. Much of her experiences were out-of-body, chasing the hunt and watching the rituals take place from her own mental point of view. I am still confused about how exactly she was decided to be this Goddess of earth and life, and the times when she was possessed by the magic of Avalon, feeling the power run through her, and acting outside of her own body. It was hard to tell how she went between these feelings, and being back in her constant, conscious mental state.

The clear part of the story was the fact that she had this random anonymous sexual experience with a boy in a cave. I don't know about anyone else, but I dont usually sleep with someone ive never met out in the middle of nowhere, but then again, Ive also never been on a crazy Avalon vision quest freaking out in a forest. Of course the boy was only nameless for a short time, maybe the most important time, she only found out after sex who her partner was. Her own brother.

As this story unfolds I am trying very hard to not view these women as totally insane, drugging each other, prophecies, blood rituals, sacrifices, and now random anonymous sex in the wilderness. The only thing that could make it worse was if Morgaine had slept with, idk... her own brother. Oh wait, that does happen, what is going on.

Although many of these events sound very insane and hard to believe to the fullest, it is interesting that we hear an Arthurian tale from the women's perspective. Not a viewpoint you often hear about in this day and age. We hear about the first hand struggles of Morgaine and what she goes through in Avalon and we also learn the origins of Arthur being proclaimed king through the eyes of Viviane. She offers him an option, to swear himself to serve under the realm of equality, and to accept all religions and backgrounds, or to deny this new sword and reign under the hand of the Christian faith.

We see two interesting things happening during this point in the story that are not common among tales of Arthur. First he is being ordered to make a decision by Viviane, a woman. Usually nobody tells King Arthur what to do except maybe Merlin, but we see here that a woman is guiding his actions and he must respect her power over him. We also see someone challenge Christianity, that maybe there is more to life than what God and the church have proclaimed, at this time many people could have been killed for questioning Christianity, but religious freedom is suggested and accepted (with some consideration) positively by a young Arthur.

Arthur chooses to accept the sword and swear that he will treat all men fairly and that he will not bind his faith to only one set of beliefs. Perhaps this early experience guided him towards his fair-minded actions until the day he died. 

Um... Ew?

So I have to say, part of me was a little worried about who Mogaine might be sleeping with.  It's generally not a good idea to sleep with someone who's identity is being with held from you, often it doesn't end well.  I was hoping that maybe it'd would end up being Lancelot, since she obviously had a thing for him, but nope of course it turns out to have been her brother.

That's going to make family gatherings pretty awkward.

Perhaps the worst part about it is that, the next time he sees her Arthur tells Morgaine that he can't stop thinking about her.  That's some slightly disturbing, Flowers in the Attic stuff right there.  I'm not sure how I feel about our king in this moment.  It does seem like he's embarrassed and aware that he shouldn't be feeling the way he is but seriously?  

You slept with your sister, that isn't something you should want to think about.  Maybe I'm being harsh.  Maybe he's concerned about her emotional wellbeing.  They did just go through a horribly traumatic experience.  I'm really not sure that's the case though.