Legends Summarized: King Arthur

Camelooooooot~🎵

For a mythos so universally well-known, there's not actually much in the way of a *canon* for King Arthur. Some people will smugly inform you that the Sword in the Stone isn't Excalibur; some will equally smugly tell you that the stone was actually an anvil. Is Merlin a druid, a wizard, a demon, a time-traveler? Is Morgan Le Fay Arthur's sister, nemesis, lover, all of the above? And where the hell does Mordred fit into all this? To answer these questions, let's go all the way back to the beginning and trace how this mythos grew and evolved as it moved from writer to writer and culture to culture. And this is a long one, so strap in, folks!

Would you believe there's no guitar tab for "C'est Moi" anywhere online? So inconsiderate.

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[Overlordough]

Lancelot: Who are you?
Galahad: I'm you, but I have standards.

[TheSaltyLibrarian]

Chretien:
-created a mega popular OC
-turned the basic canon into ship wars involving his OCs
-planned out a way longer arc that he never bothered to finish

This guy really did set the bar for fanfic as we know it

[seriouslythisisjust]

the fact that lancelot was originally a fanfic oc is the best thing i've heard all day

[idiotmizu]

Guinevere: -sleeping with lancelot when already married-
Also Guinevere: Omg Morgan you can't be sleeping around with people when married

[patrickj]

It's criminal how adorable Morgan Le Fay is when drawn in this style.

[TRDPaul]

"What if Merlin was a skinny British kid?" I'm pretty sure that if Merlin existed he was, at some point, a skinny British kid

[renatocorvaro]

The most important takeaway from Arthurian Legend is that strange women lying in ponds distributing weaponry is no basis for a system of government.

[spyone]

One of my favorite takes on Lancelot was that he was brutal, cruel, sadistic, and covetous and trying VERY HARD not to be those things. Arthur did good by following his natural impulses, Lancelot did good by rejecting his natural impulses.

[ButterflyScarlet]

Don't worry young fanfiction writers, someday your cringy OP Too Pure For This Sinful World OC may become a classical character in like several hundred centuries

[myrnacaraig]

Lancelot: You're my SON?!?!
Galahad: No, I'm you, but better.

[yuumeko]

Lancelot: ORIGINAL CHARACTER DO NOT STEAL
Gallahad: hold my beer

[SigmaSyndicate]

I really enjoy the idea of a villain's revenge/powergrab plot taking so long that by the time it comes to fruition they've mellowed out and completely forgotten about it, but it's too late to stop the machinations they set into play ages ago.

[jonathanjoestarwithpluck]

Red: *talks extensively about Arthurian lore and mythology throughout the eras*

Me, who’s memorized all of Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Y’know I’m something of an Arthurian expert myself.

[from-a-venusian-closet]

I love the fact that one of the most respected legends of our time is almost entirely made up of ancient fan fiction.

[StrikaAmaru]

The Arthurian mythos: several separate layers of recursive fanfiction, each adding its own super-awesome Gary Stu, each more Gary Stu than the previous.

(edit: for 2 years, this comment sat at the top of the pile, and only now I noticed that I've written Arhurian instead of Arthurian).

[LadyCay]

I just realized that King Arthur is technically the first cinematic Universe, complete with fandom, phases, solo stories, and big crossovers

[thesnailphilosopher]

The only “Arthurian canon” I accept is that in Monthy Python and the Holy Grail

[jonathandavis]

I wonder if that Lancelot was that French guy's self-insert OC because Guinevere was his waifu...

[tinyetoile]

I guarantee that the whole Mordred-Morgan-Morgause connection began because their names all started with "Mor"

[KHTimeProtecter]

Another thing about Paganism in the Aurthurian stories, at that time, the king would also marry their lands when they’re crowned. There’s a theory that Guinevere is actually a goddess of the land, and thus gives Arthur legitimacy in his rule. So when Guinevere started favoring Lancelot, Arthur feared that he would lose his throne.