Amazing how I can draw like 6 beards in one picture and still have no idea how to actually draw them!
This is my first design for a lot of them (how had I never drawn Morgana before?????) and it sorta shows, and I’ve changed some of my older designs (mainly Mordred whose hair color I am still debating), but I’m pretty satisfied on the whole.
THIS IS AMAZING!!!
Oh my gosh, this is great! : D I love it. I love the way you draw them too (look at that lovely Elaine!)
Once upon a time (2013?) there was a Mordred webseries (in French and with English subtitles). The webseries was truly amazing and, as far as I know, it had been turned into a movie.
The project was supposed to be three seasons (3 movies), but it has ended with season 2 because of budgetary issues. Still, you might find a summary of what could have been season 3 on the Facebook Page with the scripts of 6 episodes uploaded on googledrive. There is also a book which describes what happened to the main characters between season 1 and season 2.
Hello! I agree about the poetry, I love poetry (a recent development in my life) but I definitely prefer novels. And I apologize for answering this late.
I think diving in arthuriana can be approached through different ways: following one character and looking up their novels/texts first (that’s what I did), trying to go in a chronological way (first historical texts and then modern novels) or just looking for good novels that can also help summarize the arthurian canons and headcanons around.
I’ll start with long series that narrate Arthur’s story from beginning to end:
The Once and Future King (White), this is a classic, a good novel and, as a plus, it goes from Arthur’s childhood to his death. Mostly about Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.
Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy + The Wicked Day, this is another classic. The trilogy is all about Merlin and it narrates the story of Uther and, later on, of Arthur, while the Wicked Day is about Mordred. I am not in love with this series, but it is still a good one!
Mists of Avalon (Bradley), while I am not a fan of this novel, Mists of Avalon is still an important book in modern arthuriana and it was the first novel (if I am not wrong) with a female protagonist, also I think it defined this idea of Morgana as Mordred’s mother. Mostly about Morgana.
Persia Woolley’s Guinevere trilogy, this is a trilogy I adore. Guinevere is, of course, the main character and the story follows her childhood and ends with what happens after Arthur’s death.
Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff, this is an historical reinterpretation, mostly focused on Arthur.
And now some of my favourites:
Exiled from Camelot (Baldry). Kay is the main character. A lot of angst and lovely adventures.
The Winter Prince (Wein). Mordred focused and historical
Idylls of the Queen (Karr). Kay and Mordred investigate a murder. AMAZING.
Here Lies Arthur (Reeve). Historical, Arthur is not a good person. A Nimue-like character is the protagonist.
Corbenic (Fisher). Modern reincarnation AU with Percival as protagonist.
The Squire Tales series (Morris). A series of parodies about King Arthur, but with an overall complete plot.
The Pendragon (Christian). Bedivere narrates Arthur’s story.
Gawain (Rowley). A romance and adventure novel that focuses on the story of Gawain and Ragnelle.
The Road to Avalon (Wolf). A story about Arthur’s love for Morgana and Guinevere’s love for Lancelot.
The Doom of Camelot. A collection of short stories about the end of Camelot.
I am Morgan le Fay (Springer). The story of Morgana pre-King Arthur.
Please, let me know if you’d like some character-focused recs!
Just a reminder that Green Knight Publishing was bought out by Paizo (of Pathfinder fame).
The good news is that Paizo still sells the Green Knight books for about a dollar each before shipping, still in new condition. Because buying beat up copies from third-party sellers on Amazon is not the only way to read these.
Whaaaat I didn’t know! I thought it had closed : D
And there’s also Exiled from Camelot! How much I love that book!
I’ve put together this list of some recent articles, essays etc on Arthurian legends on television – so essays critiquing shows like BBC Merlin, Camelot, Kaamelot and Mists of Avalon. Because its such a recent subject area, I thought I’d put them together for easy reference
I’m still dithering whether to include some blog posts, as some of them are excellent, but Tumblr/LJ posts can be deleted, or whathaveyou, so, if you’ve got any suggestions, let me know
Brennan, Joseph “You could Shame the Great Arthur Himself”: A Queer Reading of Lancelot from BBC’s Merlin with Respect to the Character in Malory, White and Bradley’. Arthuriana. Vol 25 no. 2 July 2015, p 20
Brennan, Joseph ‘“You gave me no choice”: A queer reading of Mordred’s journey to villainy and struggle for identity in BBC’s Merlin’. Refactory: a journal of entertainment and media . Oct 7, 2015 http://refractory.unimelb.edu.au/2015/10/07/brennan/
Briand, Cedric “Kaamelot’s Paradox: Lancelot between Subjugation and Individuation. Arthuriana. 25 (1) , 2015, p 22
Chandler, Erin. ‘Pendragons at the Chopping Block: Elements of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the BBC’s Merlin’. Arthuriana 25(1) 2015 p101
Edwards, Jennifer C. ‘Casting, Plotting and Enchanting: Arthurian Women in Starz’s Camelot and BBC’s Merlin’. Arthuriana. 25 (1) 2015 p 57
Elliott, A. B. R.. (2011). ‘The Charm of the (Re)making: Problems of Arthurian Television Serialization. Arthuriana’, 21(4), 53–67. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23238232
Elmes, Melissa Ridly. ‘Episodic Arthur Merlin, Camelot and the Visual Modernization of the Medieval Literary Romance Tradition’ In ‘The Middle Ages on Television’. Ed by. Meriem Pages and Karolyn Kinane. McFarland & Co, Nth Carolina,USA, 2015
Feinstein, Sandy. ‘Are you kidding? King Arthur and the Knights of Justice In ‘The Middle Ages on Television’. Ed by. Meriem Pages and Karolyn Kinane. McFarland & Co, Nth Carolina,USA, 2015
Foster, Tara. ‘Arthur and Guenievre: The Royal Couple in Kamelott’ ‘The Middle Ages on Television’. Ed by. Meriem Pages and Karolyn Kinane. McFarland & Co, Nth Carolina,USA, 2015
Foster, Tara & Sherman, John ‘King Arthur in the Twenty-First Century: Kaamelot, BBC’s Merlin and Starz’s Camelo’t. Arthuriana 25 ( 1) 2015 p 3
Foster, Tara ‘Kaamelot’s Global Fifth Century’ Arthuriana 25 (1) 2015, p 5
Foster, Tara ‘Ne cherchez pas la femme : The Women of Kaamelott. In ‘The Middle Ages on Television’. Ed by. Meriem Pages and Karolyn Kinane. McFarland & Co, Nth Carolina,USA, 2015
George, Michal W. ‘Television’s Male Gaze: The Male Perspective in TNT’s Mists of Avalon’ In ‘The Middle Ages on Television’. Ed by. Meriem Pages and Karolyn Kinane. McFarland & Co, Nth Carolina,USA, 2015
Gebhardt, Torben R. ‘Homosexuality in Television Medievalism’ In ‘The Middle Ages on Television’. Ed by. Meriem Pages and Karolyn Kinane. McFarland & Co, Nth Carolina,USA, 2015
‘Kaamelott: A new French Arthurian Tradition” in Arthurian Literature XXXI ed by Elizabeth Archibald and David F. Johnson, Boydell & Brewer, UK, Nov 2014 Mediavilla, Cindy “From ‘Unthinking Stereotype’ to Fearless Antagonist: The Evolution of Morgan le Fay on Television’. Arthuriana 25 (1) 2015 p 44
Meredith, Elysse T. ‘GenderingMorals, Magic and Medievalism in the BBC’s Merlin’ In ‘The Middle Ages on Television’. Ed by. Meriem Pages and Karolyn Kinane. McFarland & Co, Nth Carolina,USA, 2015
Tollerton, David C. ‘Multiculturism, Diversity, and Religious Tolerance in Modern Britain and the BBC’s Merlin”. Arthuriana. 25 (1) p 113
Lancelot came walking down through the great hall. On his head he wore a crown of splendid red roses that stood out beautifully against his fine blond hair; and yet it was August, when it is not natural for roses to last long. But the story insists that for Lancelot, as long as he lived in the Lake, no morning ever came, in summer or winter, when he had to go without a garland of fresh red roses for his hair, no matter how early he arose; the only exceptions were Friday and the eve of the great feasts and all of Lent. On all other days, Lancelot had a new crown of roses every morning; yet he could never watch closely enough to make out who it was that brought it to him, even though many times he lay in wait to find out. But once the two boys had come to join him, there was no morning, however early he arose and received his garland, when he did not take it apart and make three out of it and in that way share it with them.
‘The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation’, Lancelot Part 1 translated by Samuel N. Rosenberg
Does anyone else remember that Baby Lance spent a lot of time living among fairies and wearing nature-defying flower crowns (unless he had to go without) and just generally being a medieval Little Lord Fauntleroy? Because I do.
Also making flower crowns for his wee cousins, though he didn’t know they were cousins yet
Thankfully, Lance’s aesthetic at this stage appears to have been a little less ‘sulky murder children in flower crowns’ than his cousins (as in last quote) but he certainly had his fair share of violent outbursts. Mind you, interpretations of Lance’s violence vary both between sources and between paragraphs, so I do also love this quote:
“No one could have found fault with any part of him, but people who saw him did agree that, if his chest had been a bit less fully developed, he would have been that much more attractive and appealing. Later on, the worthy Queen Guenevere, who had more to say on the subject than others, said that God had not given him a chest in any way too big or expansive, for it suited his great heart, which would have burst had it not been lodged in a large enough enclosure. ‘And if I were God,’ she said, ‘I would not have made Lancelot any smaller or any bigger.’”
Ok number 1) awwww, Lance’s big heart.
Number 2) Guinevere ‘who had more to say on the subject than others’- what was she just constantly nonchalantly dropping it into conversation. ‘Oh and Sir Lancelot you really must come and play me at chess sometime, oh and while we’re on the subject, may I complement you again on that excellent chess-t of yours, jolly good work.’ *waggles eyebrows meaningfully at said flushing knight*
Number 3) ‘I would not have made Lancelot any smaller or any bigger’. Gwen you little… !!! Mind you, I believe I’ve said before that Lance would argue that, whether jousting in the lists or in real life, it’s not the size that’s important, it’s how you use it.
Lastly though I believe this alone is enough evidence for the continued appearance of habitual (as in not just as a prize) flower crown-wearing Lancelot right into his adult years.
(After all, why else are there so many roses in this picture, if they’re not about to sit and make rose garlands together?)
I found a sort of arthurian tv show!
I have not watched the show actually (Raven, a 1970s miniserie) but I’ve read the novelization and there are many arthurian elements! So it might be worth looking out for!
Arthurian Legends 