Character asks: Lancelot!

🧸 he grew up in a lake, what was that like?

😺 cat person or dog person?

😶 any headcanons that are wildly off-canon?

🧸 Headcanon about childhood!

Personally while I do think the Lady of the Lake meant well in how she raised Lancelot, his natural anxiety was exacerbated by his atypical upbringing. He did have his cousins Lionel and Bors with him to socialize with, but they also had the benefit of starting out on the surface, whereas Lancelot was raised underwater from infancy, and those early years in an otherworldly atmosphere does things to a guy's mind. This is why he relies on his mother to coax him out of his madness at times, he's literally not acclimated to surface living, and she has to "reset" him.

😺 Animal related headcanon—cat person or dog person?

Lancelot is a Cat Person and also prefers cats as pets ;^)

😶 Random headcanon—any wildly off-canon?

It's hard to say honestly Lancelot has so much page time and been adapted so much I'm not sure what's left to do that hasn't been done. I think the biggest thing would not only apply to Lancelot but a lot of the "best" knights in that they compartmentalize the violence they commit to cope with it. I don't really think Lancelot revels in combat but neither do I consider him opposed to it, if anything it's a chilling neutrality which has been walled off inside him to prevent interference with his day-to-day functionality. It's when that seeps through he requires the Lady of the Lake's help.

Castles - art by Alan Lee (1984)

it’s the year 2023 and there’s still no knight emoji, how do you expect king arthur to rise again in these conditions

honestly living in camelot is not that great like you guys love to romanticize it but as someone who lives here it low key sucks. the public transit system is so bad bc trains and buses dont exist yet and the rent is crazy high. “oh but the culture” what culture? the tournament scene? watching some random relative of gawain get unseated by some random relative of lancelot every three weeks is not culture its barely entertainment. and dont get me started on the tourists

#vent #personal #no hate im just so sick of squires posting about going to camelot and making their fortune #not gonna happen and dont move here #ur driving up cost of living 🙄

And then they took their horses and rode throughout a fair forest; and then they came to a plain, and saw where were many pavilions and tents, and a fair castle, and there was much smoke and great noise; and when they came near the siege Sir Beaumains espied upon great trees, as he rode, how there hung full goodly armed knights by the neck, and their shields about their necks with their swords, and gilt spurs upon their heels, and so there hung nigh a forty knights shamefully with full rich arms. Then Sir Beaumains abated his countenance and said, What meaneth this? Fair sir, said the damosel, abate not your cheer for all this sight, for ye must courage yourself, or else ye be all shent, for all these knights came hither to this siege to rescue my sister Dame Lionesse, and when the Red Knight of the Red Launds had overcome them, he put them to this shameful death without mercy and pity. And in the same wise he will serve you but if you quit you the better. Le Morte D'Arthur, Book 8 | Thomas Malory

march to camelot #4: monstrous

Orkney family board game night

Gaheris, Agravaine, Mordred, Gawain... and Gareth sorry it's a game for four people . @moirailsupport

This is the board of tables of the four seasons, called the world, which begins like this. (From The Libro de los Juegos, 1283) X X

As long as we are on a roll with Arthuriana, here is an old sketch of Lynette and Lyonesse that I still quite like.

I think the main problem with a lot of Morgan le Fay characterizations is that they focus too much on the angst and not enough on the Wile E. Coyote-esque schemes

Look, I know, I know, finishing the Squire's Tales requires reading The Legend of the King and having all the tragic finale part of the Arthurian Legends in one book. But consider: you get to read the beautiful trial scene.

PSA: MORDRED IS THE TALLEST

🫂 for arthur, 👽 for guinevere and 📓 for lancelot?

🫂Headcanon about Arthur’s friendships:

Arthur’s beloved but not many get to liking him. He’s an ideal, a symbol, godlike in such a way that the majority of people revere him and it puts up a wall that’s very difficult to surmount and develop close friendships. There are of course exceptions: Kay, who will always be Arthur’s no-nonsense big bro; Guinevere similarly, who always tells Arthur exactly what’s on her mind whether he likes it or not; Gawain and Yvain/Owain could fall here too, although they’re young enough to somewhat revere Arthur, there’s real trust there; last but not least is Lancelot who, again, worships Arthur, but there’s a mutual understanding which many of Arthur’s other relationships lack, and that makes them very close.

👽Headcanon about Guinevere’s weird quirk:

Guinevere was raised in nobility, a pampered princess. but she’s perceptive. Maybe it’s her giant ancestry, maybe she’s just got the same special something which makes Arthur and Lancelot so good at what they do, but she puts it to great effect while at her seat of the Round Table. She’s not easily intimidated, she can sniff out her “opponent’s” weakness quicker than they can formulate a rebuttal. She’s informed and lethal. It makes her a trusted ally and even friend of Kay. Gawain refers to her as “politicking assassin.” He also has this ability, but Guinevere’s a natural. She unnerves people. Mrs. Pendragon has claws and knows how to use them.

📓Headcanon about Lancelot’s hobbies:

Lancelot loves long horseback rides with no destination. Usually in accompaniment with someone—Arthur, Guinevere, his kinsmen, Gawain, Gareth. It suits him best when adventure finds him, he just has to be in the right place for it. He doesn’t wait around for people to come knocking on Camelot’s door. He searches for the call for aid. Aside from that, he does love a good game of chess with Guinevere. Arthur can play too but it’s like facing an apprentice, the King’s just not a real challenge. Lancelot should probably be letting him win (the way Owain does) but the Queen’s Champion has never been very good at social cues…

Merlin - art by Hal Foster (1977)

@mortiscausa's march to camelot 5: love

Tristan & Iseult

Hi! So let’s say one of your listeners’ whole knowledge about Arthurian legends is that there was King Arthur, knights, Round Table and Grail. And they were like: fine, doesn’t matter, I will certainly enjoy Camlann anyway. And let’s say that after two episodes they did realise that it matter to them and they do have a deep personal need to actually know something more. What would you recommend them to read to learn more (or like anything) about Arthurian legends?

HI!!!!! Well, in this hypothetical situation, first of all I would say thank you very much to this listener for caring enough to ask.

Second, my big recommendations would be Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Mallory (maybe the most famous Norman version of the stories) and The Mabinogion, translated by Sioned Davies (the most Welsh version of the stories!). In particular I'd recommend this listener read up on Culhwch ac Olwen and Peredur, which have been referenced so far. I'd also strongly recommend this person read Gawain and the Green Knight (I like Simon Armitage's version, which is also available as an audiobook).

If this person wanted to go further, they could also read translations of Chretien de Troyes' chivalric romances, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Brittonum, and medieval Welsh poetry found in the Red Book of Hergest and the Black Book of Carmarthen.

I will say Camlann is (very much on purpose) a chaotic mish-mash of Arthurian legends and British folklore. In some places we run very close to 'the canon', and in other places we throw it away completely. Sometimes I'll be referencing pretty obscure bits of Arthurian canon, sometimes we'll be bringing up fairly commonly accepted stuff.

I hope this hypothetical listener has fun!

Apologies for phone camera quality, but I simply need to show everyone how pretty the illustrations in this edition of The Romance of Tristan and Iseult by Joseph Bédier are. The artist is Olga Isayeva.

Im gonna be a bitch for a second lol

But seeing the phrase that the Merlin folk all deserved so much better and its 2024 lol

I'm like do you even know what the Arthurian myths are?!

They're fucking tragic

And even if not, all the clues were there in Merlin and yeah it may have started more light hearted and hey kept that humour right up to the end

But...the seeds had already been sown it was always gonna be a tragedy it just is

don't get me wrong I love them all and it breaks me thinking of Merlin and Arthur and Gwaine and Lancelot </3 but tbh I think I'm alone in actually loving Gwen's arc since she is fucking Queen of Camelot and will have Leon by her side but I digress

I just find it funny that people expected any different when the show literally tells us Mordred will kill Arthur in episode 8 of season 1 and its called Beginning of the End like its right fucking there lol