Guinevere always was a Drama Queen

"It used to be all he cared about was sailing and football. Then he got into student council. Sometimes" -she threw me a horrified look- "he even wants to talk about politics. Politics!" (Cabot, Pg. 219)

"It would be so cool if you and Will started going out." Jennifer said, her eyes lighting up. "Because then people would get off my back about the whole Lance thing." (Cabot, Pg. 220)

I chose these quotes for analysis because I thought they established an amusing character for this interpretation of Guinevere. We've known for quite a while that Guinevere wasn't exactly a faithful wife to Arthur, and neither of them ever truly seemed to be particularly invested in each other, from what we've read. We saw far more romance between Guinevere and Lancelot than we did her and Arthur, and the same is true here. I was highly amused by the fact that Jennifer was only interested Will's more athletic and adventurous activities (the sort of thing Arthur and his knights were famous for) and completely 'horrified' by the political aspect of being a King, which provides an amusing background for why Guinevere was more attracted to Lancelot; once she realized being a King is rarely very macho and romantic, she lost interest. But it also establishes a slightly more cunning side to her; she's excited by the prospect of Will dating Ellie not only because it would make Will happy, but more importantly, because then everyone will leave her alone and stop scrutinizing her infidelity. This is funny in itself, because it's actually a very political move to make; distracting the public with some new spectacle, in this case a new popular couple, so that they forget about something bad that she has done- which is highly ironic when you consider her disgust towards politics. She's more of a queen than she thinks she is.

Avalon High School Musical

I picked this song because as I was reading the first part of the book, the first thing that came to my mind was "Man, this reads exactly like one of those Disney Channel tween movies." I still stand by that thought.

The Two Kings

The reporters had left some time ago to file their stories, and everyone in the room seemed concerned about what would be said. (Pg. 178) "Now, listen, Arthur," Elvis said, running a comb through his dark hair. "That press conference? Wonderful, my boy, just wonderful. You got me all shook up- you're a real dude, more honest than any politician I ever saw back in my day."

Arthur laughed. "Thank you kindly, Mr. Presley." He said, "I'm not sure they liked it as much as you did, though."
"Ah, nuts to them." The former singer replied with a wave of his hand, "They'll come around. But y'know... you could use a little more flair in your presentation."
"Oh really now?" Arthur asked, "What did you have in mind?"
"Nothin' major, nothin' major- but I could make a comeback to endorse you. Maybe give a little concert before your next big interview. I may've been outta the rock game for a while, but lemme tell you; they find out you got the real Elvis Presley on your side, and folks'll be all over you."
"They certainly would." Chimed in Merlin, arching an eyebrow, "In exactly the wrong sort of way. If I recall correctly, Mr. Presley, you too are a long dead King, are you not? People would ask questions. The kind of questions we don't want."
"Aw, don't be cruel, my little friend- I wouldn't worry about that." Elvis grinned, "True, them reporters've got suspicious minds, but they wouldn't put two and two together- after all, who'd be expecting the King of Rock 'n Roll to be hanging out with the King of Camelot?"
"Certainly not me." Merlin muttered, "And yet, here we are..."
"I mean," The King continued, "It's not like I'm askin' Artie here to come out and be all, 'I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago'..."
"Your offer is appreciated, Elvis." Arthur interrupted, "But Merlin is right. While I do want publicity, I probably don't want the publicity that a dead... 'rock star', right? ...would bring. Besides, showmanship is unnecessary- I'd rather the people get to know the real me, instead of getting distracted by our fame."
"Well, it's not like it's now or never." Elvis shrugged, "You just lemme know if you change your mind, man. I'm happy to go get my mojo working for you anytime."

Act First, Think Never: The Balin Story

Having read through the assigned section of The Knight of the Two Swords (and a little more beyond that, admittedly), my discussion question for the day is ‘Why do you think Balin gets himself into so much trouble?’ The man disgraces himself quite a bit in the story, and trouble seems drawn to him like a magnet. Do you think maybe if he weren’t so impulsive- as demonstrated when he beheads the Lady of the Lake, for example- he wouldn’t get himself into so many bad situations?

Off with his head!

Merlin the Wise, the Powerful, the... Pedophile?

The Prose Merlin revealed a lot of things about Merlin that I can honestly say I had never heard before. My knowledge of him up until this point was that Merlin was the ultimate wizard; one of the most powerful magicians that ever lived, to the point where he's usually an important and extremely powerful historical figure in a great deal of franchises that have anything to do with fantasy and magic, (Ex: Harry Potter, Dresden Files, Magic Tree House, etc.) and that he served as a key advisor to King Arthur. What I certainly didn't know was that he was born from demons, was as smart as an adult in his infancy, and that he was a pedophile.

In truth, there's no other word for his love for the Lady of the Lake. It is stated at one point in the prose that she's only 15 years old; and while Merlin's age is never directly stated- save at the beginning of the tale, when he's a mere baby- considering the fact that his unrequited love affair with the Lady occurred relatively close to his death, and the typical depiction of Merlin in his prime is that of a wizened, graying, bearded old man, it can be assumed Merlin was greatly her senior. Add in the fact that it's very strongly implied that Merlin is only attracted to her by physical lust- due to the many mentions of his urge to have sex with her- rather than romantic love, and his 'feelings' for her become even more unsettling. It kind of ruins the entire image of Merlin for me, truthfully; like yeah cool he's a virtually omniscient wizard, but he's a pedophile. Honestly I don't blame Vivianne for sealing him in that tomb; glad he didn't get to have his way with her.

PICTURED: Merlin, pulling up in his magical white van

to take the Lady of the Lake to Arthur's palace.

Arthur and the Romans

The significant quotation I picked out was "Arthur's Britons, unlike their modern counterparts, were the cultural heirs of two peoples: the Celts and the Romans. While neither group was homogenous or genetically a 'race', they did produce vigorous cultures which dominated the European Iron Age for over one thousand years." (Snyder, Ch. 1, Pg. 15) I found this quotation to be interesting because I believe we discussed last class that the Romans had pulled out of England by the time the movie took place in, and the idea of the Britons as their cultural heirs would seem to support that, as the term 'heirs' implies they are not the direct subjects of Roman rule. To me it just makes it sound like the Romans had no direct involvement in Arthurian legend, though the film would claim otherwise.

Source: Snyder, Christopher A. The world of King Arthur. Thames & Hudson, 2011.