I’ve mentioned this before, but my interpretation of the donut shaped Round Table, is actually accurate. Most legends say the Round Table housed roughly 150 knights. I chose to start with fewer because Britt still has a some legendary knights that will be joining her ranks, so there needed to be room for them. In order to house that many people, the table needs to be in pieces so it can be taken apart and put back together–kind of like a toy train track. Here’s an example.
This is old news for some of you guys, BUT I do have some new Round Table facts to share. The Round Table was actually an order–not all of King Arthur’s knights were accepted into its ranks. Also, traditionally the Round Table is given to Arthur as a wedding gift from King Leodegrance–who was super happy about that because it meant he didn’t have to give Arthur the lands that Guinevere would have inherited from her mother. Furthermore, King Leodegrance did send quite a few knights to serve Arthur. These guys were pretty useless. Few of them became famous or well known, and no one modern has bothered to write any stories about them.
On the opposite end of King Leodegrance’s useless knights, we have King Pellinore. King Pellinore really was a king in his own right, and a member of Arthur’s Round Table. Although there were plenty of princes at the table, to my knowledge King Pellinore is the only other king besides Arthur to sit at the Round Table when it was first created. This highlights how important King Pellinore was to Camelot, even though he was initially one of the kings who resisted Arthur’s crowning.
The oaths I present in the book are actually two of the traditional Round Table oaths, mashed up together. The original oath was most of the oath I presented, except for one final sentence: to love one maiden only and to worship her through the years by noble deeds until she has been won. This was added to later stories. I haven’t researched it deeply, but I think this second sentence started showing up in stories around Lancelot’s arrival. (HAH!)
Finally, yes, in the original stories Merlin was the one who worked out where everyone would sit. In the traditional legends and stories, it was also Merlin who decided what knights would belong to the Order of the Round Table. Arthur made a few requests for some knights that he really liked, and Merlin approved them, but Merlin was the real gatekeeper.
Thanks for reading, Champions. I hope you’ve enjoyed Embark!