The Knight of the Cart

Endings is a combination of three traditional Arthurian legends: The Knight of the Cart, the Quest for the Holy Grail, and the war against Rome. I start Endings off with a retelling of the Knight of the Cart–which, historically speaking, is actually one of the first stories Lancelot appears in.

In the Knight of the Cart, Queen Guinevere is kidnapped by Duke Meleagant, the son of King Bademagus. Gawain sets out to reclaim her on behalf of Arthur, and is joined by Sir Lancelot. The pair ride around, searching for Guinevere, when they find a man driving a cart who has some information. The cart driver says he’ll tell them about it, but only if Lancelot rides in the cart with him.

Because Lancelot is a knight, riding around in a cart is incredibly demeaning for him and implies that he is of lower status than he really is, so he’s reluctant to hop in, but eventually does so. Lancelot and Gawain then encounter lots of rude ladies and knights who look down on Lancelot for riding in the cart. Eventually the pair decides to split up.

Lancelot manages to find Guinevere in Gorre, but the queen gives him the cold shoulder after hearing about his reluctance to climb into the cart to save her. They eventually make up, with Lancelot breaking into the tower Guinevere is being kept in to spend a passionate night with her, marking the the beginning of their adulterous affair that eventually destroys Camelot.

Meleagant figures out Guinevere’s indiscretion, but Lancelot rides in to rescue her. (Why didn’t he take her with when he fled the tower after their passionate night? Because this is Lancelot, and logic is not his strong suit.) The two fight, but King Bademagus intervenes. Guinevere is sent home. The story continues as Lancelot is an idiot who gets himself locked up multiple times, but it was this first section with Guinevere that I was interested in using. (Hilarious tidbit: the original author of the Knight of the Cart disliked Lancelot so much he actually never finished writing the story and left Lancelot imprisoned, HAH!)

With the events of Enlighten, the Knights of the Round Table discovered Britt’s real identity, but I hadn’t yet given her the chance to be a female. It was something I really wanted to do before the series came to a close, so I looked for opportunities where Britt could serve as a fill in for Guinevere or something similar. The story of the Knight of the Cart–bringing back Duke Meleagant–was the perfect opportunity, particularly as it would flow quite naturally into the conflict with Rome.

It also gave me the chance to include some of the more quirky King Arthur tales (like Sir Pelleas and Lady Ettard, and the story of Gawain and Ragnelle) and insert some much needed humor in the book. (My main concern with Endings was to achieve a natural balance of humor and battles, and bring back the huge cast of characters to say farewell and finish up a bunch of story arcs.)

That’s it for today, Champions! Later this week we’ll wrap up the last of the King Arthurs posts with the Merlin/Britt interview–which holy cow, turned out to be as long as a short story but was a lot of fun. Thank you for reading, and have a lovely week!

The Holy Grail

Hello Champions! We’ve got more King Arthur discussion in store. Today we’re going to cover the legend of the Holy Grail!

First of all, I need to get something out in the open. The stories of the Holy Grail? They’re not all they’re cracked up to be. In comparison to most of the questing stories, it’s dead boring. It’s mostly about Sir Galahad (who is Lancelot’s illegitimate son) getting in some bonding time with Sir Lancelot. Oh, and Sir Percival is there too. For the sake of keeping this post shorter, I will be significantly summarizing and simplifying things. (Side note: the Holy Grail is traditionally said to be the cup Jesus used in the last supper.)

Alright, so one night Lancelot is approached by a beautiful lady who asks him to come to a nunnery and knight a youth. He does so–not knowing the youth is his son Galahad–then returns to Camelot. The knights hold a meeting at the Round Table, and Galahad prances in and sits in the “Siege Perilous” which was a fancy chair that supposedly only the best knight in the world would be able to sit in.

The Holy Grail then appears, and all the knights vow to search it out. Arthur, who was gone at the time, returns and basically tells the knights they’re all kidding themselves if they think every one of them should undertake such holy vows to seek it out. A bunch of them ignore Arthur and set out anyway, but they all return–usually wounded–and in some cases they perish. In the end Percival, Galahad, Bors, and Lancelot set out.

This is a depiction of the Holy Grail appearing before the Round Table. (The golden blob in the center is the Grail)

Galahad proves to be the best knight of all time as he possesses not only Lancelot’s skill as a knight, but also a pure spirit. (It is during this time that Galahad gets the shield from the White Knight that Britt and Mordred unwillingly took.) Lancelot sees a vision of the Holy Grail, and tries to touch it, but he is told that his affair with Guinevere has made him unclean so he is unworthy. He gets to bond with Galahad, though, and then returns to Camelot.

The three Amigos–Percival, Galahad, and Bors–are the only ones left. There’s a few different versions of what brings them together, but after having a vision they decide that Camelot is not worthy of the Grail, and they will instead take it to a holy city in the middle east. Based on most of the stories I read, no one besides Galahad actually touches the Grail–instead it pops in and out of their presence. (Which makes me wonder why it needed them to take it anywhere.) When they reach the holy city, the Grail ascends into heaven without them doing anything. Percival dies outside the city, and Galahad passes on after the Grail returns to the heavens, having decided to sacrifice his life in order to remain pure. Sir Bors returns to Camelot, the only survivor.

So in summary, Sir Percival and Sir Galahad both DIE, and Lancelot–the play-boy/best-friend-backstabber–waltzs off, and Bors is the only survivor among those who actually see the real Grail.

I knew from when I first started thinking up the series that I wanted to include the quest for the Holy Grail, but when I actually started doing research about it and learned what a downer it was, I began wondering how I could use it for a more comedic effect. As I began to connect it to the other events I wanted to happen–Rome invading and Britt getting kidnapped–I saw how I could fit it in as the knights’ cover story for their ambling ride through Britain. I threw in a few references to the original legend via dialog and actions–like Lancelot returning first, Britt riding with her alias as Sir Galahad, and Sir Percival stating the Holy Grail rose up into the sky. Also, I couldn’t help but throwing in a shout-out to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was too much to resist!

King Arthur legends set aside, I wanted to give a big thank you to all the Champions who reviewed Endings. I appreciate it a lot, and I’m so glad the book has been so well received. That’s all for today! Thanks for reading, Champions!

Finding Joy in a Tragedy

Good day to you, Champions! Today I wanted to talk about why I ended King Arthurs the way I did.

As I mentioned previously, I knew how I was going to close out Britt’s story even before I started writing the first book. The reason for that is very specific: At its heart, the legends of King Arthur are tragedies. I’m sure this has you going “whaaat?” but it’s true.

King Arthur and his knights start out really well. Knights like Gawain, Percival, and Lancelot right wrongs and save dozens of people. As Arthur and the knights grow older, younger generations of knights step forward and also act honorably. Annnd then they start dropping like flies.

It begins with the occasional knight dying while questing, all so other knights have an excuse to set out and avenge him. But the death toll reaches a new height when Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere is discovered. Lancelot flees, but Guinevere is to be killed for her transgression. (In most versions of the story, Arthur’s hands are tied in the matter–he doesn’t really want to kill Guinevere, but the law demands it.) Lancelot returns to Camelot to free her, and in the process kills a large number of knights–most notably Gawain’s little brothers.

This action deeply wounds and angers Gawain, who then convinces Arthur to attack Lancelot and declare war. Even more famous knights die in the battle between Arthur and Lancelot. Gawain himself is grievously wounded. Eventually Lancelot and Arthur make peace, with Arthur taking Guinevere and sending her home.

Back in Camelot, Mordred holds a coup, and crowns himself king. (In many versions, he marries Guinevere to solidify his claim.) Arthur learns about this and rides back to face Mordred in battle. Many knights fall in the fight against Mordred–one of them being Gawain. Arthur and Mordred face off, and though Arthur slays Mordred, Mordred fatally wounds Arthur. Bedivere is the only knight who is still alive (though some legends have additional knights as well) and it is he who throws Excalibur into the water, summoning faerie ladies who then carry Arthur off to Avalon in hopes of healing from his wounds. Traditionally, it is said that if Arthur does not return he has passed away, but some of the more modern interpretations of the legends claim he’s still mending from his wounds and will return when he is well.

So. The most notable knights who actually survive are Bedivere and Lancelot. And the fun doesn’t end there. Guinevere becomes a nun, and Lancelot a hermit. After Arthur dies, Guinevere realizes what her affair with Lancelot caused, and refuses to see him even on her deathbed.

Super happy and joyous, right?

The tragic ending to King Arthur made my take on the legends particularly difficult. I really enjoy putting content from the original legends in my books, but I am also 100% committed to having a happy ending, so how was I going to pull it off? First of all, instead of shattering the kingdom for a humongous battle, I decided to bind it together for an equally humongous battle. Instead of using Lancelot as the enemy, I chose Emperor Lucius–who Arthur and his knights did fight and defeat in many different legends and stories. I knew I needed to have Britt grievously wounded, but what next? And so came the idea of sending Britt back to her time in the same way Arthur is supposed to be taken from Britain–by throwing Excalibur into the water and having magical ladies send her off.

I still include Lancelot’s treachery as he is partially responsible for Britt’s wound, and hinted at Guinevere’s maturing character in the last few scenes she appears in.

The story of Merlin and the knights being sealed in the cave actually has its origins in legends, too. In the original stories, Merlin fell hook line and sinker for Vivian–who was not a Roman spy, but was a black magic user. Vivian in turn sealed Merlin into either a tree, stone, or in some stories a tomb, where he would essentially be stuck forever. Sending a group forward in time also let me wipe away all of those knights’ deaths. (They disappeared suddenly as if they were dead, but in my version they were trying to rejoin their King.)

And that is how I made a happy ending out of a tragedy. The sad thing is that while I manipulated events and the timeline, the major thing I changed was characters’ attitudes. (It really shows that the way you chose to react to something will have huge consequences.) With what she thought was her dying breath, Britt forgave Lancelot and changed Camelot’s future. If she hadn’t, Britain really would have been torn apart by war as her knights would have done everything in their power to see Lancelot and his lands destroyed. In doing so, Britt teaches her knights the most powerful lesson of all: the healing power of forgiveness over the all-consuming darkness of hatred, which is the same final lesson of the original King Arthur.

Thanks for reading, Champions! Have a lovely day!