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!