POST: Visit Camelot Project (closes 10/25)

From the website, the Camelot Project, I learned about the crazy "love square" between King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, Sir Lancelot of the Lake, and Elaine of Astolat. King Arthur loves Queen Guinevere who has a love affair with Sir Lancelot who happens to be the one who Elaine of Astolat adores. Elaine and Lancelot have a child named Galahad after she tricked Lancelot into loving her. In the end, the love affair between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot and the issues with Arthur's illegitimate son Mordred brings the demise of Arthur's kingdom.

From the website the Camelot project, I learned about I read about Morgan Le Fay, Arthur's half sister. Morgan is daughter of Arthur's mother Igraine, but her own father the Duke of Cornwall. Morgan's character is one of revenge; she is a shape-shifter as well as a healer and is an enemy of King Arthur. After the midieval period Morgan is forgotten until there is a revival of her character in the twentieth century. I found it very interesting that sometimes she is protrade as the mother of Mordred under the name of Morgause.

After visiting the website, I learned about various characters in Arthurian Legend. The first character I read about is Mordred. As told by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the Historia Regnum Brittonum, Mordred is Arthur's nephew. He is the son of Arthur's half-sister, Anna, and her partner, King Lot. Mordred is often portrayed as the villian of Arthurian legend. Mommouth depicts Mordred as a traitor who destroys Camelot and takes the life of Arthur. In an account by Thomas Malory, Arthur kills Mordred in a greusome battle. Mordred, however, is not always portrayed in such a feindish way. In Welsh tradition, there is no record of a feud between Mordred and Arthur. Neither are there details of the relation between the two. Before visiting this website, I did not know very much about the characters of Arthurian Legend, with the acception of what I had learned while reading The Sword and the Circle. I now know more about the characters' origins and roles in Arthurian Legend.

I didin't know that Vivien is sometimes called by multiple names including Nineve, Nimue, and Niniane. I also didn't know she saved Merlin twice. She once saved him from Accolon and once by a destructive coat sent by Morgan.

I really liked the “Camelot Project” web site. Since I'm currently reading I am Morgan le Fay, I thought it would be interesting to find out more about her character. I like how Morgan had an indomitable nature. From reading the book, I already knew Morgan le Fay, the half sister to Arthur, was a mischievous girl. I scrolled down to the bottom of the page and found some pictures of Morgan, and her looks didn't surprise me. Throughout reading the book, I imagined Morgan as this girl with a strong personality hidden by an innocent looking body. Each image, picture and painting of her was different. In every different one, she looked slightly different. In some she looked young and innocent, and in others she looked older, fierce and strong.
I also read about Morgause, the sister of Morgan le Fay, and who had pretty minor role. When I was reading about her on the site, I found out she is one of the three daughters of Igrayne, and that later she married King Lot of Orkney. Lastly, I checked out the page on Tristan and Isolt, since I really loved the movie and thought that story was so cool. I found out that there were a bunch of different versions of the story. In one particular version, there was a love potion that brought Tristan and Isolt to love each other, and in another version Isolt is turned over by Mark to a colony of lepers. It was really interesting to see how the story of Tristan and Isolt originated and was retold thought generations in completely different ways.
This web site was very interesting, and it was neat to learn more about the characters from King Arthur's Court.

I learned a lot from this website. It was pretty confusing with how different stories had different interpretations of each character. I learned that some included both Morgan and Morgause and some just had Morgan. I learned that when both characters were in the story Morgan had a son named Ywain and Morgause had five sons including Mordred. But when only Morgan was in the story she had one son who was Mordred. Morgan was also interpreted in many different ways like as a villian, hero, or healer. But in every story she is included because she is important to the whole Arthurian legend.

I learned about the legend of Tom Thumb, which is seemingly unrelated to Arthurian legend, but Tom Thumb is deeply rooted in Arthurian and its oral retelling began at around the same time. There are hundreds of retellings of this legend from all around Europe, including Turkey, which is technically in Asia. Some of the most famous English retellings have the most Arthurian adaptations "...such as Merlin's role in Tom's birth, and the knighting of Tom by King Arthur" (Susan Bauer) The most famous adaptation that has been preserved in text was Tom Thumbe, His Life and Death: Wherein is declared many Maruailous Acts of Manhood, full of wonder, and strange merriments: Which little Knight lived in King Arthur's time, and famous in the Court of Great-Brittaine (1630). What a long title. On the other hand, it adds elements such as "Tom's parentage and the magic surrounding his birth when Merlin grants the wish of the ploughman's wife for a son even if he were no bigger than the ploughman's thumb." (Susan Bauer) The essay was very comprehensive that I learned all this from, and I would encourage others to visit this site for any information on Arthurian legend.

My second novel was I Am Mordred, and throughout the book, there was a pattern that implied Mordred was a factor in the fall of Camelot. Therefore, I was interested in reading more about him.

I was surprised to learn, that in the original Welsh version, no evil was mentioned at all about Mordred. However, since it was an oral tale back then, the story was altered, and in most cases, Mordred is portrayed as the son of Arthur and his half-sister Morgause. I thought it was very strange that the King's actions and mistakes lead to the downfall of the kingdom. For example, when he was seduced by his half-sister, who gave birth to his son and nephew, Arthur doomed himself to a death at the hand of his own son.

I also read other posts, and I saw that Nicole wrote about how Guinevere's affair with Lancelot brought Camelot to its fall. This fact tied into how Arthur's affair with his sister created his murderer. It was interesting to see how people believed that improper affairs would result in a very nasty consequence. Even worse, Camelot's future was in their hands!! Royalty had more to it than i thought!

I really found it interesting, and somewhat sad that many poets of the 19th century, such as Tennyson, portrayed Guinevere as a woman who "spoilt the purpose of Arthur's life." It wasn't fair that she had to agree to an arranged marriage, and then punished when she actually fell in love with a man. I also thought that it was interesting that Morgan le Fay was portrayed as both good and evil in different Arthurian legends. To me personally, these two characters are more captivating than those of the knights.

Ever since reading and learning about Arthurian Legends, I wanted to learn more about Merlin, since he seemed like such and amusing and interesting magical character. I researched Merlin at the Camelot Project webpage and I found out a few things that interested me. For example, I did not know that in one of the legends, Merlin is responsible for transporting the stones of Stonehenge from Ireland, but was not associated with Arthur. I also learned that in American pop culture and literature, Merlin is probably the most frequently portrayed Arthurian Legend character.

And looking through the pictures, Merlin looks a lot like Santa Claus .
[img=https://2img.net/r/ihimizer/img303/3461/pylemerlbb8thsa6.jpg]

I learned that Gallahad is the one known mostly as the one who achieves the Holy Grail. I also learned that in some books it says that Merilin is the one who transported huge stones and built Stonehenge.

When I visited this site, I read about Mordred, Arthur's son. I thought that the different versions all portrayed Mordred differently- in some, he was evil, and in others he was a troubled hero who's destiny destroys him. The fisrt one said that Mordred was Arthur and Morgan Le Faye's son which was already sick and twisted from that point on. An other one said that Mordred wasn't even Arthur's son, he was just a boy born on May-Day, which Arthur tried to kill off because Merlin had told him of the prophecy that Arthur's fall would be at the hands of a child born on May-Day. The stories varied a lot, as you can see, so it left me a little confused...

Luckily I'm reading the book about Mordred so I'll have one story I can claim as the "Real" version.

I find the Arthurian legends confusing. There are different versions and it causes characters to change and have a different personality in many stories. I think this is partly because they were told in the different countries which caused them to change quite a bit. I read about Morgan Le Fay. She is interesting because of the role she plays in the stories. She is portrayed as an evil character in some, and a good character in others. In the book I am Morgan Le Fay she agrees herself to be evil. Merlin is also an evil character. I think she is important to the legends because of her magical standing.

On the Camelot Project website, i read about the character Mordred. It was interesting because, intially, in the celtic texts, he wasn't an evil character. They simply mention a battle with both Arthur and Mordred in it, but don't say that they are fighting, don't tell the circumstances, and don't in any way imply the malevolent nature that has now grown attached to the character Mordred. Also, in "Historia Regnum Brittonum", by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Mordred takes on the adulterous role that Lancelot will later play, by marrying Guenevere and attempting to take over the throne while Arthur is away at war.
Another interesting aspect of Mordred is is death. Most stories tell of the last battle, in which Arthur and Mordred become locked in a battle to the death. Then, when Mordred feels he is losing, he throws himself onto Arthur's spear, allowing himself to deal Arthur a fatal blow, but at the same time, ending his life. All in all, Mordred twisted, complex, and sinister character adds a lot to the story, and creates an evil villian for future writers.

I also read about Mordred. I was fascinated to see the "curse" put upon him. It seems like his fate was to kill King Arthur and he could not escape this fate. I did not know that he actually liked king Arthur, however fate had led him to believe he must kill his great king.

i read all about Galahad. I did not know that the seat perillous was 1 - reserved for the grail knight and 2 - Galahad's seat. i knew that he was the kight who found the grail but didnt know that he was son of Lancelot. I really like this website and all of Arthurian Legend.

Yeah that is a pretty cool site, I already new alot about this. Seat Perilous was Galahad's seat, but like Skyler I didn't know he was Lancelot's son. I noticed a lot of spots where the sites contradicted our book, and obviously there are many versions. Does Mordred like Arthur? Is Merlin evil? Is Morgan, Morgana? Is Morgan(a) and the other sister two different people? Even the movie differs from the book, and I didn't know that the Holy Grail was also a platter.

I kinda knew before hand that Gwenivier had an affair with Lancelot behind Arthur's back from the Discovery Channel. But I didn't know that Mordred was concieved from Arthur and his half sister Morguase. Eeh.

I learned about lancelot.
I did not know that he was raised by the lady of the lake. Because of it hes sometimes called lancelot du lac or lancelot of the lake.
I also did not know he was such a "player." i did not no he got so many chicks.

The Camelot Project is very interesting. There were so many characters in the Camelot Project so I only went through a few of them. I didn't know that the Holy Grail was the cup that Jesus drank from. The sword in the stone was also called the sword in the anvil. The sword, being Excalibur, a sword from the Lady of the Lake. When Arthur pulled the sword out from the stone, that began his reign as king. I then stumbled across Morgan Le Fay, the daughter of Igraine and the Duke of Cornwall. Morgan is said to be the first of nine sisters who rule The Fortunate Isle or the Isle of Apples. I also came across Perceval, one of the knights that is on the quest for the Holy Grail. This site really helped me understand more about the Arthurian Legend.

In a site about Merlin and Vivien, I learned that Merlin's actually the son of the devil. That was something I didn't expect, because I never viewed him as a malevolent character. Also, in the book King Arthur Tales from the Round Table, the author implied that Vivien trapped Merlin because she grew tiresome of him, and she was only with him to learn magic. From the site, I discovered that Vivien did love Merlin, but her motive for trapping him was only to safeguard their euphoria. In some other versions, Vivien seduces Merlin.

I read about Mordred on the Camelot Project website and learned more about how he was portrayed in the stories. I learned that Sir Thomas Malory was one of the first people to portray Mordred as a character who possessed more of a wicked persona that later writers. In Le Morte D'Arthur, Mordred is portrayed as the bastard son of King Arthur who is anathema. Fate is used widely throughout the stories and the ways that fate was interpreted affected Mordred as a character overall. In the earlier stories, he was portrayed as the personification of evil because his sole purpose and fate was to kill his father. Why else would he have lived on the coracle when all others perished? Later interpretations described Mordred as a normal child who was influenced by his mother's moral training. What is present however in many of the stories was his grudge against his father for his attempted murder, which fueled his hostility towards his father. This evidently led to his death and his father's death at Camlann. It was interesting overall to learn about Mordred and his reputation in Arthurian Legend.

Until I went and looked at the Camalot site I never relized the different ways of looking at the chracter Vivien. I learned from the sight that Vivien was not the only name tied to this chracter. Some of the other names are Nineve, Nimue, Niniane, and more. There are also at least three different reasons and stories about how she trapped Merlin in the tomb or castle, etc.