An Ancient Fandom: Arthurian Legends

It all started when I read Taliesin by Stephen R. Lawhead

My obsession with all things Arthurian Legend. Well, maybe obsession is a bit too strong of a word. I claim no expertise. I haven’t searched out or hunted down every version of the story there is. I’m not exactly obsessed.

But I am definitely strongly entrenched in the King Arthur Fandom. And it all started with Stephen R. Lawhead’s “Pendragon Cycle.”

In college, I was blessed to be able to spend January on a trip called “Literary London.” During that trip, we traveled around like the tourists we were and got to visit many historical literary sites. But my heart’s theme of the trip seemed to be following in the footprints of Arthur. At the end of the trip, that was what I wrote my essay on… (you can click the link and read it if you like) how we had seen so many different sites that linked to the Arthurian legends: King Arthur’s Great Hall, the Round Table, the great fell known as Arthur’s Seat (pictured above).

Please forgive the horrible quality of this picture. It was extremely dark in the hall and I was not a very good photographer at the time. Instagram didn’t exist yet. K?

I must have read Taliesin over 20 times. Funnily enough, that’s not even the book Arthur himself shows up in. But I was hooked. My imagination captured. This beautiful story that tied Arthurian Legend to the Lost City of Atlantis? Yes. Please.

Something about the King Arthur legends just captivates me. I love the adventure of them, the magic woven into them, and how so many of our modern day stories seem to reflect a lot of the themes within the legend.

So it should come as no wonder to anyone that there are hints of this story woven throughout my own Minstrel’s Song series.

When it comes to retellings, I do have a few favorites.

Stephen R. Lawhead’s Pendragon Cycle (pictured above)

I love this series of books so much. One of my favorite things about them is the faithfulness of Gwynhwyvar. These stories contain none of that ridiculous Lancelot nonsense. (Which is a subplot I can do very well without, thankyouverymuch).

I also just love how he wove in the legends about the lost city of Atlantis, as well. That was a touch of brilliance, and adds a unique flavor to the story.

Merlin (BBC TV series)

I love everything about this show. I finally finished watching through the entire thing last year, and… yes. It’s so beautiful.

I love the premise that Arthur and Merlin are similar in age, and the whole “magic is forbidden and Merlin has to hide his true nature” added a lot of interesting drama and danger into the story. My favorite thing in that show is the relationship between Arthur and Merlin… how they really become brothers in the truest sense of the word.

And while I didn’t LOVE the ending… I can accept it.

Merlin: The Lost Years by T.A. Barron

I haven’t read ALL the books in this series, though I re-read the first one recently (and was kind of blown away by how much it was a rip-off of Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain, actually… I didn’t notice that as a kid, but wow…)

But that aside, what I’ve read was a fun story. I don’t know that I ever got to the books with Arthur in them (I don’t know that Arthur ever shows up, these books are very much about Merlin). At some point I want to go read the rest of them in order… I read them all kinds of out of order as a kid, which is why I’m extremely fuzzy on the details. But I remember liking them a lot, and I still enjoyed the first book when I read it last year. Even if it did feel a little plagiarizy.

Merlin (movie)

It could just be that I’m also a massive fan of Sam Neill (who looks like my dad), and Rutger Hauer (who is the lead in my second favorite movie of all time), but I really loved this movie in which Sam Neill played Merlin and Rutger Hauer plays King Vortigern.

This movie also has the added fun of having one of my favorite quotes:

Vortigern: “You must forgive me. Patience isn’t one of my virtues.”
Merlin: “You have so few of those, I wouldn’t worry about that one.”

So snarky. I love it.

Quest for Camelot

This is one of those fabulous cartoons that really doesn’t get enough love. But it’s such a good movie, and it’s one of the few fantastic cartoons NOT made by Disney!

Also, it has an incredible soundtrack.

And the story is pretty fantastic.

If you haven’t seen this one, you should definitely look it up. A daughter inspired by her father who fell in the line of duty. A beautiful mother-daughter relationship. A truly villainous bad guy. A sweet romance. And a whole lotta humor. It’s super fun.

And finally…

King Arthur

I kind of really enjoyed the King Arthur movie with Ioan Gruffudd and Keira Knightley. Could be that I just really like the casting grin… but I did appreciate the way it reimagined the legend in a more realistic way, without the magic sword or the wizard.

Which is weird, for me, because I’m usually all about the fantastical elements and you can keep your historical accuracy and political intrigue, thanks bye.

But I thought it was neat to see a well-done King Arthur in a more historical setting.

Do you have any favorite King Arthur retellings? Have you read or seen any of the ones I mentioned in this post? Do you enjoy the story of Arthur? Why or why not? Do you prefer a more historically accurate retelling, or one with all the magic and wizards and, sure, throw in a dragon or twenty?