#Twrch Trwyth

[queer-ragnelle]

hiii do you have any favorite mythical creatures in arthurian legend? specifically sentient beings who are like humans but also not. and do you happen to know if there's a glossary/dictionary of creatures in arthurian/welsh/irish mythology in particular?

Hello!

My favorite mythical creature would be the Questing Beast/Glatisant. It's not even close. She's just the freakiest!! Most people know her from the Vulgate or Le Morte d'Arthur, but I also like her in La Tavola Ritonda and Perlesvaus. She pops up in several retellings, but I think she's vastly underutilized which is a tragedy. She could be so much scarier! Gotta do everything myself... Another favorite animalistic creature is Twrch Trwyth, the boar from the Mabinogion.

As for more human-like examples, I have many. The Ladies of the Lake, Sir Galehaut and other giants, Sir Gromer Somer Joure, the Green Knight. I don't have a creature-specific glossary, but there's The Arthurian Name Dictionary, which includes not only people but creatures and places.

What I do have is a ton of essays and a few books about my favorite characters (and their archetypes). I'll list them in alphabetical order.

Culhwch & Olwen - Giants, Boar-hunts, Barbering Masculinity by Sarah Sheehan

Culhwch & Olwen - Welsh Giants & Social Identity by Lisa Leblanc

Disenchanting Gromer Somer Joure by Karen Hunter Trimnell

Idea of The Green Knight by Lawrence Besserman

Monster Relics - Giant, Archangel, Mont Saint Michel in Alliterative Morte Arthure by Christopher Lee Pipkin

Nature & the Inner Man in SGATGK by William F. Woods

Outsiders - The Humanity & Inhumanity of Giants by Sylvia Huot

Questing Beast & Ruin of Logres in Post-Vulgate by Antonio L. Furtado

Questing Beast Noise of Adventure by Adam Spellmire

Regional Identity in SGATGK by Rhonda Knight

Shifting Skin - Passing as Human, Passing as Fay in SGATGK by Lariss a Tracy

The Law of the Lake - Malory's Sovereign Lady by Amy S. Kaufman

What Kind of Animal is the Questing Beast?

Sorry I don't have a glossary of Arthurian creatures to share. I'd love one too, honestly! But I gave you a bunch of stuff to read, so that will have to suffice. Take care!

[gingersnaptaff]

Every time I read Culhwch ac Olwen I forget that Twrch Trwyth was once an Irish king. He must've had the worst fuckin day ever. Like, boom, suddenly you're a boar cuz God's real mad at whatever shit u did and he wants u to KNOW IT. I'd be LIVID. Penning letters to God non-stop going, 'PUT ME BACK! I DON'T WANT A MAD WARLORD AND HIS SEVEN-THOUSAND-ODD KNIGHTS TO HUNT ME AND MY KIDS DOWN!! ARE U CRAZY?! DO I L O O K LIKE I AM A FUCKIN BARBER SHOP?!'

[joemerl]

The Whumps of March 2024: "Curses"

A series of vignettes based on Arthurian legend, collected on AO3 here.

Culhwch was under a curse, technically. He could not marry anyone but Olwen. And it had felt like a curse, back when he longed for someone whom he had never met, unable to look at any woman without comparing her to an unseen beauty haunting the back of his mind. 

Now that he had seen Olwen and spoken to her, it seemed more like a blessing. He would have to thank his stepmother the next time that he saw her. It was only these endless tasks, and the slim possibility of him not wedding Olwen at the end of them, that occasionally plagued his mind.

He was thinking about curses, however, as he stared down Twrch Trwyth.

He had been a prince once, according to legend. A violent, degenerate man, transformed into a monstrous boar as punishment for his sins. Not like Culhwch, who had been cursed from sheer pettiness. But still, he felt uneasy.

Are you still in there, Prince Twrch, aware of what you're doing? Or are you just a beast now, bereft of thought and enslaved to animal instinct?

As Kay had noted, it didn't really matter. If he was a beast, he could be slaughtered like one. If he was a man inside, well, he was still on a rampage and killing innocent people. After all, he had acted like a monster even when he wore a human form.

But still, Culhwch couldn't help but feel a small twinge of sympathy. He remembered those tortured days, his mind enslaved to a woman whom he had no way to attain. Whatever Twrch Trwyth was like these days, he was probably going through worse.

[cynicalclassicist]

Now if only I could pronounce the name Twrch Trwyth.

[sickfreaksirkay]

the twrch trwyth in the search for olwen !!

[gawrkin]

could you tell me about arthur's bastard (and legitimate) children?

(Word of Caution: For various reasons, including inaccessibility of source materials, I am not fully read up on all the details of the source materials involving the following characters. Nor am I aware of all known children of Arthur. Therefore, I should advice discretion)

First are the two major sons, both of whom changed legitimacies as the legend evolved:

Mordred - Originally a nephew by Arthur's full sister Anna/Morgause in Historia Regum Britanniae, Mordred is later converted into Arthur's bastard son, conceived incestuously, in Vulgate Cycle. The Welsh Dream of Rhonabwy suggests that Mordred was fostered by Arthur (a normal practice of both Romans and Celts)

Loholt/Ilinot - First appeared in Erec and Enide and apparently based on the Welsh character of Llacheu, Loholt was originally a Legitimate son of Arthur by Guinevere in Perlesvaus and the German Tradition. But Vulgate Cycle alters this so that Loholt is instead another bastard son by a certain Lisanor prior to Arthur's marriage to Guinevere.

Next are the ones with Unknown Mothers (and thus of ambiguous legitimacy and relationship to Guinevere):

Amr/Amhar - Son of Arthur mentioned in Historum Brittonum as being killed by Arthur himself. His grave is described as naturally changing size with every look, implying supernatural influence. He is also mentioned in the Welsh Geraint, as one of Arthur's Four Chamberlains

Gwydre - Son of Arthur mentioned only in Culhwch and Olwen. He is killed by Twrch Trwyth alongside two maternal uncles of Arthur.

Llacheu - The most celebrated of the Welsh sons of Arthur, with mentions in Pa Gur, The Welsh Triads and other Welsh Poetic Material. Is usually identified with Loholt, with the Welsh adaptation of Perlesvaus - Y Seint Grail - being the most notable in that regard.

Duran - Son of Arthur only found in a 15th Century Welsh Manuscript, where he is said to have perished during the Battle of Camlann

Archfedd - Daughter of Arthur, found in the Welsh genealogical work Bonedd Y Saint, where she is said to have married Llawfrodedd, one of Arthur's warriors, and bore two children, Efadier and Gwrial

Apollonius, Iron and Hilde - Two sons and a daughter found in the 13th Century Icelandic Thidrekssaga.

Aristes - Son of Arthur mentioned in the Old Norse Mottuls saga

Legitimate Children of Arthur (Although not necessarily Guinevere's children)

Samson the Fair and Grega - Son and Daughter of Arthur by his wife, Queen Silvia. Both found in the Norse Samson saga fraga

Adeluf III, Morgan the Black and Patrick the Red - Three sons of Arthur, from Eldest to Youngest, from Rauf de Boun's 14th century chronicle, Petit Brut. Presumbly, sons of Queen Guinevere, but Rauf de Boun fails to mention the name of Arthur's wife. However, Adeluf III is made heir and assumes the Throne of England whilst Patrick and Morgan are given sizable inheritances in the form of Scotland and Wales. (Note: Wikipedia claims they're Arthur's sons by a fairy queen, but the cited source does not say so. Link to source HERE)

Seleucia - Daughter of Arthur by his first wife, Liscanor (Lisanor), in Jorge Ferreira de Vasconcelos' 16th century Portugese novel Memorial das Proezas da Segunda Tavola Redonda. (*This technically makes her the full sister of Lisanor!Loholt) She married Arthur's successor, Sagramor Constantino (a combination of Sir Sagramore and Constantine, son of Cador) and may have even bore a daughter, Princess Licorida

Huncamunca - Daughter of Arthur and his wife, Queen Dollalolla, from Henry Fielding's 1730 Tom Thumb play

Melora - Daughter of Arthur and Guinevere from the Irish romance Eachtra Mhelóra agus Orlando. One of the more well-known daughters of Arthur and one of the very few warrior women in Arthuriana.

Merevie/Smerbe/Smerviemore - Son of Arthur by his second marriage to a french princess, Elizabeth. Figures primarily in the genealogical legends of Scottish Clan Campbell, who claim descent from Arthur through Smervie.

Rowland, Ellen and Two unnamed older brothers - Certain versions of the Ballad of Childe Rowland and Burd Ellen portray them as the sons and daughter of Arthur and Guinevere, apparently due to the mention of Merlin.

Tryphine's son and daughter - A certain mystery play collected by François-Marie Luzel in 1863 merges Saint Tryphine from the Conomor legend with aspects of Queen Guinevere, with the primary antagonist being the lady's brother Kervoura. The two children are unnamed, but the son goes by an alias, "the Malouin"

Iduna - Daughter of Arthur and Guinevere from Edgar (1839), by Adolph Schutt

Blandine - Daughter of Arthur and Guinevere from Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde (1937), by Jean Cocteau

Bastard Children of Arthur:

Kyduan/Cydfan - Son of Arthur by Eleich ferch Iaen. Mentioned in Culhwch and Olwen and Bonedd yr Arwyr

Arthur le Petit - Son of Arthur from Post-Vulgate, born of Arthur's deliberate rape of a daughter of Sir Tanas. Arthur le Petit serves as a "good" counterpart to Sir Mordred. He loyally serves his father incognito for many years and despises Lancelot's faction for causing the destruction of Logres. He is slain by Sir Bleoberis.

Tom a Lincoln - Eponymous hero of the 16th century romance Tom a Lincoln, by Richard Johnson. Son of Arthur by Angelica, a daughter of the Mayor of London. Fathers two additional characters, the Black Knight and the Faerie Knight.

Gyneth - Daughter of Arthur by a half-genie named Guendolen. From Walter Scott's The Bridal of Triermain (1813). A huntress whose Marriage competition results in the death of many knights including Vanoc, who is implied to be Merlin's son. As a result, Merlin puts her into an enchanted sleep for many centuries until her true love awakens her with a kiss.

And finally, those with a tenuous link to Arthuriana:

Nathalia - a supposed daughter of Arthur who accompanied St. Ursula according to De Sancta Ursula: De undecim milibus Virginum martirum (1183), by Herman Joseph

Baeddo - Wife of the Visigothic Spanish king Reccared. Claimed to be a daughter of Arthur by Compendio Historial, by Esteban de Garibay y Zamalloa

Tortolina - a daughter of Arthur according to Pantochronachanon (1652), by Thomas Urquhart

*(Additional Source link about the Daughters of King Arthur: HERE)

[thatdamhobbit]

My dealer: got some straight gas. This strain is called “Camlann”, you’ll be zonked out of your gourd.

Me: yeah, whatever. I don’t feel shit.

5 mins later: dude I swear that was Twrch Trwyth.

My buddy Dai, pacing: Gwaine is lying to us

Anyway go listen to Camlann. Post-apocalyptic queer found family audio drama based on Arthuriana and Welsh mythology. Great music too.

[queer-ragnelle]

twrch trwyth my beloved<3

Medieval combs (click to enlarge)

[oneknightstand-if]

Was playing the new update (which I love btw. Its amazing). And I noticed that one of the pet options is a pig. Which I had to pick. The idea of walking a 60 pound pig is honestly so great to me. Thank you for that option. I have become attached to a pet we never get to see.

But I am now just wondering how the ROs (minus Adrian) would react to learning that the MC had a pet pig.

Though I imagine that might come up at some point if we packed the pet related item.

Merlin: If this is the MC who claimed that they wanted their past incarnation to be Twrch Trwyth then they are getting such an unimpressed ( ,,⩌'︿'⩌,,) face right now. Otherwise, it's not worth mentioning, a small pig is so mundane considering that they had hell hounds, unicorns, and lions back at Camelot.

Adrian: Piggy's second favorite person if you chose to be past friends with Adrian.

Arthur: *is the one with hell hounds and unicorns back in Camelot*

Percy: *has a literal farm in his pocket back home*

4̶0̴4̵ ̸E̴r̶r̶o̵r̴ ̷N̸o̴t̵ ��F̶o̵u̴n̴d̵: Does anyone smell bacon?

Cassandra: *launches into the tale of Circe and the magical swine*

Gwen: Oh, those are so cute, especially the little teapot pigs when they're still piglets!

Vivian: Is there something supposed to be worthy of note here? Wasn't MC keeping that around as a snack?

Lorelei: *shrugs* That's perfectly fine as a -- why are you keeping it in an apartment?!

Broderick: Somehow... he's not surprised at this point. We just need some lions and tigers for the full circus.

[mitaukanoarts]

Newest D&D character Mair Hendwr, we're playing in a Bridgerton/Court of Fae and Flowers/Arthurian game. I cannot wait I loved "A court of Fae and Flowers" so much I'm really hoping to get a lot of comedy out of this tragically created figure. She's a Rune Knight, with Fey touched, and Fey lost background I pulled on a lot of my very basic Arthurian lit knowledge and made her the scion of Twrch Trwyth. I also made these cool fake wax seals out of hot glue and paint to go along with them. Hope my friends are ready for me being completely giddy about crafting and art.

And as always thank you @adorkastock for the poses used!

[bestiarium]

The Twrch Twryth [Welsh mythology; Arthurian legend]

Culhwch is a folk hero from Welsh mythology. As the story goes, he was a hero of royal blood, being the son of a prince. Culhwch at one point fell in love with a beautiful girl named Olwen, despite having never met her in person.

Yet their love seemed impossible, for Olwen was the daughter Yspaddaden Penkawr, a monstrous giant. The giant offered his daughter’s hand in marriage to the hero who could overcome his trials, but nobody had ever succeeded. Culhwch however, was the cousin of Arthur, and asked for his help to gain the giant’s favour and marry his daughter. If they could overcome these tasks, the giant would die.

And so, Arthur and his knights set out to accomplish the seemingly impossible trials of Yspaddaden Penkawr: for the first task, he had to plough a hill, sow grain and ripen it, all in single day. Though biologically impossible, the heroic Arthur and his men employed magical aid and managed to have the ripened grain all ready before nightfall.

For the second trial, Arthur was tasked with finding Mabon, who had been missing since she was an infant and could now be anywhere in the world. He eventually succeeded by enlisting the aid of the oldest animals of the land: the stags, the eagles, the owls, the salmon and the blackbirds. Together they tracked down Mabon and moved on to the other trials.

But then Arthur and Culhwch received their hardest challenge yet: long ago, a sinful king was punished for his wicked ways and transformed into a monstrous boar called the Twrch Trwyth (pronounced something like ‘Toork Trooweet’). A comb, scissors and razor were lodged in the fur of the creature’s forehead, even as it rampaged across the land. If Culhwch were to marry Olwen, he had to collect these items.

And so heroic Arthur travelled to Ireland to find the beast. Wishing for a peaceful solution, he asked the boar to give him the items without a fight, but the Twrch Trwyth was so enraged at his punishment that he refused to talk. So angered was he at Arthur’s request, even, that he decided to teach the Welsh people a lesson: the beast gathered his seven young swine and embarked on a journey to Wales (supposedly, he arrived at Porth Clais).

Not one to sit idly by, Arthur gathered his men and his hunting dogs and formed a tracking party to follow the monstrous boars. What he found was an empty wasteland, for the murderous Twrch Trwyth and its children had slain all people and all animals in their path. Arthur eventually managed to corner the monsters in Nanhyfer (Nevern) but the cursed boar proved a ferocious foe and killed four of Arthur’s champions before escaping. Later, Arthur cornered the monster again and fought it, but he again lost four of his champions. This time, however, the Twrch Trwyth was wounded before escaping. The next day, the beast engaged Arthur’s forces a third time, and for the third time it killed four of his champions before making its escape.

Arthur refused to give up, however, and continued chasing the monster. At Llandissilio, they clashed again, with the outcome being the same as the previous fights, as the monster escaped after slaying four members of Arthur’s party. The boar’s rampage continued as it was being chased across Wales, often fighting his pursuers whenever they caught up, and always escaping after killing some of Arthur’s soldiers.

At long last, Arthur cornered his foe, who was alone as all seven of his children had been slain. The Twrch lost the razor and the pair of scissors in the ensuing battle but, like every other time, managed to escape, this time to Cornwall.

One final time, Arthur pursued his relentless opponent, as he still needed the comb. Though he succeeded in collecting the final treasure, the monstrous boar escaped by diving in the ocean. It swam away, and has never been seen since.

Though Arthur lost many of his soldiers, and the beast had slain many innocents, he had finally collected the three requested items. And so Arthur and Culhwch returned to Yspaddaden Penkawr victoriously. They decapitated the giant and Culhwch finally married Olwen.

Source: Roberts, T., 1984, Myths and Legends of Wales, Abercastle Publications. (image source 1: welshoverlandsafari) (image source 2: legendsofwales.com)

[queer-ragnelle]

The Death of Nago / Princess Mononoke (1997)

[gingersnaptaff]

When I get in from work I'm gonna have a Mabinogion-themed beer and a big nap.

[camlannpod]

Hello! Sorry if it's been asked before, but how do you choose which legend/story to feature in the episode? Is it just something you really enjoy, it fits thematically or are there other reasons? Thank you!

Hello! It's definitely a mix of reasons - one part is certainly stories I enjoy, but they're also very much thematic!

Also this got so long, so I apologise. I hope you enjoy it!

For example, in episode 1, Twrch Trwyth and its story Culhwch ac Olwen is one of my favourite stories, but I also think of it as an iconic Welsh story and I wanted to situate Camlann within that tradition immediately. Plus Episode 1 is Dai's episode, and Dai is both very proud of his Welsh identity and very funny. Culhwch ac Olwen is maybe the oldest comedic Welsh story so it was a good fit.

With the Kelpie - there are a lot of different variations of kelpie / water-horse stories across the British Isles. Obviously the Kelpie itself is a Scottish story, that then travels to England. Welsh 'kelpies', the Ceffyl Dŵr, are universally benevolent. Part of the reason I used this story was that it was, to me, a really interesting 19th century English version of a Kelpie story (as recorded by Katharine M Briggs - a horse comes to a church at midday and says 'the hour has come but not the man'. Later a passing lord comes by at night and the priest tries to save him by keeping him away from the river and locking him in a room in the church. When they open the door just after midnight, they find the man has drowned on dry land.)

So partly I just wanted to use that because it's such a great rescension of the kelpie story. But it's also because Morgan, whose episode ep 2 is, is so tangled in conflicting traditions about Morgan Le Fay and her own understanding of both the character and her own identity. Morgan is Welsh, and a Ceffyl Dŵr wouldn't have hurt her, but she's terrified of the English corruptions of these stories, in many ways literally haunted by them. Was Morgan le Fay a victim or a villain? How do we interepret monstrous women in medieval stories? I wanted to play with that a bit.

The Lantern Man is another situation of a great story that really inspired me - an 1800s English midlands story I found in a book called The Lore of the Land. But also that's Perry's episode, and I needed to show you why Perry's paranoia is justified, and the flip side to Dai's urgent desire to find other people is Perry's terror of the monster lurking in shadows that they're trying to protect them from. Having someone knocking at your door - that idea of a human figure with a light - was perfect for that.

The dogs were a big one for thematic reasons. This is Gwen's episode, episode 4 - normally Shucky Dogs / Black Dogs / Grimms / Church Grimms / Black Shucks are benevolent and protective. They evolved as a story from an English practice of burying a dog in a graveyard first, as there was a superstition that the first person buried in a graveyard would be stuck in purgatory between earth and heaven. The idea was to bury a dog and let its ghost shepherd souls. This evolved into stories of huge ghostly dogs as protective, territorial spirits. However over time there's a little offshoot of that story - huge black hounds with hell-red eyes haunting stretches of road and abandoned buildings, the ghosts of murdered people whose killers were never found, seeking vengeance.

So on the one hand, from a literalist perspective, over thousands of years a lot of people get murdered, especially women and trans people, and I wanted to make a point in this drama inspired by medieval literature about violence against women and queer people. But I also liked the idea of the dogs being both - both restless spirits full of fury seeking vengeance and protective, territorial guardians who were wronged. That really resonated with me as a queer woman, and I really liked the idea of both Gwen and Morgan seeing a lot of themselves in these restless ghosts.

Then finally, most recently with Gwaine and the Green Knight. First, I wanted to blur the Green Man and the Green Knight because I think of the Green Man as one of England's most iconic folkloric creatures, and the closest we have to a clearly identifiable non-Christian folk deity, essentially. There are faces of the Green Man in York cathedral! From the 1200s! And the theme of the Green Man as the living embodiment of Spring - a giant who brings green mist to everything he touches - resonates for me with the Green Knights themes of renewal and change and life. Both are some of my favourite stories.

ALSO! This is a story about queerness. It's a story about finding ways for your queerness and culutral identity to co-exist. And it's about living in the shadow of history and tradition and everyone who's come before you and not feeling good enough. Gawain and the Green Knight is so much a story about courage, and integrity, and it was exactly the journey our Gwaine needed to go on. But with the monstrous twist that this is the end of the world, and our Gwaine shouldn't need to risk his life to prove he's a good man. That queer people shouldn't need to put ourselves in real social, political, even legal danger in order to love who we love and be who we are. That that's not a fair ask of anyone.

I hope you enjoyed these ramblings! I needed to walk a little around some spoilers but yeah!

[falseheretic]

laika, the dark star. former apprentice of the alchemist god, twrch trwyth.

born with a golden body, a mysterious curse is causing laika's scales to slowly turn black. and as the curse spreads, something also darkens within laika.

[mask131]

Arthurian myth: King Arthur (1)

Loose translation of the article "Arthur (Artus)" from Catherine Rager's "Dictionnaire des fées et des peuples invisibles dans l'Occident païen" (Dictionary of fairies and invisible people in the Pagan Occident).

ARTHUR (Artus)

Mythical king of a cycle of romans, the tales of the Round Table, also known as the Matter of Britain, which blossomed throughout all of Europe from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Among those texts, we find numerous romans by Chrétien de Troyes, and The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffroy of Monmouth, alongside its very loose translation Le Roman de Brut by Wace, itself rewrote by the priest Layamon in his poem Brut, and later, by Malory in his La Mort d'Arthur. Arthur was originally a historical warlord killed around 537 at the battle of Camlann, but he then became a super-human character identified to another Arthur, the great god of the pantheon of the Britons, and thus symbolizing the fight of the old kings of Great-Britain against the Saxon invaders.

The father of Arthur is the king Uter Pendragon who, despite his human appearance, seems to be a figuration of an Underworld king. He claims to be Constantine's descendant - the Celts, during this era, were Romanized. Arthur's half-sister is the fairy Morgane. As for his wife, the incomparable Guenievre ou Guinevere, her name means in its Welsh form (Gwenhwyfar, Gwenhwyvar) "white spirit", "white ghost". Some considered that Guenievre, who is recurringly kidnapped, is a resurgence of the Greek goddess Persephone. Their son, Llacheu, has the gift of second-sight/clearsight, as he knows the secret of material elements and of nature.

The relationships between Arthur and the Otherworld make him a magical character. In the roman of the Saxon Layamon, Brut, we see elves assist to his birth and gift him - he will be powerful, wealthy, generous and have a long life.

As many other heroes, Arthur receives his sword, Excalibur, from a supernatural creature. It is the Lady of the Lake that offers it to him. Indeed, the weapon he took away from its rock had been broken during a previous battle. Merlin, to replace it, brought the king to the shore of a lake, where an arm with white silk came out of the water, offering him the magical sword ornate with dragons - it is Excalibur, the Caladbolg of the Irish Fergus, a sword forged in Avallon. Before his death, the king will task sir Bedevere with bringing back Excalibur to the lake, where the mysterious arm appears again out of the water and takes it back. The Lady of the Lake always offers her protection to the king.

Arthur rides a black horse, a color associated to the realm of the dead: he can, as such, cross the waters that separate the afterlife from the realm of the living without his horse going wild with terror. The Book of Taliesin, a Welsh text of the 13th century, tells how the king went to the Underworld and brought back from it a magical cauldron (prefiguration of the Grail) which offers to knights an endless supply of food, but stays empty for the cowards.

Arthur is a purifying hero who gets rid of the monsters that plague the universe, just like Hercules, Theseus, Finn mac Cumhail or Cûchulainn. His first exploit was to kill the boar Twrch Trwyth which was ravaging Wales (Mabinogion of Kulwch and Olwen).

Once king, Arthur represents a solar-themed strength and wisdom. Advised by Merlin the enchanter, he establishes a rule of peace and justice (for twelve years according to some, for forty according to others), and presides at Carduel the Round Table, whose nature confirms that Arthus is both belonging to the supernatural, and an image of the Sun. His court can be found at Camelot - which might be Cadbury Castle, in the Somerset, but is before all the idealized town, the perfect city, the seat of knowledge, poetry and alchemy. The court keeps moving depending on the tales. The lord regularly sends his knights fight for just causes (and, after the Christianization of the legend, for the quest of the Grail containing the blood of the Christ), but himself rarely appears as a warrior. He sometimes even appears to figure a god of war who is above the mere battle, similarly to the goddess Badb.

For a marvelous life, a prodigious end: in his Vita Merlini, Geoffroy of Monmouth tells how the king, killed by the treacherous Mordred, his nephew and likely incestuous son, is carried on a magical boat by fairies that came from the Atlantic (where the realm of the dead is located). He is accompanied there by the Lady of the Lake and by three queens: the queen of Northern Wales, the queen of the Terre Gaste, and Morgane. Healed of his wounds by the latter, he stays with her, the Lady of the Lake, and their six sister-fairies, in the island of Avallon, "The Isle of Apples", which is sometimes a name for the Sidh/realm of the fairies, sometimes synonymous with the Blessed Islands or Fortune Isles. In Layamon's Brut, it is elves that take to Avallon the dead king, and it is the elf-queen Argante that brings him back to life. In truth, he returned to the place he belongs to, this Otherworld where there is no death, no suffering, no decadence, but only youth, feast and joy. His people hope for his messianic return, either in times of war, or simply so that he can offer them wise advice. In Cornwall, king Arthur supposedly appears in the shape of a black bird with red-colored beak and claws.

Old texts from which Rabelais took his inspiration mixed together the legend of king Arthur and the one of the giant Gargantua.

In Guillaume Apollinaire's burlesque "Arthur roi passé roi futur" (Arthur, king past, king future, 1914), king Arthur returns, wearing a shining armor, to Buckingham Palace where Georges IX is ruling. After having tested the authenticity of the ghost, Georges IX abdicates and lets the throne return to the old lord of England.