#gorlois of tintagel

[vooruitmariek]

@mortiscausa's march to camelot 6: grudge

Uther wages war on Gorlois to get Ygraine

[fuckyeaharthuriana]

Morgause through time (movies, tv shows, opera and musicals)

1999 Excalibur kid (played by Francesca Scorsone): My favorite Morgause, here for the first time she is a co-protagonist and the main antagonist of a movie. In this re-interpretation of Connecticut Yankee, Morgause decides to bypass Arthur and use her magic to call a modern day guy into arthurian times, let him take the sword from the stone and become king... much easier to manipulate a fish out of water than Arthur himself! She is quite funny too through the movie. She also can use magic.

2001 The Mists of Avalon (played by Joan Allen): Directly adapted from the novels, Morgause takes the classic role of witch, Arthur's half sister, Morgana's ally and antagonist. In this miniseries, Morgause also raises Mordred like her son, and raises him to be ready to take power from Guinevere and Arthur, back to her family.

2005 Kaamelott (played by Anouk Grinberg as Anna de Tintagel): In Kaamelott, Anna is a very secondary characters who only appears in a few episodes. She is introduced as Arthur's half sister, married to Lot and desiring Arthur's death more than anything else. She seems to have a long term plan to destroy Arthur, and it is not clear if she actually conceived Mordred with him and this will come out in the new movie, or if it was simply a reference to Morte d'arthur.

2008 Merlin (played by Emilia Fox): Morgause is a warrior and magic user, daughter of Gorlois and Vivienne and half sister of Morgana. She appears in the show to tell Arthur and Morgana the truth about Uther's cruelty and their families. Later on, she works alongside Morgana to destroy Uther and conquer Camelot, allowing magic users to finally be free.

2018 Arthur et les enfants de la Table Ronde (voiced by Barbara Scaff in the French original version): Morgause is one of the two Tintagel sisters (the other being Igraine) who are the main antagonists of this animated show. She is kind of goofy and a bit of a lackey to her sister Igraine. Together with their cousin Mordred they want to take power from Uther as they believe themselves the true inheritors of the Pendragon line.

I found it pretty interesting that Morgause was eliminated pretty quickly from arthurian movies. If we look at a chronological list of movies and tv shows (ex. this one) we can see how her role was absorbed by Morgana.

In 1960 we have the musical Camelot (adaptation of White's Oafk) which still retains Morgause as Mordred's mother. Morgause does not appear, but she is mentioned, while Morgana appears in one scene. This is the first time we have Mordred presented as Arthur's relative, and probably the big turnaround that finally allows Mordred to appears in movies as Arthur's illegitime son. In the BBC "The Legend of King Arthur" (1979) Morgause is also Mordred's mother, but does not appear - we have instead Morgana.

"Mists of Avalon" retains Morgause as Mordred mother by allowing her to adopt him after Morgana gave birth to him. This will be the last time she will appear as his mother.

I suspect since "Excalibur" (1981) was such a success, it was just easier for movies to add the much more active Morgana (often also taking the role of Nimue) instead of Morgause, and to merge the two together to enrich Morgana's character even more.

In general, for the few times Morgause actually appears, she seems to take the role of antagonist, I suspect almost "stealing" it from Morgana often to allow Morgana to be more sympathetic. In "Excalibur kid" she acts as a witch, effectively taking the role often given to Morgana but her actress is quite fun and the movie light enough that she still manages to avoid the evil cliches, in "Mists of Avalon" she is also one of the main antagonists and is not presented in a sympathetic light.

"Kaamelott" then has, in my opinion, the most interesting adaptation of Morgause. She hates Arthur, but the scenes where she expresses her hatred also shows her so filled with despair and emotions, and many of her appearances leaves an almost unease and enigmatic feeling (or at least they did in me!).

In 2008 ("Merlin") we go back to almost a cliche villain Morgause. While her cause does have merit, Merlin BBC never did a good job in managing the oppression of magic users vs what ways and means of resistance were considered allowed by the morality of the shows. We have Morgana, Morgause and many other magic users who are oppressed cruelly, and yet are only introduced as villains and often taken to the extreme in their actions or just "smirking like a villain" scenes.

And finally we get to the 2018 French animated series, which full turns Morgause into a comedic villain.

A small note: I was quite sad to see that Morgana has taken Morgause's role with so much success than even in the 2021's "The Green Knight" Gawain's mother is Morgana herself.

[oneknightstand-if]

In the Camelot flashback it mentions that House Galis has a leaping stag symbol. If its not a spoiler what are the other house symbols

Pretty much all the five million different royal & noble houses & various clans would have these, so I'll just give a few samples here of the main image in the heraldry (which would be further personalized with crowns and bends and unicorns holding up the pennants & such).

House Prydain (subsumed by Pendragon): Red Dragon Passant (Basically the Welsh dragon, Ambrosius, Uther, Arthur etc)

House Orkney: Two-headed Golden Eagle (Pretty much shown all over the Orkney-related Wiki pages, Lot, Gawain, Agravain etc)

House Lyoness: Gold lion rampart (A variation from Tristan's wiki page, also Rivalin, Ysaie etc)

House Ganis: Sable five pointed star & crescent moon on a field of red (Bors I & II, Lionel, Bleoberis etc)

House Carbonek: Gold chalice (non-metallic) on a field of red (I think you know what this is, Pellam, Elaine, Galahad)

House Tintagel: Ten bezants on a field of sable (Triangle comprised of ten golden orbs, same as the Duke of Cornwall seen here, Gorlois, Cador, Constantine)

[thenntrewrite]

Today's the day I introduce my Nanatsu no Taizai/Seven Deadly Sins OC, the very first one I have ever made in the year 2015-16.

ALERON/MORGAN LE FAY

Her name is Aleron, but she is loosely based on Morgan le Fay, so her true name is Morgan le Fay (or just Morgan, depending on how I write her backstory). She's a pretty powerful mage that is arguably rivaling Merlin for the title of 'best mage in all of Britannia', but in order to justify that, I borrowed from Dungeon Meshi and did the 'combing two races gives the offspring a longer lifespan' while also applying 'combing two races makes the offspring that much stronger' while also applying 'hair color dictates magic'.

Aleron is a half-Goddess (indicated by her extra eye and the fluffy feathers as well as the star theme she had going on) and a half-faerie (indicated by her ears and flowers naturally growing in her hair). The idea of her design was to indicated 'heaven and earth', so she'd have stars on her upper half and her lower half would have earth (sandals to be closer to the ground, ruffles in her skirt to indicate waves)—her entire staff is just a combo of that theme!

Backstory wise, a very short summary, she's an alchemist that has lived for many centuries already and has a hyperfixation on magic—collecting ancient tomes, reading them, crafting her own magic, alchemy, studying under talented mages from other races, etc. Her mother is Rhiannon—a Goddess/Celestial that fought in the Holy War—and her father is Gorlois, a faerie king that rules the Kingdom of Tintagel in another faerie country named Cornwall. To tie Aleron in with Arthur, Rhiannon dies during the war and reincarnates as Igraine. I had the rough idea that Aleron gets hired throughout the country by different kingdoms as the royal court mage (she needs that coin), and eventually wounds up in Camelot to cater to Igraine and her family—which eventually becomes Aleron's family since she was there when Arthur was born—for a time before Merlin comes into the picture.

If you have any questions about her, feel free to ask! I'd love to answer them.

[etymology-of-the-emblem]

Igrene / イグレーヌ, Gorlois / ゴルロイス, and Astolfo / アストール

Igrene (JP: イグレーヌ; rōmaji: igurēnu) is the Guardian of Nabata, taking up the role after her father's death in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade. Her husband was a man by the name of Gorlois (JP: ゴルロイス; rōmaji: goruroisu). The names of this couple originate from the Matter of Britain, the medieval works primarily centered on the legendary King Arthur. In these, Gorloïs is said to be the duke of Cornwall (or Tintagel) and husband of the beautiful Igraine. When the newly-crowned King Uther first laid eyes upon Igraine in his court, be became madly infatuated with her. Though she rejected his advances and promptly returned to Cornwall with Gorloïs, Uther refused to take no for an answer. He waged war against Cornwall, sieging the castles of Tintagel, where Igraine retreated to, and Terrabil, where Gorloïs took up arms. While the duke of Cornwall fell at the hand of Uther's men, the king of the Britons infiltrated Tintagel under a veil of magic from the wizard Merlin, giving him Gorloïs' appearance. Uther took advantage of this opportunity and laid with the target of his obsession, and later would take Igraine for his wife. From this terrible union, King Arthur was born.

Though nothing as drastic as the story of Igraine and Gorloïs is seen in the Fire Emblem characters bearing their names, the estranged relationship between Igrene and Gorlois is most likely inspired by the legends. Even Gorlois leaving his wife was sparked by conflict closing in on their home, though according to Igrene it was mere bandits.

After leaving Nabata, Gorlois took up the name Astolfo instead. This name comes from a different assortment of legends: the Matter of France, or the stories surrounding Charlemagne, King of the Franks, and his Twelve Peers. In many of these tales, Astolfo—or Estout in the original French—was the name of one of the Twelve Peers. He allegedly was the son of King Otto of England and cousin of the hero Roland. Most depictions of Astolfo have him take a more minor and comedic role, characterizing him as a beautiful and nimble prince, though conceited and plagued with ill-luck. It is possible that the thief by the name of Astolfo gets his class from the legendary Astolfo's role in Orlando Furioso. In this tale, Astolfo defeats two thieves: the giant Caligorante and the nigh-immortal Orillo single-handedly. It is also in this story that Astolfo ventures across the world and to the moon in a quest to reclaim Orlando's (Roland's) sanity and reason. That said, as far as my research goes, there are not any strong parallels between the characters.

In the original Japanese, Astolfo's name is アストール (rōmaji: asutōru), officially romanized as Astore. There are a handful of interpretations to this name. If wanting to relate to the Matter of Britain like the character's other name, you could view it as a reference to Astor of Panfatis, a count appearing in...a single line of the German story Parzival. If you instead expect it to be derived from the Matter of France, Austore is the name of a duke of Valence who dies alongside Roland at Roncevaux Pass in The Song of Roland. Much like Astor, however, he is named once in all the work.

More likely than naught, アストール is another name for the paladin Astolfo. Of course, in Japanese Astolfo is rendered as アストルフォ(rōmaji: asutorufo), though I have some claims (primarily amongst those in the Fate/ fandom) that the rendering used for Fire Emblem's Astolfo is a less-common option. It seems to be derived from Estoult or Estouls, less common renderings of Astolfo's name in French work works.

[avilionea]

@ofprydain (MEDROD)

"You're back!" Arms are spread wide as a smile blossomed across her face. This is the way it has always been whenever anyone came to Tintagel, though it was often Mark who was greeted by such a happy expression.

It is a ghost she waits for. She's already looking beyond her visitor for a mountainous man who can never come home. Sir Jordan, as he so often was, was close at her heels, the faithful shadow still following a dead man's orders: protect her.

He will always be the Duke's man and his loyalty to this royal house had yet to sway for anyone. It is a soft correction on Jordan's lips, already guiding her from the place she wishes to be, with the person she wished was home now.

But the presentation to his Lady is as simply put " your boy is here." before the joy is only widened and like the ghosts she waited for, the woman simply glided down the stairs to her guest before pulling him into her arms.

"The girls are in the yard. I've let Elaine pull the flowers out of the beds for crowns-- she loves them you know. But I can't leave them long, my Morgause will play too hard-- she's so smart." there was further chatter of Morgen as well, but what age she was supposed to be seemed lost to idle chatter as Igraine straightened his hair and seemed well enough today.

There was further mention of having a bed made up so he should stay and milk with honey placed on the floor beneath it( she turned to Jordan with some offhanded remark that her Lord would not mind and as Aurelius was not King yet , he therefore could not impose his God on them).

"I won't let you be waterlogged." she returned her attention whispering " my boy." softly before stepping away from him, holding his hand still, lost momentarily. She was looking for Gorlois like she always did.

[snowleopord]

The legend of King Arthur's birth is a tale steeped in magic and intrigue. Uther Pendragon, the High King of Britain, had fallen in love with Igraine, the wife of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall. However, Igraine was faithful to her husband, and her castle was well-protected. Uther desired Igraine, and his lust drove him to seek the aid of the enigmatic wizard, Merlin.

Merlin, a powerful sorcerer and advisor, possessed the ability to foresee the future and manipulate events to achieve a greater destiny. In order to help Uther attain his heart's desire, Merlin used his magical abilities to transform Uther's appearance, making him look like Duke Gorlois. Under this guise, Uther was able to gain entry into Igraine's castle, Tintagel, and consummate their union.

It was during this night that Arthur was conceived, marking him as the son of Uther Pendragon and Igraine. The circumstances of his birth were shrouded in secrecy, and this would become a recurring theme throughout his life. As Arthur was born, Merlin played a pivotal role by ensuring his safety and future.

Merlin, recognizing Arthur's potential to become a great king, arranged for the infant to be entrusted to the care of Sir Ector, a noble knight. To conceal Arthur's true identity, he was given the name Arthur and raised in anonymity as Ector's own son. The young Arthur grew up as a humble squire, unaware of his royal lineage and the destiny that awaited him.

This early phase of Arthur's life, marked by the magic of Merlin and the secrecy surrounding his parentage, sets the stage for the legendary journey of King Arthur, where he would eventually pull the sword Excalibur from the stone, unite the knights of the Round Table, and embark on epic quests that would shape the destiny of Britain during a time of great turmoil and uncertainty.

[seventybridgesby70]

Bridge 70, Tintagel, Cornwall

The village of Tintagel is on the north coast of Cornwall, and it has a castle where the ancient kings of Cornwall lived, at least some of the time.  The castle was built on a narrow, high, steep-sided promontory poking into the Atlantic Ocean, so was very defensible, though I find it hard to believe anyone could get to it at all, it’s pretty difficult now, and we had a car.  Worth it, though,  for the fabulous views.

The Atlantic at sunset, from the bridge

Also for the story, which is part of one of the great stories of the made-up history of Britain.  In the twelfth century, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote chronicles of the Kings of Britain, and as he did not have access to Google Scholar, invented quite a bit of it.  He included King Arthur, the once and future king, from scraps of Welsh legends, which he proceeded to stitch imaginatively into some heroic and magical progaganda, which has since been re-imagined, re-told, and elaborated many times, because the stories are so dramatic and captivating.  If anyone is not familiar, or would like a re-telling from the point of view of the women involved, I recommend The Mists of Avalon by Marion Bradley.  Anyway, Geoffrey’s tale is that Uther Pendragon, father of Arthur, lusted after the beautiful Igraine, wife of Gorlois, Duke, or possibly King, of Cornwall, who had a castle at Tintagel.  Uther was so selfish and arrogant that got his mate Merlin to use magic so that he could impersonate Igraine’s husband and get what he wanted, by means of criminal conspiracy, deception and assault (maybe it wasn’t criminal then, but it was pretty nasty).  Arthur was the result of this horror, and so was conceived and born at Tintagel.  Merlin compounded the trauma to the young Arthur by abducting him from his mother and taking him to Sir Ector to be brought up, and continued to interfere in Arhtur’s life, usually catastrophically.

The castle that is there now dates from the thirteenth century, a bit later than Geoffrey was writing, so it is definitely not the castle where Gorlois and Igraine lived, but it is a pretty magnificent ruin anyway.  The narrow bit of the headland it’s on has since been bashed away by the Atlantic, leaving a steep-sided gorge between the castle and the mainland for about the last 500 years, so getting to the castle was even more difficult, down one side to cross a bridge a quite a low level, then up the other, and it really is very steep.  English Heritage now own the castle, and as visitors are more benign, reasonably thought it would be good to improve access to the impressive ruin, so held a competition to design a bridge, won by Ney & Partners Civil Engineers and William Matthews Associates.  The new bridge was opened in 2019 by the current Duke of Cornwall, now King Charles.  It is an astounding piece of design.  The bridge is at the same height – around 60 metres – and the same width – about 1 metre – as the original land bridge, but is arguably even more vertiginous because there is a gap in the middle, so you can look straight down to the beach below. Though it does have quite high sides, which I suppose original didn’t.   The bridge is two cantilevered decks that don’t touch in the middle.  This is partly to create a physical break between the land and the castle promontory, and partly to allow for a bit of expansion if it gets hot.  It’s about 4 cm.  Sadly, the beautiful Cornish slate deck is very narrow, and was crowded when I visited, so taking pictures on the bridge was tricky, but here are a few, mostly from other vantage points.

Tintagel was the final bridge, just six months later than planned, and a very spectacular and beautiful one to end.  I said when I started out that the best bridges are among the peaks of human achievement, and I’d say this one is among the best. 

I have greatly enjoyed visiting 70 bridges, and if you have been, thanks for joining me on the journey.

[the-king-and-the-druidess]

It's an au; everyone thinks that Morgana is truly Gorlois' daughter. They visit Camelot where she meets Arthur, they fall in love. But this Arthur is kinda dark!Arthur, he really hates magic. I didn't include the fic in my fic rec tag because although I loved the first part (Morgana in Tintagel, her good relationship with Gorlois, her magic awakening, Armor banter) the second part was sorta rushed and unexpected, so...) For anyone interested, it's Unnéah by ingrid-matthews

@twistedshipper I was reading a fic where Gorlois didn't die and Morgana grew up with him, and I was imagining the actor who played Sam and Dean's father as Gorlois 😅 there's some resemblance, especially if visualize him in cloak and stuff

[themorningtide]

author’s note: FINALLY I GOT TO IGRAINE. Be kind to her, she suffered a lot.

xxxXXXxxx

When the word comes, it is like she is finally awake in her own body. No longer a passenger, no longer afraid or trapped. Igraine lowers her chin slowly, dark eyes soft upon the messenger who trembles beneath their thrones. At her side, Uther’s body stutters as if it too knows she is listening.

“What have you said?” The Queen asks, authoritatively even. An old authority, of the Duchess she had been, of the free woman Tintagel had raised. When was the last time a man looked upon her in fear? She cannot know; she cannot remember.

“Lady Elaine is not to be found, your Majesty.” The boy whispers. "We have found a letter in her chambers. It is for you.”

There is a small pause as the messenger looks at her, at her whole attention which he knows to be rare but not frightening, not until that moment. He cannot spare a glance at the King before he places the frail paper onto her extended hand. Something in her does not allow it.

(Could it be magic? Could it be something of Gorlois’ left to his widow? Who would ask in the vicinity of Uther, as his gaze thunders and threatens and rejoices for once, as he sees his Queen come to life! Oh, as she was. Older but alive as she was when he first stole her!)

Igraine does not need to read the message because she knows exactly what it says. She knows them, after all. She birthed all of them, saw them walk first, develop first. She loved them first, fiercely, with all the strength her body and life could muster. She knew what each would do even before they thought of it. Morgause would die avenging her father while Morgan would die becoming Him. Elaine? She would wither away forced into her mother’s shell. And her Arthur, her kind boy would crumble in his father’s shoes.

So away she pushed them, one after the other, away where they wouldn’t need or want her, away from this Court which meant nothing and the man who had trampled all of them for a woman he did not deserve. What did it matter if they hated her? Not to her. Not as long as they were safe, happy in some manner that did not include her. Oh. And she had done it! Day after day after year after century, while she ignored pleading gazes and trembling hands. She had done it!

“Igraine?”

They are alone. Uther stands beneath her throne and never has she seen him like this, literally below her, hopeful that he will be chosen now that the last of her children has left and she has nothing but herself.

But herself is all she needs.

“I have done it,” she declares and there is strength in that declaration. “I have done it, my love,” words spoken to the air, to wherever her husband was sent after this creature at her feet destroyed them. If she opens her arms just so, she can almost feel him. “Our children are safe. Our children are away and he cannot harm them anymore. We are free.” There is her in those words, Igraine, Lady and Duchess, Mother and Wife; there is her finally! Not the puppet Uther had dangled from countless strings while holding her children beneath an axe’s blade!

And she sees exactly when he understands this; that something is very very wrong. His lips part as if to inquire over her sudden rebirth but this is not his plot and there is no part left for him to play in her life. 

“No,” Igraine interrupts swiftly, raising the message forbiddingly as she stands. “Today, you do not speak! Not Today! Not on my day of victory!” Even the crown feels hers, finally, for once and her smile is brilliant as it has not been for years without count.

Blind Uther seems so confused, the poor old man. She has gone mad, finally and his thoughts play like shadows upon his disgusting face. But why should she care of his thoughts? Of his emotions? Did hers matter, at any point? Did she matter, other than to become what he wanted of her?

“You cannot harm me anymore, Uther,” she smiles down at him, a cold smile Morgause had always wore and he had never recognized until that very moment. “Last night was the last night you have ever touched me. Do so again and I will jump out of the closest window. Force me and I will bite my own tongue. Come near me and I will have the entire Kingdom wondering why their silent, kind, gentle Queen was driven mad by her own husband. I will have your reputation in tatters, even more than you have already sullied it. Because today, I have lost the very last you could steal from me.”

Uther had thought her an ornament. A beautiful mare that Gorlois had caught unaware. He had never seen her as she was, the girl who had ran after a Fae, the woman who had ensnared him, the ruler who had kept all of hers intact and safe until that wretched wizard had deemed her a thing to be used. He had thought she would forget.

And like her children, Igraine knew how to wait.

“Enjoy your prize, your Majesty,” she whispered. “I doubt it will last long.”

[thenntrewrite]

This is Part II of my list of NNT OCs for the rewrite:

Uther Pendragon: The father of Arthur and the husband of Igraine. He took a liking to Merlin around the time Arthur was born and had her appointed as his personal royal court mage. He also went along with the idea of giving up Arthur as a newborn to Sir Ector if it meant he’d prosper and would be safe. Uther was the King of Camelot until he became unfit when Arthur was sixteen. Since he was the current wielder of Excalibur, out of paranoia of being overthrown, he takes the sword and shoves it into the stone with all of his might, deeming that whoever pulls it out can be the new king (It was also a test for Arthur, who he knew to be old enough). Miraculously, when the sword was out of his possession, he became better. But a promise is a promise. He couldn’t be more proud of his own flesh and blood becoming the new king.

Guinevere Cameliard: The princess of Cameliard, and the daughter of Leodegrance. She's in an arranged marriage with Arthur Pendragon, and a student of magic. She's one of the first students of Aleron, who reluctantly takes the princess in after a few pushes from Arthur and Igraine. 

Leodegrance Cameliard: The father of Guinevere and the King of Cameliard. He's the best friend of Uther Pendragon, and one of his closest allies. He's taken a shine to Arthur and was the one to propose the arranged marriage. 

Ector: Arthur's adoptive father and Kay's biological one. Merlin gave the newborn to Ector, who took him in, not knowing that he was the prince of Camelot, and raised him as his own. He was the boy's personal trainer in swordsmanship. He was also Camelot's commander.

Vlasta: A demon that deflected from the Holy War centuries ago. Once a fierce-some warrior on the battlefield and a remarkable blacksmith, she sticks with Arne and they both decide to run a church and nunnery together. She's the head nun and one of Aleron's teachers. She and Arne eventually marry. Vlasta keeps an armory underneath the church and sharpens blades in her free time to keep herself from going rusty.

Arne: Often referred to as 'Father Arne', he's a demon that deflected from the Holy War and found comfort in a church who worshiped the Goddesses. On a whim, he decides to become a priest and speaks gospel about the Goddesses. He's one of Aleron's teachers, and enjoys drinking all the church's wine. Never drinks on the job, but after in the privacy of his home? It's all fair game.

Malvolia: Once a mage of the Kingdom of Tintagel and teacher of Aleron, after Gorlois died and Aleron abandoned the throne, she took over as ruler. Becoming powerful over time, she plots the downfall of everyone and anyone that was Gorlois' enemy. She considers Aleron an enemy of the nation as well.

Part I

[and-damntheconsequences]

Morgana's Childhood and Family HCs

Because as far as I remember — could be wrong — we don't really get to hear anything of it. And I have ideas (which might contradict canon, but I hope not).

Morgana grew up (up to the age of 10) with only her father. Her mother "died" when she was very young, and she doesn't remember her.

Her mother, Vivienne, was a high priestess, but she wasn't killed in the Purge. She was assassinated before then, after Morgana's birth, under Uther's private orders, in case she ever told Gorlois the truth. Everyone believed it to be a terrible accident, no one ever knew it was because of Uther.

Actually while we're on the topic of Vivienne and Uther's infidelity, do y'all know the story of Arthur's conception in the myths? — I propose that's what happened to Vivienne.

To explain that, the medieval story of Arthur's conception is that Gorlois was married to Ygraine de Bois. Uther wanted Ygraine for his own, but couldn't take the castle of Gorlois because it was on the cliffs, with no easy way to forcibly get in (Tintagel Castle). So Uther, with Merlin's help, disguised himself as Gorlois while he was away, snuck into the Castle, and took Ygraine to bed... resulting in Arthur's birth.

So I headcanon for the show that Uther — married to Ygraine but unable to get her pregnant, and in need of an heir — enlisted the use of magic, not sure who's, to disguise himself as Gorlois. He snuck into Tintagel and found Vivienne, and Morgana was conceived. He revealed himself to Vivienne the next morning. His plan was to have her give birth, and then tell Gorlois what had happened and claim the child as his heir (legitimacy and marriage wasn't hugely important at that time, I don't think). But then he got cold feet because he didn't want to hurt Ygraine or Gorlois, and Nimueh revealed that she could give Ygraine a child, so he left Morgana with Gorlois and had Vivienne killed to cover the truth.

Uther never meant for Gorlois' death to happen. He saw Morgana frequently as a child because Gorlois was a close ally and friend, and his death in battle wasn't at all intentional. It was also completely true that he promised Gorlois to look after her.

Morgause is older than Morgana by a couple of years (and Morgana older than Arthur by several months). Morgause is Vivienne's child, but not Gorlois', and Gorlois knew this. Its possible that Vivienne was pregnant with Morgause before her marriage to Gorlois, and that they were only together for a short time, but I'm undecided on that.

Morgause's father was a sorceror, so Vivienne was fairly certain she would have magic. It was Vivienne who asked Gaius — long ago — to take Morgause to the high priestesses should anything happen to her, because she didn't trust Gorlois to protect a child that he knew wasn't hers.

Gaius took her in and faked her death about a month after Vivienne's death, which was only two months after Morgana's birth, so Morgana would have no memory of her nor any mention of her. No one but Gaius and the high priestesses themselves knew that Morgause lived.

Gorlois actually did care for Morgause, despite her not being his, and was convinced she died due to evil magic. He believed that magic had also caused Vivienne's death too, which convinced him to fight alongside Uther in the Purge, despite that he always called for more mercy and sense than Uther often gave.

While Gorlois was out fighting at Uther's command, Morgana often stayed in the castle for days and sometimes weeks at a time, because there was no other family to look after her. She never much liked Uther, and that feeling only grew after Gorlois' death, but young Morgana was really close to young Arthur. They used to explore the castle together and he taught her to "sword fight" despite being, like, 7, and honestly having no idea. But he thought he was big and brave and really cool.

Morgana is older than Arthur, only by less than a year. So yes, the throne would be rightfully hers if Uther hadn't crowned Arthur as his heir.

As a child, Morgana and Arthur were sometimes tutored together, which meant they both learned latin. Arthur was terrible at it, Morgana was brilliant. Sometimes at dinner, she and Uther would converse in Latin, and she would deliberately ignore Arthur unless he spoke Latin too. She was absolutely, 100%, that annoying older sister at all stages of life — even before she lived with them. Also, since Gorlois' castle was in Tintagel, Morgana spoke Cornish and old Welsh both fluently, while Arthur barely spoke Cornish. She would cuss him out in Cornish. Uther would pretend not to understand because it was funny.

Yes, Morgana was a better sword fighter when they were young. Mostly because Arthur was an idiot and fell for everything. He was also dumb enough to make stupid bets on sword fight and then lose them.

Morgana has one necklace of her mother's, which she never wore before meeting Morgause, but started wearing under her dress once she knew her. It is silver with a large obsidian crystal. Morgause taught her to scry in it, but she was never very good. She tossed it in a lake after Morgause's death — it was too painful.

After or with Gorlois' death, the area of Cornwall that was under Camelot rule fell to another kingdom — possibly Mercia among those wars. Which is why Morgana never visits that castle, or Cornwall.

Feel free to add on to this. I wish that side of her family, or that stage of her life before she was 10, had been talked about, but I can't find much on it.

[pryotra]

Ooooh..... can you elaborate more on how much the lore would change with a gender bent Morgan? I’m kinda curious 👀

Hm well, Morgan’s real story is deeply connected to Uther’s. According to legend, Morgan was one of the daughters of Igraine and the Duke Gorlois. During a feast when all Uther’s nobles were expected to come, Uther caught sight of Igraine, and immediately wanted her. 

Igraine didn’t seem to agree, since she ran to her husband, who immediately took her back to his home, Tintagel, where he fortified himself and prepared for a fight. Uther trumped up some charged against him and attacked. On the night before some battle, he got Merlin to use magic and make him look like Gorlois (which is weird since in the Welsh Triads, Uther seemed to have some magic connected to illusions) and, in the form of her husband (who had just been killed in his own castle) slept with Igraine. 

The next day, he revealed himself and what he had done, essentially ‘convincing’ Igraine to marry him, and marrying off Gorlois’s one daughter, Morgause, to one of his nobles, Lot, and essentially tossing Morgan into a nunnery (who apparently moonlighted as magic users, as one does.) While later writers acted like Morgan’s grudge against Arthur was some weird ‘I should be queen’ thing, the real reason seems to just be that she hated the man for what he did, and then placed that hatred on Arthur for being the product of that night. 

As far as gender bending, the biggest chunk of the past probably wouldn’t change all that much, other than maybe his being dumped into a monastery rather than a nunnery. He’d have had a little less ability to move around without too much notice, though the fact that he, as Gorlois’s son and heir, lived, would be considered a miracle. 

Sadly people might realize the motive was ‘avenge my father’ more with a Male!Morgan than Female!Morgan.

[avilionea]

ALSO. you want to see Mark at his most relaxed, most happiest. Stick him next to igraine. Man got his revenge on his brother's murderer and his sister - in - law's rapist, but seeing her begin to thrive under Isolde's care just makes him the most happy. He grew up with igraine as a sister figure, and Gorlois was as much a father figure as he was his brother. he really does drop everything and takes Tristan and Isolde to Tintagel whenever he hears igraine is well enough and wanting to see him. His family all together is just!

[aquitainequeen]

One Arthurian retelling that I really want to see? The story of IGRAINE.

Going by Le Morte D’Arthur, she’s happily married to Gorlois with at least three daughters, right up until Uther, whom Gorlois has been warring with only a short while before, ‘desired to have lain by her’. Whereupon Igraine says ‘not on your life, mate’ and she and Gorlois hurry back to Cornwall, and refuse to return when Uther commands them to.

In response to which, Uther brings his army down to Cornwall and besieges Castle Terrabil, where Gorlois is holed up in. Along comes Merlin, and in exchange for the child that will be conceived with Igraine, he helps Uther to sneak into Tintagel where Igraine’s staying safe, magically disguised as her beloved husband. Uther then proceeds to spend the night with Igraine, thereby committing rape by fraud, and swiftly departs come the morn.

After which Igraine learns that the man she spent the night with wasn’t actually her husband, since Gorlois was killed by Uther’s forces three hours before Uther-in-disguise arrived at Tintagel. This leaves poor Igraine wondering who (or what) the hell she slept with.

Then she’s pressured/forced into marrying the king whose army killed her husband, and whom she fled from in the first place. Plus her daughters are either quickly married off to Uther’s allies, or sent to a nunnery in the case of Morgan (in the future known as le Fay).

Then when she’s about half way through her pregnancy, Uther asks her who the father of her unborn child is. Igraine, who’s been dreading this moment, and also likely agonising over who (or what) fathered her child, confesses about the curious incident of the not-husband in the night time. Uther fesses up that it was actually him in disguise, and ‘the queen made great joy when she knew who was the father of her child’. (Personally I like to think she was just mightily relieved that at least the father was human, and rather less pleased that it’s also Uther.)   

Then when her baby’s born, he’s taken away from her right away and delivered up to bloody Merlin, who spirits him away to start cooking up a further legend.

And then Uther dies two years later, leaving Igraine to grapple with the unruly barons, wearing a crown she never wanted, constantly meeting Morgan’s calm stare. She never wanted this.

She spends years and years not knowing what’s become of her son, and then finally, when Arthur shows up, pulls the Sword from the Stone, the whole shebang - it turns out that he’s had to battle with several barons who didn’t accept him as Uther’s heir because his parentage was previously unknown. Plus he’s slept with his half-sister Morgause without realising they were related, and conceived an incest baby. For which some people blame-

- Igraine. Igraine. Because ‘she should have come clean about Arthur’s parentage from the start when he claimed the crown’. Never mind the fact that her baby was taken away from her immediately after he was born, and she never knew what happened to him or even knew his name. 

When she points this out, her accusers agree that Merlin is more to blame than her. Whereupon Merlin himself, the architect of all her misfortune, who could have revealed Arthur’s parentage but chose not to, leads Arthur forward to Igraine. ‘Here’s your mother, here’s your son, all better now!!!’

All Igraine can do is hold her son tight to her, and weep.

Make a book about that! Make a tv series or a film about that!

[gawaincomic]

The Darkest Hour p. 70

The Darkest Hour p. 70 is live! Ebrawc arrives at Tintagel with bad news...

<< Previous – Start

Ebrawc: “I wanted to bring his remains to you, my lady. But that proved impossible.”

Ebrawc: “I buried lord Gorlois where the soldiers wouldn’t find him. They would have robbed his body of armour and jewellery.”

Ebrawc: “The king wasn’t there to hold them back. His men were -“

Ebrawc: “I – I brought you back his ring and sword.”

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