#including king arthur

[emmatheyoshi]

Lamorak: Why are like, half of the Knights of the Roundtable autistic?!

Gawain, Rhapsody, Lancelot, Galahad, and Percival (who are all autistic): *Stare at Lamorak in bewilderment*

Gawain: Lamorak…..who let you back in the common room?

[rustchild]

desperately craving weird surrealist arthurania. Knights with no faces wandering through the mists. Seams between Christian and pre-Christian Britain gaping like open wounds. Beafts and visions. Maybe a monk. Maybe the monk is gay

[bmpdraws]

My take on MLP au lets go. I couldn't decide whether I wanted the King in Yellow and 'Yellow' to be dragons or ponies, so. They're just both. John likely also has a pony form I'm just indecisive so nothing for that yet.

[gingersnaptaff]

Maelgwn Gwynedd

(The lad himself. He looks how I look when confronted with any question at all. An expression of surprise mixed with apprehension. Note the tiny sword and orb.)

Entering the final stretch of 2024 with Arthuriana's favourite 'sodomitical grape' as Gildas called him. Seriously, Gildas has beef with him, almost as much as he has with dubious historical personage, King Arthur.

Not much is known about Maelgwn's reign considering how big of a guy he's become in the Arthurian mythos but what we do know of him is cool!!!

His great-granddad was Cunedda, who was the first king of Gwynedd, and from whom all others were descended. Cunedda had conquered Gwynedd after the fall of Roman Britain. His title, Wledig, is obscure and I won't go into it too much, but Cambrian Chronicles has done a video about it which I will link to at the end! It means 'of a country' but it's more likely it was an expression of some Roman title.

And his great-great-grandad was Edern - yes, the basis of THAT Edern in Welsh mythology - who was a romano-briton. Maelgwn's dad, Cadwallon Lawhir* (long-hand), was *maybe* king but there are also questions about that. Mainly from Gildas. He suggests that his brother, Owain Danwyn (White Tooth), was King and Cadwallon was his right-hand man - which perhaps would fit with him being the guy who drove the last of the Irish from Ynys Môn - and suggests that Maelgwn murdered his uncle to gain the throne. Peter Bartrum also suggests this but does caveat that the term used, 'avunculus' is normally only applied to a maternal uncle.

(Fun fact: Owain Danwyn was the father of St. Seriol who gave his name to Ynys Seriol otherwise referred to as Puffin Island in English. Maelgwn would later be buried here after he died of, well, we'll get to that.)

Regardless of who was and wasn't king, Maelgwn was the first to reap the rewards of his great-granddad's conquest.

He is normally regarded as the House of Aberffraw's founder from which all other kings of that line were descended. (Yes, including Law Lad, Hywel Dda) This would make them one of the oldest royal lineages until the English chopped off the last king of Gwynedd and Wales, Llywelyn Ein Llew Olaf's head. Gwynedd is the territory that they ruled over. Basically near enough to the whole of North Wales. At its biggest, would've stretched from Anglesey to Ceredigion. Maelgwn - like Owain Gwynedd - was referred to as 'Maelgwn Gwynedd' because Maelgwn ap Cadwallon was a v common name at the time and it would be fuckin confusing.)

Now, sorting fact from fiction with Maelgwn is... um, difficult, shall we say. Gildas himself said that Maelgwn killed his uncle as previously mentioned, killed his nephew so he could marry his wife, and killed his wife to ensure that she wouldn't object to her husband sharing her bed with another woman. I'm not going into that because I want to keep it short but IT'S WILD.* What we do know suggests that Maelgwn was a deeply religious man, and I'm not being funny, but Gildas smeared like five kings - including Maelgwn's nephew, Cynlas, otherwise known as Cuneglas.

Anyways, while the seat of Aberffraw was traditionally the village of Aberffraw - as the name suggests - Maelgwn's llys (court) was held in Deganwy and where Llywelyn Fawr would later build another llys many years later. 'It is supposed,' Timothy Venning writes, 'that his fort was 'Dinerth on the Clwyd coast, due to which the owner might have been nicknamed 'Artos.' But there is no clear evidence that he was called that but there is plenty of Arthurian sites in Gwynedd! Also, there's a Dinerth in Llandrillo-yn-Rhos near me, and like I like to think maybe there was a fort there somewhere.

He's also known to have given money to many churches and saints which puts Gildas assertions that he was a bad dude in doubt but, I mean, you can make up your mind. In Historia Brittonum, Nennius, remarks, 'the great king Mailcun reigned among the Britons, i.e., in Gwynedd,' and further adds that Cunedda, Maelgwn's ancestor arrived in Gwynedd 146 years ago and slaughtered the Irish living there. He also appears only once in the Welsh Triads in the 'The Tribal Thrones of the Island of Britain' each ruled by King Arthur. Maelgwn was Arthur's Chief of Elders in Mynwy (St. David's, itself a major religious site both for Celts and Christians.)

Honestly, Maelgwn's intertwining with saints is fascinating. It's known, as I've said previously, that he gave to various churches in Gwynedd, while the Book of Llandaff (written in 1125) says he was a benefactor of the Diocese of Llandaff when that first started. Also, his nephew, St. Seriol's, bestie was St Cybi, otherwise known as the lad who gave his name to the Welsh name for Holyhead, 'Caergybi,' which means Cybi's Fort. Maelgwn was, by all accounts, the one who gave the fort to him!

Now, Historium Brittonum is of further interest to us because it, in Kari Maund's words, 'reflects the 9th-century context in which it was written when the rulers of Gwynedd advanced claims of primacy all over Wales.' It would've been, within the rulers of Gwynedd's interests to present Maelgwn and his pedigree as 'pan-Welsh figures,' and many pedigrees further reflect that. (See, when I said sorting fact from fiction was difficult I meant it!)

HB says: 'These are the names of the sons of Cunedda who numbered nine. Tybion was the first-born who died in the land of Manaw of Gododdin and thus did not come with his father and aforesaid brothers. Merrion his son divided the possessions amongst Tybion's brothers: Oswael the second-born, the third Rhufen, the fourth Dunod, the fifth Ceredig, the sixth Afloeg, the seventh Einion Yrth, the eighth Dogfael, the ninth Edern.' The names of these sons became attached to territories within Gwynedd I.e. Dunoding, Rhufeniog, Ceredigion, and, therefore, the divisions (or Cantrefi) of Gwynedd with them. This is propaganda by other monarchs who wanted to show that the Gwyddelian line were the rightful rulers of Ceredigion but it also shows what a Big Fuckin Deal Cunedda and therefore Maelgwn are both as a historical figure and as a propaganda piece. Timothy Venning also suggests that the 'parcelling out' of Gwynedd to members of Cunedda's family was presented by Nennius as 'justification for its reunification by his patron King Merfyn.' Some even say that Owain Gwynedd (him again!) used the legend to 'provide an earlier precedent for its [Gwynedd's] current division' between his sons.' I'm telling u this cuz a) it's of interest because it shows just how embedded this family are in Welsh mythology and culture. Like u cannot go five fuckin mins without seeing them, and b) Maelgwn comes from a fighting pedigree. (And also because I think this is fun.)

Now, Maelgwn's death is pretty confusing. Reports say he died from the 'Yellow Plague or Justinian's Plague' which had made its way over from Byzantium. My school and grandad both said to me when I was little that Maelgwn died from yellow fever passing through a keyhole and infecting him that way which I think is very scary. I would cry if I was confronted with that. Thank you, Ysgol Nant-y-Coed and Grandad Barry, you gave me nightmares about a yellow fog coming to claim me late at night. That's why I now have to block the keyhole of my room door up with blutac. He was buried off Ynys Seriol so yeah. The throne would eventually pass to Maelgwn's son, Rhun, otherwise known as that 'hot lecher of women' himself.

As for Maelgwn, he's bound up in Arthuriana as are his family. Many kings of his line claimed descent from Arthur further down the line and it's not a stretch to think that maybe that's why he's such a big part of Arthuriana. Also, he's such a cool character in his own right that it would be a disservice not to include him. Edern, Maelgwn's great-grandad, is sometimes said to be Guinevere's lover in Welsh mythology, and that would make him and his line have the genes of the wife defender of Britain and the literal Lad Everybody Gets Their Knickers In A Twist Over, Arthur. It's not a stretch to think that later chronicles went fuckin Mad with this info. I would!

*The video about the term 'Wledig' is here.

* If you want to learn more about these events can I suggest this web page which explains it far better than I ever could:

https://www.ancientwalesstudies.org/id166.html

Tagging people I think might get a kick out of this: @dullyn @gwalch-mei @gawrkin @crwbannwen @believerindaydreams @queer-ragnelle @cesarescabinet

Okay, hwyl fawr! I'll be back next year to chew your ears off about the Mabinogion in the context of ladies or something.

[gellavonhamster]

Obsessed with Bliss & Blunder by Victoria Gosling tbh. Yeah, the King Arthur tech bro modern AU book. Morgan and Guinevere who were best friends as teens, who meant the world to each other and then broke up because of Guinevere's stupid brother and everything, who still cannot help but miss each other. Morgan and Arthur - not related here - who bonded as bullied kids on the school bus, exchanged letters in college, fell in love but fumbled it. Morgan who isn't sure she wasn't in love with Guinevere. Morgan trying to get justice for murdered women. Guinevere who is deeply unhappy in her glossy Instagram paradise and deeply out of fucks to give, Guinevere who thinks raising her adopted son Mordred is the only good thing she's done in her life. Sweet, quiet, deeply unwell Lancelot. Guinevere horrified by what Elaine did to Lancelot. Gawain whose characterization at first surprised me until I realized that in the present-day timeline, Gareth is already dead. Mordred who's an edgy troublemaker with an all-black bedroom but also just an eighteen-year-old boy who loves his mom so much. Galahad the genius young hacker with white hair and pronouns. Gawain's arrangement with Lord Bertilak and his wife. Canon Galadred. A Shakespeare's character who isn't even Arthurian is there for some reason? Everyone is miserable but trying their best. Everything is about old friends except when it's about war except when it's about forgiveness except when it's about sexism except when it's about stories that are doomed to repeat but maybe can go differently this time.

[perikiro]

I almost forgot to post this one omg (a version with blood under the cut)

[carlottastudios]

Every day I get closer to making an unhinged behemoth of a post listing all of the things about Kaeya and his possible connections to mythology & stuff that I notice but NOBODY ELSE SEEMS TO BRING UP IN THEIR THEORIES

(edit: OMG I reached the tag limit I'm so sorry)

[nightmare-foundation]

Silly rwby/atla au idea

Ruby- Air bender, loves zooming around, on her way to becoming a master

Yang- Earth bender, specifically a lava bender

Blake- Non-bender, extremely talented with chi blocking

Weiss- Water bender, uses ice most often

Jaune- initially thought to be a non bender, is actually a water bender. Extremely talented healer, one of the best in the world

Pyrrha- Metal bender

Nora- Fire bender, uses lightning most often

Ren- non-bender, uses chi blocking

Oscar- the Avatar, comes from one of the water tribes. Not ready for the responsibility

Ozpin- Previous avatar, was an air nomad

Ozymandias/KoV- Avatar prior to Ozpin, was the Fire Lord of the fire nation

Ironwood- Metal bender

Leonardo Lionheart- Non-bender or earth bender (undecided)

Theodore- Fire bender

Winter- Water bender, blood bender (rarely uses it)

Whitley- non-bender

Tyrian- non-bender, uses chi blocking

Watts- non-bender

Hazel- Earth bender

Cinder- Previously non-bender, received fire bending

Emerald- Non-bender

Mercury- Was a metal bender, had his bending taken away

Salem- dark spirit??

Qrow- non-bender

Raven- non-bender

Glynda- no idea tbh

Sun Wukong- air bender

[cesarescabinet]

💐Flower Festival Freebie💐

Another (belated) offering for @queer-ragnelle's May Day Parade! Since there was no specific theme, I tried to nail down some character designs with varying success (mainly a parade of characters who I either love or want to study under a microscope. Or both!)

[kateis-cakeis]

rewatching bbc merlin really has me like buzzing in my mind with so many thoughts. Like I'm kinda watching it backwards atm going from S5 to S4, I think I will jump around 3, 2, and 1 but just,,,, there is so much especially in S5 that makes me !!!!!!!

Honestly, I feel like this fandom has to give the writers more credit. Like they did a damn good job, and to me, it's such a good tragedy. Especially how S5 plays out, it takes everything and just tears you down, and down, and down. It's perfect, perfect with flaws! But still perfect

[viscericorde]

neat little unintentional feature of the local bookstore i like is that when certain authors are especially prolific they essentially conquer entire shelves. there's a designated george rr martin shelf, designated terry pratchett shelf, shelf that is literally just copies of dune. and who could forget the accursed sarah j maas shelf.

[kiseiakhun]

You literally already know who I'm gonna ask: GARTH

I have already answered this but I will answer again. I would smash Garth. I would ride his fish dick. I would put on a strap and fuck his fussy (fish pussy). I would fertilize his eggs after he lays them in the communal titans pool. I would take his side in every argument with Arthur, which I would do even if I didn't want to fuck him because Arthur is usually wrong. All it takes is one look from his magical anime eyes and my legs will open by themselves. You KNOW Garth would treat you right.

[moodlesmain]

What I'm Made Of (Sonic Heroes OST) 🤝 With Me (Sonic and the Black Knight OST): Final boss songs who's lyrics apply almost just as much to Sonic as they do to the villain he's facing

[bmpdraws]

[storygremlin]

I will not be going to work today because my brain hyperfixated so I spent the night

rewatching the first few episodes of Merlin so I could document my rewrite which led to researching historical sites in Wales associated with the Arthurian legends which led to learning about Bangor University with its collection of over 2000 Arthurian texts and artifacts which led to researching their MA Arthurian Program department which led to emailing a Welsh professor to see if they’d be willing to send me their class reading list/syllabus bc I couldn’t find it anywhere and I want to know what texts they study so now I’m waiting for a response while I read Merthur fanfic

instead of sleeping.

Essentially, I still not be functional today lmao

[july-19th-club]

ive realized that the only one i’m even remotely comfortable killing off in a fic is leon. not because i don’t like him i do. but if you said to me you’re allowed to revoke all major character deaths on the bbc fantasy show merlin but you HAVE to keep one in reserve and give it to someone to balance all the deaths you undid. then it would have to be leon that’s all