#queen igraine

[queer-ragnelle]

Camelot (2011) | Created by Michael Hirst & Chris Chibnall

Arthurian Film List | Arthurian Show List | Movie review below the cut ⤦

Star Rating: 10/10

Content Warning: graphic nudity & sexuality, heavy gore, torture, rape

Overview: Full disclosure, I'm hella biased. I watched this every week while it aired back in 2011. But having re-watched the series again numerous times since then, I stand by my love for it. If there was anything I would add, it would be dogs. Where are the puppies?! The costume designer for this show went on to win awards for her work on The Tudors, all the acting is prenominal, the set designs, the score and sound design, the writing is just insanely good. Even when I don't agree with all narrative choices, I'm convinced to appreciate them here. Eva Green is by far my favorite Morgan and James Purefoy my favorite Lot. I wasn't born queer, their intense sex scenes with blood oaths and body hair queerified me. Who said that. Anyway the biggest thing to praise about this show is how abundantly and well it centers women's stories. Igraine, Guinevere, Morgan, Vivian, Sebile, Bridget. You're all really amazing. I support women's rights and women's wrongs.

Synopsis: Morgan returns from her many years at the nunnery and is immediately rejected by Uther and her step mother Igraine. She vows vengeance and returns to the castle later in the guise of a child to secretly poison the king. As Uther lays dying, Merlin gets him to sign over his kingship to the son he never met. The show then transitions to Arthur, who has been raised along side foster-brother Kay by their loving parents in ignorance they are not fully brothers. Merlin shows up and spills the beans, taking Arthur and Kay with him to Camelot, an old crumbling castle they need to rebuild as the center of a great city. There, Uther's old knights, including Lancelot Leontes and his fiancée Guinevere, wait for them. Meanwhile Morgan turns castle Pendragon inside out to remake it for her own liking, including bringing on Vivian as her messenger and handmaiden, and Sebile the nun as her advisor. She also allies herself with King Lot intending to claim the throne of Britain for herself. Morgan and Arthur must battle for the right to take their father King Uther's place.

Final Thoughts: This show really has it all. It's a tragedy it was cancelled after a single season. There was so much set up that will never get pay off. I cry every day. The homoeroticism between Kay and Gawain going unfulfilled haunts me. Read Exiled From Camelot by Cherith Baldry to get your fix but damn I'm so sad we didn't see more of them in a second season. HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING but it set up that Guinevere was pregnant with Galahad and would take the bloody seat of the Round Table where Leontes was meant to sit, meanwhile Morgan was pregnant with Mordred in a last bid for power after she was finally revealed to Arthur as a threat. GO WATCH!!!!!!!

[oneshoulderangel]

Gorlois and Igraine, dancing in the snow under a starry sky.

Once again I’m just torturing myself by imagining these two happy and in love. They deserved to be together, dang it Uther!

Bonus:

Oh Gorlois, you may be a little dense, but all the best cinnamon rolls are.

[laurellerual]

Gawain, Clarissant,  Igraine and Morgause at the château des Merveilles

From Le Roman de Perceval ou le conte du Graal, by Chrétien de Troyes

[rosalie-starfall]

Miranda Richardson as Queen Mab

Merlin - 1998

[gawrkin]

On Queen Guinevere, by Sir Gawain

“Lady, in truth, she is so courteous, so beautiful, and so wise that God made no law and no language in whose spheres one would find such a graceful lady. Ever since God formed the first woman out of Adam’s rib, there has not been so renowned a lady. And she deserves to be called thus, for in the same manner as the wise masters educate the little children, my lady the queen educates and instructs the whole world. Of her springs all good: It flows from her and begins in her. No one could leave my lady and go away despondent. For she knows well what everybody wants and what she has to do to please every single one of them. No man can do good or win respect who has not learnt of my lady how to do so. Never was a man so out of sorts that he parted from my lady but not from his worries”

-Conte du Graal, Chretien de Troyes

[eynsavalow]

.

[uniquevocashark]

Whenever I get stuck in the forbidden happy end fic I simply add something a bit silly. Therefore, igraine blatantly threatens to kill and shove a man into a barrel for being a slightly awkward teacher and daring to introduce himself for her

[forthegothicheroine]

I was thinking about King Uther, and how older adaptations tend to portray him as a good man driven to madness by obsession, while more modern adaptations either make him a thoroughgoing villain or cut the story of Igraine altogether. It occurs to me that you could still do the 'driven to madness by obsession' thing, though, focusing on an escalating series of excuses. "I did nothing wrong, only asked Igraine and Gorlois to be my guests." "Gorlois defied my order, that means he's in rebellion." "I'm not attacking Igraine, I'm only decieving her." "I'm not taking her captive, I'm making her queen."

Meanwhile Merlin, not the nicest person himself, is thinking "I can't wait for there to be a new guy."

[theredandwhiteknight-if]

💧 DROPLET - random angst headcanon

Oooh this is a fun one

Guinevere- Guinevere is deeply worried about her security as Queen. She knows she was only chosen because she was a beautiful lady with a wealthy dowry and that she could be easily replaced since she has no children. She is determined to prove herself vital to Arthur’s reign and to get knights loyal to her so that he can’t just get rid of her if he feels like it.

Arthur- When Arthur first pulled the sword out of the stone, he was forced to do this repeatedly for many of the lords to prove himself. During these travels, he was separated from Kay and Ector to be protected by Uther’s old knights. Teen Arthur was terrified and alone for the first year of his “Kingship” and now barely lets Kay go on adventures so he can’t lose him again.

Gawain- Gawain once had a committed relationship with a fairy named Blanchemal. It lasted for quite awhile and Gawain hoped to marry her before she disappeared one day. He never figure out whether she left or was harmed in some way. Because of that, Gawain is wary of starting another committed relationship.

Morgan- Morgan was the closest of all her siblings to Igraine. After Igraine was forced to marry Uther, she clung to Morgan as much as she could when Morgan was allowed to visit from the nunnery. She keeps a locket Igraine gave to her on herself always. Arthur looks so much like Uther. Sometimes it’s hard for Morgan to even look at Arthur.

Galehaut- While Galehaut maintains a strong relationship with his maternal giant family, his father’s family are very distant with him. They were really against his father marrying a giantess and never really got over it. Part of the reason he is so desperate to prove himself as king is because his paternal cousins have been trying to question his right to rule and replace him.

Agravaine- Agravaine… did not have a good relationship with their father. They were always compared negatively to Gawain for anything. Lot openly favored Gaheris and Gareth over them and often derided Agravaine. Agravaine unsurprisingly doesn’t care about avenging their father but thinks this proves Lot’s opinion right because what kind of person is relieved at their own father’s death?

Sybil- Sybil is desperate for some sort of purpose. They never really had a community with their family and while they love Vivian and Morgan, the Lake and Avalon haven’t really been homes for them. They’re desperate to find a place that actually feels like home to them, because a fairy without a community is a pariah.

[queer-ragnelle]

So, there's a lot of books that you complain about being awful (most of which I haven't read), usually because of the interpretation of some character (or many characters).

Is the problem with most of these books:

1. That the character on question has been written as a bad person,

2. That the interpretation differs from the Vulgate Cycle,

3. or the specific combination of those two things?

Or have I completely misread this situation?

See the thing is, yes it has to do with interpretation of characters, but perhaps not as superficial as it sounds! While I do love the Vulgate and prefer a more nuanced Mordred, that’s not really the root of the issue. I want Mordred to topple Camelot. I don’t expect or want authors to follow the Vulgate exclusively, there’s plenty from Chrétien or SGATGK or Parzival or the Mabinogion I’d love to see incorporated and they often are! Yay!

The real answer is a complicated thing that can only be expressed through examples because citing “misogyny” or “racism” doesn’t convey the magnitude or severity of the problem. Medieval society was misogynistic and racist at times, I don’t think those things should go ignored in a retelling. It would cheapen the narrative to pretend Guinevere’s or Morgause’s situations weren’t brought about largely due to the patriarchal systems at play nor do I want to pretend everyone who met Palomides was race blind.

Here’s an exhaustive list of sourced examples to indicate what I’ve encountered that really turned my stomach in retellings…content warning for everything from animal abuse to rape to genocide. This is gonna be long….

Adding more/intentional incest.

Agravaine sexually attracted to his mother Morgause (The Once and Future King by T. H. White) or to his aunt Guinevere (Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger, The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf)

Gaheris sexually attracted to his mother Morgause (The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart)

Mordred sexually attracted to and raping his mother Morgause (Morgawse by Lavinia Collins)

Uther sexually attracted to his step-daughter Morgause (Igraine by Lavinia Collins)

Kay sexually involved with his uncle Lancelot (Guinevere and Morgan by Lavinia Collins)

Mordred sexually involved with his aunt Morgause (Guinevere Evermore by Sharan Newman)

Morgause attempting to seduce her teenage son Mordred (The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart)

Arthur marrying his sister Morgan (Bedivere by Wayne Wise)

A life-long sexual relationship between Arthur and his aunt Morgan (The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf)

Mordred and “auntie” Morgan having sex (Merlin and the Sword (1985))

Exceedingly graphic first-person rape of Guinevere by her cousin Maelgwn (Queen of the Summer Stars by Persia Woolley)

Mordred kidnaps and tries to rape his sister Avlynn (Merlin and the Book of the Beasts (2009))

Increased racism.

Using modern slurs like the N word against Palomides (The Once and Future King by T. H. White)

Aggressive and confrontational Safir “restrained” by white characters and called “homicidal Moor” by Kay (The Book of Gaheris by Kari Sperring)

Palomides speaking in broken English mentioned as a “turn-off” for Morgause (Morgawse by Lavinia Collins)

Palomides a former slave orphaned and raised culturally British instead of immigrating to Britain and constantly othered as “the Arab companion” when the others don’t have modifiers like that (Queen of the Summer Stars and Legend in Autumn by Persia Woolley)

Depicting Arab Bertilak as perpetrator of pederasty, random anti-black or anti-Asian allusions, random antisemitism, etc. (Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger)

Tristan wanting to put down “barbarian” Palomides and drives him to madness (The Enchanted Cup by Dorothy James Roberts)

Black face Palomides (The Black Knight (1954))

Adding pedophilia/child brides.

Girls including Morgaine forced into ritualistic sexual situations for “ceremonial” reasons (Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley)

Eleven year old Morgause given to Lot in marriage by her mother Igraine who lied about her age (Morgawse by Lavinia Collins)

Child bride Isolde (Legend in Autumn by Lavinia Collins, Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell)

Merlin sexually involved with fosterling Nimuë and later attracted to young Olwen (The Winter King and Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell)

Morgause preying on minors (The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart, The Book of Gaheris by Kari Sperring)

Pedophile/serial killers Kay and Mordred (Dragon’s Child and The Bloody Cup by M. K. Hume, The Queen’s Knight by Marvin Borowsky)

Morgause sexually abusing Agravaine (Queen of the Summer Stars by Lavinia Collins)

Pederast Arthur sleeping with young Peredur and Geraint (Arthur the King by Allan Massie)

Lancelot grooms young Mordred to be his lover (Mordred, Bastard Son by Douglas Clegg)

Bademagus raping 13yo Lynette (The King’s Damosel by Vera Chapman)

Warp a character into a rapist.

Morgause/Morgan tricking Arthur to sire Mordred (The Once and Future King by T. H White, Excalibur (1981), The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart, Bedivere by Wayne Wise, Morgan by Lavinia Collins, Guinevere by Sharan Newman, Camelot (2011))

Gawain threatening Guinevere with rape then eventually banished from court for raping someone else (Guinevere and Morgawse by Lavinia Collins)

Exceedingly graphic first-person rapes of Morgause by Lot and Mordred, Morgan by Urien (Morgawse and Morgan by Lavinia Collins)

Morgause laughing when she learns how traumatized Arthur is after her seduction of him (Queen of Summer Stars by Persia Woolley)

Agravaine threatening to rape Guinevere (The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf)

Perceval raping Layla and getting turned on watching the rape of someone else (A Knight’s Tale by Richard Monaco)

Lancelot forcing himself onto Guinevere (First Knight (1995))

Lancelot raping Galahad’s gf (The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell)

Bors tries to rig a dice game in which the prize is sex with Nimuë (Cursed (2020))

“He would not fucking say/do that.”

Arthur, Lot, Geraint, Urien, and Lancelot are wife beaters with minimal to no consequences (Warrior of the West by M. K. Hume, I Am Mordred by Nancy Springer, Igraine and Morgan by Lavinia Collins, Knight Life by Peter David)

Lancelot doesn’t rescue Guinevere leaving her to burn at the stake by Arthur (Fall of Knight by Peter David)

Lancelot used Guinevere for political gain (Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell, The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman)

Lancelot married to Elaine then cheats on her with Guinevere and causes his wife’s death leaving Galahad an orphan (Merlin (1998))

Agravaine skins Elaine’s cat and wears it (Queen of Summer Stars by Persia Woolley)

Gareth helps Gawain torture Pellinore to death (I Am Mordred by Nancy Springer)

Genocide.

Arthur picks up where Uther left off and continues to commit genocide against magic-users, Merlin helps (BBC Merlin (2008-2012)

The red paladins commit genocide against the fay, Lancelot helps (Cursed (2020))

Gawain uses sun powers to commit genocide in the holy land, other knights like Tristan, Mordred, and Agravaine help (F/GO Camelot Wandering (2020) and F/GO Camelot Paladin Agateram (2021))

Lancelot as high king of Britain commits genocide against allies of Arthur to stay in power, other knights like Dagonet, Lot, and Calogrenant help (Kaamelott: First Installment (2021))

So yeah. It isn’t ideal that Lamorak is old in Sword of Lancelot (1963) or Dagonet is stoic and boring in King Arthur (2004). But like, whatever! I like those films! Same goes for replacing Gaheris with Geraint in Sarah Zettel’s series or cutting Gareth out of Gillian Bradshaw’s trilogy. Kind of a bummer, lame even, but not a deal breaker. The things about these bad retellings that drive me mad are much more sinister than that, rooted in really detestable opinions about women and children and people of color.

Can’t Mordred, Agravaine, and Morgan be normal scheming/evil/power hungry like they were in BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979) or Howard Pyle’s books or Knights of the Round Table (1953) instead of whatever the above are doing? Not to mention the complete violation of Guinevere, Morgause, Lancelot, and Gawain as characters. I’m so tired, man.

Hope this clears things up. Sorry if you made it through that list. I’m sure you hated reading it as much as I hated writing it. But I think it makes it clear the problem here and that I’m not just being picky. The psychic damage is taking its toll.

[oneshoulderangel]

I will die on the hill that Gorlois was a wonderful husband who loved and respected Igraine till the day he drew his last breath. I reject any evidence to the contrary.

Quotes from the history of the kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth (except for that one note, obviously)

[tired-reader-writer]

BESTIE I didn't know you had Arthurian inspired oc's! :D

Hellooooooo buddy! And why yes, I do!

This is an original story idea I've been thinking about for a while, it's set in a sci-fi fantasy world with mecha and stuff, but follows the cast of the Arthurian legends. Specifically, the protagonist is Mordred who Does Not Have A Good Time throughout this entire story. I don't have a title for it yet, nothing has clicked so far, though a placeholder name is “The Sunset Knight”. (Mordred does technically has an OC tag on my blog however I've been wanting to revamp stuff and the only two original posts about Mordred, I think I might want to go and change a couple things.)

This world has a source of power that fuels ships and mechs and stuff, I haven't named it yet but let's call it Phantasm. It can be utilized both by machine and living things, and the living beings who can manipulate raw Phantasm are dubbed sorcerers. Morgana is a sorceress and Merlin is a sorcerer, for example. Most others rely on sci-fi esque equipment to wield that power without backlash.

The mechs in the Arthurian-inspired world probably have different grading based on mythological beasts or smth, I need to expand on that, and dragon mechs are both the rarest and only a select few with “dragon blood” are able to pilot them, so the Pendragons basically? There might've been other dragonblood bloodlines in the past but they're dead now, dead at Uther's hand because that guy is a massive jerk who conquered everything and beyond. And Arthur... unfortunately holding up that paradigm even though he doesn't conquer, and is actively trying to make things suck less. Anyways, back to the mechs—

Bc the dragons put so much strain on the pilots (or “riders/dragonriders” as they might be called in that world) on energy consumption in exchange for bigger firepower, rare and unique powers, etc, dragonriders unfortunately tend to die quick save for a few who have extensive support and/or a hugeass powerful Phantasmic core. Not all dragonblood are born with such massive reserves! And theoretically, a sorcerer with a massive Phantasm reserves could technically try to pilot one, but... there's a compatibility lock of sorts, incompatible pilots must pour in more Phantasm, and that drains them faster than it would drain a dragonblood.

Arthur is a dragonrider, blessed with both intensive support from Merlin's end, and in possession of a large amount of Phantasm thanks to his maternal side.

(I'll get to the actual protagonist, I swear, I just gotta set the stage first)

So Uther... conquered Igraine's kingdom (planet?) (Igraine was the ruling queen, queen regnant, and her husband Gorlois was the consort, I forget what I named this place), killed Gorlois, took and wed Igraine by force, and had Arthur with her because he wanted his offspring and heir to have massive power. Igraine's line was that of powerful sorcerers. Morgana was Igraine and Gorlois' daughter, who is very much not happy about what Uther had done to her family and homeland.

Years pass, Uther dies, Arthur is revealed to be heir where before he was raised in secret, he becomes king and starts trying to fix and calm stuff down, and Morgana, fed up with Uther's bullshit, very strongly demands that her kingdom be given back to her. And Arthur, who's grown to be this cold, sharp, exhausted individual who's trying to put out the fires his father had started, says “no, absolutely not, I'm trying to bring peace and if I give in to you now others will want the same and it will be chaos all over again because the threat of you hovering over the horizon. just have faith in me, your home planet will be fine, I promise. also you're married to a lord, you have a domain, go and take care of that.” and Morgana's having none of that because she doesn't even like Lot, it was an unwanted marriage forced on her by Uther who wanted her as far away from her homeland as possible. She wants her birthright restored, for the wrongs committed against her mother righted, just... she wants justice. And she's not getting it from Arthur. So fed up, she books it, builds a faction of her own to rebel against Uther's legacy, the one Arthur is trying to uphold.

Morgana, with her extensive knowledge and resourcefulness and creativity, creates a dragon mech. So those things require a specific core, so to speak, harvested from true dragons, those impossibly huge, cosmic sort of entities, nebulous and so incomprehensibly large... Okay, you know whale falls, right? A whale's corpse falls to the ocean floor and critters feed on it, never having known a living whale? To them, a whale's body is just an impossibly large bounty? Yeah, kinda those vibes. Maybe the true dragons are dead, with their corpses floating around in the universe. I see them less as a creature with a body and more a... deity? a collection of stars and planets? I dunno, just incomprehensible. So Morgana makes one, somehow obtains Arthur's genes (I mean, in the myths they have incestuous sex and out pops Mordred from that, but this is sci-fi, and because it's me so many characters have a wonky gender axis going on so they might not even be cis, who knows), and creates Mordred for the purpose of piloting the dragon she created. Man that thing needs a name.

So the mech Mordred's piloting, it's... one of the more energy-intensive ones specifically crafted by Morgana's faction to be extra destructive, and yet Mordred is not terribly affected by it— they still are but not to the extent they should have, and everyone chalks up to the dragonblood genes. But there's something else going on under the surface. But I'll get to that later.

So Mordred's character is... someone who's been so intensely shaped by their surroundings and circumstances. They were born to fulfill a certain role. They are unable to see themselves outside of this role they play, this mission they have. The quote “you need the sickness inside you like a body needs a spine. you may survive without it, but oh, how deformed and misshapen you'd become” basically is their whole deal. Their loyalty is madness, and their madness is loyalty.

Still, though, there lies a hole in their heart, a yearning, a hunger, a want. What it is that they want, they can't articulate. They don't understand. They don't understand the hole, so they don't understand what would fill it. It is why they try to dedicate 110% of themselves to their role, in hopes that it'd fill the hole, or at least not make them think about it.

Still, they yearn.

Later in the story, it would be revealed that they're not actually Mordred, not the one Morgana created with her and Arthur's genes. That Mordred? Dead. Dead from the strain of piloting the dragon Morgana made. They were a child, and they've been long dead. Morgana uploaded their conscious into the dragon mech to assist the new pilot and help take on some of the strain. Serving the cause, even beyond their death.

So then, who is this Mordred?

From another world.

Yes, folks, this is an isekai. From the moment I conceived of this idea, I wanted it to be an isekai. The pain of being unable to return home. The realization that even if you got back to your home world, you would no longer fit into it. The horror of having been forced to change so much that your home becomes unrecognizable to you. And being unable to bear this world you're in as well. You don't have anywhere to go anymore.

The realization breaks something in Mordred (this Mordred, not the dead one). So in a fit of desperation to be away, away from the place that they can't see the same anymore, they leave. They leave Morgana's side, and enters Camelot to serve Arthur in the vain hope that they might be able to choose something for themselves, make themselves anew, be free and happy for once even if they can no longer go home. Maybe, just maybe, they could make a home out of Camelot.

(Remember that the earliest written version of Mordred wasn't really said to be against Arthur or a traitor or a villain, or even Arthur's son, it only describes the battle of Camlann as just “The strife of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut fell.”, not indicating at all if they were on the same side or against each other or if Mordred was responsible for Arthur's downfall. In fact, in early Welsh sources, he seems to have been described as “Arthur's strength, the good nature of Medrawd”. Kinda relevant to this Mordred, kinda not, just an interesting thing to keep in mind.)

This is when they meet Guinevere.

In one (or several?) version of the Arthuriana, Mordred weds Guinevere by force, in mayhaps another version she may or may not have gone willingly with Mordred? And in one of the versions (probably French, I forget which one, help) that follow that line of events, uh, Guinevere is slain by Lancelot for betraying Arthur and Mordred is either buried alive with her corpse or gets locked in a tower with her corpse. And he cannibalizes her body out of desperation, and still dies of starvation.

So, yeah. This version of Guinevere becomes Mordred's love interest and so the doom clock starts ticking :)

Also, Guinevere's gender is a big ol “???” by design. Male? Female? Cis? Trans? Who even knows, Guinevere goes by both he and she. Anyways, moving on from that—

Mordred meets Guinevere, this gentle-handed fella who loves plants. And they grow a close bond, which slowly but surely develops into romance.

In this version, Guinevere isn't in love with Arthur, though he does idolize the King, believing in his vision and wanting to support that. There might or might not be push from others for the two to be betrothed to each other, I don't know how such things would work in a world like this just yet but well this is still just a fledgling idea— Arthur takes one look at Guinevere and is like “that is an entire child” and refuses to wed her.

I... am not sure whatever the hell I want to do with the character of Lancelot.

Like, I know how the cultural context surrounding the Arthuriana shaped and influenced his character, his courtly love turned into adultery etc etc, but I don't know what spin I want to put to his character. Yet. Currently leaning towards a fucked up sense of codependent devotion towards his king. Like “my king only deserves the best and by the dragons I will fucking give it to him no matter what anyone else has to say about it” and maybe he sees Guinevere as something extraordinary and thus... by imposing his own view on him he tries to yoink Guinevere for Arthur and... hm. Still up in the air, honestly.

How long has this fucking post gotten?

Okay imma just try to rapid-fire the ensuing stuff bc it's not like I have the details yet anyways: Mordred enters the Round Table -> Mordred and Guinevere fall in love -> things are fine until they aren't -> some revelation breaks Mordred's faith in Camelot -> maybe Morgana is slain, she's out of the picture for some reason -> Mordred forms their own faction from the remnants of Morgana's, goes against Camelot -> it goes on -> CAMLANN -> in the meanwhile Lancelot gets to Guinevere, uh-oh -> Arthur vs Mordred, big showdown, Arthur dies and Mordred is seriously feeling the consequences of the strain + pretty sure the mech is barely holding together at this point -> an exhausted Mordred and broken mech get their asses whooped by Lancelot, probably -> entombed alive -> cue cannibalism -> Mordred may or may not get isekai'd again at near death -> now they have to navigate this while ridden with guilt and grief and truly having nothing

So... yeah! This is a gist of what this story is about! Many details are still yet up in the air, I completely omitted the post-cannibalism stuff, the broken traumatized mess Mordred becomes by that point, if you'd like to know more I'll tell you but for now... this is it!

Oh! Almost forgot— I've drawn little concept sketches for Mordred!

Original Mordred on the left, the current Mordred before they became “Mordred” on the right, both as young children.

Current Mordred, having lost their face and memories for a long, long time.

[dreamersinthedaylightinspo]

I keep writing the Thing about the siege of the Day Court under Amarantha and the Illyrians and long story short I actually made myself cry while writing this so I'm sharing it completely out of context

There were legends, in Illyria.

                Everyone knew the story of Igraine, who had become the Queen of Night, plucked like a flower from the barren mountainside. Scores had seen how Prince Rhysand had picked up the lowest bastards he could find, and bestowed them his favor, spiriting them off to a place that ordinary Illyrians did not and could not ever know.

                But they said it was beautiful, the Court of Dreams. The streets paved with starlight, and precious jewels growing from the trees like fruits. Tables overflowing, feasts every day, warm and soft beds with feather-stuffed pillows, and peace.

                Many people believed it was a myth but Azeneth had always been sure that he’d find it one day. If he worked hard and long enough. If he proved himself to the High Lord, who was half his kin by blood. If he trained more vigorously, if he went where he was told and fought the enemies of their court, and culled the weak from their ranks, and killed all the shameful, secret parts of himself that were unbecoming of a true warrior. Only then, once all the enemies were dead, would he be worth. Then he would see it. Then, he would be free.

                But he thought of Pyrrha. She was not his enemy. She was no one’s enemy, no matter what High Lords or High Queens would try to convince them. Even now, as he sat here, staring into the dark, she was fighting for her truth, her friends, her court.

                She was beautiful, and brave, and unlike the Court of Dreams, he knew for certain that she was real.

                Azeneth made a choice.

[gritsandbrits]

Funny stuff i often think about in my rewrite of shrek the third

There's a character named Walter Crumpet who is a medieval version of Walter Cronkite, he's known as the most trusted man in far far away

Bruce and charming holding auditions for an execution as if it they're doing a performance

Shrek loses his fear of fatherhood but gains a new one: geese

"In a once in a lifetime move science and magic works together to take down religion!"

One of the contestants at the aforementioned audition is a rendition of lady gaga's bloody mary sung by the actual legend herself (no seriously she climbs out of a mirror to sing the chorus)

Sleeping Beauty dates the Sandman (no not that one, not THAT one either)

Gwynn's full name is Gwenhwyfar but she calls herself Gwynn due to a lot of women having the same name

Rhodanthe's only other friend is Ophelia of Hamlet fame; they met after Rho catches Ophelia floating around in her fishing pond

Rhodanthe working at the medieval equivalent to Claire's except its called Faire's.

John Delaney voices Lancelot - no wait that's actually canon lol

In this version Harold doesn't die but experiencing a frog life's crisis he also requested the song to play at his funeral much to Lillian's duress

Artie's sword comes in the form of a pen

The soundtrack includes everything from current hits to 80s rock to royalty free music to royalty music to video game OSTs.

One scrapped ending was Artie ultimately rejecting his claim in favor of becoming a writer. Get it? king AUTHOR

Handheld mirrors double as cellphones so there's psa on not being on your mirror while you ride your horse

Nimue is Merlin's ex wife and living her best life in the enchanted forest as a hippie

The scene where Gwynn is getting the Movie Makeover with the Evil Queen being her stylist and she asks which lipstick flavor Gwynn prefers, and Gwynn throws out randomly "lightning in a bottle" and the evil queen shows an actual lipstick shade

Doris knows the exact brand of Chapstick Charming uses much to everyone's disgust

The aforementioned lightning in a bottle shocks your lip to a glossy shade and you're not allowed to eat drink or kiss anything for 30 min

During the villain attack Walter Crumpet interviews one of them as it happens as calmly and plainly like a regular interview instead of villains busting up the place

Said interview ends with the villain making a shoutout to Gwynn Who sees the whole event back at the Poison apple, looking absolutely mortified

Charming's dad name isn't anything fancy or glorious like Brutimus or Bruciel. It's just Bruce. And charming treats it as the most metal thing ever

Broken mirrors often sound like static so you have to physically move the mirror like you would an antenna

Shrek immediately rejecting "Shrek Jr." As a name suggestion.

Rho gets asked if she ever tried out for Quadball (Quidditch)

The axe Charming got in his medieval meals turns out to be a chekovs gun

Gwynn's favorite Chapstick flavor is bubblegum

Artie has a secret stash of "Maidens" magazines obviously a play on Playboy

Gwynn attempts to teach Charming how to be a real king by replicating a sequence from Aardman's Next

Rho continually refers to Shrek as the Green Knight much to his insistence that he isn't

Fiona meets Igraine's ghost and admits that's the least weirdest thing she's ever seen

Godmother REALLY got around in her younger years

Just the fact Godmother isn't a witch she just appropriated some of their customs for her business, such as with capitalism

Merlin showing shrek and co. his entire Arsenal of magic Matrix-style complete with the iconic black suits

Artie's favorite band is the Bremen Town Musicians and yes they are farm animals

The Bremen Town Musicians also play along the opening theme of the story

Just the opening theme being another Joan Jett song (I Love Rock and Roll)

Far Far Away's waffle house being the only place tho stays open even during the occupation

Charming tries to intimidate shrek's friends like in the canon movie but he gets ficking roasted instead. It's so bad the other villains sneak in a laugh

Gwynn taking Charming out for a night in the town to show him real adult fun which results in a bar fight, drag carriage race, and egging mansions

Charming accidentally breaks the window of said mansion because he confused a small rock with an egg

Walter Crumpet storms out of mansion with a boomboom stick as gwynn and charming run off

Bruce is played by none other than Ash Williams himself. He even says groovy at some point.

Sir Cumference is the same species as Humpy Dumpty

Charming'd first rule as king is free cherry Chapstick

The princesses are a precure style sentai team complete with sparkly transformation sequences and cheesy attack phrases

Every time Charming and Artie shares the same scene someone mentions how much they look alike

The bad wolf after seeing red riding hood: "oh no not this bitch"

The single most important reason behind Rhodanthe's name: so that every time someone greets her they start singing the row row row your boat song

The villains argue whether to eat the three little pigs due to the moral implications of eating animals with clear human sapience and intelligence

Gwynn and Charming fight each other with swords in a subtle allegory for hate sex while the other villains cheer them on

The fight gets featured on Ye Olde Worlde Star (yes it exists in the shrek universe)

A scrapped subplot the ones where the triplets are born early, one of them (Felicia) gets left behind and Gwynn ends up taking care of her. She absolutely squees at the sight bc ogre or not that's still a baby and the cutest thing EVER

The message of the movie is "white men really do ruin everything"

Despite being one of the most powerful magicians ever Merlin can't figure out how it's possible for a donkey and a dragon to have kids

The villains having beef with a frog

Charming finds out Fiona may possibly be his cousin and leaves which is immediately followed by the sound of him vomiting in the trash can. Poor bastard

Bruce referring to himself as a manly badass hero

Friar's Bot having to drop the Fat part due to being deemed offensive

"Nine thousand channels and nothing to watch!" Bruce grumbled while flipping through the crystal ball

Frat Boy Snow White

Rho leading an army of swans against the villains like a WW2 aerial crusade

Cinderella sanitizing everything she uses and uses a leech as a vacuum cleaner

Every scene Bruce has a different woman on his shoulder absolute CHAD

Punch and Judy is a action figure called Punchin' Judy that Gwynn still owns it is a marionette with boxing gloves that can say dozens of different phrases

I kept the fight scene where Hook plays the piano the whole time cuz it's simply too good to leave out with the added bonus of EVERYONE singing

Famous celebs includes Katy Fairy, Sir Tom, Janet Jacksondottir, Pinke, and Zendaya. Yep her name still the same.

At the end where everything is over and charming and gwynn do their anguished love announcement and kiss and it's a cute scene but then they REALLY get into the kiss much to everyone's annoyance. Shrek forcefully breaks them apart.

The monster trees uses wood furniture

Charming having no real plan after takin the throne bc he didn't think he even get this far

[cestacruz]

I want to learn more about the master Artoria Au

🥹❤️❤️ueueueu

It's quite more extensive than Just the Holy Grail War

The lineup until now is

Saber: Musashi and Iori Miyamoto (Master(s) in the works)

Archer: James Moriarty (Master is Cassidy, i already posted something bout her)

Lancer: (Might be) Qin Liangyu (master in the works)

Rider: Ludwig van Beethoven (I already have her master but i refuse to post about them for now. I need dignity. I'll say two words to describe them tho: Hatsune Miku)

Caster: Zeno of Elea (no master yet)

Assassin: Hassan of the Shining Star (no master yet either) (also funnily enough, ive had Shining Star in this AU since two years ago, so imagine my surprise when he got released LMAO)

And well, Berserker: Queen Guinevere (and yknow, master Arturia)

It's sorta a modern AU but not at the same time, i'll put a cut here because its long and i ramble

It's not a Forced project to bring Arthur back like with Gray but the alternate name i use for this AU in my notes is "The Once and Future King" so...

History repeating itself sorta thing but without the doomed narrative (unless.) (Haha just kidding...) (...unle--)

The "pendragon|orkney" family does exist (as in mom(igraine)(she's alive), dad(uther)(he left them), morgan and lot, and nephews and nieces (morgan lost a bet to 5 year old arturia and had to name her kids after the knights) and more arthuriana characters are scattered around too, but they dont have an importance to the HGW part of the AU, with the exception of a few

They still call her Arturia (TECHNICALLY they call her Arthuria, because i love that name and no one will take it from me) because the few years that Uther was with them, he called Arturia "Arthur" because he wanted a boy and he couldnt cope (theres the History repeats itself motif and also misogynistic men like that still exist), so Morgan used Arthur*ia* as a nickname, and it stuck

This is where i will confess that im thinking of using a different name for Arturia, i already Kinda do in my notes. As in legal name (thinking of Aurlyn, which is similar but different enough). I would be doing the same with some of the Orkney siblings whose names would not be as common in the modern world or too obvious a reference, while still being named after the knights (Gareth would stay as Gareth cuz thats literally still a mormal name people use, but a name like Agravain or Mordred arent as common, ig. Or Gawain. And Gaheris. Actually only Gareth has a mormal fcking name)

ALSO mordred is Morgan and Lot's kid in this. No weird cloning in my modern AU. Genetics from the pendragon hit hard tho, they still look like Arturia

Actually idk what else to say rn, theres some more stuff but its escaping my mind, so little random stuff

Arturia's family has little to no mage relation currently, but they still have mage blood and sht

Also Merlin manipulated Morgan(modern) using her literal dreams, into freeing him from Avalon and he used to that hang out with little kid Arturia at the park (everyone hates him/chases him away)

The reason why Cath Palug is there is because this AU follows the F/SN timeline, which is a timeline in which Chaldeas never formed. Therefore, Fou never learned to love people, teehee. He only learned to hate Merlin and King Arthur (?)

Also theres a modern Guinevere, tho her name is literally just Gwen, and Arturia and her met during high school Time but they werent Actually classmates (think like, tournaments or trips to other school/places). I called her "arturia's high school crush" in the tags of a previous ask but they are still friends and talk a lot

And yeah , thank u and i am, Very happy that you asked bout it

[uniquevocashark]

Igraine probably has days where she spends hours in front of the mirror repeating "I am a professional" to stop herself from stuff like fucking her boss to acting like she was shot because someone slightly messed up her coffee