#sir Lucan

[joemerl]

And Mordred and Lucan et al.

[taliesin-the-bored]

Arthurian characters I interpret as acespec:

Galahad, the Grail Heroine, and Bors: They generally have no apparent trouble or qualms with the eternal chastity thing (except Bors when he gets cursed, but he gets cursed).

Brangaine: In La Tavola Ritonda, she tells Gouvernail that she never wants to have sexual relationships, and in a text I haven't yet read or been able to identify, she apparently stops Kahedin from sleeping with her by using a magic pillow to make him fall asleep, a role which is Camille's in Kaherdin and Camille.

Dinadan: In LTR, they call him the Wise Man Who Does Not Love, and while he has a romantic interest in LTR, their relationship isn't sexual. To the best of my knowledge, he has no other romantic interest and no sexual relationship in all of medlit and pretty much always scorns both concepts. Usually aro, demiromantic in one text, and always ace.

Lucan: It's not anything he says or does, but unless you count the actions of Lucano the evil half-giant half-lion in LTR, he doesn't have any romantic and/or sexual relationships in any medlit I know of. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but in my mind, he's on the aro and ace spectrums.

Happy Ace Week to all who celebrate!

Edit: I had somehow left out Dinadan, who I originally meant to include a picture of. I guess you could say he's implicit. Truly one of the aroace icons of all time. He ran so Jughead could also run.

[grail-lifesupport]

Brunor's first day on the job as a kitchen knight isn't going as planned...

(from left to right, Brunor, Gareth and Lucan the butler)

[queer-ragnelle]

The Last Knight of Albion by Peter Hanratty | More quotes at Arthuriana Daily

[poparthuriana]

Alleged A-Listers: Arthur, Bedivere, Galahad, Gawain, Guinevere, Kay, Lancelot, Merlin, Morgan le Fay, Percival, Tristan

Neglected Siblings: Aglovale, Agravaine, Clarissant, Daniel son of Brunor, Dornar, Elaine of Cornwall, Ganieda, Gaheris, Hector de Maris, Kay, Lucan, Madog son of Uther, Safir

[waldmaerchen]

I really never uploaded this?

It‘s just a short „everyone lives and is happy (more or less)“ au where Alastair notices a familiar scent in the streets and follows it up to the roof, just like Malory planed.

Alastair gets a dad-hug and they have a very meaningful conversation.

✨The end ✨

[allsingalongagain]

fic: home field advantage (complete)

Alastair and Grayson seek refuge in a village whose people hold unconventional attitudes towards Half-Breeds and Knights.

The Order: 1886 canon divergence fic. Grayson/Alastair, mature, complete. One shot, 16k words.

Read it here.

[heliabel]

Can we just take a minute to truely appreciate Sir Lucan The Good. Like this guy has known Arthur for YEARS. He knows what Arthur's temper can be like, yet he still tries to persuade him not to fight Mordred at the end of Camlann:

// Arthur: 'Now give me my spear', said Arthur (...)

Lucan: 'Sir, let him be,' said Sir Lucan, (...) 'for here, we be three alive,' \\

Of course, Arthur fights Mordred anyway, but (spoilers!) it's how Lucan dies that really gets me. When Lucan and his brother, Sir Bedivere go to lift Arthur up off the Chapel floor that they are sheltering in from battlefield thieves, he's observed only through Arthur's eyes; "he beheld Sir Lucan, how he lay foaming at the mouth, and part of his guts lay at his feet."

Which is an absolutely awful fate for anyone, but especially for this sweet man, who was so loyal and so genuine, which is hard to say for many knights of the round table funnily enough.

[mosaicofdreamsanddragons]

Reading the end of Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur part three:

Arthur: gets a vision tell him not to go fight Mordred or he will die. Also Arthur: well, that means I kill Mordred! Of to the battle felid I go!

I was wondering who Sir Lucan is and why I don’t know who he is…and then he immediately dies in front of a dyingArthur and I’m like, oh. That’s why

Arthur swears Lucan’s death will grieve him for the rest of his life…but as he is also dying that’s not going to be long

I get the feeling Bedivere thought blood loss was effecting Arthur when he was asked to throw Excalibur into the water

I’m surprised they don’t explicitly say that the lady who calls Arthur her brother is Morgan

Oh nope, here it is. They do tell us this is Morgan just later

Also Nimune (Nineve here, but explicitly called the Lady of the Lake) is married to a Sir Pelleas and she keeps him in an enchanted slumber so he won’t suffer…so this whole “Arthur sleeping for eternity” is not invented for him, it’s already actively being used.

Gwen sneaks of to join a nunnery…like you go girl but who is running the country now?

Lancelot: slowly realizing he killed every Gawain sibling but Mordred the one who killed Arthur

Lancelot actually goes to visit Gwen in private! I was worried for a second he wouldn’t

They have a very interesting conversation as Gwen asks him to leave as their love sorta destroyed camelot and also tells him to go on with his life

And he’s like, what do you think I’m going to go marry someone else? After all this? I’m going to become a monk to!

Lancelot goes to see Gwen when she dying and doenst make it by half an hour…only to learn her dying wish was to never see him again with mortal eyes. Wow. That’s got to hurt. He does arrange her funeral though and does bury her by Arthur…how that happened when Arthur’s in the lake I do not know

Oh and then Sir Lancelot’s brother shows up just to find out the brother he’s been searching for is dead too? Someone likes tragedy

Arthur dies and there like ten more pages about Lancelot and Gwen.

[filletedfennysnake]

I shan't cease my propaganda concerning bear kay. I'm right I just know it

[each-uisge-enthusiast]

my personal griflet take is that he is both actually a faerie and not aware he is a faerie and the reason he seems to eat shit w such consistency is because he has not yet realised the iron in the armour and the weapons is actually severely fucking up his game

[taliesin-the-bored]

A few things which are “canon” somewhere for people who are worried they’re stretching it too far

Arthur was killed by a giant cat. 

Arthur killed the cat.

Arthur didn’t fight the cat. Kay did.

Kay and Bedivere use salmon as taxis. 

Lucan is half giant, half lion. (This Lucan, Lucano in the original Italian, is evil and not related to Bedivere). 

King Arthur raided the land of the dead.

The human knight Caradoc Briefbras has three half siblings: a dog, a horse, and a pig.

A large portion of Arthur’s troops was killed a while before Camlann by his nephew’s attack ravens in self-defense. Arthur and said nephew were playing chess at the time and neither did much to stop it.

Merlin retired peacefully and went to live in the countryside with Taliesin.

Wherever Arthur walks, plants die. They don’t grow back for years.

Arthur had a spunky (half?) brother who died in battle after making a mysterious oath.

Dagonet is more or less able to run the kingdom when Arthur is gone. His biggest error is overspending on mercenaries.

Guinevere has an evil almost identical twin half-sister.

Hector beat up all the best knights except for Galahad while possessed by a demon.

Gawain plays tennis.

Gawain has used a chessboard as a weapon.

Near the start of his reign, Arthur left Lot in charge of the kingdom and went on a quest with a sassy parrot.

Gawain or Galahad succeeded Arthur as king. 

[grail-lifesupport]

Gringolet has died at least once.

https://books-openedition-org.translate.goog/pup/3346?lang=en&_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

he doesn't stay dead though...

[queer-ragnelle]

Rosemary Sutcliff gives me something that Lev Grossman fell a little flat on—grief.

I want the characters to grieve for every loss. Especially familial connections. Grossman’s Bedivere didn’t seem to care that Lucan died. But Sutcliff not only allows Bedivere to weep for Lucan’s sake, but Arthur cries for Lucan too!

Grossman I loved The Bright Sword but why did nobody care that Dagonet died? I need answers.

[sanddef]

Interlude | May as Rebirth

1100 words

It was almost May in Camelot, the weather was warming and the ebbs of wind were just beginning to cease. Flowers were blooming by the creek, water lilies, and daffodillies, and Mordred sucked a drop of blood from his finger. He placed the roses he picked onto a nearby grave, and kept walking. It was bizarre, mourning those he knew would hate that attention. Mordred could almost see Gaheris’ grimace, Gareth’s wet eyes, Agravaine’s empty stare.

‘They said your name a million times at the wake.’ Mordred told him, ‘Isn’t that what you always wanted? To be celebrated? You should have seen how the king held you. You’d think you were his very own son.’

Of course, Agravain didn’t respond. He didn’t snark, didn’t even humor him. He never will again.

‘Well fuck you too.’

It was almost May in Camelot, and the staff usually would be making preparations in a few weeks. Between May Day and birthdays to celebrate (though never Mordred’s, admitting the date of his birth only ever got him sympathetic looks and hard-to-answer questions) it seemed May was one big celebration. Of course, to any common knight, any of these supposed holidays were just pretense. Who gave a shit about Gawain’s birthday other than people trying to curry favor? By the end, knights could hardly tell you the day of the week if they were even sober enough to speak. The staff would be exhausted.

Mordred stopped walking, shook his head, and continued. He quickly steered his thoughts away from Gareth. Gareth, who always got him something for his birthday, despite Mordred’s wishes. He was utterly gone by May 31st last year, somewhere between the busyness and the merriment he had forgotten, or just forgone, moderation. Mordred had simply put him to bed, leaving quickly and letting his gentlest brother forget that he had borne witness to his momentary degeneration.

‘I knew no one could be perfect.’ He told no one at all. ‘You’ve always told me that.’

It was always about Gawain, but still.

Almost May in Camelot and where were all the people? The hall seemed empty, only a few straggling knights and servants. Lucan didn’t meet his eyes when Mordred waved him over, his face neutral and steady, he poured him a cup of wine. Mordred considered dropping the chalice, let him not react then, as wine spilled across the floor and over them both, let him wash out some red stains of his own. At least he still had his brother with him.

Gawain would be coming back soon.

‘God dammit.’

Mordred took another long drink.

He didn't remember Lot's death, being much too young at the time, but his brothers spoke about him like he hung the moon and stars.

“Don't be like that, Mordred.” Gaheris had told him one night, his gaze tracing the scar on Mordred's forehead, “He went to war for you.”

Mordred was harsh, he knew he was harsh, and he didn’t need everyone telling him all the time. In his opinion, he couldn’t be the worst of his brothers, how could he? Yes, their deeds far surpassed his own, but so did many of the ones they swept under the rug, overlooked, or wore as a public confessional if they were clever enough. Besides, Gaheris had funny ideas about a parent's love. Mordred had to discount his opinion long ago. Mother's death was regrettable, but Mordred followed everyone's example and moved forward swiftly. Why waste time thinking about something so unpleasant?

“Why waste time indeed,” Mordred muttered, leaning back on his throne.

“Ah, my lord?” Sir Brunor was looking uncharacteristically nervous, “Mordred?”

“I didn't hear you enter.”

I didn't invite you in.

“I just want to offer my condolences.” Brunor sat beside him, again uninvited, “I know it's hard. Losing Sir Galahad and then your brothers and the king.”

Mordred grunted, gesturing for Lucan to refill his cup. Why even bring up Galahad? It felt like eons since he had last seen that poor doomed youth. He had died, apparently wondrously and prettily. Holy. They used much nicer words for it than ‘easily.’ Mordred had imagined it dozens of times, his final breath of earthly oxygen as his hands grasped for what he had chosen above all else. All that effort in blocking Galahad out of his mind, and Brunor had to remind him.

“My father is dead. My brother too.” Brunor took Mordred's hand in his, “I know how it feels.”

“These things happen.”

“Doesn't mean we can't avenge them.” There was that cold fire in his eyes that got Mordred's attention when Brunor had first arrived at Camelot, “You know that. It was murder.”

“Yes. Yes, if I learn anything you'll be the first to know.” Mordred tilted his head upwards, examining the higher stonework of the walls, stone put in place only decades ago yet never touched by human hands. He was starting to feel dizzy when he moved too fast. “For now I need your service, Brunor. We’re at war.”

And where would Mordred be without his supporters? If there was one thing he was glad to have learned at this farce of a court, it was how to perform.

“Yes of course.” Brunor straightened, “There’s a fleet coming from the south. Just say the word.”

“From France?”

“We think so.”

“You know so. We can’t afford to allow enemies any closer.” He especially can’t afford for it to be Arthur. Mordred was confident that even if he did return, there were enough people on the court on his side to end the battle early. He hadn’t done the exact math yet, but even a handful of kings had plenty of men at their disposal. Even so, it would be simpler if Arthur just didn’t come back.

“Shall I prepare an offensive?”

“A man after my own heart.” Mordred smiled, crooked two fingers, and beckoned him forward, “Come here, Brunor.”

He didn’t miss Brunor’s sigh of relief as he kneeled before the throne and accepted Mordred’s kiss gratefully. He really was such a good marshal, fearing him just enough. He was a good friend too, when Mordred still considered himself worthy of such privileges. At least the loyalty remained.

Keep him close in hand and he’ll never learn what happened to Dinadan.

‘I should really get married.’

Mordred knew just the person, but for now, Brunor was set to sail for battle tomorrow and Mordred might as well give him a few more hours of his time.

Hopefully, Gawain and Arthur were already dead. If they weren’t, Mordred prayed they’d die easily.