#the prose tristan

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

Isoldes (of Ireland), ranked

5. Gottfried von Strassburg. 0/10, a real bottom-of-the-barrel Isolde. All of her compelling qualities are ported onto other characters so that she can embody the empty shell of idealized femininity: she doesn’t have the medical skill to heal Tristan, her mother does; she doesn’t have any political savvy, Brangien does. Insipid, limp, fickle, boring. Also, and this isn’t strictly related to her, but it is emphasized that she HATES Tristan prior to the potion, and I vastly prefer the versions where they develop a real friendship before the potion turns them into lust-drunk maniacs.

4. Eilhart von Oberge 4/10, a mixed bag. You see where Gottfried got some of his Isolde’s worst characteristics — the pettiness, the fickleness, both when Tristan does something extremely minor like not halting for her sake, and the awful post-wedding-night trying to murder Brangien thing. But she also keeps many of her fun qualities — her medical skill, her deductive reasoning (the detective work to figure out that the Lord High Steward didn’t kill the dragon! Finding Tristan by tracking down his non-Irish horseshoes!). You tried, Eilhart, but you didn’t try hard enough.

3. The Prose Tristan. 7/10, this Isolde is really cooking with gas. She’s giving Tristan a run for his money in the writing-emo-songs department, which sounds honestly insufferable for everyone around them but they seem happy, so like good for them. When called out by Mark gives him a real “yeah, I AM in love with Tristan, and I sure hate you, the fuck are you gonna do about it,” which we love for her. Points docked for attempted Brangien murder, however.

2. Le Morte D’Arthur. 9/10, the Isolde that first made me not normal about Arthuriana. She’s willing to do anything to save Brangien. She holds a castle against Palamedes while he lies down outside the gates and mopes. She writes heartfelt letters to Guenevere. She has a very sweet relationship with Dinadan and lets him pour out his heart about how much he hates love.

1. Béroul 10/10 no notes. Ten steps ahead of Mark at every turn and hilarious about it. Engineering the scenario wherein she will be able to swear honestly that no man ever been between her thighs except Mark and “the leper who made himself a beast of burden and carried me across the ford, and my husband King Mark” by ordering Tristan, in the guise of a beggar, to get down on his knees and “turn your face away and your back toward me, and I will straddle you like a man,” in case we were in any doubt about what they get up to in bed. An icon. A legend. The greatest tragedy of the Arthurian manuscript tradition is that we only have fragments of this one.

[majestativa]

The abyss was her eyes; the storm was her breathing.

— Tristan Corbière, Oysters, Nightingales and Cooking Pots: Selected Poetry & Prose, transl by Richard Hibbitt & Katherine Lunn-Rockliffe, (2018)

[queer-ragnelle]

The Arthurian Companion by Phyllis Ann Karr | A Companion to Malory edited by Elizabeth Archibald | Illuminated Manuscript | La Tavola Ritonda | Tristano Riccardiano | Byelorussian Tristan | Merlin and The Sword (1985) | Palomydes' Quest by William Morris | The Post-Vulgate Quest for The Holy Grail | The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Alfred W. Pollard | Illuminated Manuscript | Sir Galahad Christmas Mystery by William Morris | Illustration by Florence Harrison | The Enchanted Cup by Dorothy James Roberts | Arthur & Merlin: Knights of Camelot (2020) | Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory | The Book of Mordred by Peter Hanratty | Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley | The Romance of Tristan by Renee L. Curtis | The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

[dullyn]

One thing that is both lovely and frustrating about the Arthurian legends is the fact that since there are so many different authors, not a lot lines up. Like it offers such wild plot lines and in depth explorations of different characters, but at some point you become confused on where some interactions even come from. The perfect example of this is the tale of Tristan and Iseult, something from the twelfth century that is older than the existence of the character of Lancelot, and something that predates the Vulgate Cycle. The story essentially establishes Tristan as a character and as a brilliant knight. However, he is not Arthur’s knight in the tale, instead Arthur only makes a brief appearance as a third party judge, and he is simply King Mark’s nephew and favored knight. Well until he gets caught having an affair with Iseult and it all goes downhill and he suffers from the plot device of the Sails of Theseus. However, in the Prose Tristan and other later adaptations he is the best friend of Lancelot and Arthur’s second best knight and a noble guy, etc. I guess the point of this whole thing is that it always screws with my head when I stare at the multiple versions of the same character and have to reconcile that they are all true and real and right cause it’s literature and stories are meant to adapt and change. That’s the beauty of it as a genre, but sometimes I wish there was just one definitive timeline.

[naumaxia-art]

A couple more lil Arthuriana designs (For those of you who know about the comic I still do intend to finish it eventually... I think it just needs a bit of a rewrite and I need more time XD)

[gawrkin]

Poor, poor, Palamedes....

Sir Palamedes: Wait, so you can shapeshift this entire time!!? Sir Tristan: Yup. That's how I can look like a convincing madman. Works wonders. Drives uncle Mark nuts. Sir Palamedes: a-and Iseult knows about this? Sir Tristan: [Pointedly looks away] Oh yeah... we kind of... experiment sometimes... Sir Palamedes: ...is there anything else I should know? Sir Tristan: Weeell... there IS one more thing...

[...]

(Source: Trystan ac Essyllt)

Sir Palamedes: .... Sir Palamedes: [In shambles] Sir Tristan: Yeah, It's a pretty busted power

Meanwhile...

Sir Lancelot: ... Sir Lancelot: .... WAIT. Sir Lancelot: AM I FUCKED!?

[kashilascorner]

I don't know very well what to think of Kahedin because on one hand he was far too happy with Tristan marrying then just kinda simply leaving his sister (also Kahedin's father or, worse, Iseult of the White Hands herself know nothing about it) and Mark of all people is very fond of him (though he also claimed to be fond of Tristan, go figure). On the other hand I think he's just some dude and his biggest mistake was crossing paths with Tristan

[cyberprincehavoc]

— Joseph Bédier's The Romance of Tristan and Iseult (1900)

[good--merits-accumulated]

Heyy I know this is random but I have just read your anderperry ff "the state of his heart" and I wanna say that it's one of my favorites and that I was smiling the whole way through. they were so cute and perfectly written and I just loved everything from it

I recommend everyone to read it

Okay bye

Aaaaaaaah, thank you so much!! I'm glad you liked it. It's definitely one of my favourite oneshots I've written :]

[child-of-hurin]

Tristan, from the palace-gate, saw Yseult; he screamed, and covered his face with his hands.

+

She awoke Tristan, and gave him Yseult's letter, which he took with a lover's eagerness, kissed the seal, and clasping it to his heart, exclaimed, THIS IS COMFORT INDEED!

Excepts from [William Morris's unfinished translation of the prose Tristan], which is definitely not my favorite version of the tale itself, but clearly still has its moments!

[extasiswings]

The Honeycut bonus scene…Ms. Simone…please…

[clashcityrockerr]

i would love to write a tristan and iseult retelling someday where theyre just like really good friends, bc sure their doomed love is like the most important part of them and i love it to death, but they also have like a thousand qualities and consistent character traits beside that so. it would be fun to have their fates interwined but in a we're best friends who'll support each other and follow the other to the depths of hell way.

[majestativa]

He said to her: “I adore you, You’re the oasis of my soul.”

— Tristan Corbière, Oysters, Nightingales and Cooking Pots: Selected Poetry & Prose, transl by Richard Hibbitt & Katherine Lunn-Rockliffe, (2018)

[queer-ragnelle]

Sir Tristan is Just Awful by Jeffrey Wikstrom | More quotes at Arthuriana Daily

[cynicalclassicist]

Considering that Gawain apparently comes from Gwalch meaning Hawk and that Yder in Tennyson is called Sparrowhawk due to his victories in that tournament... well, that's food for thought.

Every friend group has a failed jock, a funny bisexual, a mean bisexual, a nice bisexual, a weird bisexual, and a boy who is a hawk.

[gawrkin]

[...]

(Source: Prose Tristan, Renee L. Curtis Translation)

Tristan and Iseult's ages at the time of the Duel with Morholt.

It is noted by the narration that Arthur was only just starting to reign around this time. Moreover, young Sir Gaheris/Gaheriet was also present to scout out Tristan for Morholt.