#words fail: sir gawain

[betterto-die-thanto-crawl]

Enjolras was nervous, and it was obvious, but still, in the soft moonlight, in the rose perfumed gardens, in such close proximity, he couldn't help the feeling that came over him. He couldn't believe he'd asked, honestly. It was very out of character for him, and yet... here they were. And not only had he asked, but Gawain had said yes. He nodded nervously, and offered a bashful smile as he reached to cover one of the prince's hands with his own. "You can call me Gabriel," he said quietly, before pressing their lips gently together.

“ can i kiss you? “ from enj to gawain, in the gardens

Gawain had been talking with the guest of his uncle, a boy around his age, since the formal dinner they had all had together. After dinner he'd shown him around the grounds, talking with him and getting to know each other better. Conversation had lulled when they got to the gardens where they now sat together, looking up at the stars every so often and his company even more often. As he heard the question, he looked a bit surprised to say the least, he would have really liked to kiss him, and he wouldn't want to deny an esteemed guest like that. He glanced towards the castle and then back at him, knowing where they were in the gardens weren't visible to those on the second floor of the castle. "If you'd like," he replied, his voice shaking slightly, excited that he'd been asked to share in a kiss. "I would be honored to receive a kiss from you, Mr. Enjolras."

[sanddef]

How Sir Lancelot met with King Arthur and Sir Gawain, and how war was decided.

1522 words

“Which of you did it?”

The hall went silent. The drab colors of a dove make the thing blend into the background. Perfectly still, break the silhouette, it becomes just another piece of noise. Gawain, in plain clothes, without his armor or family colors, was pulling off a similar effect. Like a nervous bird, he twitched in place, cocked his head. Lancelot would have thought he was nervous, that is, if his eyes weren’t so deadly focused. 

Arthur, to his credit, cleared his throat, seeming to regret taking the man with him. Tensions were high enough, what with his former champion and wife sitting across the table. “Gawain, this isn’t for-”

“I want to know,” Gawain cut him off. The fire crackled, a log fell sending a gust of embers up into the air. The damned castle just wouldn’t get warm. Lancelot had done all he could and still, the cold seemed to leak through every stone.

Was Joyous Gard ever befitting of its name? Perhaps once. Perhaps Lancelot would be too young to remember. Had Arthur ever been here in its heyday? Did he sit at Lancelot’s father’s table, share a story and good food and drink? Did Gawain? Young, reckless, brimming with energy that time hadn’t quite tempered but reshaped into something versatile and sharp. A hook that Lancelot felt in his heart now, Gawain’s eyes hadn’t left him since he had arrived. 

Lionel’s hand was on his sword. For all Lancelot’s pleading, he would not be persuaded to maintain the illusion of a peaceful meeting. Bors had conceded to him, but said he would be looking for the first sign of trouble.

“At the very least, I will protect your queen.”

Yes. A queen of very little now, but Lancelot’s queen always and forever. Lancelot and his kin finally stepped into their long-neglected kingships, and the phrase King Lancelot seemed foreign on his tongue. At the very least Arthur looked uncomfortable saying it.

“I want to know which of you killed my brothers,” Gawain repeated, was never one to back down.

“Does that really matter?” Arthur’s voice rang hollow now. The years were starting to catch up to him.

“I think it matters.” Gawain looked at Guinevere, Bors, Lionel, Lancelot. “I think my brothers were about the only thing in the world that mattered and I want to know which of you killed them. I want to know whose sword, whose hands.”

“Mine.” Lancelot spoke before Lionel could stop him, “Gawain- I’m sorry. If I had recognized them I wouldn’t have.”

“If you had recognized them it wouldn’t have mattered.” Gawain hissed, “Brave Sir Lancelot, dear agent of chivalry, my little Gareth would never raise a sword against you. I know he didn’t.”

Lancelot didn’t look at Bors, but he felt his eyes on him. The whole event was a blur, Lancelot honestly couldn't remember a thing. Bors had told him that the boy had nearly cut his arm off and Bors defended himself. This was just before he had informed him that he was dead. 

Lancelot didn’t care if he believed him. Gareth was dead regardless.

Arthur seemed to be losing hope that this diplomatic mission would do anything to prevent outright war. He let Gawain speak.

“Agravain hated you, Lancelot, I suppose you took your revenge on him. Or was it one of your kin? Indeed, I imagine neither of them have hands as unclean as yours.” Gawain’s eyes landed on Guinevere, “And all this for you, my lady. I pray to God nobody ever loves me that much.”

Guinevere looked him dead on. Lancelot hoped it was just nerves making his heart beat that way.

“You’ll turn to war, prince of Orkney? Gawain, people are going to die.” She said.

He opened his mouth to respond. Arthur stepped in, seeming relieved to get a word in edgewise, “I fail to see any other option. You kill my kin, steal my wife, I would be a fool not to respond.”

“We have nothing to offer you in recompense.” Lionel spoke up, “Everything we had was yours. Everything we have now I would rather not give up, especially if you can’t keep your nephew on a leash.”

Gawain snarled, pushing his chair back from the table, “You’re happy to say that armed, aren’t you?”

Lionel shrugged and didn't waver. Despite years of bad blood between the two men, Lionel was one of the few people Gawain could never manage to faze. Lancelot respected him for it. 

“We’re in exile.” Bors said, “Surely that’s enough. We’ll never bother you again.”

“And l just go home and tell my baby brother that our family died for nothing?” Gawain was shaking, Lancelot had never seen him so unraveled. “Damn you all. I’ll see you on the field. This doesn’t end until one of us is dead, Lancelot.”

He stormed out of the room, knocking over a chair and slamming the door as he left. Lancelot knew he wouldn’t wait for anyone, would mount Gringolet and be halfway back to Camelot in a day. He would begin rallying the troops, his golden tongue wouldn’t fail him there, and by the time Arthur returned the decision would have been made.

What a farce. War was certain the moment Guinevere was put at the stake.

Arthur just sat, looking down at the table. He hadn’t flinched when Gawain stood. He was not even particularly bothered by the way the decision had been made; waves of fate just swept him this way and that. No amount of plotting could prevent providence. The waves had delivered Mordred to safety long ago.

“Arthur, are you alright?” Guinevere asked, her face softened.

“I was just thinking how long it’s been since outright war.” Arthur said, gesturing to the empty space Gawain left behind, “How last time I was only a child. Allied with your fathers, against his. Old Bors and Ban, I pray they don’t see us now.”

“Has it really come to this?” Lancelot asked. He wasn’t expecting an answer. Hector would be finished taking inventory in an hour, the letters would be sent out, alliances made, and resources collected. Lancelot would lead his men into battle and hopefully never meet Arthur’s eyes again.

“I pray I don’t see you out there.” Arthur said, thinking the same way. “I pray if we must die, it would be a stray arrow, a squire’s javelin. I’m too old and tired to fight a former friend.”

“I don’t want to fight Gawain.” Lancelot said, thinking of the sword he had left in his room. He knew Gawain was well aware of the inscription on the hilt. Based on how he was acting, he didn’t seem to care.

“I know you love him.”

“Of course I love him.” Lancelot said, “Most of us in this room love him.”

“It’s remarkable,” Bors said, leaning back, “That you should continue loving one who hates you so grievously.”

“No amount of hate could make me stop loving him.”

The streams of Logres rushed by, interrupted by the striking of hooves. A still lake’s surface rippled. Waves at Orkney’s shore beat on. Somewhere, Rome was falling. Morgause’s two remaining sons would be deputies, and war would be at France’s borders in a matter of days. For all Lancelot knew, Mordred was already preparing.

Arthur finally stood, like an old, brittle tree, he had been hollowed out, but would quietly wait for his final storm. He looked to Guinevere, she looked back at him.

“I won’t be seeing you again.” He said, “You were a good queen.”

“But not a good wife. You were a good friend.” She replied.

Arthur smiled drily. “Lancelot, you would do well to take her advice. She knows the field well. I will miss having her as counsel.”

Once upon a time, Guinevere had been raised to be a king too. It was easy to forget until her expertise was needed.

“I have preparations to make. I’ll need to fill your seats at the table.” Arthur thought out loud, before wincing. The irony of having to take his pick from the Queen’s Knights wasn’t lost on him.

He left without another word. Seems the time for courtly pleasantries is finally over.

Bors touched Lancelot’s shoulder until he looked at him, “Do you think he hates us?”

Lionel snorted, “He has every reason to.”

“He just seemed- well he’s an odd sort.”

“It doesn’t really matter.”

“He does.” Guinevere broke in. “He’s never been the type to show it.”

“Not like Gawain.” Lionel said, “He’s going to give us trouble, that witch’s son.”

“He’s not going to poison us.” Lancelot said, “He would want to fight me.”

Bors frowned, “Even though he knows-”

“It doesn’t matter to him whether he lives or dies.” Lionel’s eyes widened in realization, “Dear lord.”

Leagues away, Gawain was riding. The scar at the back of his neck ached. It might be time to retire the sword and return to his weapon of choice; take the green axe off the mantle. To hell with what it symbolized, Gawain wanted something heavy. Besides, shame and pride mean nothing to a dead man. 

[lancedoncrimsonwings]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you for the tag @holy3cake

No Pressure Tagging @aintgonnatakethis @beginning-writer @oros-ash3s + OPEN TAG FOR ALL to share a snippet from your WIP, idea, or just a theory or plot line you're thinking of!

I thought this up for later in Horizons to Battlegrounds, quick draft, changed the POV partway through from Lancelot to Gawain- FIRST DRAFT THIS IS VERY ROUGH AGAIN.

[The first bad snow on the road has Lancelot huddled around the fire for warmth looking generally miserable.]

"Don't like the cold, eh?" Gawain commented.

"From what I can recall, it's a trait of my blood."

"Oh?"

"My Brother was the same. And my father too."

"Sooo… Ashfolk hate the cold, then?"

"When you are borne of fire, one tends to hate the cold, yes."

"I seem to remember you mentioning you dislike the summer too." Gawain teased, a glimmer of amusement twinkling in his eyes that made it annoyingly difficult not to smile back. [- changed POV to Gawain, reuse later?]

"Because it's humid when it's hot. There are only so many layers one can take off before it gets indecent."

"I'm sure few would complain." Gawain smirked, deliberately eying Lancelot up and down.

Lancelot rolled his eyes and scoffed, huddling closer to the fire, but Gawain spied the reddening of his cheeks.

"Besides, you can just put more layers on when it's cold, surely?"

"There are only so many layers one can put on before it becomes impractical." Lancelot retorted sullenly.

"He doesn't like storms, either." Squirrel helpfully piped up, nose bright red and cheeks ruddy, a sprinkling of snow still tufted in his hair from when he'd been playing in it.

"Yeh Lance, is there any weather you like?" Pym snorted, though her eyes widened in alarm when Lancelot glared at her, too.

"Any weather in which I am left alone…" Lancelot muttered sourly, more to himself than anyone else it seemed. Gawain laughed again, daring to fix Lancelot with his most shit eating grin, partially to draw his ire from Pym, partially because he was very much enjoying teasing the man. Lancelot sighed heavily, as if he anticipated Gawain's next words.

"Soo… a fair weather warrior then?" Gawain elbowed him, earning himself one of Lancelot's most horrible glares.

"Hardly," Lancelot said, smoothly, "which is precisely why I dislike extreme weather."

"Snow isn't extreme, you bloody fairy!" Squirrel told him, gleefully, pausing in his attempt to gather together small balls of snow. Gawain had a sudden but vivid memory of the boy's father, Gullyad saying much the same thing when they were younger.

"Alright Goldilocks. Want a torch to keep you warm whilst we're travelling?" Gawain offered, not bothering to keep the amusement from his tone.

Lancelot sighed again, then summoned a flame to his hand and had it flicker through a closed fist like a middle finger being held up.

"I have one already, thank you." Lancelot replied dryly.

"Oh! Such gestures are unbecoming of a fair weathered man of the cloth, good Sir!" Pym said in her very best aristocratic voice, clutching a hand to her chest as if offended, then covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

Lancelot responded by raising the middle finger on his other hand, too.

Gawain outright laughed then, clapping a hand on Lancelots shoulder as he stood. Lancelot flinched, the fire snuffed out from his palm in an instant. Gawain quickly wondered if he'd perhaps gone too far, until he saw the raised eyebrow and the slightest hint of a smile Lancelot failed to hide. To his credit, the Ashman was actually shivering. They did run hotter than most Fey, Gawain had noticed, perhaps Ashfolk and the cold truly didn't get along.

"Let us away. Before it starts to snow again and Goldilocks here freezes to an icicle."

"I'll show you a bloody icicle…" Lancelot grumbled under his breath, getting to his feet with a huff.

Gawain tried not to laugh, watching the Ashman storm towards Goliath. Before Squirrel had a chance to throw the snowball in his hand at Lancelot retreating, Gawain quickly intervened.

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

Gawain, the shit-stirrer

The next day, when they were seated at dinner, Sir Gawain laughingly said to Lancelot, “Sir, do you know who the knight was who wounded you?”

“No, I don’t,” said Lancelot, “but if I can find out and if I should happen to meet him at some tournament, nothing he ever did would be so promptly repaid; for before he left, I would show him whether my sword cuts through steel. And if he drew blood from my side, I would draw as much or more from his head!”

Thereupon, Sir Gawain began to clap his hands and laugh gleefully, and he said to Bors, “Now we’ll see what you can do, for the man who has threatened you is hardly a coward, and if he had threatened me that way, my mind would never be at ease until I had made my peace with him.”

When Lancelot heard these words, he was astonished, and he said, “Bors, was it you who wounded me?”

Bors was so anguished that he did not know what to say, for he dared not admit it and could not deny it. Instead, he said, “Sir, if I did it, I’m sorry, but I shouldn’t be blamed for it. For at the time Sir Gawain says I did it, you — if you were the one I wounded — were disguised so that I would never recognize you with those arms, for they were those of a new knight, whereas you’ve been bearing arms for twenty-five years. That’s why I failed to recognize you, and so it’s my opinion that you shouldn’t hold it against me.”

And Lancelot said that he would not, since that was the way it had happened.

— The Death of Arthur, Chapter 4, Norris J. Lacy translation

[betterto-die-thanto-crawl]

Oscar looked this rich man up and down before giving another callous smirk. "What would you know? You clearly ain't from here, an' ya clearly don't know what my life is like, given ya fancy clothes an' shoes. It's easy ta look at othah folks' lives an' insist thatcha know bettah." It was a cold statement of fact. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so civil in a conversation like this... maybe he wanted to believe it, but the idea was just so confounding that it kept him from pulling out his brass knuckles and thinking, in general, with his fists. "Maybe it's worth fightin' for, but it ain't worth me fightin' for. It ain't worth eithah of us gettin' soaked by our uncle 'cause we walked off our jobs an' didn' get money for him ta steal. It ain't worth us bein' homeless 'cause we's been kicked out or starved 'cause Wies ain't gonna use his liquor money fer food... Somebody's gotta make sure my brother's taken care of, an' that's me. I can't afford ta even dream about somethin' that can't nevah happen." And that was the cold hard reality of it, wasn't it? It couldn't happen. What was the point of dreaming of how the world could be when you can only barely survive with the way it is?

Open Starter for Oscar Delancey

Oscar Delancey rolled his eyes and smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. “What? D’ya think I like bullyin’ those newsie brats? It’s jus’ a job. They talk about goin’ wit’out gettin’ paid… Some of us can’t afford ta go wit’out pay, even if we’s got honorable intentions an’ all that…” He gave a shrug. “An’ I can’t afford ta let nobody get in tha way of me doin’ me job. That’s jus’ how it is. If life was fair, there wouldn’ be nobody starvin’ an’ scrapin’, would there?” His smirk took on a bitter edge that might, to an outsider, look threatening, but really, Oscar was thinking about making sure his little brother had a good life, somewhere far away from Wiesel and the danger their Uncle posed on a daily basis. 

[merlin-canon-divergence-stories]

Shield of Camelot

Chapter 1: Gwaine

Percival stared down at the face of the man who had died in his arms. The face of his friend, stunned and horrified. He started to become overwhelmed by his emotions as he pushed his forehead against Gwaine's, feeling how cold it was quickly becoming. He knew he should ride after Morgana and finish what he started and save Merlin and Arthur.

He started to stand when he realized he was still holding onto Gwaine and looked at him again. His heart throbbed, knowing Gwaine had died believing he failed. Died doing the one thing he swore he'd never do. Percival stopped a sob that threatened to come out and knew the decision he had to make. He couldn't leave him. He had to take Gwaine's body back to Camelot. It meant having faith that Merlin could handle Morgana and keep Arthur alive on his own.

Percival hated the thought of leaving Merlin at Morgana's mercy, but the oath he swore had made the knights, the king, and everyone else equal. Breaking that he hated more. He shivered, remembering how broken Gwaine had looked as he died. How it seemed all strength, the very thing Gwaine had embodied, had left the smaller man as he convulsed in his last few seconds of life. The gasps he let out as he closed his eyes and leaned forward into Percival's hands. Percival knew he'd never forget or get over it.

He gently freed Gwaine's wrists from the ropes that bound him, flinching at how red and raw they were. Percival knew that Gwaine struggled greatly to try to get away from whatever happened to him for them to be that raw. He caught him as his body crumpled and realized just how much smaller Gwaine was than him. Percival swallowed hard at that, remembering how he'd always picked on Gwaine, claiming to be twice the smaller man's size. It was only now that he realized just how close to the truth that was.

He very gently picked Gwaine up, and blinked. He'd heard that people usually felt heavier when they died. Gwaine felt different. He felt light, almost weightless in Percival's arms. Percival instantly shook his head to focus himself. He couldn't be getting his hopes up. Not with everything that had happened. He solemnly carried Gwaine to where they'd left their horses and put Gwaine's body on his before mounting and riding back towards Camelot, fully intending to let Leon know of what had happened.

It was getting dark when he arrived at the gates and heard a sentry call out to him, demanding he identify himself. “I am Sir Percival, returning with Sir Gwaine, who is… who is…” Percival faltered on the words, he couldn't bring himself to say it. To say Gwaine was dead.

Percival couldn't help but jump slightly as the gate slammed open and Leon hurried out with several younger knights. “Where have you two…” Percival saw the question die on Leon's lips as his eyes, angry with worry, fell on Gwaine's body. He saw Leon freeze and all anger leave his eyes before Leon murmured “Gwaine, no.” The younger knights looked away at that and Leon shook his head to clear it.

“I'll take him, you must be exhausted.” Leon said, gently grabbing and pulling Gwaine's body off the horse. Both men noticed that his body was quite loose at that and Leon shot a look at Percival. “How long has he been dead?”

“Several hours. He shouldn't be this limp, I don't think.” Percival said quietly and saw Leon's frown deepen. “Leon?” as the older man carried Gawain's body after readjusting his hold.

“I'm taking him to Gaius. Get the horses to the stables, then join me there.” Leon said in a tone that told Percival that he'd take no arguments before turning his head slightly back towards Percival before speaking again. “Besides, he'll probably want to check you over as well.”

Percival swallowed hard at that. He'd hoped he would be able to avoid the old physician, but if that's where Leon was going to take Gwaine on what was likely false hope, he'd follow. He slowly dismounted and led the horses to the stables before heading to Gaius's.

The physician turned his head slightly as he entered, acknowledging him and nodding to the chair next to where Leon was sitting, watching anxiously as he examined Gwaine's body. It was quiet for a few minutes before Gaius spoke. “Leon says that you brought him believing him dead.”

Percival felt a strange thump in his chest at that. “I saw his life leave him, Gaius. I saw the light fade from his eyes as he closed them for the last time. I held his face in my hands as his last breaths escaped him. I… I.” Leon's hand landed firmly yet gently on Percival's shoulder, snapping him back to the present as Gaius shook his head.

“He's unconscious and as close to death as I've ever seen anyone be while still living. I do not know if I can bring him back from the brink, but I will do what I can. As for you… you've been through something traumatic. You too are injured, though not as badly.” Gaius said and Percival looked down at his wrists, having forgotten about the rope burn that marred his skin.

He reluctantly let Gaius tend to him while his heart beat in his chest. Gwaine was still alive, and if anyone could bring him back, it was Gaius, of that Percival had no doubt. He felt Leon continue to lend his support with his hand on his shoulder and tried not to show how exhausted he actually was until he fell asleep leaning on Leon, everything that had happened finally catching up to him.

Leon shot a concerned look at Gaius as he steadied Percival. “He's exhausted and the adrenaline’s worn off. He's probably been running on it since whatever happened happened. I don't think we'll be getting any answers tonight.” Gaius said gently. “Lay him on the spare bed; I'd like to watch and make sure nothing else is wrong with him.”

Leon nodded, gently doing so. “Send for me when he wakes. I must report this to the queen.” He said, heading for the door. Gaius nodded and returned to his work, hoping that everything would work out and that Merlin and Arthur had gotten to Avalon safely.

[themousefromfantasyland]

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle

This is probably the most wholesome and sweet Arthurian tale, with a very sudden tragic ending.

This poem from 15th century, translated by me into modern English, is a gender swapped a Beauty and the Beast tale, a motif that in folklore is known as the Loathly Lady.

What draws my attention to this tale is that the main moral appear to be that men should treat women well even if they appear ugly and rude, and the spell that disfigures our female protagonist is only broken when Sir Gwain gives her the possibility of choosing, essentially giving her agency of her own. It's strangely progressive for a poem from the 15th century.

Listen and pay attention to the life of a wealthy lord, there was none like him while he lived, neither in bower nor in hall.

This adventure happened during the time of King Arthur, and it was a great adventure that he himself undertook,that courteous and noble King. He surpasses all kings, Arthur being the finest, and he carries away the honor of all knighthood, wherever he went. In his country, there was nothing but chivalry, and knights were beloved by that valiant lord, for cowards were always disgraced.

Now, will you please listen for a while to my tale, I shall tell you about King Arthur,

And an incident that once occurred to him.

He was out hunting in Sherwood Forest, with all his brave and noble knights -

Now, pay attention to my story!

The King was seated at his dining table, with his bow to hunt the wild deer, and his lords were seated beside him. As the King stood, he suddenly noticed a magnificent and beautiful stag, and swiftly he moved forward.

The stag was in a thick bracken fern, and the hounds pursued, staying hidden: All who saw it marveled at the King.

"Remain silent, everyone, I will go alone, if I can, Using the craft of stalking."

The King took a bow in his hand and in a woodman's manner, he stooped low to approach that deer.

As he came near to the deer, the deer suddenly leapt into a thorny bush, and the King continued to draw nearer and nearer.

So King Arthur went for a while after the deer, I believe, about half a mile, and no one went with him. And finally, he let fly at the deer and struck it fiercely and surely - Such grace God granted him.

The deer tumbled down in response, and fell into a dense thicket of ferns; The King pursued quickly.

Suddenly, a strange man approached the King, he was well-armored and confident, a knight strong and mighty. And he spoke grim words to the King:

"Well met, King Arthur! You have wronged me for many years, and now I shall seek revenge upon you; I believe your days are near their end. You have unjustly granted my lands to Sir Gawain, with great injustice. What say you, King, all alone?"

"Sir Knight, what is your honorable name?"

"Sir King," he said, "I am Gromer Somer Joure, I tell you that with certainty."

"Oh, Sir Gromer Somer, think well; You gain no honor by killing me here. Consider that you are a knight: If you kill me now in this situation, all knights will reject you wherever you go; That shame shall never leave you. Abandon your intention and use your wit, if something is wrong, I shall rectify it,if you will it before I depart."

"Nay," said Sir Gromer Somer, "by Heaven's King! You shall not escape so easily, without lying; I have you at my mercy. If I were to let you go with mockery, you would defy me another time; I will not fail in that."

"Now," said the King, "so help me God, save my life, and whatever you most desire,

I shall grant it to you now; It would be shameful to kill me while hunting, you armed and me clad only in green, indeed."

"All this will not help you, surely, for I desire neither land nor gold, truly, unless you grant me on a certain day, as I shall set, and in the same attire."

"Yes," said the King, "Here, take my hand."

"Yes, but listen, King, and hear me for a moment. First, you shall swear upon my brown sword to reveal to me, upon your arrival, what women love best in field and town, and you shall meet me here without sending exactly on this day twelve months hence; And you shall swear upon my good sword that none of your knights shall accompany you, by the Cross, neither stranger nor friend. And if you fail to bring an answer without fail, you shall lose your head for your troubles - This shall now be your oath. What do you say, King? Let's see, have it done!"

"Sir, I agree to this! Now let me go. Though it is very disagreeable to me, I assure you, as I am a true king, I will return at the end of this twelve months and bring you your answer."

"Now go your way, King Arthur. Your life is in my hands, I am fully certain; You are not aware of your sorrow. Wait, King Arthur, just a little while: Do not deceive me today, and keep everything in secrecy - For if I knew, by the Holy Mary, that you would betray me in the field, you would first lose your life."

"Nay," said King Arthur, "that cannot be. You will never find me an untruthful knight -

I would rather die. Farewell, Sir Knight, and ill fortune. I will come, and if I am alive on the appointed day, even if I never escape."

The King blew his bugle. Every knight heard it and recognized the sound; They went towards him. There they found the King and the deer, with a somber and heavy demeanor, without any desire to play.

"Now let us return home to Carlisle; I do not enjoy this hunting well,"

So said King Arthur. All the lords knew by his expression that the King had encountered some disturbance.

Upon reaching Carlisle, the King arrived, but no one knew of his heaviness; His heart was extremely heavy. In this sadness, he remained and many of his knights wondered that time, until finally, Sir Gawain spoke to the King:

"Sire, I am greatly amazed by the thing that troubles you deeply."

Then the King answered him tightly:

"I shall tell you, noble knight Gawain. In the forest as I was today, there I encountered a knight in his armor, and he spoke certain words to me, and charged me not to reveal him; His counsel I must keep, therefore, or else I am perjured."

"Nay, do not fear, my Lord! By the blessed Virgin Mary, I am not the man who would dishonor you, neither in the evening nor in the morning."

"Indeed, I was hunting in Inglewood; You know well that I slew a deer, by the Cross,

All by myself alone. There I met a knight well-armed; He told me his name was Sir Gromer Somer Joure: Therefore, I lament my situation. That knight fiercely threatened me and intended to slay me with great heat, but I spoke kindly in return. I had no weapons with me there; Alas! My honor is now gone because of it."

"What of it?" said Gawain.

"Why more? I shall not lie: He would have slain me there without mercy - And I was reluctant to do so. He made me swear that at the end of twelve months I should meet him there in the same manner; To that, I pledged my word. And also, I should tell him on the same day what women desire most, in good faith; Otherwise, I would lose my life. I made this oath to that knight, and that I should never reveal it to anyone; I had no choice in this matter. And also, I should come in no other attire but exactly as I was on that same day. And if I fail in my answer, I know I shall be slain right there. Do not blame me though I am a sorrowful man; All this is my dread and fear."

"Yes, Sir, take heart. Let your horse be made ready to ride into a foreign land; and wherever you encounter any man or woman, indeed, ask them what they say about it, and I shall also ride another way and inquire of every man and woman, gathering what I may of their answers; And I shall write them in a book."

"I agree," said the King promptly; "It is well advised, noble Gawain, by the Holy Cross."

Soon, they were both ready, Gawain and the King, truly. The King rode one way, and Gawain another and inquired of every man, woman, and other, what women desire most dearly. Some said they loved to be well-dressed, some said they loved to be admired, some said they loved a passionate man who could embrace them and kiss them. Some said one thing, some said another; and so, Gawain had gathered many answers. By the time Gawain had obtained what he could and returned by a certain day.

Sir Gawain had gathered so many answers that he had made a great book, indeed.

He returned to the court. At that time, the King came with his book, and they both looked at each other's pamphlets.

"This cannot fail," said Gawain.

"By God," said the King, "I greatly fear; I intend to seek a little more in Inglewood Forest. I have only a month until my appointed day; I may happen upon some good tidings - That seems best to me now."

"Do as you wish," then Gawain said, "Whatever you do, I am content; It is good to be proactive. Do not doubt, Lord, you shall succeed well; Some of your answers shall help when needed, else it would be displeasing."

King Arthur rode forth on another day into Inglewood as his path lay, and there he met with a Lady. She was an incredibly unattractive creature, as no man had ever seen, beyond measure. King Arthur marveled, for sure.

Her face was red, her nose snotty, her mouth wide, her teeth yellow and protruding, her eyes more bloated than a ball. Her mouth was nothing to admire: Her teeth hung over her lips, her cheeks as wide as women's hips. A lute she carried upon her back;

Her neck long and greatly thick; Her hair clumped in a heap; Her shoulders were a yard broad. Dangling breasts fit for a load, and she was shaped like a barrel. And to describe the foulness of that Lady, no tongue can adequately tell, truly; She had enough ugliness.

She sat on a gorgeously adorned palfrey, with gold and precious stones. It was an unseemly sight: So ugly a creature, beyond measure, to ride so finely, I assure you, It was neither reasonable nor right.

She rode up to Arthur and thus she said:

"God speed, Sir King! I am well pleased that I have met with you; Speak with me, I advise, before you go, for your life is in my hand, I warn you so; You shall find that, and I won't let it go."

"Why, what do you want with me, Lady, now?"

"Sir, I would like to speak with you and share good tidings. For all the answers you can offer, none of them shall help you at all. You shall know that, by the Cross. You think I do not know your secret, but I assure you, I know it entirely. If I do not help you, you are as good as dead. Grant me, Sir King, just one thing, and I guarantee your life's safety, or else you shall lose your head."

"What do you mean, Lady? Tell me straight, for I detest your words greatly; I have no need of you. What is your desire, fair Lady? Let me know quickly - What is your intention? And why is my life in your hand? Tell me, and I shall grant you whatever you ask."

"Indeed," said the Lady, "I am not evil. You must grant me a knight to marry: His name is Sir Gawain. And I shall make such a covenant with you that through my answer, your life shall be saved, otherwise, let my desire be in vain. And if my answer saves your life, grant me to be Gawain's wife. Consider now, Sir King. For it must be so, or you are as good as dead; Choose now, for you may soon lose your head. Tell me now, without delay."

"By Mary!" said the King, "I cannot grant you to guarantee Sir Gawain's marriage to you; It all lies in him alone. But if it is so, I will do my best to save my own life and make it secure; To Gawain, I will express my concern."

"Well," said she, "now go home again and speak fair words to Sir Gawain, for I may save your life. Though I am foul, I am still desirable; Through me, he may save your life, or else your death is certain."

"Alas!" he said, "Now woe is me that I should cause Gawain to marry you; For he will be reluctant to agree. To marry such an ugly Lady as you I have never seen in my life before; I know not what I may do."

"No matter, Sir King, though I am ugly; A mate for an owl is chosen. You shall get nothing more from me. When you return for your answer, right in this place, I shall meet you here, or else I know you are lost."

"Farewell," said the King, "Lady."

"Yes, Sir," she said, "there is a bird called an owl… And yet a Lady I am."

"What is your name, I pray you, tell me?"

"Sir King, I am called Dame Ragnelle, truly, that never yet beguiled a man."

"Dame Ragnelle, now have a good day."

"Sir King, God speed you on your way! Right here I shall meet you."

Thus they departed fair and well. The King soon came to Carlisle, and his heart heavy and great.

The first man he met was Sir Gawain, who said to the King,

"Sir, how have you fared?"

"Forsooth," said the King, "never so ill! Alas, I am on the verge of perishing, for I must be dead."

"Nay," said Gawain, "that cannot be! I would rather be dead myself, so may I thrive. These are ill tidings."

"Gawain, today I met the foulest Lady that I ever saw, certainly. She said she would save my life - But first, she would have you as her husband. Therefore, I am woeful - I lament in my heart."

"Is this all?" then said Gawain; "I shall wed her and wed her again,

Though she were a fiend; Though she were as foul as Beelzebub, I will wed her, by the Rood, or else I would not be your friend. For you are my King with honor and have honored me in many a battle; Therefore, I will not fail you. To save your life, Lord, it is my duty, even if I were false and a great coward; And my honor is the better for it."

"Indeed, Gawain, I met her in Inglewood. She told me her name, by the Rood: That it was Dame Ragnelle. She told me that unless I had an answer from her, all my efforts would be in vain - That is what she told me. And unless her answer helps me well, then let her have her desire in no measure - That was her covenant. But if her answer helps me, and no other, then she would have you: here is all together that she made a warrant."

"As for this," said Gawain, "it shall not hinder: I will wed her whenever you set it. I pray you, do not worry. For even if she were the most foul creature that men could ever see, for your love, I will not hesitate."

"Gramercy, Gawain," then said King Arthur; "Of all knights, you bear the flower that I have ever found. You have saved my honor and my life forever; Therefore, my love shall not be severed from you, as long as I am King in this land."

Then within five or six days the King must needs go on his way to deliver his answer.

The King and Sir Gawain rode out of town - No one with them, but they alone, neither far nor near.

When the King was within the forest:

"Sir Gawain, farewell, I must go west; You shall go no further."

"My Lord, God speed you on your journey. I wish I could now ride your way, for I am right woeful to part."

The King had ridden but a while, little more than the space of a mile bfore he met Dame Ragnelle.

"Ah, Sir King! You are now welcome here. I know you ride to deliver your answer; But it will avail you naught."

"Now," said the King, "since it will be no other way, tell me your answer now, and save my life; Gawain shall wed you. He has promised me to save my life, and you shall have your desire, both in chamber and in bed. Therefore, tell me now quickly - What will help me now at last? Enough, I cannot tarry."

"Sir," said Dame Ragnelle, "now you shall know what women desire most, high and low; I will not vary from this:

"Some men say we desire to be fair;

Also, we desire to have the attention

Of various strange men;

Also, we love to have pleasure in bed;

And often we desire to wed.

Thus, men do not understand

Yet, we desire another kind of thing:

To be regarded not as old, but fresh and young,

With flattery and sweet words and cunning -

So men can always win us women

By whatever they may crave.

You go about it nicely, I will not lie;

But there is one thing that is our utmost fantasy,

And now you shall know it.

We desire above all things from men

To have sovereignty, without lying,

Over all, both high and low.

For when we have sovereignty, all is ours,

Though a knight be ever so fierce,

And we always win the mastery.

Of the most manly is our desire:

To have the sovereignty of such a lord,

That is our craft and plan.

"Therefore, go, Sir King, on your way, and tell that knight, as I say, that it is as we desire most. He will be angry and unsought and curse her fast who taught it to you, for his labor is lost. Go forth, Sir King, and keep your promise, for your life is surely secured now, that I undertake with confidence."

The King rode forth in great haste, as fast as he could go through mire, moor, and fen, where the place was designated and set then.

There he met Sir Gromer, and stern words he spoke to the King:

"Come off, Sir King, now let's see your answer, what it shall be, for I am ready and prepared."

The King pulled out two books:

"Sir, here is my answer, I dare say; Some will help in need."

Sir Gromer looked at them all:

"Nay, nay, Sir King, you are as good as dead; Therefore, now you shall bleed."

"Wait, Sir Gromer," said King Arthur, "I have one answer that will make all sure."

"Let me see," then said Sir Gromer, "Or else, so help me God, as I say, you shall have your death with great pain, I assure you now."

"Now," said the King, "I see, as I guess, in you, there is but little gentleness, by God who always aids. Here is our answer, and that is all that women desire most specifically, both free and bound:

"I say no more, but above all things

Women desire sovereignty, for that is their pleasure.

And that is their utmost desire,

To have control over the manliest men,

And then they are satisfied. They informed me

To rule you, Sir Gromer."

"And she who told you, Sir Arthur, I pray to God, I may see her burn in a fire; For she was my sister, Dame Ragnelle, that old scot, God give her shame. Otherwise, I would have made you completely obedient; Now I have lost much effort. Go where you will, King Arthur, for you can be assured of me. Alas, that I ever see this day! Now I know well, you will be my enemy. And at such a distance I will never get you; My song may be 'Alas!'"

"No," said the King, "I make a vow: I will have some armor to defend myself,

That I swear to God! You will never find me in such a plight; And if you do, let me be beaten and bound, as is the best proof for you."

"Now, have a good day," said Sir Gromer.

"Farewell," said Sir Arthur, "so may I be helped, I am glad I have succeeded." 

King Arthur turned his horse into the plain, and soon he met Dame Ragnelle again, in the same place and spot.

"Sir King, I am glad you have succeeded well. I told you how it would be, every bit;

Now hold what you have promised: Since I have saved your life, and no one else, Gawain must wed me, Sir Arthur, he is a very noble knight."

"No, Lady, I will not fail you what I promised. If you will be guided by my counsel, you shall have your desire."

"No, Sir King, now I will not do so; Openly I will be wedded, or I will part from you, or else, you will be shamed. Consider how I have saved your life. Therefore, do not argue with me now, for if you do, you are to blame."

The King felt great shame because of her, but she rode forth, although he was displeased; Until they arrived at Carlisle, they continued on.

She rode past him into the court; She spared no man, boldly - It greatly displeased the King.

The entire country was greatly astonished from where she came, that foul and unsweet creature;

They had never seen anything so foul.

She entered the hall, indeed.

"Arthur, King, fetch me Sir Gawain, before the knights, quickly - So that I may now be made secure. In good times and bad, bind us together, before all your chivalry. This is your promise; let's see it, be done. Send for Sir Gawain, my love, immediately, for I won't wait any longer."

Then Sir Gawain, the knight, came forward:

"Sir, I am ready for what I have promised you, to fulfill all agreements."

"God have mercy!" said Dame Ragnelle then; "I wish I were a beautiful woman for your sake, for you have such goodwill."

Then Sir Gawain pledged his loyalty to her in good times and bad, as a true knight; Then Dame Ragnelle was joyful.

"Alas!" then said Dame Gaynor; So said all the ladies in her chamber, and wept for Sir Gawain.

"Alas!" said both the King and knight, that he should wed such a creature, she was so foul and horrible. She had two tusks on each side like boar's tusks, I won't hide, of considerable length. One tusk went up and the other down. A mouth wide and terribly grown, with gray hairs in abundance. Her lips lay wrinkled on her chin; Her neck, truly, could not be seen - She was hideous! She would not be wed in any other way but with a proclamation throughout the shire, in town and borough.

All the ladies of the land she commanded to come at hand to uphold that bridal ceremony. So it happened one day that the foul maiden was to be married to Sir Gawain.

The day had come, the day it was to be; The ladies pitied her greatly.

"Alas!" they all exclaimed.

The Queen pleaded with Dame Ragnelle, indeed -

"To be married in the early morning, as privately as you can."

"No!" she said; "By Heaven's King, I will never do that, no matter what, no matter what you say. I will be wed openly, for with the King I made such a covenant. I leave no doubt for you, I will not go to church until High Mass time and I will dine in the open hall, in the midst of the crowd."

"I agree," said Dame Gaynor; "But it would seem more honorable to me and most befitting your worship."

"Yes, as for that, Lady, God save you. Today I will have my honor, I tell you without boasting."

She prepared to go to church and all the nobles who were there, Sir, without lying.

She was adorned in the richest manner, more splendid than Dame Gaynor; her attire was worth three thousand marks of fine red gold coins, stiff and strong, so richly she was adorned.

Despite her clothing, she stood out as the foulest creature that anyone had seen - No one had ever seen such a hideous sow. To make a long story short, when she was married, they went home quickly;

They all went to the feast. This foul Lady took the high seat; She was very ugly and not courteous, so they all said. When the food was served before her, she ate as much as six people combined; Many a man marveled at that. Her nails were three inches long, with them she broke her food rudely; That's why she ate alone.

She ate three capons and also three curlews, and she devoured large baked dishes, indeed. Everyone marveled at it. No food came before her that she didn't eat, more or less, that pretty, foul damsel.

All the men who saw her said the devil should gnaw her bones, both knight and squire.

So she ate until the food was finished, until they removed the tablecloths and washed, as is the custom and manner.

Many men spoke of various dishes; I believe you can guess there were plenty, both tame and wild. In King Arthur's court, there was no shortage of delicacies that could be obtained by man's hand, neither in forest nor in field. There were minstrels from different countries.

[The manuscript is missing one leaf at this point, containing about seventy lines; the narrative continues at the moment of Ragnelle's and Gawain's wedding night.]

"Ah, Sir Gawain, since I have wed you, show me your courtesy in bed; It cannot be denied rightfully. In truth, Sir Gawain," the Lady said, and if I were fair, you would show more affection, but you pay no heed to marriage. Yet, for Arthur's sake, kiss me at least; I beg you to grant me this request. Let's see how you can perform."

Sir Gawain said, "I will do more than just a kiss, and with God as witness!"

He turned to her. He saw her as the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, without measure. She said, "What is your desire?

"Ah, Jesus!" he said; "Who are you?"

"Sir, I am your wife, certainly. Why are you so unkind?"

"Ah, Lady, I am to blame. I beg your pardon, my fair madam - It was not my intention.

You are a fair lady in my eyes, and today you were the foulest creature I have ever seen with my eyes. Well, I am glad, my Lady, to have you thus" - And he embraced her in his arms and kissed her and rejoiced greatly, securely.

"Sir," she said, "this is how you shall have me: Choose one of the two, as God is my witness, my beauty will not last - Whether you want me fair at night and as ugly in daylight to everyone's sight, or else have me fair during the day and the ugliest wife at night - You must choose one. Choose one, Sir Knight, whichever you prefer, yo save your honor."

"Alas!" said Gawain; "The choice is difficult. To choose the best, it is challenging,

No matter which choice I make: To have you fair at night and nothing more, that would grieve my heart greatly, and I would lose my honor. And if I desire to have you fair during the day, then at night I would have a simple companion. Now I would gladly choose the best: I don't know what to say in this world, but do as you wish now, my gay Lady. I put the choice in your hand: Whatever you will, I leave it in your hands. Release me when you wish, for I am bound; I entrust the choice to you. Both body and possessions, heart and every part, Are all yours to buy and sell - That I vow to God!"

"Thank you, courteous Knight," said the Lady; "May you be blessed among all earthly knights, for now I am honored. You shall have me fair both day and night and for as long as I live, fair and bright; Therefore, do not be troubled. For I was shaped by necromancy, by my stepmother, may God have mercy on her, and by enchantment; And I was supposed to be different, you see, until the best knight in England truly wedded me, and he should have given me sovereignty over his entire body and possessions, indeed. Thus, I was deformed; But you, Sir Knight, courteous Gawain, have given me sovereignty, indeed, that will never anger you, early or late. Kiss me, Sir Knight, right here and now; I pray thee, be glad and make good cheer, for I am well begun."

There they rejoiced with all their might, for it was right and natural,just the two of them alone. She thanked God and the merciful Mary for being restored from her defilement; So did Sir Gawain. He made merry in her chamber and thanked Our Savior, I tell you, for certain.

With joy and mirth they stayed till day, and then they wished to rise, that fair maiden.

"You shall not," Sir Gawain said; "We will lie and sleep till prime and then let the King call us to dine."

"I am agreed," then said the maid.

Thus it passed on till midday.

"Sirs," said the King, "let us go and see if Sir Gawain is alive. I am very afraid for Sir Gawain, now lest the devil has slain him; Now I would like to know."

"Go we now," said Arthur the King. "We will go see their awakening, and how well he has fared."

They came to the chamber, all uncertain.

"Arise," said the King to Sir Gawain; "Why do you sleep so long in bed?"

"Mary," said Gawain, "Sir King, surely, I would be glad if you would let me be,

For I am well at ease. Wait, you shall see the door undone! I think that you will say I am well gone; I am loath to rise."

Sir Gawain rose, and in his hand he took his fair Lady, and to the door he shook, and opened the door very fairly. She stood in her chemise by that fire; Her hair fell to her knees like red gold wire.

"Lo, this is my wife, as you can see! Look!" said Gawain to Arthur till - "Sir, this is my wife, Dame Ragnelle, who once saved your life."

He told the King and the Queen before them how suddenly she had transformed from her shape -

"My Lord, now with your leave" -

And what was the cause she was deformed Sir Gawain told the King all the details.

"I thank God," said the Queen; "I thought, Sir Gawain, she would have harmed you;

Therefore, in my heart I was sorely aggrieved. But the opposite is now seen!"

There was game, revelry, and play, and every man said to another, "She is a fair creature."

Then the King told them all how Dame Ragnelle had helped him in need, "Or my death would have been ordained."

Then Gawain told the King all together how she was transformed by her stepmother until a knight had helped her regain her form.

There she told the King fair and well how Gawain granted her sovereignty in every aspect, and what choice she gave to him.

"God bless him for his courtesy; He saved me from misfortune and dishonor that was full foul and grim. Therefore, courteous Knight and noble Gawain, I shall never anger you, that I promise now here. While I live, I shall be obedient; To God above, I shall bear witness, and never engage in strife with you."

"Gramercy, Lady," then said Gawain; "With you, I am fully content and I trust to find."

He said, "My love she shall have. Thereafter, she shall never need to ask for more, For she has been so kind to me."

The Queen said, and all the ladies, "She is the fairest now in this hall, I swear by Saint John! My love, Lady, you shall have forever for saving my Lord Arthur, as I am a gentlewoman."

Sir Gawain beget his Gingalyn who was a good knight of strength and kin and of the Round Table. 

At every great feast that Lady should be. Of fairness, she carried away the beauty,

Wherever she walked on the ground. Gawain loved that Lady, Dame Ragnelle; In all his life, he loved none so well, I tell you without lying. As a coward, he lay beside her day and night. Never would he engage in jousting rightly; At that, Arthur the King marveled.

She prayed the King for his gentleness, "To be a good lord to Sir Gromer, indeed, for what he has done to you."

"Yes, Lady, I will do that now for your sake, for I know well he cannot make amends; He acted rudely towards me."

Now to bring this to a short conclusion, I intend to end it very soon, this tale of the gentle Lady. She lived with Sir Gawain but five years; That grieved Gawain all his life, I tell you assuredly.

In her life, she never grieved him; Therefore, no woman was dearer to him.

Thus ends my tale. She was the fairest Lady of all England, when she was alive, I understand; So said Arthur the King. Thus ends the adventure of King Arthur, who often in his days was greatly troubled, and the wedding of Gawain. Gawain was wedded often in his days; But he never loved a woman so constantly, as I have heard men say.

This adventure happened in Inglewood, as good King Arthur went hunting; Thus have I heard men tell. Now, God, as you were born in Bethlehem, never let their souls be lost in the burning fire of hell!

And, Jesus, as you were born of a virgin, help him out of the sorrow that devised this tale, and do it quickly, for he is surrounded by many jailers who keep him securely, with wrongs and cunning. Now, God, as you are the true Royal King, help him out of the danger who created this tale, for he has been in it for a long time. And in great pity, help your servant, For body and soul I yield into your hands, for he suffers greatly.

Here ends the wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle for the help of King Arthur.

@ariel-seagull-wings @princesssarisa @mask131

[jaimiegoodfans]

Playing the piano in the grand ballroom of King Arthur's Camelot had always been a dream, but today it felt more surreal than ever. As my fingers danced over the keys, making the melodies echo through the hall, I couldn't help but feel a presence beside me. "Your music is as enchanting as your hair, Jaimie," said Lancelot, leaning against the grand doorway. I paused, giving him a playful smile. "Thank you, Lancelot. I suppose even Rapunzel needs to expand her talents beyond just letting down her hair," I replied, brushing my long blonde hair aside. Morgan le Fay entered, her eyes sparkling with intrigue. "Perhaps Jaimie should cast a spell with her music. Imagine the tales that would write themselves," she teased. I laughed softly. "Imagine Sir Gawain enchanted by the music, momentarily forgetting his quests," I mused aloud. Arthur himself arrived, nodding appreciatively. "Music speaks when words fail," he said thoughtfully. "And your music, Jaimie Good, bridges the worlds we know with the fantasies we dream." I nodded, my heart full. Playing in this legendary setting, cosplaying as a mix of Rapunzel and a mythical bard, felt surreal. Here, among legends, I was writing my own story, blending melodies with magic. As the last note resonated, I stood, feeling the warmth of newfound friendships. "Whether musician or cosplayer, it seems I'm part of the legends now," I said, sharing a knowing glance with my new companions. "Indeed, Jaimie," Lancelot replied, "in Camelot, we make our legends live forever." With that, I knew that my cosplay journey had taken on a new dimension. In the halls of Arthurian legend, I'd found my own place and harmony.

[a-smile-dat-spreads-like-buttah]

Gender Talks with Gawain

Charlotte had spent most of the last several days staring out of the main window that lit up her and Gareth's rooms, confined to her rooms for the time being until she learned to obey the king. It was ever so lonely, but it spared her from the scornful looks the other courtiers gave her and from the queen's fury. She had saved her love and her friends, everything that mattered most to her, and yet somehow, she had lost everything else that maytered besides those people. It shouldn't bother her, she supposed, to have lost her spot in the queen's household, to be forbidden from practicing archery, to be shut away from the world as she had been for her entire life prior to her kidnapping, to be forbidden from ever wearing pants in public again, on pain of death. She had saved her friends and her husband. She had had the adventure she had always wanted... but now she had to pay the price, even as she healed from battle wounds that a man would have been honored for. She wished she could be as stubborn as she promised to be when she was sentenced, but it all made her feel so very forlorn and sad. She had finally had a life, and then, as with everything, she ruined it. She had finally had a glimpse of the way the world could be... of the way HER world could be... only to have it crushed by the way that it all really was. Her eyes strayed to where several pairs of knights were sparring on the green some ways away from the castle, and she knew Gareth was likely among them. She knew Lady Melora would be, too, if she had any say... but being born a woman meant being born weak and mild and helpless in the face of the world. It was almost too much to bear.

@w-o-r-d-s--f-a-i-l

[qqueenofhades]

The Green Knight and Medieval Metatextuality: An Essay

Right, so. Finally watched it last night, and I’ve been thinking about it literally ever since, except for the part where I was asleep. As I said to fellow medievalist and admirer of Dev Patel @oldshrewsburyian, it’s possibly the most fascinating piece of medieval-inspired media that I’ve seen in ages, and how refreshing to have something in this genre that actually rewards critical thought and deep analysis, rather than me just fulminating fruitlessly about how popular media thinks that slapping blood, filth, and misogyny onto some swords and castles is “historically accurate.” I read a review of TGK somewhere that described it as the anti-Game of Thrones, and I’m inclined to think that’s accurate. I didn’t agree with all of the film’s tonal, thematic, or interpretative choices, but I found them consistently stylish, compelling, and subversive in ways both small and large, and I’m gonna have to write about it or I’ll go crazy. So. Brace yourselves.

(Note: My PhD is in medieval history, not medieval literature, and I haven’t worked on SGGK specifically, but I am familiar with it, its general cultural context, and the historical influences, images, and debates that both the poem and the film referenced and drew upon, so that’s where this meta is coming from.)

First, obviously, while the film is not a straight-up text-to-screen version of the poem (though it is by and large relatively faithful), it is a multi-layered meta-text that comments on the original Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the archetypes of chivalric literature as a whole, modern expectations for medieval films, the hero’s journey, the requirements of being an “honorable knight,” and the nature of death, fate, magic, and religion, just to name a few. Given that the Arthurian legendarium, otherwise known as the Matter of Britain, was written and rewritten over several centuries by countless authors, drawing on and changing and hybridizing interpretations that sometimes challenged or outright contradicted earlier versions, it makes sense for the film to chart its own path and make its own adaptational decisions as part of this multivalent, multivocal literary canon. Sir Gawain himself is a canonically and textually inconsistent figure; in the movie, the characters merrily pronounce his name in several different ways, most notably as Sean Harris/King Arthur’s somewhat inexplicable “Garr-win.” He might be a man without a consistent identity, but that’s pointed out within the film itself. What has he done to define himself, aside from being the king’s nephew? Is his quixotic quest for the Green Knight actually going to resolve the question of his identity and his honor – and if so, is it even going to matter, given that successful completion of the “game” seemingly equates with death?

Likewise, as the anti-Game of Thrones, the film is deliberately and sometimes maddeningly non-commercial. For an adaptation coming from a studio known primarily for horror, it almost completely eschews the cliché that gory bloodshed equals authentic medievalism; the only graphic scene is the Green Knight’s original beheading. The violence is only hinted at, subtextual, suspenseful; it is kept out of sight, around the corner, never entirely played out or resolved. In other words, if anyone came in thinking that they were going to watch Dev Patel luridly swashbuckle his way through some CGI monsters like bad Beowulf adaptations of yore, they were swiftly disappointed. In fact, he seems to spend most of his time being wet, sad, and failing to meet the moment at hand (with a few important exceptions).

The film unhurriedly evokes a medieval setting that is both surreal and defiantly non-historical. We travel (in roughly chronological order) from Anglo-Saxon huts to Romanesque halls to high-Gothic cathedrals to Tudor villages and half-timbered houses, culminating in the eerie neo-Renaissance splendor of the Lord and Lady’s hall, before returning to the ancient trees of the Green Chapel and its immortal occupant: everything that has come before has now returned to dust. We have been removed even from imagined time and place and into a moment where it ceases to function altogether. We move forward, backward, and sideways, as Gawain experiences past, present, and future in unison. He is dislocated from his own sense of himself, just as we, the viewers, are dislocated from our sense of what is the “true” reality or filmic narrative; what we think is real turns out not to be the case at all. If, of course, such a thing even exists at all.

This visual evocation of the entire medieval era also creates a setting that, unlike GOT, takes pride in rejecting absolutely all political context or Machiavellian maneuvering. The film acknowledges its own cultural ubiquity and the question of whether we really need yet another King Arthur adaptation: none of the characters aside from Gawain himself are credited by name. We all know it’s Arthur, but he’s listed only as “king.” We know the spooky druid-like old man with the white beard is Merlin, but it’s never required to spell it out. The film gestures at our pre-existing understanding; it relies on us to fill in the gaps, cuing us to collaboratively produce the story with it, positioning us as listeners as if we were gathered to hear the original poem. Just like fanfiction, it knows that it doesn’t need to waste time introducing every single character or filling in ultimately unnecessary background knowledge, when the audience can be relied upon to bring their own.

As for that, the film explicitly frames itself as a “filmed adaptation of the chivalric romance” in its opening credits, and continues to play with textual referents and cues throughout: telling us where we are, what’s happening, or what’s coming next, rather like the rubrics or headings within a medieval manuscript. As noted, its historical/architectural references span the entire medieval European world, as does its costume design. I was particularly struck by the fact that Arthur and Guinevere’s crowns resemble those from illuminated monastic manuscripts or Eastern Orthodox iconography: they are both crown and halo, they confer an air of both secular kingship and religious sanctity. The question in the film’s imagined epilogue thus becomes one familiar to Shakespeare’s Henry V: heavy is the head that wears the crown. Does Gawain want to earn his uncle’s crown, take over his place as king, bear the fate of Camelot, become a great ruler, a husband and father in ways that even Arthur never did, only to see it all brought to dust by his cowardice, his reliance on unscrupulous sorcery, and his unfulfilled promise to the Green Knight? Is it better to have that entire life and then lose it, or to make the right choice now, even if it means death?

Likewise, Arthur’s kingly mantle is Byzantine in inspiration, as is the icon of the Virgin Mary-as-Theotokos painted on Gawain’s shield (which we see broken apart during the attack by the scavengers). The film only glances at its religious themes rather than harping on them explicitly; we do have the cliché scene of the male churchmen praying for Gawain’s safety, opposite Gawain’s mother and her female attendants working witchcraft to protect him. (When oh when will I get my film that treats medieval magic and medieval religion as the complementary and co-existing epistemological systems that they were, rather than portraying them as diametrically binary and disparagingly gendered opposites?) But despite the interim setbacks borne from the failure of Christian icons, the overall resolution of the film could serve as the culmination of a medieval Christian morality tale: Gawain can buy himself a great future in the short term if he relies on the protection of the enchanted green belt to avoid the Green Knight’s killing stroke, but then he will have to watch it all crumble until he is sitting alone in his own hall, his children dead and his kingdom destroyed, as a headless corpse who only now has been brave enough to accept his proper fate. By removing the belt from his person in the film’s Inception-like final scene, he relinquishes the taint of black magic and regains his religious honor, even at the likely cost of death. That, the medieval Christian morality tale would agree, is the correct course of action.

Gawain’s encounter with St. Winifred likewise presents a more subtle vision of medieval Christianity. Winifred was an eighth-century Welsh saint known for being beheaded, after which (by the power of another saint) her head was miraculously restored to her body and she went on to live a long and holy life. It doesn’t quite work that way in TGK. (St Winifred’s Well is mentioned in the original SGGK, but as far as I recall, Gawain doesn’t meet the saint in person.) In the film, Gawain encounters Winifred’s lifelike apparition, who begs him to dive into the mere and retrieve her head (despite appearances, she warns him, it is not attached to her body). This fits into the pattern of medieval ghost stories, where the dead often return to entreat the living to help them finish their business; they must be heeded, but when they are encountered in places they shouldn’t be, they must be put back into their proper physical space and reminded of their real fate. Gawain doesn’t follow William of Newburgh’s practical recommendation to just fetch some brawny young men with shovels to beat the wandering corpse back into its grave. Instead, in one of his few moments of unqualified heroism, he dives into the dark water and retrieves Winifred’s skull from the bottom of the lake. Then when he returns to the house, he finds the rest of her skeleton lying in the bed where he was earlier sleeping, and carefully reunites the skull with its body, finally allowing it to rest in peace.

However, Gawain’s involvement with Winifred doesn’t end there. The fox that he sees on the bank after emerging with her skull, who then accompanies him for the rest of the film, is strongly implied to be her spirit, or at least a companion that she has sent for him. Gawain has handled a saint’s holy bones; her relics, which were well known to grant protection in the medieval world. He has done the saint a service, and in return, she extends her favor to him. At the end of the film, the fox finally speaks in a human voice, warning him not to proceed to the fateful final encounter with the Green Knight; it will mean his death. The symbolism of having a beheaded saint serve as Gawain’s guide and protector is obvious, since it is the fate that may or may not lie in store for him. As I said, the ending is Inception-like in that it steadfastly refuses to tell you if the hero is alive (or will live) or dead (or will die). In the original SGGK, of course, the Green Knight and the Lord turn out to be the same person, Gawain survives, it was all just a test of chivalric will and honor, and a trap put together by Morgan Le Fay in an attempt to frighten Guinevere. It’s essentially able to be laughed off: a game, an adventure, not real. TGK takes this paradigm and flips it (to speak…) on its head.

Gawain’s rescue of Winifred’s head also rewards him in more immediate terms: his/the Green Knight’s axe, stolen by the scavengers, is miraculously restored to him in her cottage, immediately and concretely demonstrating the virtue of his actions. This is one of the points where the film most stubbornly resists modern storytelling conventions: it simply refuses to add in any kind of “rational” or “empirical” explanation of how else it got there, aside from the grace and intercession of the saint. This is indeed how it works in medieval hagiography: things simply reappear, are returned, reattached, repaired, made whole again, and Gawain’s lost weapon is thus restored, symbolizing that he has passed the test and is worthy to continue with the quest. The film’s narrative is not modernizing its underlying medieval logic here, and it doesn’t particularly care if a modern audience finds it “convincing” or not. As noted, the film never makes any attempt to temporalize or localize itself; it exists in a determinedly surrealist and ahistorical landscape, where naked female giants who look suspiciously like Tilda Swinton roam across the wild with no necessary explanation. While this might be frustrating for some people, I actually found it a huge relief that a clearly fantastic and fictional literary adaptation was not acting like it was qualified to teach “real history” to its audience. Nobody would come out of TGK thinking that they had seen the “actual” medieval world, and since we have enough of a problem with that sort of thing thanks to GOT, I for one welcome the creation of a medieval imaginative space that embraces its eccentric and unrealistic elements, rather than trying to fit them into the Real Life box.

This plays into the fact that the film, like a reused medieval manuscript containing more than one text, is a palimpsest: for one, it audaciously rewrites the entire Arthurian canon in the wordless vision of Gawain’s life after escaping the Green Knight (I could write another meta on that dream-epilogue alone). It moves fluidly through time and creates alternate universes in at least two major points: one, the scene where Gawain is tied up and abandoned by the scavengers and that long circling shot reveals his skeletal corpse rotting on the sward, only to return to our original universe as Gawain decides that he doesn’t want that fate, and two, Gawain as King. In this alternate ending, Arthur doesn’t die in battle with Mordred, but peaceably in bed, having anointed his worthy nephew as his heir. Gawain becomes king, has children, gets married, governs Camelot, becomes a ruler surpassing even Arthur, but then watches his son get killed in battle, his subjects turn on him, and his family vanish into the dust of his broken hall before he himself, in despair, pulls the enchanted scarf out of his clothing and succumbs to his fate.

In this version, Gawain takes on the responsibility for the fall of Camelot, not Arthur. This is the hero’s burden, but he’s obtained it dishonorably, by cheating. It is a vivid but mimetic future which Gawain (to all appearances) ultimately rejects, returning the film to the realm of traditional Arthurian canon – but not quite. After all, if Gawain does get beheaded after that final fade to black, it would represent a significant alteration from the poem and the character’s usual arc. Are we back in traditional canon or aren’t we? Did Gawain reject that future or didn’t he? Do all these alterities still exist within the visual medium of the meta-text, and have any of them been definitely foreclosed?

Furthermore, the film interrogates itself and its own tropes in explicit and overt ways. In Gawain’s conversation with the Lord, the Lord poses the question that many members of the audience might have: is Gawain going to carry out this potentially pointless and suicidal quest and then be an honorable hero, just like that? What is he actually getting by staggering through assorted Irish bogs and seeming to reject, rather than embrace, the paradigms of a proper quest and that of an honorable knight? He lies about being a knight to the scavengers, clearly out of fear, and ends up cravenly bound and robbed rather than fighting back. He denies knowing anything about love to the Lady (played by Alicia Vikander, who also plays his lover at the start of the film with a decidedly ropey Yorkshire accent, sorry to say). He seems to shrink from the responsibility thrust on him, rather than rise to meet it (his only honorable act, retrieving Winifred’s head, is discussed above) and yet here he still is, plugging away. Why is he doing this? What does he really stand to gain, other than accepting a choice and its consequences (somewhat?) The film raises these questions, but it has no plans to answer them. It’s going to leave you to think about them for yourself, and it isn’t going to spoon-feed you any ultimate moral or neat resolution. In this interchange, it’s easy to see both the echoes of a formal dialogue between two speakers (a favored medieval didactic tactic) and the broader purpose of chivalric literature: to interrogate what it actually means to be a knight, how personal honor is generated, acquired, and increased, and whether engaging in these pointless and bloody “war games” is actually any kind of real path to lasting glory.

The film’s treatment of race, gender, and queerness obviously also merits comment. By casting Dev Patel, an Indian-born actor, as an Arthurian hero, the film is… actually being quite accurate to the original legends, doubtless much to the disappointment of assorted internet racists. The thirteenth-century Arthurian romance Parzival (Percival) by the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach notably features the character of Percival’s mixed-race half-brother, Feirefiz, son of their father by his first marriage to a Muslim princess. Feirefiz is just as heroic as Percival (Gawaine, for the record, also plays a major role in the story) and assists in the quest for the Holy Grail, though it takes his conversion to Christianity for him to properly behold it.

By introducing Patel (and Sarita Chowdhury as Morgause) to the visual representation of Arthuriana, the film quietly does away with the “white Middle Ages” cliché that I have complained about ad nauseam; we see background Asian and black members of Camelot, who just exist there without having to conjure up some complicated rationale to explain their presence. The Lady also uses a camera obscura to make Gawain’s portrait. Contrary to those who might howl about anachronism, this technique was known in China as early as the fourth century BCE and the tenth/eleventh century Islamic scholar Ibn al-Haytham was probably the best-known medieval authority to write on it extensively; Latin translations of his work inspired European scientists from Roger Bacon to Leonardo da Vinci. Aside from the symbolism of an upside-down Gawain (and when he sees the portrait again during the ‘fall of Camelot’, it is right-side-up, representing that Gawain himself is in an upside-down world), this presents a subtle challenge to the prevailing Eurocentric imagination of the medieval world, and draws on other global influences.

As for gender, we have briefly touched on it above; in the original SGGK, Gawain’s entire journey is revealed to be just a cruel trick of Morgan Le Fay, simply trying to destabilize Arthur’s court and upset his queen. (Morgan is the old blindfolded woman who appears in the Lord and Lady’s castle and briefly approaches Gawain, but her identity is never explicitly spelled out.) This is, obviously, an implicitly misogynistic setup: an evil woman plays a trick on honorable men for the purpose of upsetting another woman, the honorable men overcome it, the hero survives, and everyone presumably lives happily ever after (at least until Mordred arrives).

Instead, by plunging the outcome into doubt and the hero into a much darker and more fallible moral universe, TGK shifts the blame for Gawain’s adventure and ultimate fate from Morgan to Gawain himself. Likewise, Guinevere is not the passive recipient of an evil deception but in a way, the catalyst for the whole thing. She breaks the seal on the Green Knight’s message with a weighty snap; she becomes the oracle who reads it out, she is alarming rather than alarmed, she disrupts the complacency of the court and silently shows up all the other knights who refuse to step forward and answer the Green Knight’s challenge. Gawain is not given the ontological reassurance that it’s just a practical joke and he’s going to be fine (and thanks to the unresolved ending, neither are we). The film instead takes the concept at face value in order to push the envelope and ask the simple question: if a man was going to be actually-for-real beheaded in a year, why would he set out on a suicidal quest? Would you, in Gawain’s place, make the same decision to cast aside the enchanted belt and accept your fate? Has he made his name, will he be remembered well? What is his legacy?

Indeed, if there is any hint of feminine connivance and manipulation, it arrives in the form of the implication that Gawain’s mother has deliberately summoned the Green Knight to test her son, prove his worth, and position him as his childless uncle’s heir; she gives him the protective belt to make sure he won’t actually die, and her intention all along was for the future shown in the epilogue to truly play out (minus the collapse of Camelot). Only Gawain loses the belt thanks to his cowardice in the encounter with the scavengers, regains it in a somewhat underhanded and morally questionable way when the Lady is attempting to seduce him, and by ultimately rejecting it altogether and submitting to his uncertain fate, totally mucks up his mother’s painstaking dynastic plans for his future. In this reading, Gawain could be king, and his mother’s efforts are meant to achieve that goal, rather than thwart it. He is thus required to shoulder his own responsibility for this outcome, rather than conveniently pawning it off on an “evil woman,” and by extension, the film asks the question: What would the world be like if men, especially those who make war on others as a way of life, were actually forced to face the consequences of their reckless and violent actions? Is it actually a “game” in any sense of the word, especially when chivalric literature is constantly preoccupied with the question of how much glorious violence is too much glorious violence? If you structure social prestige for the king and the noble male elite entirely around winning battles and existing in a state of perpetual war, when does that begin to backfire and devour the knightly class – and the rest of society – instead?

This leads into the central theme of Gawain’s relationships with the Lord and Lady, and how they’re treated in the film. The poem has been repeatedly studied in terms of its latent (and sometimes… less than latent) queer subtext: when the Lord asks Gawain to pay back to him whatever he should receive from his wife, does he already know what this involves; i.e. a physical and romantic encounter? When the Lady gives kisses to Gawain, which he is then obliged to return to the Lord as a condition of the agreement, is this all part of a dastardly plot to seduce him into a kinky green-themed threesome with a probably-not-human married couple looking to spice up their sex life? Why do we read the Lady’s kisses to Gawain as romantic but Gawain’s kisses to the Lord as filial, fraternal, or the standard “kiss of peace” exchanged between a liege lord and his vassal? Is Gawain simply being a dutiful guest by honoring the bargain with his host, actually just kissing the Lady again via the proxy of her husband, or somewhat more into this whole thing with the Lord than he (or the poet) would like to admit? Is the homosocial turning homoerotic, and how is Gawain going to navigate this tension and temptation?

If the question is never resolved: well, welcome to one of the central medieval anxieties about chivalry, knighthood, and male bonds! As I have written about before, medieval society needed to simultaneously exalt this as the most honored and noble form of love, and make sure it didn’t accidentally turn sexual (once again: how much male love is too much male love?). Does the poem raise the possibility of serious disruption to the dominant heteronormative paradigm, only to solve the problem by interpreting the Gawain/Lady male/female kisses as romantic and sexual and the Gawain/Lord male/male kisses as chaste and formal? In other words, acknowledging the underlying anxiety of possible homoeroticism but ultimately reasserting the heterosexual norm? The answer: Probably?!?! Maybe?!?! Hell if we know??! To say the least, this has been argued over to no end, and if you locked a lot of medieval history/literature scholars into a room and told them that they couldn’t come out until they decided on one clear answer, they would be in there for a very long time. The poem seemingly invokes the possibility of a queer reading only to reject it – but once again, as in the question of which canon we end up in at the film’s end, does it?

In some lights, the film’s treatment of this potential queer reading comes off like a cop-out: there is only one kiss between Gawain and the Lord, and it is something that the Lord has to initiate after Gawain has already fled the hall. Gawain himself appears to reject it; he tells the Lord to let go of him and runs off into the wilderness, rather than deal with or accept whatever has been suggested to him. However, this fits with film!Gawain’s pattern of rejecting that which fundamentally makes him who he is; like Peter in the Bible, he has now denied the truth three times. With the scavengers he denies being a knight; with the Lady he denies knowing about courtly love; with the Lord he denies the central bond of brotherhood with his fellows, whether homosocial or homoerotic in nature. I would go so far as to argue that if Gawain does die at the end of the film, it is this rejected kiss which truly seals his fate. In the poem, the Lord and the Green Knight are revealed to be the same person; in the film, it’s not clear if that’s the case, or they are separate characters, even if thematically interrelated. If we assume, however, that the Lord is in fact still the human form of the Green Knight, then Gawain has rejected both his kiss of peace (the standard gesture of protection offered from lord to vassal) and any deeper emotional bond that it can be read to signify. The Green Knight could decide to spare Gawain in recognition of the courage he has shown in relinquishing the enchanted belt – or he could just as easily decide to kill him, which he is legally free to do since Gawain has symbolically rejected the offer of brotherhood, vassalage, or knight-bonding by his unwise denial of the Lord’s freely given kiss. Once again, the film raises the overall thematic and moral question and then doesn’t give one straight (ahem) answer. As with the medieval anxieties and chivalric texts that it is based on, it invokes the specter of queerness and then doesn’t neatly resolve it. As a modern audience, we find this unsatisfying, but once again, the film is refusing to conform to our expectations.

As has been said before, there is so much kissing between men in medieval contexts, both ceremonial and otherwise, that we’re left to wonder: “is it gay or is it feudalism?” Is there an overtly erotic element in Gawain and the Green Knight’s mutual “beheading” of each other (especially since in the original version, this frees the Lord from his curse, functioning like a true love’s kiss in a fairytale). While it is certainly possible to argue that the film has “straightwashed” its subject material by removing the entire sequence of kisses between Gawain and the Lord and the unresolved motives for their existence, it is a fairly accurate, if condensed, representation of the anxieties around medieval knightly bonds and whether, as Carolyn Dinshaw put it, a (male/male) “kiss is just a kiss.” After all, the kiss between Gawain and the Lady is uncomplicatedly read as sexual/romantic, and that context doesn’t go away when Gawain is kissing the Lord instead. Just as with its multiple futurities, the film leaves the question open-ended. Is it that third and final denial that seals Gawain’s fate, and if so, is it asking us to reflect on why, specifically, he does so?

The film could play with both this question and its overall tone quite a bit more: it sometimes comes off as a grim, wooden, over-directed Shakespearean tragedy, rather than incorporating the lively and irreverent tone that the poem often takes. It’s almost totally devoid of humor, which is unfortunate, and the Grim Middle Ages aesthetic is in definite evidence. Nonetheless, because of the comprehensive de-historicizing and the obvious lack of effort to claim the film as any sort of authentic representation of the medieval past, it works. We are not meant to understand this as a historical document, and so we have to treat it on its terms, by its own logic, and by its own frames of reference. In some ways, its consistent opacity and its refusal to abide by modern rules and common narrative conventions is deliberately meant to challenge us: as before, when we recognize Arthur, Merlin, the Round Table, and the other stock characters because we know them already and not because the film tells us so, we have to fill in the gaps ourselves. We are watching the film not because it tells us a simple adventure story – there is, as noted, shockingly little action overall – but because we have to piece together the metatext independently and ponder the philosophical questions that it leaves us with. What conclusion do we reach? What canon do we settle in? What future or resolution is ultimately made real? That, the film says, it can’t decide for us. As ever, it is up to future generations to carry on the story, and decide how, if at all, it is going to survive.

(And to close, I desperately want them to make my much-coveted Bisclavret adaptation now in more or less the same style, albeit with some tweaks. Please.)

Further Reading

Ailes, Marianne J. ‘The Medieval Male Couple and the Language of Homosociality’, in Masculinity in Medieval Europe, ed. by Dawn M. Hadley (Harlow: Longman, 1999), pp. 214–37.

Ashton, Gail. ‘The Perverse Dynamics of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, Arthuriana 15 (2005), 51–74.

Boyd, David L. ‘Sodomy, Misogyny, and Displacement: Occluding Queer Desire in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, Arthuriana 8 (1998), 77–113.

Busse, Peter. ‘The Poet as Spouse of his Patron: Homoerotic Love in Medieval Welsh and Irish Poetry?’, Studi Celtici 2 (2003), 175–92.

Dinshaw, Carolyn. ‘A Kiss Is Just a Kiss: Heterosexuality and Its Consolations in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, Diacritics 24 (1994), 205–226.

Kocher, Suzanne. ‘Gay Knights in Medieval French Fiction: Constructs of Queerness and Non-Transgression’, Mediaevalia 29 (2008), 51–66.

Karras, Ruth Mazo. ‘Knighthood, Compulsory Heterosexuality, and Sodomy’ in The Boswell Thesis: Essays on Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, ed. Matthew Kuefler (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), pp. 273–86.

Kuefler, Matthew. ‘Male Friendship and the Suspicion of Sodomy in Twelfth-Century France’, in The Boswell Thesis: Essays on Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, ed. Matthew Kuefler (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), pp. 179–214.

McVitty, E. Amanda, ‘False Knights and True Men: Contesting Chivalric Masculinity in English Treason Trials, 1388–1415,’ Journal of Medieval History 40 (2014), 458–77.

Mieszkowski, Gretchen. ‘The Prose Lancelot's Galehot, Malory's Lavain, and the Queering of Late Medieval Literature’, Arthuriana 5 (1995), 21–51.

Moss, Rachel E. ‘ “And much more I am soryat for my good knyghts’ ”: Fainting, Homosociality, and Elite Male Culture in Middle English Romance’, Historical Reflections / Réflexions historiques 42 (2016), 101–13.

Zeikowitz, Richard E. ‘Befriending the Medieval Queer: A Pedagogy for Literature Classes’, College English 65 (2002), 67–80.

[a-smile-dat-spreads-like-buttah]

Charlie was nervous, and she didn't know why, exactly. Maybe it was just that this was the first time she had ever worked at something like the local Renaissance Faire... or maybe it was that it was her first time choosing the Gender Neutral Dressing Room TM instead of taking the Fair Maiden's option. She supposed that the people who came up with Gender Neutral Dressing Room TM must have been in a crunch for time and mught have been lacking for imagination, but that wasn't the point, was it? The point was that there was an option given for people who didn't... fit. All the same, though, he hands were shaking as she tried so very hard to lace up the bodice of her dress, but it was all so fiddly, and it seemed that the more frustrated she got, the harder it got.

When the other individual (her first thiught was to say guy, but she didn't know for sure...) in the dressing room spoke, she jumped, startled from her concentration, before trying to hastily compose herself. She turned about, and stopped for a moment, taking her dressing room-mate (was that a thing?) in in silence before silently kicking herself when she realized that the person had asked a question. "O-oh! Oh yes, of course!" She looked at them closely before taking a couple steps forward and pulling on the end of the doublet slightly before giving them a nod and looking up at them. "You look good." She smiled for a moment, making eye contact with them, before giving a sigh and making a face when she remembered the lacing on her dress.

"W-w-would you m-mind," she started, gulping, clearly nervous and embarassed as her cheeks turned red, "h-helping me with this d-damn dress? My h-hands are so shakey, because I'm n-nervous, I guess, and all of this is new and I've never done anything like this before, and I am starting to wish I had asked for a dress with a zipper because this is ridiculous!" She ended her little ramble with wide eyes and pursed lips, as she clearly and embarrassedly realized she had just said her whole little piece without taking a breath.That being said, she gave a nervous laugh and exhaled, glad to have fresh oxygen.

Send 🏰 for a Ren Faire Starter for Gawain

It was opening day, it was always the busiest of the Faire, and in the gender neutral dressing room, the actor playing the prince was getting dressed and turned over to look at a younger actor, about his brother's age. "I'm sorry for bothering you, but would you mind telling me if my doublet is straight," he asked, spinning slowly for her, catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror and smiling slightly. He looked Princely as could be.

[violetcancerian]

So I finally used my drawing tablet for something totally self indulgent WHICH IS...do some Arthurian art, and NATURALLY, I go with Gawain. So this is in part inspired by Dev Patel, by my own take, by the poem, and this was the result. 

Image warning: blood 

[Image Description: A young man with dark skin, black hair, with golden highlights, a yellow cloak, and red undershirt peeking at the bottom, is standing wide eyed in fear or shock with a background of light green. He holds an axe that is covered in blood, his yellow cloak and face are also covered in blood. There is a five pointed star behind his head, only the three corners (top, left and right) are visible, he also wears holly leaves and red berries in his hair. End Image Description.] 

So anyways, here’s my favorite part of the poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: 

Then the Green Knight drew off from him and leaned on his axe, setting the shaft on the ground, and looked on Gawain as he stood all armed and faced him fearlessly–at heart it pleased him well. Then he spake merrily in a loud voice, and said to the knight, "Bold sir, be not so fierce, no man here hath done thee wrong, nor will do, save by covenant, as we made at Arthur's court. I promised thee a blow and thou hast it–hold thyself well paid! I release thee of all other claims. If I had been so minded I might perchance have given thee a rougher buffet. First I menaced thee with a feigned one, and hurt thee not for the covenant that we made in the first night, and which thou didst hold truly. All the gain didst thou give me as a true man should. The other feint I proffered thee for the morrow: my fair wife kissed thee, and thou didst give me her kisses–for both those days I gave thee two blows without scathe–true man, true return. But the third time thou didst fail, and therefore hadst thou that blow. For 'tis my weed thou wearest, that same woven girdle, my own wife wrought it, that do I wot for sooth. Now know I well thy kisses, and thy conversation, and the wooing of my wife, for 'twas mine own doing. I sent her to try thee, and in sooth I think thou art the most faultless knight that ever trode earth. As a pearl among white peas is of more worth than they, so is Gawain, i' faith, by other knights. But thou didst lack a little, Sir Knight, and wast wanting in loyalty, yet that was for no evil work, nor for wooing neither, but because thou lovedst thy life–therefore I blame thee the less."   Then the other stood a great while, still sorely angered and vexed within himself; all the blood flew to his face, and he shrank for shame as the Green Knight spake; and the first words he said were, "Cursed be ye, cowardice and covetousness, for in ye is the destruction of virtue." Then he loosed the girdle, and gave it to the knight. "Lo, take there the falsity, may foul befall it! For fear of thy blow cowardice bade me make friends with covetousness and forsake the customs of largess and loyalty, which befit all knights. Now am I faulty and false and have been afeared: from treachery and untruth come sorrow and care. I avow to thee, Sir Knight, that I have ill done; do then thy will. I shall be more wary hereafter."   Then the other laughed and said gaily, "I wot I am whole of the hurt I had, and thou hast made such free confession of thy misdeeds, and hast so borne the penance of mine axe edge, that I hold thee absolved from that sin, and purged as clean as if thou hadst never sinned since thou wast born. And this girdle that is wrought with gold and green, like my raiment, do I give thee, Sir Gawain, that thou mayest think upon this chance when thou goest forth among princes of renown, and keep this for a token of the adventure of the Green Chapel, as it chanced between chivalrous knights. And thou shalt come again with me to my dwelling and pass the rest of this feast in gladness." Then the lord laid hold of him, and said, "I wot we shall soon make peace with my wife, who was thy bitter enemy."

PLEASE DO NOT STEAL 

[literallymechanical]

This is Toast!

I adopted him earlier this week. He’s seven-ish months old, he sits on my laptop during zoom meetings, and he purrs like somebody trying to start a broken lawnmower. I can and will burn the very Heavens out of the sky to keep him safe.

Picking a name for Toast was challenging. I compiled a list of about 130 names, almost all of which were suggested by friends.  I put each name through a series of trials, the most important ones being the “am I embarrassed to yell this across the apartment” test, and the “am I going to be able to explain this reference to a coworker or grandparent without sounding like a total dweeb” test.  Many failed.

The full list of potential names, organized by category, is below the cut.  But first, I’d like to go through a few honorable mentions that almost made it:

Jack Purrsons, named after Jack Parsons, the mad cultist and founder of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Notable for being one of the most important rocket engineers to ever live, attempting to summon the Thelemite goddess Babalon to Earth, and dying at age 37 in a nitroglycerin explosion while making bootleg Hollywood pyrotechnics.

KV Spectral Class, pronounced “Kay Vee.”  I am told that this is the spectral class of stars that shine orange.  It has become apparent that I am friends with an unusually high number of astrophysicists.

The same name as my sister’s cat.  I would just type it, except it’s also the name of her son.  The cat came first.  Giving my cat the same name as both her cat and her child would be a fun little bit of vicious sibling mockery.

Roomba.  This one is just adorable.

Keep reading for the full list of suggestions, sorted!  Feel free to use any or all of these for your own pets!

Food (guess which one these was an extremely specific dig at my strength of character)

Peppermint

Candycorn

Cookie Dough

Cheezit

Carraway

Cardamom

Nutmeg

Coriander

Saffron

11:30 AM Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso

(Pumpkin) gnocchi

Toast

Marmalade

Pizza

Cheeseburger

Tuna

Sushi

Bean

Simmer

Names And Titles (or, “I understood that reference!”) 

The Purrincipal Investigator

Edwin

Gryphon (technically it's not a McElroy reference if it's spelled like this)

Sir Underfoot

Ricky

Jeeves

Cheshire

Mr. Darcey

Bedivere

Gawain

Galahad

Christopher

Alastair

Julian

Leopold

Nathaniel

Theodore

Quentin

Sebastian

Erik the Orange

Skipper

Puck

Rumplestiltskin

Boris

Edgar Gladpaw Pussywillow III

Jack (Purrsons)

Jack (o’Lantern)

Szeth son-son-Vallano, Truthless of Shinovar

Leshwi

TenSoon

Elend

Rua

Ico

Catticus Finch

Mogget

Hopper

Feather

GCat

Achilles

Mufasa

Minecraft Steve

Cave Spider

Pounce deLeon

Mister

Greed

Kaiju

Shinebright

Turret

Plasma Physics (or, “I’m scrolling through your tumblr and just suggesting words that stand out.”)

Plasma

Yttrium

Magnet

Tokamak (Mackie for short)

Q

Watt

Megawatt

Gigawatt

Stellarator (Stella for short)

Tungsten

Alcator C-Paw

Sparcky

Astronomy And Particle Physics (or, if I had a nickel for every astrophysicist who gave me more than 50 suggestions for cat names I’d have ten cents, which isn’t a lot but it’s still odd that it happened twice.)

Kepler

Copernicus

Comet

Oort

Kuiper

KV Spectral Class

Higgs

Gibbous

Photon

Muon

Meow-on

Engineering (or, I can’t name a cat MOSFET because it sounds like the Doctor Who guy)

Catpacitor

Diode

Pixel

Voxel

Volt

MOSFET

Radar

Transistor

Tesla

Pascal

Fission

OSHA violation

Sprocket

Alloy

Other Miscellaneous Nouns 

Button

Tagalong

Domino

Flicker

Hobgoblin

Scrumpkin

Lilly pad

Marble

Cheeto

Bumblebee

Roomba

Widget

Nugget

Ferret

Banjo

Didgeridoo

Oboe

Teapot

Bathtub

Lamp

Toothbrush

Fork

Thingamajig

Pigeon

Lawnmower

Beanbag

Oliver

Tourmaline

Zircon

Topaz

Bulbine

Zinn

Ranunculus

[royalsunshinehotel]

am I the only one who keeps thinkign about Gawain and a super soft/calm/quiet yn? no?ok ;)

Ladybird

A/N: You sure aren't the only one who keeps thinking about that :))))))

Word Count: 1,119

Gawain knew that he had a reputation for being a cad.

Yet his reputation hadn’t fulfilled him or made him feel like anything more than he was. The green knight had shown him what would happen if he kept up as he was. It wasn’t as if he was upset about this match. He just hadn’t expected his 22nd birthday to come this quickly.

But there you were, a vision in a soft pink gown, and two gold bracelets on each wrists. You smiled at him, and it felt as if everything was exactly as it should be.

“Good morning,” you breathed out, a calm tone making your words float out of your mouth.

“Hello,” greeted the young knight, “How are you this fine morning?” What a stupid thing to say? Was that really all he had for his betrothed? His future queen?

“Quite well, thank you sir.” You replied, trying to ignore the fact that you had yet to meet his eyes.

He was a lot more handsome than he was ten years prior, when you had last seen him. He had all of his teeth now. His skin looked soft and his hair wasn’t taking over his head as it was when he was a child.

“Do you still like worms?” You stutter out, trying your best to come across as confident. Your efforts had failed failed, but he didn't mind

Gawain laughed, and it felt as if the sun had just come out in England.

“I do appreciate them, but I don’t threaten to eat them as I used to.” A moment flashes in your mind of Gawain dangling a poor, wriggling worm above his teeth, snarling like a dog. In retrospect, it was unlikely the worm would even die as he had half of his teeth, but it was still quite distressing.

“Good, I can’t imagine they would taste good cold anyway.” Gawain smiled, seeming shocked on some level.

‘No they don’t.”

“Sir!” You reached over and pinched Gawain’s arm, intending to be soft, but the feel of his muscle under your hand was nearly too much.

Gawain laughed again, and your knees suddenly felt weak. No one had ever made you feel this way, even when you were both children.

“I’m only joking my lady, I swear it.” Your face twists into a small smirk, of course. “Shall we take a walk?” He suggested, offering you his arm.

“I’d like that.” You replied, ignoring how Gawain twitched under the feel of your hand on his. You were so warm, it made him see stars. But he couldn’t allow himself to feel this deeply now, or after all this time. Today was the one day he had to catch up with you, and he intended to make the most of it.

The two of you made your way through the hallways of what was set to be your new home, and Gawain would occasionally squeeze your hand whenever you started to look concerned.

The castle was large, you were likely to need a map. But he would help you. With every squeeze the doubts felt farther and farther away.

“So, when I last left you,” Gawain starts, looking at your face as the sun hits it. “Your favorite animal was a horse. Does that remain true?” You can’t help but giggle at your fascination with the four-legged creatures. You decide to be honest.

“It does, though the fascination is now with their minds, and less their aesthetic.”

“And you were also trying your best to learn the harp, how has that gone?” You scoffed, as the last time he heard you play, you’d had a string snap, leaving you with a sizeable mark on your hand.

“I am still something of a novice, but I simply enjoy it. You’ll have to get used to that when we are wed.”

“I look forward to it.” He did it again, you thought as he looked down. When you dared to meet his gaze, it felt as if he was looking right into your soul. The air seemed to be laced with energy that one would find before a storm. Like beams of light were about to crack across the sky.

“And you sir? What’s your favorite color?” You asked lamely, breaking from his large, dark eyes.

“It’s not yellow anymore, it’s gold.” You face cracked into a smile,

“Then I suppose kingship is a practical position for loving such a color.”

“Not like gold jewels, my admiration lies in the gold found in a sunrise. Though I do like how it looks on your wrists, my lady.”

“An engagement gift from your Uncle, sir.” You give him your hands, and the sparks crawl across your skin again. Gawain was so delicate with his contact, lightly running his hand over the intricate carvings in the gold bracelets.

But once again, the moment ends.

“Oh, hello there!” You say, feeling something, you glance up at Gawain as he stepped closer to you, rummaging through your thick hair to find a ladybird crawling on you.

Gawain’s face flickered with an expression that could have cut you in half from the sheer density.

You want to know what he’s thinking. You want to know if he’s been thinking about you as much as you have him.

“A ladybird.”

“Just like…” You started. Just like the last day the two of you had spent together. You parted with him asking "what do married couples do", and you simply grabbed his face and pulled it to yours.

Oh, to have a twelve year old's confidence.

“That day you broke my nose.” You gasp in shock and for a half-second Gawain thought he might have overstepped, but your face quickly breaks into a sweet smile.

“I still think you’d make an excellent knight, my lady.” He complimented you so effortlessly, you wanted to be skeptical, but you weren’t.

“In another life, perhaps.” Your tone is soft, almost unreadable if he hadn’t been standing as close as he was.

Gawain could feel your chaperone out of the corner of his eye. He wanted to put his lips on yours and take what he’d been waiting 10 years for. He would have married you right then, but he was deemed “too young”.

Oh well. He could wait a few more days. But the weight of unsaid words hung heavy over the two of you. You realized right then that Gawain likely had curbed his manner to match yours, as your mother had said your father did before their wedding. The thought of someone being that considerate made something deep inside you grow hot. He didn’t want to scare you.

Your breath caught as Gawain slowly brought your hand to his lips, and you did everything you could not to think of how good his beard felt on your skin.

Your knees shook once more, just from the explicit thoughts running through your head. Gawain would have never guessed until you told him later.

“Until we meet again.”

[docholligay]

The Green Knight: Yet and a Definition of Greatness

So I avoid talking about the poem, by and large, because I’m not sure that it’s terribly relevant to the actual thing we’re discussing, but I am going to bring up that in the poem, not only is Gawain already a “Sir,” but he gets to be one of the bravest and most loyal and whatever whatever of Arthur’s knights, which sounds more dismissive than I mean--I really do enjoy the original--but I think, whereas the older version is about proving what you are, this version is about becoming what you wish you were. What you might be. And how that’s not an easy straight line, but a series of hills and valleys. 

How to become what you might be requires tests, and struggles, and failure. 

I think one of the greatest endcaps for this is the dialogue from Gawain himself at the beginning and end of the movie. We have Gawain saying, “I’m not ready..I’m not ready,” and then at the end, literally the last ting he says in the movie is, “There. Now I’m ready.” The whole movie has been about him getting ready for the real test of himself, and things he has had to lose and gain in order to be a knight, in order to be ready. That’s the whole reason that we only see “The Green Knight” come up at the very end, is that story hasn’t been ready to be told before now, and he, himself, is the Green Knight (More on this in a later post). 

“Are you a knight yet?” Gawain is asked, at the very beginning, and we repeat that word again several times in the beginning, the idea of yet. Most noticeably, we see it used by Guinevere, when Gawain is asked specifically by Arthur to tell a him a tale of himself, and Gawain says he has not story to tell. Yet, Guinevere says. You have no story to tell yet.

It that word “yet” lies all the possibility of the things that Gawain could be, and it contrasts him directly with the company he sits in, dull and dishwater grey, they are ghosts even before they have died. They also have no story for Arthur, but note that there is no “yet” with them. They are only “were.” A legend, by necessity, has a past but no future. 

After he fails the test of temper and mercy, Gawain confesses that he fears me may not be meant for greatness. Given that he’s having this conversation after getting into a barfight, again proving that his temper rules him, and so he may not be fit to rule, I think that’s fair enough, but what I think is interesting here is Arthur’s response:

“You have mud on your face.” 

It’s funny, when you see it in theaters. But it reveals something too: The idea that Gawain is blighted, but it need not be a permanent condition. A failure is only a temporary thing. You can always wash the mud off your face. He doesn’t answer the question, because that’s not a question he can answer, it’s an answer that only Gawain himself can give. He is meant for greatness if he chooses to be great, there’s no “being born to” anything here. 

And what does greatness mean? It’s a fair enough question for a movie that’s about the price of seeking it. Essel asks him, before he sets out, “Why greatness? Is not goodness enough?” and some of this slips back into the green sash as a symbol of cowardice, and how those who love us would rather not love a hero, when it comes right down to it, but this is not that post, so let’s instead talk about if Gawain even has an idea of what it is to be great. 

I would argue he does, but in the beginning, it’s a little boy’s idea of what it means to be great. It’s this very Arthurian, very neat idea of what it means to be a knight at all, the idea of what it means to win honor. It is not kindness, or generosity, or temperance, or any of these things. By the end, Gawain himself is confused by what he seeks in all of this, and whether or not its possible to find at the end of the road. 

That is part, I think, of what frightens him at the end--though of course I think that some of it is just the thought of death and the natural world, more on that later--but the idea that this whole journey he’s been on has not proven him out in the way he thought it might. That he might die still not knowing if he ever lived by his values, because I’m not convinced he knows quite yet what those are. 

I think this movie succeeds best in moments like that, because it’s making a very human connection to this very fantastical experience. How many of us could easily define the values and morals we live by? Not the ones we wish we lived by, but the ones we actually do? The enigmatic experience of defining what it is we expect from ourselves, of saying what it that would make us great, I think that’s far more affecting than anyone who is always brave, always loyal, always sure. 

Maybe goodness would be something he could attain. But greatness, that a hard thing to bear, and a line one never truly crosses, and maybe the closest he gets in the end is acceptance of the fact that one way or the other, there will be a story of him. He has a story to tell, whether it is told by him or of him, and he no longer has to live in the yet.

On Doc and The Green Knight

[ernmark]

One Possible Read of The Green Knight

I say one possible, because this is the story as I understood it as I was watching the film. When I mentioned it to my partner, he didn't take that away. I'm not saying my take on it is right or wrong (I think it's hard to say that about most reads for a movie like this), but I submit it for your consideration.

(Spoilers and a fairly thorough plot summary under the cut)

(Holy moly this got long)

A brief caveat:

Caveat the First: I'm basing this off a pre-existing understanding of medieval stories, which don't necessarily follow the same narrative structures as modern ones. The world they lived in was weird, so sometimes weird shit just happened for no reason, often very conveniently. (If anything, I think this movie did less of that than existed in typical medieval stories.) They also heavily relied on archetypes rather than distinct characters with backstories, as well as a pre-established understanding of the story you're listening to. Like the puppet show that shows up in the story, the kids in the audience had already heard the story enough times that they could follow it without any actual words. On that note, I've also read a version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Caveat the Second: I immediately distrust anybody who talks about any story older than three centuries or so having an "original" version. There are some stories that have distinct authors, but often these stories were retold and rewritten to suit the tastes of their latest audience. So I refer to the version I read, not "the original". I take my reading of that story into my interpretation of what I saw. I'll note the details from the version I read where it's relevant.

The Story

We start with Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, waking up in a brothel with his sex worker lady friend. She sends him on his way back home to Camelot where his mother greets him and kindly asks him where he's been all night. Oh, off at Christmas Mass, naturally, is what he tells her. She counters that clearly he's been drinking all the communion wine, because she can smell it on his breath.

She tells him she's not feeling well, so he should go to the Christmas celebration without her and tell her all about it afterward.

[I don't recall hearing her name in the movie, but in the version I read, the Green Knight is sent by Morgana. Between his mother being described in dialogue as Arthur's sister and a known witch, I'm gonna run with that assumption and call her that.]

This is where my reading diverges: I take all of this as being almost entirely Morgana's story. And from her perspective, it's kind of hilarious. Because this isn't the story of Gawain's journey into Manhood, but of a very frustrated mother's attempts to save her beloved (if disappointing) son.

While Gawain is partying with the sickly King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, Morgana joins three of her fellow witches and they enact a spell, summoning the Green Knight and a very specifically worded challenge. The Green Knight presents a game: any one person in attendance may injure him and get his badass axe as a prize, but in a year exactly he'll have to go to the Green Knight's chapel and allow the Green Knight to return the exact same blow to him.

Arthur says he wants to do it, but acknowledges he's too sickly to do so. Gawain, already embarrassed once at this party, jumps up and volunteers to be his champion. And when he steps into the ring with the Green Knight, he cuts off his opponent's head. He'd think that was the end of it, but the Green Knight just picks up his severed head, reminds him of the deal to bring the axe back and let himself get beheaded in a year, and leaves.

[In the version I read, this was a ploy on Morgana's part just to freak out Guinevere. Seriously, that was the entirety of it. Just fucking with her rival/sister-in-law.]

In the movie, I got the vibe that Gawain was never meant to be in the line of fire. I suspect that either Arthur or one of his knights was meant to be the Green Knight's opponent, who would die after a year to get his affairs in order. Given that Gawain was Arthur's next-of-kin, that would have given him plenty of time to pass the crown to Morgana's beloved son. Unfortunately, Gawain stepping up messed up her whole plan.

During the intervening year, we see Morgana and the other witches working together to weave the Girdle of Invulnerability. As the name suggests, it's laden with magic to protect him from all harm and all blows from anyone. So long as he wears it, she explains, he'll make it home in one piece.

[In the version I read, the girdle is given to him by another woman later on at a weirdly convenient time. More on that later.]

Gawain barely makes it out when he asks directions from a young man looting the corpses on a recent battlefield. Being the idiot that he is, Gawain takes the young man's directions straight into a trap, where the young man and several other bandits are lying in wait. Despite his mother's assurances that he's invulnerable, he stands down immediately, allowing the bandits to take the Green Knight's axe, his Magic Girdle, all his money, all his supplies, etc.

During all this, three things happen: first, we see A Fox. Second, when the bandit takes the axe he goes all weird and runs off on the horse, forcing the other bandits to chase after him and leaving Gawain unobserved. Third, we get a weird vision of the future where Gawain remains where he is, tied up, until he rots away and he's left nothing but a skeleton.

My read is that The Fox is either Morgana or one of the other witches shapeshifted to keep an eye on him (alternatively, the fox is Reynard or a similar magical creature employed by them for the same purpose.) The Fox then enchants the bandit into running off with the Girdle and the Axe, leaving Gawain relatively safe. And when he fails to do anything with this spectacular opportunity, the Fox gives him the vision of what's gonna happen to him if he just waits around to be rescued.

Prompted to action, Gawain manages to free himself and continues his quest on foot. Eventually he comes across an abandoned manor. Inside, he meets a ghost who asks him to retrieve her severed head, which was thrown into the nearby spring. After some hemming and hawing, he does. When he returns to the surface with the woman's skull, the ghost is gone, but the Fox is watching him.

My take is that the ghost disappeared. They do that. The Fox, being sent to watch him, saw him actually step up and do a brave and selfless thing for once. This is what cements to the Fox that Gawain isn't a perennial fuckup, he's able to grow and mature if he's given the chance.

Gawain returns the skull to the rest of the ghost's skeleton, and he's rewarded by regaining his lost axe. (The axe placed there by the Fox, who took it from the enchanted bandit.)

So this is great, right? Gawain's fuck-upery has been cured and he's doing the responsible thing. Yay, right?

Except he's a fuckup who spends more time drinking and hanging out in brothels than doing Knightly stuff, so he doesn't know basics. Like how to start a fire or get food. Offscreen, Morgana must have been bashing her head into a wall, because her beloved son is going to get himself killed.

The Fox appears to him, and after his initial attempt to drive it off, Gawain lets it stay with him. From this point forward it stays by his side, not-so-subtly giving him directions and keeping him generally safe.

Later we meet some giants, because sometimes there are just giants. We don't question these things in Arthurian fantasy. Gawain asks them to give him a ride to his destination, but when one agrees to help him, he freaks out at the last second and refuses. The Fox speaks to the giant, quite possibly apologizing for its very rude human friend, and the giants go on their way without him.

Gawain is most of the way there by now, but it's late December in Wales, he's super cold and hasn't eaten anything but trippy mushrooms, he can't build a fire, he's been walking for days. He collapses, but the Fox urges him to go a little further and leads him to another manor house. Fortunately for him, this manor has living people in it, who clean him up, put him in a warm bed, and give him food.

We get a dreamy scene where he's being tended by his mother before he wakes up in the care of the manor. My read on it was that this manor and the people in it were sent directly by Morgana to save him. I don't think the manor was even there ten seconds before he collapsed the first time. Because Morgana loves her son, but he is REALLY bad at this.

Notably, it seems that the only people here are the Lord and Lady of the manor, as well as a blind old woman who seems to be the lady's maidservant and/or mother? Hard to tell.

Some flirting happens between Gawain and the Lord and Lady. The Lord of the manor explains that conveniently, Gawain's destination is only one day's walk away and he's several days early, so why not take some time to rest and gather his strength. The Lady shows off her library and her fancy daguerreotype-like mechanism, etc. The Lord suggests another game (mirroring the game presented by the Green Knight) : the Lord will go hunting the next day and give Gawain whatever he catches. Gawain will in return give the Lord whatever he gains throughout the day.

[In the version I read, this happens over the course of three days. Each day the Lord leaves, the Lady tries to seduce Gawain but he refuses, only accepting a kiss from her on the first two days; when the Lord returns with a hunted animal each day, Gawain gives him the kiss that the Lady gave him. On the third day, the Lady also gives Gawain a previously-unmentioned enchanted Girdle of Invincibility, which he neglects to pass along to the Lord, opting just to kiss him instead.]

In the movie, this is condensed into only one day. Gawain wakes up with the Lady creepily watching him sleep, wearing the Girdle of Invincibility that Morgana made for him. She invites him into bed and offers him the Girdle, reminding him that it can render him invincible. The scene gets a bit weird after that-- sex acts of some sort ensue, and the Lady walks away, leaving Gawain with post-coital shame and the Girdle.

Upset, Gawain grabs his stuff and makes to leave. Along the way he runs into the Lord in the middle of his hunt, and he declares that he's going to meet the Green Knight a day early. Citing their game, the Lord presents Gawain with The Fox (who is alive despite having been caught by a hunter, hmmm) and requests Gawain's "winnings" in return-- which he claims by stealing a kiss. I dunno about you, but it seemed to me that Gawain was Into It, at least before he remembers to be freaked out and runs off.

He's nearly at the place where he's to meet the Green Knight when the fox stops him. Now it starts talking, its voice shifting from masculine to feminine. It tells him that he's done a great job, and he can turn back right now and go home and nobody will know but the two of them. He doesn't have to go through with this. But Gawain, determined to fulfil his quest, drives the Fox off once again and goes the last bit alone.

Here he meets the Green Knight in the ruins of an old chapel, though because he's early the Green Knight is little more than a statue, awake but unmoving until the appointed Christmas Day. All the while Gawain just has to sit there and stew in the knowledge that he's gonna die. Finally the Green Knight stirs, asks Gawain if he's ready to die, and readies the axe that Gawain returned to him.

Throughout this, the light hits the Green Knight differently, making him look an awful lot like the Lord of the manor. After Gawain flinches away from the axe the first time, he speaks gently to him, almost tenderly.

[In the version I read, the Green Knight and the Lord of the manor are the same person, and the Lord/Knight is aware of Gawain's magic Girdle, because this was all an elaborate ruse. Because of Gawain's invincibility, the Green Knight only scratches his neck, permanently scarring him as punishment for lying about it and cheating in both their games, but doesn't hold it against him. Gawain then returns to Camelot and they keep the Girdle at the round table as a symbol that all of them have their failings.]

In the movie, Gawain flinches one more time. We then get a second very lengthy vision of an alternate future: Gawain flees the Green Knight and returns home, where he's welcomed back without external consequences. However, he's haunted by his own cowardice, giving up a difficult love in favor of living up to expectation, only to lose everything in the end anyway. His life following the cowardly route was longer, but it wasn't a better life.

He stops the Green Knight one last time, only to remove the Girdle and set it aside before declaring himself ready. The Green Knight is genuinely pleased by this, and he leans in and simply traces a finger over Gawain's throat, before happily saying. "Off with your head."

The movie ends there. Whether the Green Knight leaves him alive or kills him is up for interpretation. But even if the Green Knight wasn't on Morgana's payroll, I feel like he's way too fond of Gawain to do him real harm at this point.

And so Gawain has grown up-- he's brave, he's honorable, he's learned to keep his word and face the consequences of his actions. And Morgana, after some major struggles and a lot of called-in favors, has managed to keep her son from dying on his quest. Victory all around.

There's also an after-credits scene: just a little girl playing with Arthur/Gawain's crown. Notably, this little girl is neither of the children Gawain had in his vision of the cowardly future, so I interpreted it as a new future with a new child with potential all their own.

But that's just my take.