Monday, October 31, 2016

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part B

 Sir Galahad and the White Knight

Dang, Galahad is pretty strong. This story didn't really do much for me though.. The White Knight was mysterious, but didn't really intrigue me in a way that mysterious characters usually do.

Sir Lancelot's Vision

Wow, that speech at the end by Lancelot was pretty great to be honest. I was pretty blown away by it, I really could feel the emotion behind his words. Well done by the author.

The Adventure of Sir Percivale

This is one of those stories that has progression like the other tales, but it was way more jumbled without much sense to it. There isn't a clean, overarching theme to  Sir Percivale's adventure, something that makes it hard for me, the reader, to make sense of.

A story idea: write a better adventure for Sir Percivale!

Sir Lancelot and the Five Hundred Knights

It's interesting that the nun gave advice to Lancelot that was essentially "you're good at being a sinful, but adventurous knight. You tried to go on an adventure meant for pure, holy knights, which is why you failed. Continue your sinful ways because you're better than anyone at that."

I thought the nun would be more biased towards religion and try to comfort him in that way, but it turns out the answer she gave was much more spiritual than religious.

Sir Gawaine and the Hermit

These stories are starting to seem like religious propaganda.

Maybe there could be a mystical item that can only be obtained by sinners? That would be something.

The Adventure of Sir Bors

Sir Bors seems like a good enough dude, unless you're his brother and accidentally get killed by him.

Sir Galahad and the Mysterious Ship

Woah, Logris seems like a really cool place. The waterfall entrance reminds me of the Incredibles.

"that is better than other men" - this rubs me the wrong way.

Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad

It's strange to me how strong a family bond can be when you have spent almost no time together with one another. I guess back then it might have been different, but really is everyone just acting like blood means everything? It's very odd. Galahad knows almost nothing about Lancelot, yet he still treats him with the utmost respect. That might also be a knight thing I suppose.

Sir Galahad and the Graal

Miracles? Sounds more like a religious thing.

So Galahad got to finally see the Holy Graal, but it led to his death? I guess maybe in this case the idea is that chasing the grail is equivalent to gaining entrance into heaven, but then the whole Christianity thing doesn't make much sense.

This story is confusing.

The End of Arthur

Arthur's death was probably the coolest, just because he died in a valiant way and was still able to tell that his knight was lying about throwing the sword into the water. If he was testing him, then it was a pretty easy test (you can fail twice and still succeed!).

It's also kind of lame that Guenevere became a nun. Not that being a nun is lame, but the fact that she did it at the end of her life (after Arthur died) makes it seem much less genuine than those who had become nuns earlier in life.

Lancelot's story ends sadly, but at least he received a lot of praise + the forgiveness of his sins throughout life.



Drawing of Sir Bors

Bibliography: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang. Source

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