#warlord chronicles

[gawrkin]

And while ragging on MZB/Mists of Avalon, here's Bernard Cornwall doing the polar opposite of what Bradley's doing with Morgan and Guinevere:

[...]

(From The Warlord Chronicles/Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwall)

[sevensevensevenseven]

best and worst garbage medieval fantasy (gmf) novels i have read lately 

best:

bernard cornwell’s warlord chronicles trilogy: dont ask me why, i just inhaled these books. the characters were very well-written for the most part - even the female characters! - and the magic was dealt with in a fun, plausibly deniable way. the plot was generally fast-paced and violent, which i love, but it still took the appropriate amount of time to deal with emotional scenes in such a way that i actually cried a couple of times lol. tons of great scenes but god, when arthur is holding a little bouquet of wildflowers... omg... ok. 

andrzej sapkowski‘s the witcher series: again, do not ask me why. i just cannot get enough of some cool dark guy with all sorts of Psychology fighting monsters. the intricacy of the plots and characters was impressive. the female characters were hilariously poorly written, however. even poor ciri... come on, man. i read someone say a while ago that u can tell when sapkowski is writing with post-nut clarity and... yeah. absolutely.

philip pullman’s his dark materials trilogy: i feel dumb even mentioning this one bc it should go without saying. but i need the record to reflect that this is such a good series. it’s not 100% medieval (it’s not medieval at all) but i dont care. i should have made this a ‘garbage historical fantasy’ list but i dont care.

worst:

marie brennan’s a natural history of dragons: i actually only read the first novel in this series. the dialogue was annoying. the plot was boring. the not like other gearls narrator and protagonist was one-dimensional. i think this is probably a YA novel so maybe im just not the target demo but i think great YA novels are enjoyable at any age. so. idk. 

mid:

miles cameron’s the red night (first in the traitor son cycle): has all of the elements that i love in GMF including bloody fights with monsters, cool dark guy protagonists, magic, nuns, agh it’s the perfect recipe. i freaking love medieval wars against monsters. at some point i will unquestionably read the rest of this series just bc it’s got all of my favourite tropes. but some of the dialogue was so stupid (e.g., a knight at one point saying “i’m game”??? what?). some of the plot was a bit... obvious? uninteresting? lazy? and the topic of sexual assault was handled in such a cavalier tone that it made me uncomfortable. like i said, i will almost unquestionably continue reading the series at some point and flesh out my perspective. the ending of the first book was... intriguing. but yeah, gonna go with mid.

[jurakan]

And thus Lancelot died, though the songs he had paid for lived on, and to this day he is celebrated as a hero equal to Arthur. Arthur is remembered as a ruler, but Lancelot is called the warrior. In truth he was the King without land, a coward, and the greatest traitor of Britain, and his soul wanders Lloegyr to this day, screaming for its shadowbody that can never exist because we cut his corpse into scraps and fed it to the river. If the Christians are right, and there is a hell, may he suffer there for ever.

Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell

I absolutely love this depiction of Lancelot forever.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Thirty Days of Arthurian Characters - Day 1: King Arthur

Well, to welcome in the new year, I figured I might as well do this. This is all based on the @fuckyeaharthuriana Thirty Days of Arthurian Characters. Starting us off with King Arthur, let's get to it!

Why you like or don't like the character

In general, I really like Arthur. Part of that is generally the fact that without Arthur we wouldn't have an Arthurian mythos to play around with, but there's still a lot about Arthur to like - in particular, his attempts at treating everyone equally, even if it does epically bite him in the ass later, is still a good place to start from. He has his flaws, but I'm in general fond of him.

Your favourite characterization in novels

...Do comic books count? Fuck it, I can do what I want. Really, even if he only really shows up in two issues, his characterization in Demon Knights is probably my gold standard for Arthur as a Warlord - strategic, regal, and still courageous enough to face Lucifer down without blinking.

Aside from that, his characterization in the Warlord Chronicles, of a man desperately trying to hold Britain together and constantly backing down on his own morals to do so is a perfect reflection of what ultimately leads to Camlann in my version.

Your favourite characterization in TV/Film

Honestly? Bradley James in Merlin is still my favourite Arthur. It's the little things in his performance - how clearly against Uther's excesses he is from the beginning, his clear affection for Morgana - especially that bit in the background of the Mordred episode, I believe, where he immediately goes for his sword when Uther looks like he may attack her. Series 1 in particular has a lot of great Arthur Moments. Y'know, until Merlin pantsed it up again by showing a resistance to deviate from the Status Quo at all, resulting in Arthur being more and more idiotic as time went by.

Your favourite art/illustration about the character

Again, gonna have to go Demon Knights on this one.

The actor/actress you wish could play the character

I always wanted to see Richard Madden play Arthur. This may (or may not) be a reflection of my childlike desire to see the 'good king' of GoT play the quintessential 'good king'. I do however think Madden would be great, especially in the role of a young Arthur.

One headcanon about the character

I rarely see Arthur as a character who would willingly accept the crown - I'm much more of the opinion that he took up the crown because it needed doing. Honestly, I may play up his humility to the point that it's much more an inferiority complex than anything else - for as much as his foster family was loving, growing up for seventeen years internalising that you'll never amount to anything only to have the rug pulled completely out from under you wouldn't exactly leave you in the greatest mental state.

(This may or may not have been intentional, btw. I will explain more in my Merlin entry)

[starts-the-moon]

The Warlord Chronicles casting

Derfel - David Wenhan 

Arthur - Colin Farrell 

Ceinwyn - Diane Kruger 

Guinevere: Eva Green

Lancelote - Jonathan Rhys Meyer 

Merlin - David Bradley 

Nimue - Christina Ricci 

Galahad - Eric Bana 

Igraine - Adelaide Kane

Morgana - Helena Bonhan Carter

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

Thirty Days of Arthurian Characters - Day 2: Guinevere

Why you like or don't like the character

I'm... incredibly conflicted about Guinevere. On the one hand, adultery and almost causing the fall of Camelot is... a rather good reason to dislike the character. On the other, the relentless slut shaming she's gotten from a huge section of the fandom for what was, in its earlier incarnations, rape, is... iffy, for me. On the whole, I'd say Gwen falls into a 'I personally like them, but I'd probably never write them that way' category alongside Merlin and Lancelot.

Your favourite characterization in novels

By far the Warlord Chronicles. One thing Bernard Cornwell is brilliant at is writing characters that you want to punch in the face so bad, but then a little more time leads you to, if not like them, at least understand them, and his Gwen is the best version of that particular skill.

Your favourite characterization in TV/Film

I... really want to say Angel Coulby from Merlin, because she's codified so much about my personal Guinevere (case in point, I've been picturing Gwen as black ever since I first saw the series when I was ten)... but that would mean that the first three entries have Merlin as the best, and it really doesn't deserve that...

Fuck it, I'll go with Samantha Eggar from the Prince Valiant cartoon. There's an entire episode of the show where Guinevere and the main female lead talk about how it is possible to be a kickass warrior without sacrificing femininity in the process, and it's strangely uncommon for Guinevere to do that.

Your favourite art/illustration about the character

The Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton. I know @storytellerknight headcanons the knight as Galahad, but I keep thinking it's Ystin from Demon Knights - they've even got the sigil of the og Shining Knight.

The actor/actress you wish could play the character

Running off my 'racebent Guinevere' headcanon, Lupita Nyong'o. If you want an explanation, read my headcanon, then go see Black Panther.

One headcanon about the character

I flip flop between Guinevere actually marrying Arthur for love or not, but one paet of their relationship is ironclad in my heart - some situation similar to Heather Dale's 'As I Am' happened, and Guinevere accepted in part or entirely because she wanted to help people, and genuinely believed in Arthur's vision. She may not have loved Arthur the man at first, but she was a goner for Arthur the king the instant he asked her father for the Round Table.

[enei3]

Reading medieval-esque fantasy is like YESS BITCH SiGN THAT TREATY✋️🙌👐

[angrbodic]

The Winter King: Why Is the Series Being Review Bombed?

With overwhelming written fan response and a near-100% critical rating, enthusiasts wonder if the series is being intentionally sunk.

This is so stupid.

The TL;DR of this article is basically people are out there throwing a shit fit because this show has a diverse cast.

The Roman Empire extended to parts of Asia and Africa and including POC actors in Arthurian stories shouldn't be so controversial, especially when the series takes place not long after the Roman Empire exited the British isles.

If you think Rome was all white, you need to do better on your history.