“May God… grant you likewise the gift of surpassing in knightly excellence all the knights living today. And much of your fate I know.”
The Red and White Knight is an Interactive Fiction heavily based on Medieval Arthurian Literature, especially the Vulgate Cycle, where you play as Lancelot Du Lac from his beginnings as a knight to his death
Warnings: This story will contain violence, blood, a cavalier treatment of death and murder, kidnapping, drugging, possible suicide, mentions of incest, and references to sexual assault (I swear this game isn’t supposed to be that dark, the literature just has a lot of questionable things in it)
“Then there appeared the White Knight who was bearing the white shield with the black band...”
Your home under the water with your mother and her companions is all you’ve ever known, but it was not the life you saw for yourself. You knew your calling lied outside the fairy realm. You have just left you home and your mother with only the shining white armor, horse and shield she gifted you, to become a Knight of the Round Table at Camelot.
The life of a Knight of the Round Table is not an easy one though. In a land moving in and out of the fairy realm, time and morality do not work the same, and magic and death are imbedded in Camelot’s very foundation. This is not made easier with Arthur’s constant wars against human and fairy alike.
You may not know your name yet, but you know Camelot’s fate is tied to yours.
Play as gay, straight, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, aromantic, and/or polyamorous
Meet and bond with the Knights of the Round table and avert or play through their tragedies
Romance your fellow knights, the queen, or mischievous fairies (7 romance options- 2 Female, 2 Male, 2 Non-Binary, 1 Gender selectable)
Go on quests from medieval stories and explore the world of Arthurian Europe
Become the greatest knight of the Round Table and a powerful member of Arthur’s court
Play out the tragedy of Camelot or defy fate
Romances
Queen Guinevere of Camelot (She/Her)
“Nor was he wrong to admire no other woman as he did the queen, for she was sovereign of all women and the very font of beauty.”
Arthur’s young and ambitious wife. You have only just met her and, just like everyone else, you’re entranced. Guinevere seems taken with you as well, given how eagerly she wants you to be her champion. In spite of only recently rising to the throne, Guinevere is already positioning herself as the true ruler of Camelot, with Arthur constantly off on conquests. Will you help her secure her power or remain loyal to the king? And why do you feel such a strong need to be around her?
King Arthur of Camelot (He/Him)
"King Arthur," he said, "God keep you Everyone bears witness... the best of kings, the most true and powerful, the one who helps the helpless and, counsels, aids and supports them."
The current king of Logres and the surrounding lands. He is said to be a greater king than his ancestors, chosen by Merlin himself, and is seeking to build a strong knighthood to protect his kingdom. He has taken an interest in you as a powerful knight for his Round Table. While the Round Table has been growing back in Camelot, Arthur has been constantly fighting his conquests, leaving his new wife and knights in charge. With his unruly and violent knights left to their own devices and his distance from the throne, public outcry against him has been growing. Will you remain loyal to Arthur or subvert his rule?
Sir Gawain of Orkney (He/They)
“Sir Gawain was a very fine knight of great bearing and was very loyal toward his lord all the days of his life. He was neither spiteful nor jealous; on the contrary, he was more courteous than any knight at the court.”
The beloved nephew and heir to King Arthur, as well as Camelot’s greatest knight... at least until your arrival. Despite this, Gawain has already become your greatest advocate in Camelot and feels a kinship with you. Gawain is a popular knight at court, being fun-loving, brave, loyal, and charming, there is no greater knight to quest with. He is a formidable foe though, who is violently loyal to his friends and especially his siblings. Will your close bond grow stronger, or will fate force you against him?
King Galehaut of Far Isles (He/Him) (M/NB Exclusive)
“My lord I have seen Galehaut. He is a good half-foot taller than any other knight known, is better loved by his people than any other lord in the world, and has conquered more than anyone else of his age.”
King Arthur’s most recent enemy, and certainly his most challenging. Galehaut is a half-giant king of a distant land, and so quickly he has already conquered so much of Arthur’s land. A popular and powerful half-giant, Galehaut genuinely wants what’s best for Britain. He seems impressed by you though and willing to hear you out as you plead for Arthur. Can you be what is needed to solve this war, and maybe build a relationship with this powerful half-giant?
Queen Morgan Le Fay of Avalon (She/Her) (F/NB Exclusive)
“By the might of Morgan Le Fay that in my mansion dwelleth, And by Cunning of lore and crafts well learned. The magic arts of Merlin she many hath mastered... And Morgan the Goddess is therefore now her name.”
The King’s half-sister and the Queen of Avalon. You can never quite tell what her relationship with the king is, going from his most trusted confidant to his greatest foe, seemingly on a whim. In spite of being born mostly human, Morgan le Fay has embraced the ways of the fair folk, and especially enjoys messing with her brother’s knights. You seem to be a favorite of hers to torment and kidnap. Can these bizarre meetings create a deeper connection between you to, or are you doomed to torment?
Sir Agravaine of Orkney (F/M Gender Selectable)
“Agravaine was without pity or love and had no good qualities, save for his beauty, his chivalry, and his quick tongue.”
The eldest of Gawain’s younger siblings and certainly one of the least liked knights at court. Agravaine may be beautiful and clever, but their pride and bitterness often get in the way of their attempts at knightlihood. In spite of this, they deeply love their siblings… except Gaheris for some reason. And even though you’ve just arrived at court, they’ve already decided they hate you in particular. Can you find a way through their angry and cruel exterior?
Mage Sybil of Far Isles (They/Them)
“She knew nothing of envy or hate, and from her rosy lips came never an evil word. One never saw her ill-tempered, but she always passed her days in pleasant joy.”
You childhood friend during your life in the lake. Sybil is the child of one of your mother’s fairy companions who has known you your whole life. They have been a bright spot in your blue days and have been your partner in crime on many questionable adventures. You thought you would never see them again when they left for their home in the Far Isles, but they have recently taken a mentorship with Morgan le Fay. Will you be able to rekindle your friendship or even build it into something more? And how do you explain to them that kidnapping is not a fun game for you, no matter what Morgan says?
Poly Routes
Guinevere and Arthur
Gawain and Guinevere
Guinevere and Morgan
Morgan and Sybil
Gawain and Galehaut
Other Major Characters
Lady Vivian du Lac (She/Her) - The Lady of the Lake in Gaul and your adoptive mother. While her means of “adopting” you were certainly sketchy, she has been nothing but a loving and indulgent parent to you. While she has let you go out on your own, that doesn’t mean she won’t give you aid on your quests when you need it. Now if only she would stop sending her companions to check on you.
Lady Nimue of the Lake (She/Her) - The Lady of the Lake in Britain and the king’s new advisor. No one talks about what happened to Merlin, the kings old advisor, but everyone whispers that Nimue had something to due with his disappearance. She seems to know of your fate, but has yet to make a move for or against you. She is waiting to see who you become.
Sir Mordred of Orkney (He/Him) - The youngest of the Orkney siblings and Gawain and Agravaine’s favorite. Younger than Gawain by 15 years, Mordred comes to Camelot and becomes your squire after you’ve long been a knight. A sweet and talented kid, you two will soon learn the truth of their past. Will you try to help Mordred or abandon them to their fate?
Sir Galahad of Corbenic (F/M/NB Gender Selectable) - A youth who arrives in Camelot long after you have settled in, only a year after Mordred’s arrival. This child feels familiar to you, though you don’t yet know why. Will you be able to build a relationship with the child you never knew you had, and can you save Galahad from their fate?
Sir Percival La Sauvage (She/They) - A Fair Unknown who arrives in Camelot the same time as Mordred. She is a hopeful, if rather naive, knight who merely wishes to be the best knight they can. She is eager to learn from you and hopes to follow in your stead. Will you be a worthy mentor or will your paths diverge?
Blue Iris by Mary Oliver / Quondam et Futurus / Excalibur 1981 / Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak / Helen by Euripides / A Shirt Made of Fire by Vardges Petrosyan / Tongues & Teeth by The Crane Wives / If You Stare Into a Mirror Long Enough, Strange Things Will Happen / Self-Portrait by Someone Else by Courtney Kampa / Slay the Princess / Vulgate Cycle / Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn / The Marriage of King Arthur & Queen Guinevere by John Henry Frederick Bacon / Guinevere by William de Leftwich Dodge / Other Side of Paradise by Glass Animals / The Doppelgänger by P. Wish / In Two by Nine Inch Nails / Black Swan 2010 / Odette & Odile / possibly Dostoevsky / Lancelot du Lac 1974 / Lancelot du Lac 1970 / esotericbadbitch / Poem Without a Hero by Anna Akhmatova
So some good news! I finally have a new laptop (it’s Linux though so learning how to use it fully is a work in progress lol)! My other laptop just completely crashed on me so I had to re-type the prologue again, and work backwards from the old download, so it’ll have some touch ups when I finally update it.
And while that’s been long, it has gotten me back into the story which is a good sign!
This Morgan was a young lady, very cheerful and merry, but her face was somber; she had a rounded build, not too thin and not too plump. She ws quite clever and comely in body nad features; she stood straight and was wonderfully pleasing and a good singer. But she was the most lustful woman in all Great Britain and the lewdest. Yet she was a woman of wondrous learning, and she knew much about astrology, which Merlin had taught her. And later he taught her a great deal more about it, just as the story will recount it to you later, and she put her whole mind to it; and she learned it so well that afterwards she was called Morgan the Fay, sister of King Arthur, because of the wonders she worked throughout the country. She was the best worker with her hands that anyone knew about in any land, and she had the fairest head of any suited for a woman, the most beautiful hands, and wonderfully well-made shoulders, and she was the cleverest of all. Her skin was softer than millet. And she had yet another quality that must not be skipped over, for she had a sweet, soft way of talking, and she was well spoken. And as long as she was in her right mind, she was more courteous than any, but when she was angry with anyone, there was no need in trying to reconcile them.
— The Story of Merlin, Chapter 41, trans. Rupert T. Pickens
(obsessed with the parallel with Lancelot on that last point, from Lancelot part I, chapter 9: "No boy of such generosity had ever been seen: he gave to his companions as eagerly as he received. He honored men of good birth with an open heart and undivided attention; and no such-mannered youth had ever been seen, for he was never disagreeable to anyone without a reason so good that no one could blame him for it. But when he was angered by some wrong done to him, it was no easy thing to calm him down.")
I hope this isn't too forward, please disregard if it is.
I've had a question I've been meaning to ask, and your recent reblogs re; Arthur's crimes reminded me.
Firstly, I was surprised to hear that Arthur rapes his sister! For some reason I've been under the impression that she raped him... Perhaps that's a change made in later adaptations to portray a more sympathetic Arthur? Or a T H Whiteism???
I'm not widely read in Arthuriana, so I can't say for certain... :'0
My original question is slightly changed by this revelation, but nevertheless I'd be interested to hear your thoughts;
Originally I was going to say that the rapes of Arthur and Lancelot are an underexplored dynamic, especially given their proximity through their relationship with Guinevere, and the relative dearth of male rape survivors in literature.
I was wondering if it was something you were going to explore in your books... (Though I know you don't plan on having these characters be central ones).
HOWEVER with this new information, the dynamic almost becomes even more interesting — if you plan on sticking to that bit of canon, that is.
Do you think it's something you'll end up touching on?
Thank you!
Hello! Not too forward at all and this is a great opportunity to talk about the history of the character that came to be known as Morgause! I'm going to start at the very beginning to create a more complete picture to help illustrate just how insidious the degradation of her character into the modern age is. Buckle up, this is extensive.
Content warning for rape, incest, pedophilia, child abuse and child death.
Arthur is first given a sister in Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain. Arthur and Anne are the children of Uther and Igerna after the slaying of Gorlois.
It's here that Anne is married to an ally of Uther's, Lot of Londonesia, by whom she has two sons, Walgan and Modred.
In another Latin text, De Ortu Waluuanii, the relationship between Anna and Lot is developed even more. Lot is now the nephew of the king of Norway, and he and Anna fall in love.
Ultimately the two lovebirds conceive a son, Gawain, and Anna sends their baby away to be raised in secret so Uther won't punish them.
There are other Latin stories which are quite favorable to Anna/Lot and their children Gawain and Mordred, the nephews of Arthur. But moving on, after this, they're next mentioned by Chretien de Troyes in his incomplete romance, The Story of the Grail. The city "Orcanie" is introduced as a place where Arthur's court is held, but it's not yet established as Gawain's birthplace. While questing, Gawain finds a castle of women and explains his lineage, where the family tree has changed to give his unnamed mother, wife of King Lot, three new sons, Agravain, Gerit, and Gueret. Even more interesting is the addition of a daughter, Clarissant, who's been living with her grandmother Igerna and mother in secret all these long years.
The German tradition, however, does name Gawain's mother. In Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, she's called Sangivé, the daughter of the elder queen and the mother of Arthur, called Arnivé. Sangivé has two daughters by Lot, Itonjé and Kondrie.
In The Crown by Heinrich von dem Turlin, it's Gawein who achieves the grail. During a virtue test in which all the ladies at court try on a glove to see how it fits (and how it affects the clothes they're wearing), his mother Orcades is found to pass the test with flying colors, so much so, that her exposed breast which nursed baby Gawein is given credit for his strength.
Now. We must unfortunately come to the crux of your ask. In The Story of Merlin portion of the Vulgate, the Queen of Orkney, who is unnamed, is not the daughter of Uther. She and Morgan are daughters of Gorlois, whom Uther impersonated to rape their mother. So Arthur is their half brother by the same mother. Fast forward many years, Gawain, Agravain, Guerrehet, and Gaheriet are practically grown up, old enough to be sent to battle with their father shortly after Mordred's conception, when Lot brings his wife with him to court. It's here that Arthur sets his sights on her and she pointedly ignores him.
Very important last line there. Now whilst the queen is sleeping, her husband Lot leaves in secret so that she has no idea.
Arthur takes advantage of this.
Meanwhile the Queen of Orkney was still oblivious until Arthur confessed.
So if we consider what Uther did to Igraine to be rape (it is), and if we consider what Elaine did to Lancelot to be rape (it is), then what Arthur did to the Queen of Orkney is also rape (it is). It's not an accident that all of these used manipulation and subterfuge to get an uninformed "consent" from the victims. They didn't consent to have sex with those people, but with their trusted partners to whom they were faithful. It's rape.
However, in fairness, the story differs in the Post-Vulgate, which is what Thomas Malory adapted. In the very first chapter of The Merlin Continuation, the Queen of Orkney comes to court with her four sons, young children in this version of events, and stays for two months. During this time she's apparently impregnated by Arthur.
Lot doesn't die for another year after this (Gawain is said to be eleven at the funeral) so this would be considered adultery on the Queen of Orkney's part, assuming this was consensual. But the Vulgate uses the words "lay with" to mean consensual sex and non-consensual sex interchangeably, so it's anybody's guess what it means here.
All of that aside, most people are adapting purely from Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory.
Then after the departing of King Ban and of King Bors, King Arthur rode into Carlion. And thither came to him, King Lot’s wife, of Orkney, in manner of a message, but she was sent thither to espy the court of King Arthur; and she came richly beseen, with her four sons, Gawaine, Gaheris, Agravine, and Gareth, with many other knights and ladies. For she was a passing fair lady, therefore the king cast great love unto her, and desired to lie by her; so they were agreed, and he begat upon her Mordred, and she was his sister, on his mother’s side, Igraine. So there she rested her a month, and at the last departed. Then the king dreamed a marvellous dream whereof he was sore adread. But all this time King Arthur knew not that King Lot’s wife was his sister.
Malory's story added that Morgause, as he named her, came to court with the intention to spy on Arthur. This detail literally never comes back around. No explanation of what information she gathered or shared with her husband is ever outlined nor impacts the story. But most importantly, Malory states explicitly that their union was mutually agreed upon. No one was raped, it's just adultery.
Despite this, due to the game of telephone from Vulgate to Post-Vulgate to Le Morte d'Arthur, Malory maintains Arthur's divine punishment, seemingly in opposition to his own words, "they were agreed [upon this coupling]..." Even unknowing that Morgause was his half-sister, even though it only happened once, Arthur is tormented by prophetic nightmares and taunted by the Questing Beast (a monster born of incest), ultimately deciding to try and kill Mordred, the proof of his incest and evidentially a divine threat destined to kill him, but only sins further by accidentally murdering a bunch of innocent babies who are not Mordred (King Harod is that you?).
So what does this mean? Well, at no point in the Medieval Literature was Morgause ever a sexual aggressor and at no point was anybody blamed for this besides Arthur, even after the change to a consensual encounter. At the absolute worst, Morgause was a flop spy for Lot who had a single extramarital affair with Arthur prior to his marriage to Guinevere.
So how did Arthur's sin become Morgause's? You already guessed it...
So in The Once and Future King (specifically book 2 The Queen of Air and Darkness) published in 1958, Morgause utilizes human sacrifice to cast a spell which enables her to rape her brother in front of her four children. Beyond that, White also implies that Agravaine had romantic/sexual feelings about his mother, which he builds on throughout the books.
Later, Morgause is said to have a sexual relationship with Lamorak, which is consistent with Medieval literature. White takes great pains to emphasize the age gap and power imbalance between the two.
All of this culminates in Agravaine, not Gaheris as in the Post-Vulgate and Le Morte d'Arthur, beheading his mother after catching her with Lamorak, a teenager.
The wording of this is crazy. It's not sympathetic to Morgause at all. And while it does insult Agravaine, both his mental state and physical appearance (Rogue fat-shaming out of no where?), reiterating his interest in this matter stems from jealousy of her lover, the text still provides an excuse for his behavior and reinforces it by emphasizing the tragedy comes from the loss of Lamorak, not Morgause. Agravaine is not punished whatsoever.
In the Post-Vulgate, Agravain and Mordred attempt to behead Gaheriet for what he's done, but are stopped by Lamorak who wisely counsels them against further kin-slaying. Further reasoning for Gaheriet's absolution is because someone with a name on the Round Table cannot be purposefully slain by other members, it's a divine loophole he exploits. White's Arthur hates Morgause, as she sexually abused him and continued doing so to others, so her murderer, Agravaine, is off the hook. Furthermore in the Post-Vulgate, Morgause is given a grand funeral by her brother, just as her husband did before her. Not so here.
And for some sick reason, everyone and their mama is utterly obsessed with this interpretation from T. H. White and biting at the bit to worsen it. Most modern retellings maintain that Morgause is Arthur's rapist, and that she did so, knowing their relation, with the intention of using Mordred as a tool against him. Details often added include that she doesn't love Lot and has some dark magical connection. Rosemary Sutcliff did all of this in The Sword and the Circle, published in 1981.
Now here's when everyone completely lost the plot. Authors began to really, really lean in to Morgause's older age and evil magic, going so far as to build on the implications of the gap she had with Arthur to then depict her as a pedophile toward her son Mordred or other young knights like Lamorak.
I believe the first instance of this is The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart, published in 1983.
A boldly misogynistic choice from Stewart after spending the preceding three books of the series woobifying Merlin, a canonical pedophile that groomed 12 year old Viviane in the Vulgate. Creating a sympathetic Merlin on its own is by no means a problem, but in conjunction with the extreme characterization of Morgause? Writing the May Day Massacre to be Lot's doing instead of Arthur's? Well, those come with implications, particularly as Stewart went the way of T. H. White with characters in-universe excusing the behavior of Gawain and his brothers because of "The way they were raised." When T. H. White did this, it was borne of racism against Scottish people like Lot and the sexism toward Morgause; Stewart was continuing this trend.
That same year, 1983, the infamous The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer-Bradley was published, in which Viviane tricks Morgaine and Arthur into having sex and begetting Mordred, while Morgause is busy being evil in a different direction by using sex to pay for Gwenhwyfar's poisoning, leaving her barren. The TV show from 2001 doesn't improve on this, but merely changes the means so Morgause instead curses Gwenhwyfar with a spell herself. Wow. So feminist. Very progressive.
Furthermore, based on the testimony of Moira Greyland in her book The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon, her parents and abusers, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Walter Breen, viewed incest and pedophilia as a sexuality under the same umbrella as bisexuality and lesbianism. This sentiment is prevalent throughout the book and despite the death of those aforementioned abusers, family friend and co-author Diana Paxson, founder of the Society for Creative Anachronism, was let go after her failure to protect members of her chapter from sexual abuse as recently as last year. In an interview following her removal from the Troth, she expressed only disdain and toward the child victims and indifference to her own complacency in their suffering.
So. As a result of the legacy of these books written by garbage human beings, the character of Morgause has been permanently altered forever. Many more authors have followed in these footsteps and created a version of Morgause with little to no redeeming qualities who traps Arthur, preys on, and abuses boys, often times her own. Persia Woolley, Ian McDowell, Elizabeth Wein, R. H. Stewart, Kari Sperring... and sometimes they flip the script for a lark and Mordred rapes Morgause, as Sharan Newman and Lavinia Collins wrote in their series. Even stories which write a consenting and loving incestual pair, like Parke Godwin's or Joan Wolf's books, seem to emulate Marion Zimmer Bradley's work and her real-life philosophy regarding the "naturalness" of these abuses. It's disgusting.
Even in best case scenarios where Morgause isn't pure evil, her legacy (and Morgan's, for that matter) is forever linked to ulterior motives and the promiscuity she uses to reach her goals, as evidenced by this interview between Marion Zimmer Bradley and Parke Godwin, may they rest in piss.
This doesn't even touch on the many films and television series which perpetuate the idea of Mordred's rapist mother (often Morgan instead of Morgause, but the same principle). Excalibur (1981), New Adventures of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1988), Guinevere (1994), Starz Camelot (2011), Fate (2004-present), Queens of Avalon (2016) (and the 2001 album by Heather Dale that inspired it).
Now one can't go in the Morgause tag on tumblr without finding memes about murdering her because this portrayal is so universally accepted the character is cooked. Like what are we doing?
I don't even necessarily hate or condemn all of these! I love Excalibur (1981), for example; but it's important to recognize that Morgana transforming into Guinevere to trick Arthur into siring Mordred isn't based in Medieval Literature, it's John Boorman's creative interpretation. Furthermore, this writing choice isn't Morgana's introduction, as is the case in most retellings, but happens near the end of the film. Morgana is introduced to the audience as a child who witnessed Uther transformed into the likeness of Gorlois raping her mother Igraine. From here, Morgana is a character throughout the film until pushed to the brink and made evil by circumstances when, yes, she perpetuates the cycle by raping Arthur to become pregnant with Mordred whom she uses as a tool for revenge.
I'm not saying dark storylines should be completely off-limits, but that we should consider the types of people we choose to take inspiration from, such as profoundly racist, misogynistic, losers like T. H. White, and acknowledge their bias seeping into their work. Mostly, my point is, this shouldn't be the default. In 2025, clinging to The Once and Future King or The Mists of Avalon is just lame. We can acknowledge their influence, even study them, without pretending they're somehow accurate to Medieval Literature. As I've already shown plainly, no, The Once and Future King is NOT "a good summary of Malory." These people are delusional.
If someone wants queer Arthuriana, support your peers. There's plenty of other media to engage with, like Spear by Nicola Griffith or High Noon Over Camelot by The Mechanisms or any one of dozens of projects promoted here on tumblr by living breathing queer people who aren't hateful cunts. I hear all the time "White and Bradley are dead." That shouldn't be the default excuse to continue yapping about the greatness their books, but a reason to get the fuck over it and read something that's actually feminist and not horrifically racist by someone alive who would benefit from your feedback and revenue.
If we had kinder portrayals of Morgause to turn to, I wouldn't be so pressed about it. But we don't. I made a recommendations list of media that includes Morgause, but her options are very limited. I refused to include anything in which she's a predator or gets brutalized (oftentimes by Lot or Mordred, yuck), so there's not much to choose from.
Which is where the next part of your question comes in.
My second book will feature Morgause prominently as a pov character! And no, she doesn't rape Arthur, so there will be no exploration of his sexual abuse as he doesn't suffer any. I can't really explain more than that without spoiling, so I won't.
But I will say there are books out there which do explore Arthur and Lancelot's feelings regarding sexual assault if it's something you're still interested in exploring. The Guinevere trilogy by Persia Woolley is entirely first person Guinevere, but through her studies the impact of abuse via Morgause against Arthur and Elaine against Lancelot. Sharan Newman's Guinevere trilogy also explores this and goes into many different points of view, including Arthur's and Lancelot's. Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger writes a consensual Morgause/Arthur encounter before they knew they were siblings, and while that means Arthur suffered no violence, he's forever changed when he learns that she was his sister, and it informs his choices for the rest of his life. Big content warnings for them all as Guinevere is raped in both trilogies and Thomas Berger is a bigoted piece of shit so any "good" that came out of that novel is greatly overshadowed by overwhelming homophobia and racism, even though I found his handling of that particular aspect to be compelling.
Now for the fully endorsed no-caveats recommendations. Books first then other media in order of release.
Blessed Bastard by Ruth Lehmann
Lehmann details Galahad's whole life not only from his point of view but that of Lancelot's, & how Elaine's deception facilitated by Pelles against Lancelot traumatized them all. The rape of Lancelot is fade-to-black, so it's there & apparent but not graphic. Morgause is mentioned to be a temptress, but it's more like a rumor at court & she's never on page, so I'll let it slide.
Exiled From Camelot by Cherith Baldry
Baldry loosely adapts Perlesvaus but with much of the Vulgate storylines intact, including the deceitful conception of Galahad & second rape of Lancelot & subsequent madness after Elaine comes to court. The book is Kay, Gawain, & Gareth points of view, so we get all of their perspectives on the event, including a touching scene of Lancelot opening up to Gawain about how violated he felt & where he had been since fleeing Elaine's clutches.
Lancelot du Lac (1970)
A French film adapting the Vulgate, including the conception of Galahad via deception when Lancelot visits the grail castle.
BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979)
A short series adapting the entire legend. Here, Mordred is the son of Morgause and Lot, so he's Arthur's nephew as in the original Latin texts, but the rape of Igraine by Uther is in the first episode, as well as Lancelot rescuing Elaine of Corbenic from a curse followed by her transformation into Guinevere to trick Lancelot. Elaine of Astolat is a separate character featured in the show, renamed Ellie.
Excalibur (1981)
As I said already, this movie literally opens with Uther transforming into Gorlois to rape Igraine while Morgana looks on helplessly. Later, she transforms into Guinevere to rape Arthur & becomes pregnant with Mordred. As she raises Mordred to resent Arthur, Arthur is shown to be a husk of his former self. He's a Fish King type figure, & as he withers away, so too does his lands, until Perceval can return with the Holy Grail to heal him, renewing Arthur's strength & will to live. It's obviously a metaphorical "suffering" after what happened to him, but showing how the land dies with him is a poignant metaphor.
New Adventures of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1988)
A Russian film which turns the entire rape by deception thing on its head by having Morgana trick Lancelot to sire Mordred on her. So Mordred is Arthur's nephew & revealed later to be Lancelot's son. Guinevere & Arthur have their own daughter.
And that's all I got for you. Thanks for the ask and take care! :^)
PLEASE stop signing up for tournaments under fake names. im so serious. if we get any more of these we are literally going to call off the games this upcoming whitsuntide. and this includes lancelot. there are no exceptions. i will throw you out if you give me a fake name. i don’t care who your dad is. i will kill you
🕶️fair.unknown
hi
🔑seneschal-kay
BITES YOU BITES YOU BITES YOU
527 notes
🧪 tristan-from-cornwall
lancelot i know this is you
#your obsession with me is getting embarrassing #also she is literally also named iseult so i dont see what the problem is
13 notes
🧥la-cote-male-taile
wait guys im actually really confused about sir mordred lmao. is he arthur’s nephew or his son
🏴queen.morgause.70
tbh not sure you’re going to love the answer to this one
34,563 notes
🛡️lance.du.lac
hey guys! just an update since i know i’ve been gone for a while! i’ve just been taking some time to myself just to relax in the woods and i feel a lot better now. i’m done being insane and on my way back to camelot :)
🛡️lance.du.lac
insane again
52 notes
🧚♀️morgan-le-fae
what should i send to my brother next
cape that will set him on fire
horn that tells him wife is cheating on him
Voting ended onSep 11, 2025
#tbh cape that sets people on fire is a favorite of mine #but also the gwencelot stuff is pissing me off #especially because lancelot keeps vagueblogging about it #as if everyone doesnt know what’s going on
700 notes
💅mrs-bisclavret
.
#personal #my husband has been missing for like 2 days and i think he is cheating on me #i havent really wanted to come to terms with this because it just sucks but i dont really know what other explanation there could be #:(
3 notes
🏹werewolftracker
spotted on west grounds of camelot castle 03:47 4/26/1066
(submitted by @ bedivere77)
👑kingofengland
anyone want to go hunt this with me??
#have been having kind of a rough week but maybe hunting will lift my spirits #also a package just arrived for me so thats exciting!!!!
8 notes
❤️queen.guinevere
just so you guys all know, there is someone sending people random anons pretending to be me but it’s not me who sent it!! so if you get anything weird that seems like it's from me in the next few days it's probably not. sorry and i hope this gets figured out soon!!
💔false.guinevere
>:)
❤️queen.guinevere
wtf
124 notes
🪓oldest.orkney.gawain
does anyone else think beaumains or whatever his name is looks super familiar
🛡️lance.du.lac
dude i think he's your brother
🪓oldest.orkney.gawain
ohhhh yeah that would actually make so much sense. on an unrelated note does anyone think fair unknown looks super familiar
642 notes
🎭dinadan-the-knight
courtly love is actually such a joke. the queen does not care about you lmfao. get a life
👑kingofengland
:(
🎭dinadan-the-knight
i am so sorry my lord this post was not about you
140,965 notes
🗡️per.ce.val
on the grail quest and i think galahad just died???
Are you okay? Sorry to bother you, just checking in.
Hi. And don’t worry it’s never a bother! 🩷 Sorry for how long I’ve been silent here. In all honesty I’ve been in a bad place mentally for a while and it’s kind of destroyed my motivation to do most things really. A lot of deleting parts I don’t like and getting stuck. It’s getting there really slowly but way behind schedule. I’m sorry I can’t promise more and that y’all have been stuck waiting so long.
At this point I might at least try to get the first half of Chapter 1 polished enough to release. That can hopefully get me past the leap of getting something out.
Hi hello don't mind me it's mental illness about Agravaine hours I'm just tracing the characterization/depiction through the ages from Chretien's "Agrevain the Proud" to Wolfram's "The Proud Knight Beaucorps" to Vulgate Anonymous's "Agravain the Proud who is tall, misshapen, but beautiful".
He also got those "Strong/Hard Hands" in Chretien's work.
Which he brought along to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight centuries later.
Sorry for spamming you with asks, but on the subject of atypical fairy tale princesses, there's also the Apennine Sibyl. In classical mythology, there were ten sibyls. Medieval Christianity expanded the number to twelve and cast them as having prophesized about the coming of Jesus. The story of the Apennine Sibyl is a doozy. She's a powerful, virtuous, and wise, but very proud fairy queen who had the gift of prophecy and believed, in her absolute perfection, that she was entitled to be mother of the Messiah. When God chose some humble human girl, she challenged His decision and was punished with ruling an underground kingdom outside of the sight of humans. She built her realm under the Sibillini Mountains into an earthly paradise. In chivalric legends, she would be a recurring character both for King Arthur's Round Table and Charlemagne's paladins. Depending on who was writing and what story was being told, she was both a lustful seducer of knights and THE MOST CHASTE WOMAN in all of Christendom and beyond. She was best frenemies with Morgan Le Fay, and both engaged in fist-fighting with her, and in helping her welcome King Arthur to Avalon to rest and recover. She was Lancelot's first love, and might have even been his original love interest before stories assigned him an emotional love affair with Guinevere. Her lovers and husbands were the most impressive heroes and knights of three eras -- Alexander the Great, the conqueror; Lancelot du Lac, the best knight of the Round Table; Ector de Maris, Lancelot's brother; Lamorak, a powerful knight treacherously murdered by his comrades; Sagramore Le Desirous, berserker knight; Widukind, pagan rival of Charlemagne; Baudoin, younger brother of the paladin Roland. She was also a blueprint for the legend of Venus and Tannhauser, as she would take knights into her cave and they would never be found again. Powerful, proud, wise, ambitious, and also chaste, the Apennine Sibyl or Queen Sibylla is a fairy career woman who deserves to be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Queen Mab or Titania in fantasy fiction.
I've never heard of this character until now. I'll have to read more about her.
Man, when you put all the medieval versions together you really get a LOT of material on her!
And surprisingly, it all might have started with a joke! See, before her big role in Arthuriana, the most famous appearance of the Sibyl in literature was in the Eaneid, where she appears as an old prophet and guide to the protagonist. This image is probably what the author of the Lancelot Prose, from the Vulgate Cycle, had in mind, when they added her to the fairy friends of Morgan who kidnap Lancelot to seduce him. While most versions of this story play the beauty and youth of these fairies straight, in this one it was apparently meant as ironic, as Lancelot rejects the "old women", in favour of Guinevere. However, in the "prophéties de Merlin", Sebile is now known as one of Morgan’s classic companions. Here's a pleasant discussion between the girls:
There is one mention of her that could be older. Ulrich von Zatzikhoven's "Lanzelet" differs strongly from the french Lancelot. One of the most outstanding is the lack of a romance between him and Guinevere. Rather, he is married to the princess Iblis, her name an anagram of Sibil. Some have argued that Ulrich got this version of the story from an older, oral tradition, and that the affair with Guinevere was a literary addition from Chrétien de Troyes. Others pointed out how often german translations and adaptatations of arthurian legends tended to clean up the moral shortcomings of the heroes. So things aren't entirely clear on that front.
The Appennine Sibyl is certainly influenced by the Sebile from Arthuriana, mixed with local and mediterranean sibyl legends. The most important texts mentioning her are the "Guerrin Meschino" a chivalric novel written around 1410 by Andrea da Barberino, and "le Paradis de la reine Sibylle", from Antoine de la Sale’s "Salade", a description of the legends around her, based on his trip to Montemonaco from 1420. Among these last stories there is also the earliest written version of the plot now known as the Tannhäuser legend. The episode of the "Guerrin Meschino" that deals with the Sibyl also bares some similarity to it, with Guerrino spending a year in the fairy queen’s cavern full of wonders and beautiful women, only to then take a pilgrimage to Rome, to seek absolution from the Pope. Only that this time the Pope permits it, after all Guerrino rejected the Sibyl’s advances and only searched her out for her prophecies (which she denied him). De la Sale’s account is really the only recording of a Tannhäuser-like legend on italian soil, the rest stem from either Germany, Switzerland or Austria, though sometimes identify the Venusberg as the Sibyl mountain in Montemonaco. De la Sale also notes many german travelers coming to the cave and identifies the knight from his story with one of these. So it’s unclear if the story originated in Italy as a variant of the Meschino and traveled up north, or if it formed in central europe and was identified by german travellers with the local legend.
Whatever may be the case, the Sibyl enjoyed a lot of fame through the ages. Either as the teacher-turned-nemesis of the Virgin Mary (first mentioned in the "Guerrin Meschino" and now commonly retold in Sicily, Calabria and Malta) or as the attempted seductress of the knight searching for his parentage. The story of Guerrino was very popular, especially in folk theatre adaptations, and there was even a movie based on it in 1952! However, from the 17th century onward, the name of the Sibyl was replaced with another fairy from a chivalric romance: Alcina, from the "Orlando furioso". This change would stay in most adaptations of the legend
lmaoooo the way the false guinevere on her deathbed is like “arthur everything I told you is a lie” and gawain immediately turns to him and is like “my liege I fucking told you so”
I think more historical fantasies and alt histories that have gay marriage be allowed should mess around with the societal implications of this. If your aristocracy allows gay marriage, why? As a release valve for inheritance problems, like monasticism was in parts of medieval Europe? As a way of removing your failchild from the line of succession by legally binding them to the failchild of your political ally, ensuring any offspring they both have will be illegitimate? How about a society where the lower classes are allowed to be gay but the nobility aren’t? Idk there’s just a lot of options that are more interesting than “homophobia just doesn’t real”
Fun Fact for my Lancelot: For their armor, I imagine them with just the largest most ostentatious plume on their helmet. Have any of y’all ever seen Electra from Starlight Express?
Haha yeah I’m surviving 😅 (and either works!). Been doing some overtime at work so have some gaps between writing sessions. Have most of Chapter one done and am now focusing on some of the paths for a few of the side choices. Chapter 1 is generally mostly linear since you’ll end up in Camelot by the end of the Chapter no matter what, but there’s a couple little side events.
The first chapter is the big hurdle because I have a lot more already figured out for the Camelot Chapters which will focus on meeting Guinevere, Arthur, and Gawain (and a small Agravaine interaction) and then setting off for the first quest. So hopefully once this chapter is done it’ll go a bit quicker.
no but imagine you're Lancelot and this 15~ year old comes to Camelot and everyone is saying he's perfect and the most virtuous knight to ever exist and also saying HES YOUR SON?? and so while youre dealing with that crisis you realize he has your deadname
reading le morte d’arthur is like experiencing the opposite of chekhov’s gun. here is a beautiful mysterious damsel who offers you a sword and you will never see her again or know why she did it. here is a quest chasing a pack of beasts running through the court and the knight chasing them will die in one page and is unimportant. arthur has a horrific dream about serpents and it means something but we never learn what and arthur forgets it entirely. nothing means anything and now back to gawain
