The closest person that matches King Arthur is thought to be Arthrwys, a Welshmen who ruled sometime after the Romans left.
By contrast, the TV series of about a decade ago, Camelot, was dreadful. Heavily feminist, with a kick-ass Guinevere wielding a sword. Themes of universalism and Britain as "a proposition nation." Some of the knights were African. (The rationale was that they settled there long ago with the Romans.) Arthur was wimpy. Merlin looked like an angst-ridden, druggie. And a sinister, degenerate nun as Morgana's sidekick.
Camelot ping
ping
Bookmark
King Arthur: Old woman!
Dennis: Man.
King Arthur: Man, sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there?
Dennis: I’m 37.
King Arthur: What?
Dennis: I’m 37. I’m not old.
King Arthur: Well I can’t just call you “man”.
Dennis: Well you could say “Dennis”.
King Arthur: I didn’t know you were called Dennis.
Dennis: Well you didn’t bother to find out, did you?
King Arthur: I did say sorry about the “old woman”, but from behind you looked…
Dennis: What I object to is you automatically treat me like an inferior.
King Arthur: Well, I am king.
Dennis: Oh, king eh? Very nice. And how’d you get that, eh? By exploiting the workers. By hanging on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society. If there’s ever gonna be any progress…
Peasant Woman: Dennis! There’s some lovely filth down here… Oh! How do you do?
[Dennis joins the Peasant Woman in the nearby filth patch]
King Arthur: How do you do, good lady? I am Arthur, king of the Britons. Whose castle is that?
Peasant Woman: King of the who?
King Arthur: The Britons.
Peasant Woman: Who’re the “Britons”?
King Arthur: Well, we all are. We’re all Britons, and I am your king.
Peasant Woman: Didn’t know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective.
Dennis: You’re fooling yourself. We’re living in a dictatorship! A self-perpetuating autocracy, in which the working classes…
Peasant Woman: Oh, there you go, bringing class into it again.
Dennis: Well, that’s what it’s all about! If only people would–
King Arthur: Please, please, good people, I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?
Peasant Woman: No one lives there.
King Arthur: Then who is your lord?
Peasant Woman: We don’t have a lord.
King Arthur: What?
Dennis: I told you, we’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as sort of executive officer for the week…
King Arthur: Yes…
Dennis: …but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting…
King Arthur: Yes I see…
Dennis: …by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs…
King Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis: …but by a two thirds majority in the case of more…
King Arthur: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!
Peasant Woman: “Order”, eh? Who does he think he is?
King Arthur: I am your king.
Peasant Woman: Well, I didn’t vote for you.
King Arthur: You don’t vote for kings.
Peasant Woman: Well, how’d you become king, then?
[Angelic music plays…]
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.
Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis: You can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just ’cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
Arthur: Shut up!
Dennis: I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they’d put me away!
Arthur: [grabs Dennis] Shut up! Will you shut up?!
Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!
Arthur: [shakes Dennis] Shut up!
Dennis: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I’m being repressed!
Arthur: Bloody Peasant!
Dennis: Ooh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That’s what I’m on about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw it, didn’t you?
And the Green Knight looks like Groot's brother.
BTTT
Fascinating story!
The Arthurian story appears also in Italian story “Orlando Furioso” and the epic French poem, “Song of Roland”.
Merlin has a part in these stories and is the lover of Morgana, the Lady of the Lake. Merlin has Morgana make 2 identical Excalibur swords, because he knows that one will be broken by Arthur.
In both stories the beautiful Lady Angelica is a Chinese princess and the other beautiful Lady is Bramimonde, a Saracen.
Very interesting!
“One day, a King will come, and the Sword will rise... again.”
See Michael York’s book, “In Search of the Dark Ages” which has a chapter detailing evidence for three different theories of an historical Arthur. This book was written to follow up the success of his work, “In Search of the Trojan War” each being made into a very successful documentary mini-series on BBC.
They dated the handwriting?
Wow.
If researchers in the distant future ever “date my handwriting” for whatever odd reason, they’ll probably determine I was from an alternate reality.
My handwriting is so bad it’s often the case I can’t even read it when I go back over notes or some such.
Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
.