King Arthur's dying request is for Sir Bedivere to throw the Excalibur into the lake, but Bedivere's greed temporarily prevails over his loyalty. He lies twice to Arthur about throwing the sword back. On his third trip to the water, he fulfills Arthur's dying wish.
In the medieval legends about King Arthur of Britain and his knights, Lancelot is the greatest knight of all. In time, however, Lancelot's love for Guinevere, the king's wife, leads him to betray his king and sets in motion the fatal events that end Arthur's rule.
Mordred is often the character that betrays King Arthur, but Queen Guinevere and Lancelot also betray King Arthur as they are having an affair. The circumstances surrounding the betrayal vary.
In Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Guinevere betrays Arthur by helping his nephew Mordred usurp her husband's throne. She then rules by his side until Arthur returns to fight Mordred to the death. Widowed, she escapes to a nunnery, where she lives out the rest of her days in shame and seclusion.
Mordred decided to overtake King Arthur's throne and tried to take Guinevere as his wife. Guinevere pretended to go along with Mordred's plan, but tricked him into letting her go to London where she hid in the Tower of London. When King Arthur heard of Mordred's betrayal, he returned to Camelot to recapture his throne.
Later versions of the story extended Lancelot and Guinevere's love into a full-blown affair, which in the end brought down the Round Table and ushered in the end of Arthur's reign when Lancelot rescued the queen, who had been condemned to burn at the stake, and in the process killed several of Arthur's knights.
Nonetheless, Mordred revealed a dark and vengeful personality when he told Merlin that he would never forgive or forget him after Merlin led Arthur and his knights to Mordred's camp and tried to stop him from escaping.
Character Overview. Guinevere was the wife of King Arthur , the legendary ruler of Britain. She was a beautiful and noble queen, but her life took a tragic turn when she fell in love with Lancelot , one of Arthur's bravest and most loyal knights.
Guinevere later returns to Arthur from Lancelot's castle and is forgiven (Arthur starts to doubt that Guinevere ever betrayed him). When Arthur goes after Lancelot to France, he leaves her in the care of Mordred, who plans to marry the queen himself and take Arthur's throne.
However, as often is the cause of quarrels between friends, Lancelot fell in love with Arthur's wife, Guinevere. This would have been all well and good if nothing had come of it, but Guinevere also fell in love with Lancelot, and they had an affair.
These and many other versions of the legend feature the motif of Arthur and Mordred striking down each other in a duel after most of the others on both sides have died.
Arthur's most vicious enemy was his half sister, Morgan le Fay. A skilled enchantress, she did everything she could to defeat Arthur. Once Arthur was hunting in Wales with two other knights, Sir Urience and Sir Accolon.
Gawain, hero of Arthurian legend and romance. A nephew and loyal supporter of King Arthur, Gawain appeared in the earliest Arthurian literature as a model of knightly perfection, against whom all other knights were measured.
In the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth included Constantine in his pseudohistorical chronicle Historia Regum Britanniae, adding details to Gildas' account and making Constantine the successor to King Arthur as King of Britain. Under Geoffrey's influence, Constantine appeared as Arthur's heir in later chronicles.
She seduces Arthur in the hope that she can later use it against him. A sorceress with authority over dark powers, Morgawse is a central figure in Hawk of May (1980) and its sequel, Kingdom of Summer (1982), the first two novels in Gillian Bradshaw's Down the Long Wind series.
Sir Lancelot returned several days later to rescue his beloved Guinevere from the fire. This whole sad affair divided the Knights of the Round Table and weakened Arthur's kingdom. Poor Lancelot ended his days as a lowly hermit and Guinevere became a nun at Amesbury where she died.
One of these knights was Sir Lancelot. He was Arthur's best friend.
Guinevere is Arthur's wife and queen; according to the Vulgate Cycle and Malory, she is the daughter of Leodegrance of Carmelide. Though one of the Welsh Triads (Triad 56) speaks of Arthur's three great queens (all named Gwenhwyfar), later romance generally gives him only one wife named Guinevere.
In the early chronicles and later in prose Arthurian romances, Guinevere was abducted by Mordred, Arthur's nephew (or, in some versions, his son), and this action was closely bound up with the death of Arthur and the end of the knightly fellowship of the Round Table.
Lancelot, also spelled Launcelot, also called Lancelot of the Lake, French Lancelot du Lac, one of the greatest knights in Arthurian romance; he was the lover of Arthur's queen, Guinevere, and was the father of the pure knight Sir Galahad.
Arthur and Guinevere are married after Arthur establishes himself as king of England and quashes the numerous rebellions that rise up against him. In early versions, Guinevere is something of a prize won by a warrior king. The marriage ceremony is lavish and an important symbol of the newly glorious Camelot.
King Arthur of England and his queen, Silvia, have a son named Samson and a daughter named Grega. Unlike her brother, Grega is mentioned only once, when she's named in the introduction. This is, however, King Arthur in name only.
Having drawn the sword, he must unite his fellow students to form a new band of knights and, with the help of the wizard Merlin, defeat the evil enchantress Morgana. Morgana, also called Morgaine or Morgan, is a staple figure of the Arthurian legend.
In some variants, including in the popular retelling by Malory, Morgan is the greatest enemy of Arthur, scheming to usurp his throne and indirectly becoming an instrument of his death. However, she eventually reconciles with Arthur, retaining her original role of taking him on his final journey to Avalon.
The wizard creates a green gem out of one of Nimue's tears which, upon dissolving in her mouth, causes her to remember the history between Merlin and herself. Nimue is horrified at how she betrayed Merlin, but Merlin forgives her.