Week 11 Story Planning: Nimue Takes Excalibur

A story about the Lady of the Lake's plot to kill Merlin, but even as the antagonist, she is still clever, strong-willed, and sympathetic. Also, she should wield Excalibur at least once.

From The Sword Excalibur

In a little while they came to a large lake, and in the midst of the lake Arthur beheld an arm rising out of the water, holding up a sword.

"Look!" said Merlin, "that is the sword I spoke of." And the King looked again, and a maiden stood upon the water.

"That is the Lady of the Lake," said Merlin, "and she is coming to you, and if you ask her courteously she will give you the sword."

So when the maiden drew near Arthur saluted her and said, "Maiden, I pray you tell me whose sword is that which an arm is holding out of the water? I wish it were mine, for I have lost my sword."

"That sword is mine, King Arthur," answered she, "and I will give it to you, if you in return will give me a gift when I ask you."

"By my faith," said the King, "I will give you whatever gift you ask."

"Well," said the maiden, "get into the barge yonder, and row yourself to the sword, and take it and the scabbard with you." For this was the sword Excalibur. "As for my gift, I will ask it in my own time."

From The Passing of Merlin

[A knight] brought a damsel of the lake to Arthur's Court, and when Merlin saw her he fell in love with her, so that he desired to be always in her company.

The damsel laughed in secret at Merlin but made use of him to tell her all she would know, and the wizard had no strength to say her nay, though he knew what would come of it. For he told King Arthur that before long he should be put into the earth alive, for all his cunning. He likewise told the King many things that should befall him, and warned him always to keep the scabbard as well as the sword Excalibur, and foretold that both sword and scabbard should be stolen from him by a woman whom he most trusted.

"You will miss my counsel sorely," added Merlin, "and would give all your lands to have me back again."

"But since you know what will happen," said the King, "you may surely guard against it."

"No," answered Merlin, "that will not be." So he departed from the King, and the maiden followed him, whom some call Nimue and others Vivien, and wherever she went, Merlin went also.

They journeyed together to many places, both at home and across the seas, and the damsel was wearied of him, and sought by every means to be rid of him, but he would not be shaken off.

At last these two wandered back to Cornwall, and one day Merlin showed Vivien a rock under which he said great marvels were hidden. Then Vivien put forth all her Powers and told Merlin how she longed to see the wonders beneath the stone, and, in spite of all his wisdom, Merlin listened to her and crept under the rock to bring forth the strange things that lay there. And when he was under the stone, she used the magic he had taught her, and the rock rolled over him and buried him alive, as he had told King Arthur.

But the damsel departed with joy, and thought no more of him — now that she knew all the magic he could teach her. 

From Idylls of the King:

One of the most famous and important men in Camelot was Merlin, the great magician, astronomer, engineer, architect, and bard, whose friendship and wise advice were valuable assets to Arthur. Vivien made a concerted effort to gain the old man's favor. She eventually succeeded, for though he did not like her, he was amused by her feline mannerisms and complimented by her attentions. Vivien even claimed to be in love with him. Merlin was too wise to believe her, but he was old and lonely and sometimes his certainty would weaken.
 
A time came when Merlin fell into a state of deep depression. He wandered alone on the beach and then drifted off in a small boat that he found, but Vivien followed and joined him. At first he was unaware of her presence; then he pretended to ignore her. Finally they came ashore in Brittany and continued to wander until they reached the forest of Broceliande. Vivien had gone to all this effort because she recalled that Merlin had once mentioned a potent magic charm he knew. Through this spell a man could be made as if imprisoned in an impregnable tower and would be invisible to all the world except the one who worked the charm. Vivien now sought to learn this secret and use it on Merlin, which is how the two came to be resting together in the forest.

As they recline beneath the tree, Vivien caresses and kisses Merlin's feet and beard and chatters to him of her love and devotion. Merlin is delighted by her talk, but does not believe even a part of it. Nonetheless, since he owes her a boon, he promises to grant her wish. Vivien asks to be taught the secret charm as an expression of his trust in her and proof that he returns her love, but Merlin refuses. In addition, he berates himself for ever having revealed the existence of the secret to her. He justifies his refusal by his fears that she would misuse the charm and offers her anything else she desires.

Then, in one moment, she put forth the charm
Of woven paces and of waving hands,
And in the hollow oak he lay as dead,
And lost to life and use and name and fame.
Then crying, "I have made his glory mine,"
And shrieking out, "O fool!" the harlot leapt
Adown the forest, and the thicket closed
Behind her, and the forest echo'd "fool."

From Wikipedia:

Lady of the Lake is the name of the ruler of Avalon in the Arthurian legend. She plays a pivotal role in many stories, including giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur [and] enchanting Merlin.

The Lancelot-Grail Cycle provides a backstory for the Lady of the Lake, Viviane, in the prose Merlin section, which takes place before the Lancelot Proper, though it was written later. She refuses to give him her love until he has taught her all his secrets, after which she uses her power to trap him either in the trunk of a tree or beneath a stone, depending on the story and author. Though Merlin, through his power of foresight knows beforehand that this will happen, he is unable to counteract Viviane because of the "truth" this ability of foresight holds. He decides to do nothing for his situation other than to continue to teach her his secrets until she takes the opportunity to entrap and entomb him in a tree, a stone or a cave.

Crack from Max Pixel

Scene progression:

1. Merlin foresees his own death and the person who will kill him: Nimue, future Lady of the Lake, and a woman he's close with. To keep himself alive, he seals her under a lake with a magic sword.
2. Years later, Merlin and Arthur appear at the Lady's now-frozen lake. By taking Excalibur, the magic sword, she is unsealed. She gives up Excalibur, to Merlin's surprise and asks Arthur for a favor in return.
3. Nimue seeks out Merlin's approval and makes him believe she forgives and still loves him, but ultimately tricks him and seals him back into the lake with Excalibur, which she got back from Arthur via the favor.

Sources:
Andrew Lang: The Sword Excalibur
Andrew Lang: The Passing of Merlin
Cliffsnotes: Merlin and Vivien
Wikipedia: The Lady of the Lake

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part B

Here's a list of major Arthurian knights and characters connected to Arthur. As I worked through this reading, it was a little harder to keep track of the influences on the stories and relationships between characters. The notes are taken both from Wikipedia and information I already know about the characters.

King Arthur provides a framing device: the legendary king so noble and lawful good that he attracts the land's most talented and morally upstanding nights--but not more morally upstanding than him. Arthur is best known as a character and pseudo-historical figure in tales where he is an Excalibur-wielding king of Britain. According to most stories, he is born via the rape of a noblewoman by Uther Pendragon, and dies at the hand of his sometimes-nephew, sometimes-accidentally-concieved-by-incest son Mordred. Stories involving King Arthur tend to focus less on the king himself and more on the knights.

Guinevere is Arthur's wife, who usually has an adulterous relationship with chief knight Lancelot on the side, but in earlier works tends to be forgiven for it. Arthur's round table was a gift from her father, King Leodegrance. She has been portrayed as "everything from a weak and opportunistic traitor to a fatally flawed but noble and virtuous gentlewoman." Sometimes she is intelligent, friendly, and graceful; other times, she's a vindictive and weak-minded opportunist.

Mordred is Arthur's would-be usurper, sometimes Arthur's illegitimate son with his half-sister Morgause, sometimes with Morgan le Fay. In some literature, he's instead the son of King Lot, brother to Gawain, Agravain, and Gareth, two of whom are Arthurian knights with their own stories. He and Arthur kill each other in combat.

Now the knights:

Lancelot is Arthur's favorite knight, known to be the best earthly knight on earth. His legendarily adulterous love for Guinevere characterizes him as fatally flawed, but in many works, this love is what gives him so much strength. It also makes him a very bitter person.

Gawain is the James Bond of the round table, as he always stops for a lady in need. However, this happens to be because he once killed a lady by accident when dueling with her husband. As a result, he is honor-bound to always help a lady who is in distress.

Galahad is Lancelot's son, and considered the purest and most noble knight there is. He's one of three knights who achieves the Grail.

Percival is a younger and more naive knight, a welshman who learned to be a knight despite growing up in the woods with only his mother. His tale in Chretien de Troyes' Arthurian romance is the origin of the Grail quest.

Tristan has roots as a character before Arthurian myth, but his main story is his love for Isolde, who his uncle marries. That relationship is sometimes used as a parallel to the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle, but Tristan's story is more one-sided because his love with Isolde is considered more justified. His uncle is also a huge jerk who marries Isolde partially just to make Tristan miserable.

Yvain or Ywain is a lesser-known knight whose quest involves killing a lady's husband, falling in love with her, marrying her, breaking a promise to her and then becoming a hermit and going crazy as a result. He gets better, and also finds highly symbolic companionship in a wild lion.

Kay is Arthur's adopted brother and seneschal, and very antagonistic towards the other knights. To my knowledge, he has no tales of his own, but has adventures in other knights' stories. He's great because nobody really likes him all that much, and sometimes knights like Yvain end up taking on big adventures just to avoid being taunted constantly by Kay.

Sources:
King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang
Wikipedia: King Arthur
Wikipedia: Guinevere
Wikipedia: Mordred

Image:
How Mordred Was Slain by Arthur via Wikimedia Commons

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part A

I have been looking forward to this unit for a long time. I'm taking a class over Arthurian Literature this semester, so I've read a lot of these stories already. In Part A, they all seem to be adapted from Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, so I may use background information from Malory's stories in my notes.

One day, I'd really love to try re-writing a few Arthurian stories in my own style, especially those surrounding Merlin's birth and childhood, the Lady of the Lake, Lancelot, Gawain, Enide, or Balin. This set of stories features the Lady of the Lake a few times, so I may write a story about her. Supposedly, she has a handful of different names, including Nimue, Viviane, Vivien, Elaine, Ninianne, Nivian, Nyneve, and Evienne. This is because of the way her name was written in middle English, where the figurative hills and valleys of specific cursive letters would mimic each other. For example, an N could look like "Vi" and "mu" could look like "ine." I'll refer to her as Nimue.

The Lady of the Lake from Wikimedia Commons

I love the scene in The Sword Excalibur where Arthur and Merlin approach the lake in hopes of finding the sword. The Lady of the Lake appears to them and agrees to give Arthur the sword in exchange for a favor. Once she disappears, Merlin points out that the sword is valuable, but not as much so as the scabbard, which magically keeps Arthur from bleeding out as long as he has it on his person, no matter how much he's wounded. I like the idea that the sword and scabbard have  to be together in a set, otherwise they don't work.

Many depictions of this scene are set in spring and summer, with flowers and long green grass sprouting at the edge of the lake, but what if it were set in winter? The surface of the lake would be frozen over, with a single frostbitten arm sticking up from the middle of the water clutching a frosty sword. Arthur and Merlin would have to bravely creep out onto the frozen surface to retrieve Excalibur.

Nimue also appears in The Passing of Merlin, where she is responsible for his death, which really complicates her character. In the story, it seems to be because Merlin had an irritating crush on her and wouldn't leave her alone.

I'm interested in writing a story where the Lady of the Lake becomes an antagonist. I have a lot of stories so far with female main characters, but none I can think of with a female villain. This would be an excellent reversal because the Lady of the Lake is so often depicted as a force of good. In Malory's work, however, she is actually part of a cycle of revenge that kicks off Balin's story. Maybe I could write a story revolving around her plot to kill Merlin. She could wield Excalibur, too.

I'd like to preserve Malory's characterization of her, too. She's pragmatic, knowledgeable, clever, strong-willed, and unflinching. My goal would be to make her a sympathetic antagonist.

Sources:
King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang
Wikipedia: Lady of the Lake