Arthur's Quest
Mar. 24th, 2011 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartBelow are a few random ideas, in no particular order, and potentially due to be altered or exchanged for better ones, re: "Prince Arthur and the Quest for the Holy Grail". As I said, they are completely random, I'm just playing with them in my head, trying to figure out what would work within the basic layout of the BBC series and what wouldn't.
1) The outlash of Morgana's grief over what had happened to Morgause leaves Camelot in ruins. The people are battered and scared, and their trust in the royal family is shaken.
2) Uther is still recovering, and Arthur has to rule the realm in his name. He entrusts the training of new knight-probationers to Sir Leon (here a few names from the Arthurian legends like Sir Bors, etc., may make their first appearance) and seems to fall under Gwen's spell more and more with each passing day. This begins to worry Merlin, as Gwen is also showing subtle interest for Lancelot, while still leading Arthur on.
3) Unsettled about the whole situation, Merlin returns to the Crystal Cave again, to seek guidance. There he meets Taliesin (or his ghost, which is trapped in the crystals, I haven't decided yet), who tell him that it is gwen's fate to be with Lancelot. However, Merlin knows that Arthur won't give up Gwen, and decides to try to find another love interest for Lancelot.
4) Upon Merlin's return to Camelot, Isilder, the head Druid makes an appearance, telling Arthur that only the Grail could heal the wounds caused by Morgana's evil magic. When thy try to ask him what that is, though, he simply disappears (perhaps taking the Cup of Life with him???).
5) Merlin and Gaius do some research and provide vague trivia about the Grail for Arthur. (What exactly the Grail is in this context, since the BBC-series completely lacks every Christian aspect, I'm still trying to figure out.)
6)As soon as Uther has recovred, ARthur decides to go on a quest to find the Grail. Leaving Sir Leon behind to defend Camelot in his stead, he takes Merlin, Gwaine, Lancelot and Percival with him. (This might change later, as I'm playing with the idea to have Merlin see Sir Leon have a roll in the hay with Arthur on their way, just to make him insanely jealous. Also, I may add more knights from the Arthurian legends.) Elyan must stay home to protect Gwen. Plus, Uther doesn't verify his knighthood, and Camelot needs a blacksmith.
7) There will be various adventured during the Quest. They come by the Castle of the Maidens, where Gwaine rediscovers his sisters (I'm still of two minds about which ones), and his entire background (which might be slightly different than in the series) will be revealed. They also have to cross the Forest of Brocéliande (probably under a different name), where Merlin gets the chance to look into the Mirror of the Faeries (and see Freya perhaps?) and one of the heroes slays the Knight of the Fountain. (Here I may have to find a reason for Merlin to perform the thunderstorm trick, because it's way too cool.)
8) They rest in the castle of Lord Godwyn, whose daughter, Elena (here perhaps called Elaine) used to be a changeling. She takes a fancy to Lancelot, and Merlin agrees to help her, hoping that Lancelot might forget Gwen (as, let's be frank, Elaine is a hundred time prettier). Lancelot does sleep with Elaine, thinking that she's Gwen, but he leaves her behind nonetheless. (Should I make him marry her first???)
9) Somehow, Merlin will find out that Gwen's father (unlike Elyan's), wasn't Tom the blacksmith but Leodegrance, the sorcerer of King Royons of Cameliand. He was a cousin of Sir Leon's father and forced himself upon Gwen's mother, who was serving Leon's family. No-one knew about it, not even Tom or Sir Leon's parents. Gwen hasn't inherited much from her natural father's powers, but she's fairly good at spells and has learned from Gaius a great deal... which is why she hung out with the old physician all the time.
10) Gwen doesn't really love either Arthur, or Lancelot. She want to marry Arthur, because she wants to become Queen. And she wants to bind Lancelot to her, because - according to the laws of chivalry - a knight ought to put the interests of his lady before his own, and she wants him as her willing servant.
11) Sir Kay is brought to Camelot. He's the son of Tristan de Bois, Arthur's laet uncle, who was resurrected by Nimueh as the Black Knight. Kay was raised by Lord Ector, the brother of his mother; he is now somewhat older than Arthur and already a knight. uther makes him the seneschal of the Citadel, to be his right hand in Arthur's absence (not the least because he's still feeling guilty about Tristan.
12) After the death of Cenred and the disappearance of his immortal army, his kingdom is in a great disarray. Hunith flees to Camelot, to her uncle Gaius, until things calm down a little in Ealdor. Yes, I know that Gaius is supposed to be Hunith's brother, but I find he really is too old for that, so I settled for an uncle. There seem to be at least two generations between him and Merlin, IMO.
13) William of Daria, the young farmer impersonating Arthur on that turnament in Season 2, also heads for Camelot. His lands have been destroyed by Cenred's army, and he needs a means to live. HE meets Gilli on the way (the young guy with magical powers from late Season 3), and the two stay together to face the perils of the road. There will be some adventures, presumably of the humorous sort that I haven't figured out yet.
14) In some way, I intend to bring back Alice, Gaius' old flame, and have her play a role in revealing Lancelot's true ancestry. Because, unless I kill off Uther, which I won't do, he'd never be allowed to remain a Knight of Camelot as a common-born. And Uther won't reform the ancient custom for him just yet. For that, Arthur needs to become King first, and this is not that story.
So, that's it, so far. Not much, and very, very random. But I'm still just collecting the ideas.
Comments? Opinions?
1) The outlash of Morgana's grief over what had happened to Morgause leaves Camelot in ruins. The people are battered and scared, and their trust in the royal family is shaken.
2) Uther is still recovering, and Arthur has to rule the realm in his name. He entrusts the training of new knight-probationers to Sir Leon (here a few names from the Arthurian legends like Sir Bors, etc., may make their first appearance) and seems to fall under Gwen's spell more and more with each passing day. This begins to worry Merlin, as Gwen is also showing subtle interest for Lancelot, while still leading Arthur on.
3) Unsettled about the whole situation, Merlin returns to the Crystal Cave again, to seek guidance. There he meets Taliesin (or his ghost, which is trapped in the crystals, I haven't decided yet), who tell him that it is gwen's fate to be with Lancelot. However, Merlin knows that Arthur won't give up Gwen, and decides to try to find another love interest for Lancelot.
4) Upon Merlin's return to Camelot, Isilder, the head Druid makes an appearance, telling Arthur that only the Grail could heal the wounds caused by Morgana's evil magic. When thy try to ask him what that is, though, he simply disappears (perhaps taking the Cup of Life with him???).
5) Merlin and Gaius do some research and provide vague trivia about the Grail for Arthur. (What exactly the Grail is in this context, since the BBC-series completely lacks every Christian aspect, I'm still trying to figure out.)
6)As soon as Uther has recovred, ARthur decides to go on a quest to find the Grail. Leaving Sir Leon behind to defend Camelot in his stead, he takes Merlin, Gwaine, Lancelot and Percival with him. (This might change later, as I'm playing with the idea to have Merlin see Sir Leon have a roll in the hay with Arthur on their way, just to make him insanely jealous. Also, I may add more knights from the Arthurian legends.) Elyan must stay home to protect Gwen. Plus, Uther doesn't verify his knighthood, and Camelot needs a blacksmith.
7) There will be various adventured during the Quest. They come by the Castle of the Maidens, where Gwaine rediscovers his sisters (I'm still of two minds about which ones), and his entire background (which might be slightly different than in the series) will be revealed. They also have to cross the Forest of Brocéliande (probably under a different name), where Merlin gets the chance to look into the Mirror of the Faeries (and see Freya perhaps?) and one of the heroes slays the Knight of the Fountain. (Here I may have to find a reason for Merlin to perform the thunderstorm trick, because it's way too cool.)
8) They rest in the castle of Lord Godwyn, whose daughter, Elena (here perhaps called Elaine) used to be a changeling. She takes a fancy to Lancelot, and Merlin agrees to help her, hoping that Lancelot might forget Gwen (as, let's be frank, Elaine is a hundred time prettier). Lancelot does sleep with Elaine, thinking that she's Gwen, but he leaves her behind nonetheless. (Should I make him marry her first???)
9) Somehow, Merlin will find out that Gwen's father (unlike Elyan's), wasn't Tom the blacksmith but Leodegrance, the sorcerer of King Royons of Cameliand. He was a cousin of Sir Leon's father and forced himself upon Gwen's mother, who was serving Leon's family. No-one knew about it, not even Tom or Sir Leon's parents. Gwen hasn't inherited much from her natural father's powers, but she's fairly good at spells and has learned from Gaius a great deal... which is why she hung out with the old physician all the time.
10) Gwen doesn't really love either Arthur, or Lancelot. She want to marry Arthur, because she wants to become Queen. And she wants to bind Lancelot to her, because - according to the laws of chivalry - a knight ought to put the interests of his lady before his own, and she wants him as her willing servant.
11) Sir Kay is brought to Camelot. He's the son of Tristan de Bois, Arthur's laet uncle, who was resurrected by Nimueh as the Black Knight. Kay was raised by Lord Ector, the brother of his mother; he is now somewhat older than Arthur and already a knight. uther makes him the seneschal of the Citadel, to be his right hand in Arthur's absence (not the least because he's still feeling guilty about Tristan.
12) After the death of Cenred and the disappearance of his immortal army, his kingdom is in a great disarray. Hunith flees to Camelot, to her uncle Gaius, until things calm down a little in Ealdor. Yes, I know that Gaius is supposed to be Hunith's brother, but I find he really is too old for that, so I settled for an uncle. There seem to be at least two generations between him and Merlin, IMO.
13) William of Daria, the young farmer impersonating Arthur on that turnament in Season 2, also heads for Camelot. His lands have been destroyed by Cenred's army, and he needs a means to live. HE meets Gilli on the way (the young guy with magical powers from late Season 3), and the two stay together to face the perils of the road. There will be some adventures, presumably of the humorous sort that I haven't figured out yet.
14) In some way, I intend to bring back Alice, Gaius' old flame, and have her play a role in revealing Lancelot's true ancestry. Because, unless I kill off Uther, which I won't do, he'd never be allowed to remain a Knight of Camelot as a common-born. And Uther won't reform the ancient custom for him just yet. For that, Arthur needs to become King first, and this is not that story.
So, that's it, so far. Not much, and very, very random. But I'm still just collecting the ideas.
Comments? Opinions?
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Re: Sorry for late response!
Date: 2011-03-28 03:29 pm (UTC)When the Fisher King was introduced and killed off in a single episode, I wondered if Merlin was going to avoid featuring the Grail altogether. But obviously the Grail could still exist in a different context from that of the traditional story.
My thoughts exactly. I'm using the Patene de Serpentine as the Grail, and will eventually bring in the Holy Chalice of Valencia, too, since that also has serpent motives. I'm not sure in which context I can use the cup, since it would clash with the Cup of Life, so perhaps I'll leave it out entirely. We'll see.
The idea of Merlin casting the glamour on Elaine is interesting, since traditionally that's how he enables Uther to bed Ygraine. It would need careful handling, I think, since to me it seems rather evil for our Merlin... being an accessory to rape.
I'm thinking of working along the line already discussed on the show: the enchantment being broken by true love. While Lancelot does not love Elaine - obviously - I could make Elaine really fall in love with him. And Merlin's character has already considerably darkened since Season 1. After all, he did poison Morgana in order to save others. I know this is not the same category, but perhaps I can work something out.
I also intend to use the motive about the fountain from "The Knight and the Lion", simply because it would be cool for Merlin to call down a thunderstorm without actually using his magic and reveal himself to Arthur. *g* Of course, in that case I might have to replace Sir Yvein with Arthur, but that's something else I'll need to figure out.
I'm not sure what I'll do about Galahad. One possibility would be that Lancelot realizes that he's under a spell but can't free himself completely. I might have him marry Elaine while still being in love with Gwen. It's a know fact that many of the Minnesänger were married, with families, while doing insane things for a different woman who was perhaps married to their liege lord, so why not?
But I don't think I'll bring in Galahad - unless in a completely different role. I want to keep Percival as the Grail Knight (he was the original one, after all), and Galahad is so saintly anyway that he gives me a toothache.
I'm planning to use as many known Arthurian legends as I can stuff into this series - I'm planning to write one adventure a time, and there will be long breaks between the adventures, most likely. It will be like an alternate Season 4, ending with Arthur returning with the Grail, Merlin revealing himself and Uther leaving the scene. How all this is going to happen, and how Morgana and Morgause will fit into the whole thing, is completely unclear at the moment.
Beta offer is gratefully accepted. I've written 11 pages for the first chapter; once it's fully done, I'll mail it to you. You're a jewel!