Gawain Project: Brothers & Sisters, p. 139

[sigune]

Three-day Visit From Niece Nearly Prevents Sigune From Producing Page 139.

Also: sixth notebook all filled up; time to start the seventh :).

And I finished the Mabinogion. I took note of the fact that my version says that Cai's father is called Cynyr Fairbeard. Wikipedia has him down as Cynyr Forkbeard. If I'm honest, I kinda preferred the fork. Plus: Arthur is one of the Three Frivolous Bards of Britain. Eeh hee! Does this mean I should learn to write englyns?

***

Arthur and his men are in Venta, where the Sword of Kings has remained stuck in a stone for ages. And you know what? Arthur actually manages to pull it out! I know, such a surprise!




Concrit is still and always welcome :).

THE STORY SO FAR:

Part I: The Darkest Hour
1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-21, 22-24, 25-27, 28-31, 32-35, 36-40, 41-44, 45-47, 48-50, 51-53, 54-57, 58-60, 61-64, 65-66, 67-69, 70-73, 74-75, 76-81, 82-84, 85-87, 88-90, 91-92, 93-97, 98-101, 102-103, 104-108, 109-111, 112-114, 115-119

Interlude: The Sword of Kings
1-4, 5-11


Part II: Sunrise
Brothers and Sisters
1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-21, 22-24, 25-27, 28-30,31-33, 34-36, 37-39, 40-42, 43-45, 46-48, 49-51, 52-54, 55-57, 58-60, 61-63, 64-66, 67-69, 70-72, 73-75, 76-78, 79-81, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138.

Comments

[cabepfir.livejournal.com]

Yesterday I was too tired for even opening my laptop. I read Locke & Key 4 (just published here) and went to bed.

I wanted to ask you this (I don't remember if you already replied and/or tackled the issue):
So, in the version of Arthuriana I know (which means nothing since I'm no expert at all), Arthur is given as a squire to Kay and is in no position of power once he takes out Excalibur, so much that he has to re-do that again to prove before the audience that he really managed to pull the sword out. Here you have Arthur who is already the chief of his clan. How did he come to know Cai? (And if it was already in the comic, where?) What made you choose this second version?

[sigune.livejournal.com]

As far as anyone (including themselves) knows, Cai and Arthur are brothers and born of the same parents (=> p. 115, Arthur refers to Cai as his brother; p. 128, Arthur and Cai talk about Merlin being their father's friend).

I know the story moves slowly and in small bits, but - I really have to ask you to be patient for a bit longer XD. There are some reveals upcoming about Cai, Arthur, their parents, and Merlin. I don't want to explain the whole thing here because, like you say, I'm not following the 'classic' version and there is some stuff that is too important to me to just tell in a comment.

As to why I'm not following the Malory version - because that is the one you know, and which is retold brilliantly by T. H. White... Well, I could be glib and say that in the year 500, there were no squires. But the real answer is that I'm obviously not the first person to tell this story, and that there would be little point in retelling it once more if I wasn't going to do anything with it. Arthur the squire, the Wart - this version has been made iconic by Malory, by White and then by Disney that it's difficult to do better, and if I had stuck to it, my version would be some pale reflection of little interest.

You may remember that I had to take a loooooooong break off the comic in order to figure out who my own Arthur was. He was never going to be this really young boy; I don't want him to resemble any of the Arthurs that I love in other people's work. My greatest inspiration is the Welsh Arthur, who seems to have popped up out of nowhere (no father or mother that I know of; he has siblings and nephews but his family is not really clearly defined) and therefore leaves a lot to the imagination. Cai in the Welsh tradition isn't Arthur's brother or foster-brother; there is no mention of how they met either. Now, I'm obviously not following the Welsh tradition closely, but I have taken some bits here and there.

You'll see in a relatively short while (I hope) that Arthur isn't so much 'a leader of his clan' as a charismatic warrior with a raggletaggle band of men. Not his clan in the family sense, but a small warband of people who follow him because they aren't bound to anyone else. That is why he doesn't inspire much awe in the kings. There are those who follow Merlin's view and/or are impressed by magic swords, and those who see a smalltime lordling with some vagrant tagalongs :p.