Gawain Project: Brothers & Sisters, 34-36

[sigune]

"Agravaine, the next after Gawain, was the bully of the family - he was shifty, inclined to cry, and frightened of pain. It was because he had a good imagination and used his head more than the others."
- T.H. White, The Once and Future King. Book II: The Witch in the Wood (1940)



I missed the captions, so I have brought them back. It's just too much fun quoting my inspiration and hinting at the things I have kept or changed. Mind you, the number of 'sources' for this chapter is rather limited, so you'll probably see T.H. White and Gillian Bradshaw take turns at the top of these updates. Most of my other Arthurian novels don't devote much (if any) time to Gawain's childhood. T.H. White's account of the little Orkney boys is the one that stays with me the most. My Gawain is very different from White's, but his Agravain, Gaheris and Gareth are more difficult to leave behind. Gawain has most of his adventures on his own (with the notable exception of the first), so his brothers aren't going to have all that much page time. Consequently, they are nor as well-developed as characters like Morgana and Lot. But it is possible that they rise to prominence as the story unfolds - I don't always know exactly how the tale will take me to its destination :-).

Agravain-the-bully is almost inescapable because - well, he's Agravain à la Dure Main; his behaviour is quite consistent and as canonical as it gets in Arthurian stories. (Gawain, on the other hand, can have a completely different personality from one story to the next, so you can write him any which way and still find an Arthurian source to back you up.) And, admittedly, Agravain-the-bully suits me just fine. That said, I hope you'll see him grow into his own, neither Malory's creature nor White's.

Concrit is welcome!

What went before
Returning home from Morgana's convent, Gawain has met his cousin Owain, Uriens of Gorre's youngest son. The boys' first meeting does not run that smoothly, as Owain does not seem to think very highly of Gawain's family...

Sunrise Chapter 1: Brothers and Sisters
Brothers and Sisters 1-3, Brothers and Sisters 4-6, Brothers and Sisters 7-9, Brothers and Sisters 10-12, Brothers and Sisters 13-15, Brothers and Sisters 16-18, Brothers and Sisters 19-21, Brothers and Sisters 22-24, Brothers and Sisters 25-27, Brothers and Sisters 28-30,Brothers and Sisters 31-33









Next week: There will be fighting :-).

Comments

[valis2.livejournal.com]

My goodness! Boys will be boys, clearly, no matter which time period something takes place in. ha!!

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really glad you say that, because I wouldn't want them to seem like miniature knights :-).

...Um, although... Knights, too, don't seem to need much in order to start a good fight. Hum. Boys with toys, I guess...