Legends Summarized: King Arthur

Lancelot: Who are you? Galahad: I'm you, but I have standards.

"What if Merlin was a skinny British kid?" I'm pretty sure that if Merlin existed he was, at some point, a skinny British kid

Guinevere: sleeping with lancelot when already married Also Guinevere: Omg Morgan you can't be sleeping around with people when married

One of my favorite takes on Lancelot was that he was brutal, cruel, sadistic, and covetous and trying VERY HARD not to be those things. Arthur did good by following his natural impulses, Lancelot did good by rejecting his natural impulses.

Chretien: -created a mega popular OC -turned the basic canon into ship wars involving his OCs -planned out a way longer arc that he never bothered to finish This guy really did set the bar for fanfic as we know it

The most important takeaway from Arthurian Legend is that strange women lying in ponds distributing weaponry is no basis for a system of government.

I just realized that King Arthur is technically the first cinematic Universe, complete with fandom, phases, solo stories, and big crossovers

“What if Arthur was a woman?” The premise that became the foundation of a multi-billion dollar franchise

Lancelot: ORIGINAL CHARACTER DO NOT STEAL Gallahad: hold my beer

“Morgan and Mordred” sounds like an urban fantasy law firm 😂

I really enjoy the idea of a villain's revenge/powergrab plot taking so long that by the time it comes to fruition they've mellowed out and completely forgotten about it, but it's too late to stop the machinations they set into play ages ago.

I do find it funny that Fate's take on the tale has the healthiest Arthur-Lancelot-Guinevere relationship, with Lancelot and Guinevere deeply adoring Arthur, but also finding feelings for each other through their mutual support for their king, and Artoria understanding that her role as king made her distant from Guinevere and willingly turning a blind eye to their relationship up until they were publically ousted and Arthur had no choice.

the fact that lancelot was originally a fanfic oc is the best thing i've heard all day

I guarantee that the whole Mordred-Morgan-Morgause connection began because their names all started with "Mor"

"If they all were open and honest about their feelings... we would have a poly-armory." This is just the icing to this already delicious cake of a video.

Another thing about Paganism in the Aurthurian stories, at that time, the king would also marry their lands when they’re crowned. There’s a theory that Guinevere is actually a goddess of the land, and thus gives Arthur legitimacy in his rule. So when Guinevere started favoring Lancelot, Arthur feared that he would lose his throne.

Red: talks extensively about Arthurian lore and mythology throughout the eras Me, who’s memorized all of Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Y’know I’m something of an Arthurian expert myself.

I wonder if that Lancelot was that French guy's self-insert OC because Guinevere was his waifu...

My favourite modern versions is that both Arthur and Lancelot are good and the whole thing is a tragic tale, it was from my favourite book from back when I was a kid and what got me obsessed with Arthurian mythos. This is a long one but I am summarizing a pretty big book here. In this version, Arthur gets smitten by the beauty of Guinevere and wants to marry her. Merlin with his foresight warns him that if he marries her it will one day be his undoing, he still ignores Merlin being a horny young adult and asks Guinevere's hand in marriage. To Arthur's credit he doesn't demand it, even though he could being a king, it is just that Guinevere marries Arthur at her fathers orders (you know marrying his daughter to the king will offer his noble line plenty of influence downstream). Arthur meanwhile is totally chill, kind and noble with her, understanding the situation he forced her in and doesn't force himself to her. And honestly does feel kinda guilty at how his request has forced this woman into a marriage she didn't want. (This was when Arthur first became King and didn't understood how people don't tend to say no to a King's request yet) Guinevere grows to love Arthur, but in a more platonic way instead of romantic. She adores his company and their time together but the spark never ignites(yep Arthur gets friend-zoned). Then Lancelot comes along. Arthur learns about this young knight who was raised by the same nymph who gave him his magic sword and he immediately takes him to his round table. Arthur and Lancelot become best friends almost instantly, feeling a brotherly bond for one another. Then Lancelot and Guinevere meet on Lancelot's knighting ceremony. They instantly fall in love. At first they try to avoid eachother since they both really love and respect Arthur. But being the King's favourite knight and Queen they are bound to meet again and again. Eventually they confess their forbidden love to one and other, and they are in a peculiar situation. In one hand they don't want to betray whom they consider to be their best friend, but on the other they are so in love that they can't help themselves. What seems interesting is that Arthur takes notice but doesn't do anything. Remember he feels guilty about forcing Guinevere to marry him, in a way. If anything he feels kinda happy for both of them, but he never confronts them about it out of fear that doing that will escalate the situation into something terrible. The years go by and Grail, Fisher King, Morgana etc. Adventures come and go. Until one day Mordred accidentally finds out about it while Arthur is away on a hunting trip. Mordred seeing his beloved Uncle's wife getting charmed by his so called "best friend" gets enraged, but he knows that Lancelot is better than him and if he charges in now he will die and Lancelot will continue "abusing" Arthur's trust. Mordred goes to immediately alert his brothers. Gawain is pretty close friend of Lancelot and he insists on doing nothing until the king returns, Gareth and Gaheris owe their lives to Lancelot and they are also against making a move. But Agravein is. Agravein is salty because Lancelot is better than him and while Mordred only wants to protect Arthur, Agravein wants to kill Lancelot and really doesn't give a crap about the adultery. Agravein fears that if Arthur returns he may even pardon Lancelot due to how close of friends they are, so he organizes a bunch of knights and they along side with Mordred storm the quarters of Guinevere while she is with Lancelot. Lancelot with just his sword manages to not only kill Agravein but to also escape. The death of Agravein is kinda of a big deal. For one it makes Mordred furious at Lancelot since he was the sibling he was closest to and it makes the scene from adultary to adultary + murder, murder of the King's nephew no less. Arthur returns to hear what happened. He is pressured by his court to burn Guinevere at the stake for the crimes. He doesn't want to, so he has a plan. He knows that Lancelot will come to rescue her so he has a lackluster guard on the execution day. That way Lancelot can just run with Guinevere to his uncle in Gaul and there those two can live happily ever after. This shows how much trust he has on Lancelot, since he will be present too in the execution day, if Lancelot was truly a traitor he could kill Arthur easily as well as save Guinevere. The execution day comes. And Arthur has Gareth and Gaheris escort Guinevere to be burned. They refuse to wear their armor because they don't want to escort a defenseless lady to her death as knights. As expected Lancelot shows up he cuts through everyone from him to his love, including Gareth and Gaheris who were actually cheering for him. Since they didn't wear any armor they die instantly. Now this is the even that ruins everything. Once Gawain hears about this, he gets furious. Agravein was a dick so Gawain didn't give a shit about him. But he loved Gareth and Gaheris. He gathers literally every other knight and demand Arthur seek revenge. Arthur pressured by his fellow knights does, which enrages Mordred. Mordred lost 3 brothers whom he loved deeply, 3 brothers that were Arthur's nephews and yet from the Mordred POV all that Arthur seems to care is about loosing Lancelot. That changes him. And he now feels the same rage against Lancelot, against Arthur. Guinevere is so horrified by the death Lancelot has caused on her name and refuses to leave with him. She has feels so much regret that she just leaves Lancelot and returns to Arthur so he can kill her, she feels so much guilt that she actually wanted to be burned at the stake so that she may atone, but Arthur doesn't want to, so for know he decided to limit her on London Tower until he finishes his campaing against Lancelot in Gaul. While Gawain and Arthur are in Gaul fighting Lancelot. Mordred usurps Camelot. Once Arthur learns about this he returns, fighting happens in which Gawain is mortally wounded by Mordred. On his deathbed he writes to Lancelot, forgiving him for accidentally killing his brothers and asks to once again return to help their king against the usurper. Lancelot upon receiving the letter, immediately rushes back to Britain. Only to find everything in ruin, he was too late. Only he and Guinivere remain. Who despite having no one left to challenge their forbidden love, part ways. As two broken people forever hunted by guilt till the end of their days. And that was how a children's book about knights ended! Damn I love that book. You gotta love it when Greeks reimagine classic stories, we add so much tragedy!

Gotta appreciate how she held back enough to only mention fate once