The Once and Future King
BOOK ONE: THE SWORD IN THE STONE
Chapter One / Summary and Notes
The chapter opens by introducing the protagonist of the novel, Wart. His full name is Arthur, and he is the twelve-year-old adopted brother of
Kay, who is the son of Sir Ector, a feudal lesser lord sometime in the Middle Ages. Wart and Kay’s governess has just had a nervous
breakdown, and Ector is searching for a new tutor. In the first few paragraphs of this chapter, the reader is introduced to the somewhat
esoteric education the average medieval boy might have.
Sir Ector bemoans his struggles to find a suitable tutor to his best friend, Sir Grummore Grummursum, and they decide to start a “quest” for
an instructor for the boys.
For the majority of the rest of the chapter, the reader is treated to descriptions of rural medieval life: the boys go haymaking; the parameters of
Ector’s estate are described, and the boys take Cully, the prize falcon of the kennel, to hunt rabbits. Wart has reservations about flying Cully
because the falcon-trainer, Hob, is still training the bird. Kay overrules Wart’s qualms, and this exchange demonstrates Wart’s feelings of
inferiority because he is not Ector’s “proper son.”
At the end of the chapter, Cully does not want to return to the boys from a high tree branch, and Wart and Kay are at a loss as to what to do.
This chapter is important for establishing many of the major characters of Book One and the setting. The chapter is replete with pastoral
imagery and historical detail, and paints what is a fairly accurate picture of rural life in the Middle Ages.
Furthermore, in this chapter the reader can also see the tension between Wart and Kay, the ineptitude of Sir Ector, and the beginnings of
many of the conflicts that will come into play in this first part of the novel.
Chapter Two / Summary and Notes
Kay, fed up with Cully’s refusal to return, loses his temper and returns home. This leaves the responsibility of getting the bird to Wart, who
understand the training involved in falconry, and feels guilty for taking the bird out in the first place. The bird flies deeper into the forest, and
Wart is soon lost, but decides to not leave until he has retrieved the bird for Hob. Wart, becoming frightened as nightfall, imagines with typical
medieval superstition the various creatures who inhabit the forest. One in particular he is afraid of is a man named Wat who bites off children’s
noses and lives in the forest.
As Wart nestles beneath a tree to go to sleep for the night, he is nearly killed by a flying black and yellow arrow. He becomes very frightened
and homesick.
Just as Wart is becoming desolate, he spies in the clearing a knight dressed in all white armor on a white horse. Wart is in awe at the knight’s
beauty. Wart begins talking to the knight, who is also lost. The knight’s name is King Pellinore, and he comes from the Pellinore family, who has
been searching for a “Questing Beast” for generations. This animal is an amalgamation of several different woodland animals. The way to
catch a Questing Beast, Pellinore tells Wart is to use a brachet (a hunting dog), but Pellinore’s brachet is entirely too friendly an uninterested
in hunting to catch the beast.
Such is Pellinore’s problem, and he becomes increasingly sad as he describes in predicament to Wart. Pellinore thinks aloud that he has not
slept indoors and in a bed for seventeen years, and Wart offers him use of Ector’s castle. The two are ready to set off together, when
Pellinore spots the Questing Beast and disappears into the forest, leaving Wart alone again.
The author begins a satire of the knighthood and chivalry that extends through Book One and Two. Pellinore’s quest is futile and selfdefeating, and the amount of time he has spent on it absurd. Still, Wart is admiring because the knighthood is every medieval boy’s dream.
In this chapter Wart’s personality is developed further; the reader sees his sense of right and duty when he stays in the forest all night, and his
sense of generosity and friendship in his treatment of the hapless Pellinore.
Chapter 3 / Summary and Notes
Wart’s night in the forest wears on, and he thinks about ways he could survive while waiting for the wayward Cully to return. He suddenly hears
a noise and decides to go investigate. He discovers an odd looking cottage and an old wizard drawing water in front of it. The wizard is dressed
in elaborate clothing and speaks of electric light and gas. Wart asks him the way to Ector’s castle and the wizard introduces himself as Merlyn.
Merlyn invites Wart in for peaches. Wart is astonished at the interior of Merlyn’s cottage; it is full of stuffed animals, books, potions and
hundreds of other curiosities. Furthermore, Merlyn has an owl that can talk. Archimedes, the owl, is simultaneously shy and arrogant; Merlyn
allows Wart to feed the Archimedes a dead mouse and Wart is quite taken with him, although the feelings are not reciprocated. Wart makes the
error of nicknaming Archimedes “Archie” and the owl is offended.
Merlyn and Wart have breakfast together, and the wizard’s singing utensils that wash themselves after the two are done eating enchant Wart.
Merlyn then tells Wart that not only is he coming back to Sir Ector’s with him, but that he will be his new tutor.
This chapter is important because it introduces Merlyn as a charismatic and influential character not only in Wart’s life but also in the novel
overall. Moreover, the reader is treated to Merlyn’s prowess with magic, which sets the tone for Wart’s instruction in the rest of Book One.
Chapter 4 / Summary and Notes
Wart and Merlyn return to Sir Ector’s castle with Cully in tow. Wart explains to Hob that Merlyn helped him catch Cully. The residents of
the castle are all relieved and glad to see Wart alive and well. Wart is particularly proud of himself not only for retrieving Cully but also for
completing the Quest to find a tutor, and he brags about his accomplishments to Kay and Ector.
Ector is understandably suspicious of Merlyn’s magic and asks for proof of Merlyn’s abilities. Merlyn acquiesces and produces, in turn, written
testimonials of his abilities, a giant mulberry tree, and a snowstorm. Ector does not want to concede, but grudgingly allows Merlyn to be Wart’s
tutor.
Kay expresses disbelief at Wart’s success and Merlyn reprimands Kay sharply. Kay feels bad, and Merlyn appeases him with a gift of a new
hunting knife.
In this chapter, Wart has established himself as having some heroic characteristics: he has spent all night in the forest and has completed a
Quest by finding Merlyn. Also, the tension between Wart and Kay is further described, and the reader understands that Merlyn is Wart’s
defender when he lashes out at Kay.
Chapter 5 / Summary and Notes
Sir Ector’s castle and the surrounding estate are described in further detail. The estate is called the Castle of the Forest Sauvage, and it
contains all the requisite parts of the feudal manor: a chapel, cottages, various defensive devices standard for any castle (turrets, bartizans,
portcullises, etc.). The author describes this from a modern point of view, and laments how the old castles of yore have gone into decay.
The narrative then segues into Wart’s daily life within the castle, which the author calls a “paradise.” Wart busies himself by running through the
castle and bothering the various workers within the manor. Wart is particularly interested in an employee named Dog Boy. He is one of the
people who supposedly had his nose bitten off by Wat years ago. As a result, he is missing his nose and is the object of ridicule in the town. So
he has become more comfortable with dogs than with human and is the dog trainer at the Forest Sauvage. Wart is fond and admiring of Dog
Boy.
On this particular day, however, his fun is interrupted by Merlyn, who wants to begin his lessons. It is a beautiful summer day and Wart’s heart is
not in learning. Wart tells Merlyn he would like to be a fish, or more specifically, a perch.
Merlyn summons Neptune, who rises out of the moat, and the god turns Wart into a perch. Wart is suddenly in the moat, and has the challenge
of learning how to swim like a fish. Merlyn has also turned himself into a fish and teaches Wart how to get around easily.
At this point, there is an extended description of the underwater world and the distortion and beauty of light within. For Wart the best aspect,
though, is that he is weightless.
A baby roach (a type of fish) approaches Merlyn and nervously asks for his help with his dying mother. It turns out that Merlyn is a fish doctor,
and that the roaches are famously hypochondriac. Merlyn and Wart go to visit Mrs. Roach, and Merlyn cures her by singing a song.
Afterwards, as Merlyn and Wart swim along, Merlyn tells his pupil that he will take him to visit the King of the Moat to teach Wart some
lessons about what it is to be king. Mr. P., the king, is a huge, melancholy, fearsome fish, and Wart is duly intimidated. The king tells Wart
fiercely that Power is the only truth, that Might is Right.
The huge fish then lunges at Wart, and Merlyn saves him narrowly by turning him back into a boy.
This is the first of Wart’s lessons, and is crucial to his overall education because the fish show him the strength and tyranny of power. In
addition, it is clear in the chapter that the author is writing from the 20 th century, and is writing about Wart, Ector, and et al as though they are
real historical characters. White is beginning to make comparisons between Wart’s historical context and his own, which is at the beginning of
the Second World War in England.
Chapter 6 / Summary and Notes
This short chapter opens with Kay and Wart playing at archery. They play a game called Rovers that involves shooting their arrows at “agreed
upon marks.” Then the boys hunt rabbits, kill one, and gut it. The boys shoot one more arrow in celebration and a crow flies by and snatches
the arrow in its beak. The boys understand this as an omen and are suitably unsettled. Kay declares that the crow was a witch.
Chapter 7 / Summary and Notes
Part of Wart and Kay’s education is learning how to joust (or tilting), which Merlyn thinks is ridiculous. The author explains the complicated
nature of not only the sport itself but its equipment. Jousting involves two knights rushing at each other on horses with lances; each tries to
knock the other off his horse.
Kay in particular is learning how to joust because he one day will be a knight, whereas Wart will not. Wart is disgruntled by this fact and
complains to Merlyn one afternoon while they watch Kay practice. Wart has dreams of the knighthood and is impressed by its glamour,
something that Merlyn seeks to dispel by allowing the boy to see a “real” joust.
So begins the second of Wart’s lessons: he is suddenly transported into the forest, where he sees his favorite knight of all, King Pellinore, who
is still searching for the Questing Beast. Merlyn has arranged for Pellinore and Sir Grummore, Ector’s friend to fight each other that very
afternoon.
What follows in the continuation of White’s satire on the knighthood. The knights are barely able to fight each other, or move for that matter,
because of the weight of their armor. Furthermore, there are elaborate rules to jousting that imitates the “I did not,” “You did too,” character of
children’s arguments. The two knights move back and forth clumsily, occasionally knocking one another down (and then having to help one
another up because the armor is so heavy), unable to see each other because of the visors, and arguing over the rules. The joust “ends” as the
knights run into each other and knock each pother out cold. Merlyn finds the whole situation humorous, but it is unclear whether Wart
recognizes the absurdity of the joust as he hopes for their well being as the chapter ends.
The reader understands at the onset of the book that Wart is the future King Arthur, and that Merlyn knows this will happen ahead of time
because he is a magician. Therefore, Wart’s lessons take on extra importance. In this chapter Merlyn is trying to impress on Wart the futility of
the knighthood; whether the joust between Pellinore and Grummore has had its desired effect, the reader will have to wait and see.
Chapter 8 / Summary and Notes
It is a rainy day, and Wart is thwarted in his attempts to play; he is a nuisance to the other inhabitants in the castle and besides is in a foul mood.
He begs Merlyn to turn him into a hawk in Hob’s mews. Merlyn denies his request temporarily to explain to him the hawk’s life. The structure of
hawk government is a military one, and the hawks are hungry, strict, forbidding lot. After warning Wart, Merlyn turns him into a merlin, a small
hawk. The physical transformation of Wart into a merlin is detailed.
Merlyn gives Wart a set of rules for the mews. First, do not talk until spoken to. Merlyn explains that he will put him with two of the nicer birds
Balan and Balin. Also, don’t go near the falcon. Furthernmore, do not go near Cully as he has been insane since his misadventure in the
forest.
Wart enters the dark, intimidating mews, and is impressed by the birds’ magnificence. The nightly meeting begins with a bell, and is punctuated
by Cully’s insane mutterings in the corner. The peregrine falcon begins to question Wart, who is the “new officer.” Balan, a fellow merlin, is very
helpful to Wart during the interrogation. The peregrine quizzes Wart by asking him about the codes and laws of the mews. Wart squeaks by
using his wits.
The peregrine then swears Wart in, and the senior birds decided that he should have a sort of hazing or “ordeal” in order to become a true
member of the mews. The test is that he must stand next to Cully, but Wart responds that he cannot do that, as he was warned not to. The
birds become immediately suspicious, and Wart relents. Before the ordeal takes place, the entire mew sings a patriotic hymn.
Wart is then forced to stand next to Cully for three tolls of a bell. Cully desperately warns Wart not to go near him because he cannot control
his murderous instincts. Wart is terrified, but passes the ordeal by realizing that Cully is weaker than he and deserves his mercy rather than fear.
Wart, triumphant, is lauded by the rest of the birds.
The third of Wart’s lessons teaches him simultaneously the importance of thinking on one’s feet, mercy and bravery. The author continues his
criticism of the knighthood and the military in general in his unkind depiction of the rituals and rules of the mews. The reader should the
development of Wart’s “kingly” personality; he is cultivating many of the characteristics a good king should have.
Chapter 9 / Summary and Notes
Wart wakes up back in his own bed, and Kay, surly and jealous, demands to know where Wart was. Wart does not tell him, and the boys fight.
Wart breaks Kay’s nose, and Kay sobs because he is envious over Merlyn and Wart’s closeness. Wart takes pity on Kay and goes to find
Merlyn to ask him to include Kay in his lessons.
He finds Merlyn in a faraway turret, and Merlyn tells him a parable about a poor man, a rich man, and Elijah. The parable teaches that God’s
will is unknowable and unchangeable, and it is best not to question the ways of the Lord. Merlyn tells Wart that what is good for him might be
bad for Kay, and it is not within his power to change Kay into things.
Mid speech, Merlyn suddenly disappears and reappears in tropical gear; he has apparently flown to Bermuda and back while he was talking to
Wart. He asks for his magician’s hat and receives a black topper from the late 19 th century and becomes enraged that his magic is not working
correctly. He explains to Wart that he lives time backwards rather than forwards.
Merlyn relents, the reader assumes because of something he has seen in the future, and tells Wart that an adventure is waiting for them in the
forest and that they better get on their way.
In this chapter, the reader’s suspicions that Merlyn knows what will happen for Wart in the future are confirmed: Merlyn lives time backwards
and therefore knows of the future. Kay and Wart’s fight, which was foreshadowed by the immature joust between Pellinore and Grummore, also
further
Chapter 10 / Summary and Notes
Kay and Wart and now the best of friends, as boys (or knights) will be after a fight, and they set off into the forest. The boys are not sure how
to find their adventure, and they wander along, eventually happening upon a tiny old man chopping wood. They ask the old man for help finding
their adventure, and he does not respond, so the boys continue on their way.
After some time, they discover a giant man asleep in a clearing. The man is dressed in camouflage clothing and has a dog with him. The man
awakes and introduces himself as Little John. The boys recognize his name and that he is a friend of Robin Hood’s, who is a legendary figure
to the youngsters. It turns out that his name is not Robin Hood, but Robin Wood, and Little John leads them to the hero.
Robin is lying under a tree singing with his wife Marian; an idyllic scene. Robin is a friendly, energetic young man, and he tests the boys’ prowess
by asking them to shoot arrows at distant targets; Robin is pleased with their abilities.
Robin is about to go on a mission, and although Marian expresses reservations about letting the boys accompany them, Robin tells them what is
to happen. There is a bad fairy named Morgan le Fay. The fairies are descendents of the original people who inhabitant the land that is now
England. They don’t look quite human; they have magical powers, and they go by a variety of names including: the Old One, the Oldest of All
and the Gaels. They are cold-blooded, ubiquitous, vengeful, and Morgan is their queen. Morgan has kidnapped one of Robin’s men, and Dog
Boy from Ector’s castle, and Robin means to release them.
This chapter introduces the faction that will be the key to Arthur’s undoing: the Old Ones, or the Orkney faction. The reader understands
that these fairies are angry because of the loss of their land, and that they have magical power and are thus a formidable force. The author
furthermore continues to make the legendary and fictitious real for the reader; Robin Hood (Wood) is a flesh and blood man who fights
important battles for Right.
details their relationship. A major theme in the novel, the Greek idea of unchangeable fate, is introduced here in Merlyn’s parable.
Chapter 11 / Summary and Notes
Robin tells the boys that only a child can enter the Castle Cavall, where Morgan is, and the boys volunteer to do the rescuing. The boys pass
the day before the nighttime mission learning the ways of life of Robin’s men. Robin tells the boys that there are a number of challenges involved
in getting into the Castle Cavall: there is a griffin outside that the boys can slip pass, and to overcome the dangers inside the boys will carry
with them a piece of iron. The Old Ones are terrified of iron because it is the metal that supplanted their people. Moreover, it is important not
to eat anything that the boys see, no matter how tempting.
The boys are astonished to see all of the men in Robin’s tribe repeating his speech word for word; they are all illiterate and must rely on their
memories for directions.
Marian leads the men and boys through the forest and Wart is quite taken with her, as she is far superior to any of the others in sheer
athleticism and survival skills. The hundreds in the band “stalk” through the forest during the night to reach the Castle, and come upon the
griffin, which is far larger and fiercer than anything the boys had imagined. The griffin is guarding the Oldest Ones’ castle, which is made
entirely of food.
The castle is meant to be tempting to children, but in an amusing miscalculation, the fairies have chosen foods, that are repulsive: cheese and
tripe and moldy milk. Morgan is equally distasteful, and because of the iron, the boys have an easy time with the rescue: the castle literally
dissolves. The boys have Wat and Dog Boy safely in their care.
Chapter 12 / Summary and Notes
Robin Wood and his band begin the go back home, forgetting about the griffin, which has not dissolved with the rest of the fairies. The griffin
charges the men, and grabs Wart in its clutches. Kay kills the griffin by shooting it in the eye and saves Wart. Wart has broken his collarbone,
and as the boys prepare to return home, Kay asks for the griffin’s head as a trophy. Wart asks to bring home Wat so the Merlyn can “restore
him to his wits.
When the boys return home, there is a great homecoming celebration, and as Kay brags about his victory over the griffin, Wart goes in search
of Merlyn.
When Wart finds Merlyn, he has already “cured” Wat by sewing a pig’s nose on the man. Wat and Dog Boy are now good friends, and will live
in the kennels together.
In the chapter, there are further examples of Wart’s bravery and generosity. He shows now fear in the battle against the griffin, and recovers
heroically from what should have been a very frightening experience. Moreover, his desire to cure Wat and make him likeable again (as opposed
to Kay’s vain request for the griffin’s head), shows his desire for good for all people. Both of these characteristics are relevant to his reign.
Chapter 13 / Summary and Notes
Wart is confined to his bed to recover from his injuries, and as his only distraction is an ant farm, he asks Merlyn to turn him into an ant. Merlyn
shows some trepidation, but agrees, asking him to place a reed between the two anthills before his transformation.
Wart is turned into an ant, and at the entrance to the ant farm there reads a sign “EVERYTHING THAT IS NOT FORBIDDEN
IS COMPULSORY.” Wart does not understand the sign’s meaning, and notices that through his antennae a monotonous message that he
also does not understand is transmitted. He begins to explore the terrain of the ant farm, and watches two ants chaotically and inefficiently
dispose of two ant corpses. He is struck by how the ants are unable to think independently.
He desires to ask the ants questions, and finds that he cannot because ant language is too limited. The ants, for example, use only two words
as modifiers: Done and Not Done.
He is discovered by an ant who quickly concludes that he is insane (Not-Done); Wart quickly covers for his ignorance by explaining that he fell
on his head.
Wart then joins the “mash squad,” where he eats voraciously and eavesdrops on typical ant conversation. The ants are prevented from any
meaningful communication because of constant interruptions through their antennae. He discovers the purpose of the mash squad: when any of
the other ants wants a meal, it approaches Wart, opens his stomach, and eats. He feels demoralized and humiliated.
Later that day, the ants discover the reed, and a war between the two anthills ensues. There is a multitude of contradictory and inflammatory
propaganda, the logic of which Wart cannot tease out. In addition, the ants are subjected to a series of broadcasts and religious services
promoting the war cause and demonizing the enemy is a transparently hypocritical manner. The ants do not have the ability to react or think
about the meaning of the messages.
The war begins, and Wart discovers with horror that the preparations for battle have destroyed the joy of his boyhood. At this point, Merlyn
comes to his rescue.
In this chapter, Wart learns the impersonal and destructive force of war. The ant farm is a complete totalitarian regime; the ants are faceless,
thoughtless soldiers and works, and are constantly violated mentally (through their antennae) and physically (through their stomachs). For
Wart, it is a horrifying introduction to the nature of war from the point of view of the anonymous cadet.
As a major theme of this novel is the war and power, this is a crucial chapter. Furthermore, from the author’s own historical perspective, this
section is quite moving; the reader should keep in mind that the author wrote this during the rise of Fascism and totalitarianism in Europe and
on the eve of England’s entrance into the war.
Chapter 14 / Summary and Notes
It is autumn at the Castle of the Forest Sauvage, and the castles is preparing for the winter. Everyone is busy and content, even the serfs, and
the author spends s0ome time convincing the reader that although the slave/master relationship in the general medieval world was contentious,
in Ector’s manor, it was idyllic.
One day, Ector receives a letter from the King, Uther Pendragon. The letter states that the King’s private huntsman, William Twyti, will be
arriving shortly to hunt in the Forest Sauvage. Ector is to be Twyti’s host at the command of the King.
Ector is resentful and nervous, even though the forest, of course, is not technically his own, but the lawful property of the King. He is
furthermore irritated that his own hunting dogs must be displaced to make room for Twyti’s pack. He walks through his estate and broods
about ways to get the better of Twyti during his short visit. It occurs to him that inviting Robin Wood to the hunting party might be just the
thing as Robin Wood is a master huntsman and could probably upstage Twyti. Ector has a moment of indecision because he is not sure
whether it would be proper to invite Robin; after all, they are from different classes. He further ruminates that it would be amusing to catch the
Questing Beast itself (Pellinore now lives on the estate with Grummore) and allow it to eat Twyti and his inconvenient hounds.
Chapter 15 / Summary and Notes
It is Christmas Eve at the castle, and everyone is there feasting. The author notes that at this time the food, song, and most particularly, the
weather, behaved exactly as it ought to as opposed to these fickle modern times. In the summer, it was “beautifully hot for no less than four
months,” and on this night “all around the castle the snow lay as it ought to lie.” Most of the major characters are collected together, and the men
have been drinking. Pellinore, Ector, and Twyti each toast the crowd in turn with a drunken song. Twyti has been accepted into the fold.
Ector gives his annual Christmas speech to the group, and everyone retires to their chambers satisfied and peaceful.
Chapter 16 / Summary and Notes
Christmas Day (Boxing Day) is a cold morning, and Wart gets out of bed early for the hunting expedition. Everything is a bit different after
the revelry of the night before: Twyti, in particular turns out to be a gloomy and irritable man.
The whole castle is abuzz with excitement, for boar hunting is fun. The author goes into some detail about the nature of medieval hunting while
Wart breakfasts with the hungover men of the castle.
The men, and their hundreds of dog, and attendants go off to the edge of the forest to begin the hunt, where they meet their last guest, Robin
Wood. Ector introduces Robin to the rest of the party nervously, and Pellinore and Grummore are duly impressed. The party begins the hunt.
Almost immediately, a boar charges Sir Grummore, wounds him, and turns to charge Twyti. The dogs (in particular, Twyti’s dog, Beaumont)
kill the boar, and the hunt is over. Beaumont has died in the process. Twyti is quite upset, and this disconcerts Wart.
The boar is stripped and disemboweled, and there is much celebrating. At that moment, Pellinore thunders out of the forest, very upset. The
party follows him back into the forest, where they find him cradling a wounded Questing Beast, who is a mixture of a snake, lion, and hart.
The Questing Beast is ailing because Pellinore has not been searching for it; it is dying of loneliness and a broken heart while Pellinore has
been living in luxury. Pellinore promises the Beast that he will resume his Quest so that the Beast can live.
Chapter 17 / Summary and Notes
It is early spring and Merlyn announces that it is time for Wart to have another lesson. He asks Wart what he would like to be, and Wart
answers a bird. Merlyn, Archimedes and Wart compare notes on the different types of birds and their respective governments. It is clear during
this conversations how much time Wart spends observing nature and its ways, and the reader cannot help but be struck by the contrast between
his leisure time and the modern kid’s.
Wart prefers the rook, even though it is “saucy,” and Archimedes makes a case for the austere pigeon. Merlyn prefers the chaffinch because of
the separation of the sexes within their flocks. The conversation then segues into comparisons between their different conversational styles of
birds; Merlyn makes the case that all of their conversation comes from mere imitation.
At this point, Kay enters the room, triumphant because he has just killed a thrush, a type of bird. The irony is great.
Chapter 18 / Summary and Notes
That night, Wart waits Merlyn and Archimedes, for his next lesson. Archimedes arrives and feeds Wart a Dead mouse; its pleasant taste
makes Wart realize he has already become a bird. Archimedes teaches him how to fly, which echoes Merlyn teaching Wart how to swim in an
earlier chapter.
The owl and the boy perch on a tree and Archimedes “spies” for his dinner. As Archimedes eats a dead sparrow, he tells Wart that he will now
have him join the Wild Geese.
Wart suddenly finds himself in a flat, windy nocturnal place. He feels himself “uncreated” and in “chaos;” as daylight comes, other creatures like
himself surround him: the geese. These creatures are flying about randomly and joyfully in small groups. When the goose next to him begins to
fly, Wart joins in, and finds the power and mystery of the disciplined flight into dawn. As the geese fly in formation into the sun and over the
earth, he is filled with incredible joy. The geese begin to sing in unison.
The flock stops to graze. Wart misunderstands what the geese are doing and believes them to be on guard against an enemy. A kind female
goose laughs at him, and he confesses that he is really a human in disguise. She is not surprised, and asks him details about his earlier error.
Wart asks if the geese are at war; the goose doesn’t understand what he means, and he explains himself.
As he defines war for the goose, a look of growing horror and disgust crosses her face. She demands that he stop talking about such things,
and asks how he could come up with such a horrible concept. Wart explains that human and ants fight each other, and the goose, still horrified,
tries to relent. She introduces herself as Lyo-lyok.
Wart then tells Lyo-lyok that he likes to fight because it is “knightly,” and she responds, sadly that that is because he is young.
Chapter 19 / Summary and Notes
Wart spends many nights and days with the geese, and grows very fond of Lyo-lyok. He admires her courage and intelligence. The goose
government is a basic anarchy; there are no national boundaries or laws except when they “come about spontaneously.” Lyo-lyok explains the
system of migration to Wart, which is a peaceful way of settling leaders by convenience.
A growing feeling of restlessness and excitement in Wart signals the beginning of the migratory season. One morning the geese depart in song
and joy, and Wart sees that the world below them has no boundaries; they are nationless as they cross the North Sea.
As Wart lands, he finds himself back in bed, and Kay tells him he has been snoring like a goose in his sleep.
Chapters 18 and 19 are moving in the author’s depiction of utopia, especially when juxtaposed to Wart’s experiences in the ant farm. Not only
can the geese not conceive of war, but also they practice what they preach: their government or lack thereof, is free, communal, and peaceful.
Wart discovers a joy and release in the natural turn of seasons and urge to migrate that echoes some of his responses to the turning of seasons
at the Forest Sauvage. In fact, the geese’s very connection and response to nature seems to determine their peace and happiness; it is no
accident, then, that the ants are contained, in a glass box, far away from the natural world.
This chapter is just as crucial as the ant chapter in developing Wart as a king. Although the lessons of the violence of war have not truly sunk in
yet (note his exchange with Lyo-lyok); Wart is still a boy, and these experiences, have instilled in him a great respect for the idea of peace,
however subconsciously.
Chapter 20 / Summary and Notes
The seasons pass in typical fashion, and six years pass in one sentence. At the Forest Sauvage nothing remarkable has happened in the
interim: Sir Grummore has visited often, Pellinore has been spotted questing, Wart was changed into many other animals, and Kay became
more difficult.
Kay is preparing to be a knight and Wart his squire, and this causes a division between the boys. Wart is in the process of accepting his new
position with a melancholy resignation. Wart confides his sadness to Merlyn and asks him what actually happens when one becomes a knight.
Merlyn tells him the process of the knighting but that it is foolish and trivial.
Wart tells Merlyn that if he were a knight he would fight against all of the evil in the world, and Merlyn is saddened.
The reader again sees Merlyn’s knowledge of the future, and how heroic he is, in a certain sense, for keeping his mouth shut. He recognizes
that Wart has the natural characteristics of a good king: generosity, kindness, etc., but that any knowledge of his future might interfere with his
natural learning process. In other words: don’t interfere with fate.
Chapter 21 / Summary and Notes
Kay’s knighting ceremony approaches, and Wart becomes increasingly withdrawn. Merlyn tells him the best thing to do is to learn something
new. He suggests that Wart meet his friend the badger, but also tells him this is the last time he will turn him into anything.
Wart finds himself in front of the badger hill, and turned into a badger, but feeling desperate and unsocial, decides to go live in the wilderness
instead of meeting the badger. He threatens to eat a hedgehog, and the hedgehog pleads with him for his life. The hedgehog sings him songs
as a means of distraction, and Wart, relenting, asks him where he learned to sing. The hedgehog explains that Merlyn raised him, and Wart
suddenly remembers him from when he was a baby hedgehog. Wart has mercy on the hedgehog, feels in better spirits, and decides to go in
search of the badger Merlyn wants him to meet.
The badger tells Wart that there are only two things to teach: “dig, and love your home.” Wart is deeply charmed by the badger’s home, which is
a stately bachelor pad.
Badger offers to read his thesis to Wart, which is why Man has become the master of the animals. The thesis starts with the supposition that
all of the embryos of all of the species look the same, and God intended it that way. God offers each embryo the chance to develop one part of
their bodies as tools when they grow up. Each species in turn decides on which body part they want to develop. So, for example, the badgers
develop their forearms for digging. The man is the last to decide and he tells God that he wants to stay the same, for he will fashion his told
outside of his body from the elements. God is delighted, and bestows his favor on the man, and gives him dominion over the other species.
Wart is pleased by the story, but badger expresses reservations about whether Man having dominion is a good thing. Man, after all, declares
war. Wart counters that ants declare war too, but badger says that it is only a few species of ants that do, and that humans are alone in their
sweeping embrace of war. Wart maintains that war is admirable.
The badger then asks Wart, which he prefers, the ants or the geese.
Wart’s lessons are profound. The badger is a humble, scholarly animal, and Wart’s interactions with him remind one of a dusty meeting with a
favorite college professor.
The badger solidifies all of Wart’s lessons for him. The other animals have their talents (swimming, flying, eating other animals), but the human is
the most talented because he, through invention and wit, encompasses all of these talents. Wart, of course, has literally realized this earlier
through his transformation. Now, in his adulthood, he will intellectualize these lessons and have them realized in a political sense: through his
reign as the King of England.
Wart’s conversation with the badger shows how young and ignorant Wart is still. The issue of war and its glamour is still a sticking point for him,
and the badger makes the very clear point that it was better to be a goose than an ant. Will Wart understand the lesson as king?
Chapter 22 / Summary and Notes
King Pellinore arrives at the castle with the news the King Uther Pendragon has died. There is general mourning and weeping, and then
Pellinore reminds the men that the King has no heir or next-of-kin. However, a sword has appeared in a stone outside of a church, and on the
stone is written: “Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword of the Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of All England.” The men are excited by
this news.
There have been tournaments and lines of men from all over England trying to pull the sword out of the stone, and no one has yet succeeded.
Ector makes the sudden decision that they should all go to London for the big tournaments and give the sword a shot. Pellinore, Grummore,
and Kay all agree.
At this point in the conversation Merlyn and Wart enter. It is worth noting that Wart hasn’t heard anything about the sword in the stone.
Merlyn announces that he is leaving the Forest Sauvage because Kay is to be knighted and Wart is his squire, and so there is no tutoring left
for him to do. All of the members of the room are saddened by the news and with that, Merlyn dematerializes, taking Archimedes with him.
Wart is despondent.
Chapter 23 / Summary and Notes
The preparations for Kay’s knighting gain speed. The members of the castle get ready for the trip to London. The author notes how difficult
travel was in the 12 th century, and how different from today. The roads are ill-or not-constructed, and since the population is so scant, there
are few places to stay.
Ector owns a bit of land in London, at an inn, and the five men sleep there. Kay is unable to sleep because of nerves about the tournament the
following day.
The tournament grounds are majestic and radically different in scope and scale than what the boys are used to. Kay realizes as they approach
the grounds, that in his nervousness, he has forgotten his sword. He condescendingly tells Wart (“my squire”) to do it, and offers him a shilling if
he is prompt.
Wart is furious, but does it anyway. Unfortunately, the inn is shuttered, and Wart is at a loss.
Suddenly he spies the sword in the stone, and, ignorant of its significance, decides that it might be all right if he borrowed the sword. As he
grasps the sword in his hands, everything becomes very clear, and he is completely aware of his senses, as one is at momentous events. He sees
every detail in the buildings, hears music, and feels the presence of people and animals surrounding him.
The sword is difficult to pull out, and on his third try, he notices all of his friends from his transformations into animals are there: the badgers
and fish, geese, and owls. Each animal tells him to use the body part (arms, shoulders, back, etc.) that is especially highly developed in that
species; each species gives him kind words of encouragement as he tries to pull the sword out of the stone. Wart asks Merlyn for help, and all of
the animals join in. On the third try, Wart pulls the sword out of the stone gently.
Wart goes back to Kay at the tournament and gives him the sword. Kay notes that it is not his and asks Wart where he got it. Wart tells him,
and Kay nearly faints, but then recovers quickly and tells Ector that it is his, that he pulled it out of the sword.
Ector clearly does not believe Kay, and takes him back to the stone and asks him pointedly whether he is telling the truth. Kay succumbs and
confesses that Wart pulled out the sword.
Ector kneels down in front of Wart and asks for his blessing, which makes Wart terribly upset, and he bursts into tears.
This is obviously the climactic chapter, when Wart becomes King of all England, and thus King Arthur. Most readers, familiar with the Disney
version of this book, will not be surprised by the ending, but may be surprised by the integration of all of the animals and the moving nature of
this section. Everything Wart has learned from Merlyn comes into play here, and it is clear that Merlyn’s first “test” is whether Wart listened to
the badger. He is expected to use each of the tools that the various species had developed in order to succeed in pulling the sword out of the
stone.
On a smaller note, the conflict between Kay and Wart is resolved in this chapter, after it hits a discouraging and pathetic high (or low) when
Kay offers Wart money to fetch his sword. Kay has a moment of weakness when he discovers that Wart is king, but, as his good nature should
dictate, he relents and does the right thing. It is notable that Ector kneels in front of the young king, but Kay does too; Kay after all is not the
villain of the story, and this will become clearer in the next book. Any conflict that has passed between the two boys is nothing but sibling
antagonism.
Chapter 24 / Summary and Notes
There is a splendid coronation, which the author skims over, and all of the characters of Book One send appropriate and sentimental
presents.
Merlyn is summoned in the last paragraphs and explains to Wart that he is Uther Pendragon’s son and Merlyn himself carried him from the
royal residence to Ector’s castle when Wart was an infant. Merlyn explains that he wasn’t allowed to tell him before, but now that he can, he will
be by Wart’s side for a long time.
In the previous chapter, the author tied up his loose ends by integrating Wart’s success with the lessons the animals had taught him. In this
chapter, he quickly reviews all of the major characters of Book One, and describers the presents they have sent Wart for his coronation.
Finally, appropriately, Merlyn is reintroduced, and he explains the circumstances of Wart’s birth and reassures Wart of his role in his life; this is
a natural segue into Book Two; Merlyn’s guidance is the key.
BOOK TWO: THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS
Chapter 1 / Summary and Notes
A radically different setting and tone is established from the onset of this chapter. The reader is placed in a broken down turret, and the main
characters are introduced: four children. The children have no bed and are sleeping on straw.
These children have a mother, who is absent from the scene, with whom they are obsessed and of whom they are afraid. The children are
speaking Gaelic.
The children’s names are (from oldest to youngest): Gawaine, Agravaine, Gaheris, Gareth. A rudimentary sketch of two children’s personality
is given: Gawaine is the leader, Agravaine is unlikable and a bully. Gawaine is telling the others a story.
The story is about their ancestors, and is crucial for understanding the rest of the novel. The boys’ mother has two sisters. Her name is
Morgause, and her sisters are Elaine and Morgan la Fay (the latter was introduced in Book One). The three sisters are witches. Their
mother’s name was Igraine, and long ago, Igraine was married to the Earl of Cornwall, the boys’ grandfather.
Long ago, King Uther Pendragon fell in love with Igraine, and decided to have her for himself. He declared war on the Earl in order to take
possession of his wife, and the Earl hid his wife in a castle called Tintagil. Apparently, Merlyn helped Uther’s side, and with his help, Uther
was able to slay the Earl and marry Igraine.
The children are clearly indignant and vengeful over this piece of family history.
The scene shifts suddenly. Below the children, in the castle, is a Queen, their mother. In short and horrific description, the Queen kills a cat by
boiling it.
Morgause searches through the remains of the cat in order to find a legendary bone that will cause one to vanish; she cannot find it and throws
the whole mess out the window and falls asleep.
The author then reiterates the boys’ simultaneous revenge and Oedipal fantasies and the chapter ends.
This chapter sets the tone for Book Two, which is dark and vengeful. The relationships between the characters are already far more adult and
complicated than the frivolity of the first book. The brothers are introduced and angry, violent, and confused boys, with a mother who is
complicating beyond any psychiatrist’s wildest dreams. Not only is Morgause a witch, but she is beautiful, violent, neglectful, and utterly
worshipped by her sons.
It is important to start differentiating between the brothers. Gawaine is loyal and nationalistic; Agravaine is sniveling and sexually confused;
Gareth is generous and good; and the youngest, Gaheris, is a follower.
The story about Uther and the Earl sets the stage for the revenge that defines the plot of the next three books. It is important to remember
that Arthur, for these boys and their mother, represents Uther. Furthermore, Arthur is biologically Morgause’s half-brother and the boys’
uncle. The reader can also remember from Book One that Morgan la Fay and her crew (the Oldest of the Old, the Orkney faction, etc.) were
upset about their loss of land which was caused by the British, who are now represented by the young King.
BOOK TWO: THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS
Chapter 2 / Summary and Notes
Arthur and Merlyn stand at the top of his castle overlooking the lands. A short description is given of the activity below and then of Arthur’s
appearance: he has an “stupid” face, which is to say too trusting.
Arthur remarks that a battle that had just taken place was “nice.” The king has apparently been fighting against Lot of Orkney (Morgause’s
husband) and the other rebels from the Gaelic Confederation. Arthur is in a cocky mood because of his victory, and Merlyn responds
negatively to the King’s good mood.
Arthur tells Merlyn that the war has been “fun,” and Merlyn reminds him that more than 700 kerns were killed in the battle, and as king, Arthur
is not aware of the real damage that occurs on the battlefield. Merlyn is quite stern with Arthur, and Arthur sees his point.
Merlyn then tells Arthur that shortly he (Merlyn) will be kidnapped by a witch named Nimue and held in a cave for several centuries, and that he
has a very short time to teach Arthur how to be a good king.
Merlyn begins to talk about a knight whom Arthur knows and dislikes named Bruce Sans Pitie, who is a violent raper and pillager. Merlyn
notes that the whole point of the knighthood so far has been to conduct violent acts and abuse power: Might is Right. Merlyn then expresses
pity for the Gealic Confederation, who after all, are only fighting as a response to British aggression. The country is in a bad state, the wizard
reminds the king, and it is because of this childish idea that war is “fun.”
Merlyn backs off, letting the idea sink in that Arthur has the power to change the situation.
The concept of Might as Right that was introduced in the first Book is now made more practical and mundane. Instead of dealing with ants,
Arthur is now dealing with actaul soldiers. He is young, and does not comprehend the idea that what is sport for him as the king is certain death
for the anonymous soldier.
Merlyn plants the seeds for an alternative reign in Arthur’s head in this chapter. In essence he is saying: the knighthood is up to no good, and
always has been; they confuse violnce with power; there is a more effective and powerful way to govern and live; what do you, Arthur, think it is?
In its historical context, this is a fascinating idea. We see strains of Gandhi’s passive resistance, and a radical response to the fear that must
have gripped England at this historical juncture: having just survived the horror of the great war, the threat of evil in the Third Reich forced
common men to make the decision to fight again.
It may be a challenge to the reader during this chapter and the next few following to remember that Morgause, Lot and their crew are called by a
variety of names, including: The Orkney faction, the Gaels, the Old Ones, the Oldest of the Old, the King of Lothian and Orkney, the
Celts, the Picts, etc. It is important to note that Lot has joined into a Confederation with other rebel kings from the north and west (Scotland,
Wales, etc.); this resistance to British rule is historically accurate and significant; the film “Braveheart” is a fine example of what could have
been Lot’s perspective.
Chapter 3 / Summary and Notes
Kay is curious about Queen Morgause and asks Merlyn about her. The young men and the wizard are out hunting. Merlyn evades his
questions, but uses the opportunity to discuss why the King is fighting the Gaels anyhow.
Merlyn again expresses sympathy for the Gaels because of their displacement. He tells the men that there will be a new war this year, but
instead of just being against Lot, as the battle in chapter 2 was, it will be against all of the rebels, who have allied together against Arthur.
At this point, Merlyn gives a short history of the aggression with which various have displaced these rebels, and relative novelty of the British
(or the Normans, or the Gauls) on their soil.
Merlyn is clearly continuing his quest to make Arthur a responsible, peaceful, and revolutionary king. He leaves the young king with an ominous
message: Life is bitter enough without war.”
Chapters 3 and 4 reinforces the lessons as themes of the previous chapter, and thus it is not essential that the reader make much of what is said
beyond understanding the idea that Arthur is on the verge of restructuring England’s entire way of being.
Chapter 4 / Summary and Notes
The conversation continues on another day. The young men and Merlyn discuss the philosophical problem of whether war is ever justified. Of
course, this must have been a real problem for the British in the late 1930’s; if ever there seemed to be a reason to fight war, it must have been
as a defense to Hitler’s aggression. It is unclear here whether the author is asking the British to find another way to deal with this aggression in
the 20 th century as well, or whether this conversation is local to the medieval age of Arthur.
Merlyn believes that there is never a justification for war, never, and Kay and Arthur argue with him, presenting him with various hypothetical
situations, which he argues against. Merlyn does relent a bit when presented with the idea of pure aggression, but he points out the difficulty of
figuring out exactly who is the aggressor. While it should be obvious that whoever strikes the first blow is the aggressor, Merlyn says that it is
sometimes impossible to determine who that is.
Arthur asks Merlyn to tell him about Lot; interestingly, at this point Kay interrupts as in Book One and wants to hear more about Morgause,
but Arthur vetoes him effectively. This establishes Arthur’s supremacy over Kay once and for all.
Merlyn gives this background information about Lot: he is a noble, he is a “cipher,” and is only fighting because Morgause makes him. Merlyn
equates fighting for a lot of these disenfranchised noblemen to fox hunting: the men don’t take it seriously; it is racist, classist and petty.
BOOK TWO: THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS
Chapter 5 / Summary and Notes
The scene changes back to the Out Isles, where the reader is in a hovel owned by Mother Morlan and a fallen saint (apparently a Protestant
before his time) names St. Toirdealbach. Gawaine and his brothers are visiting the saint - apparently he is a favorite of theirs - to listen to him
tell stories. The saint is a combination of Celtic stereotypes: musty, drunk, good-humored, melancholy and ancient.
St. Toirdealbach tells the boys the story of King Conor and a magic ball that got lodged in his brain in battle. There is no apparent rhyme or
reason to the story, and it is told in a heavy Gaelic dialect, but the boys are transfixed. It is clear from their reactions and their conversation with
the saint, that they are often around the old man because of a lack of compassion and warmth at home and that this old man is the equivalent of
Merlyn in their lives.
The group moves quickly onto the subjects of war; the group agrees that war is problematic when there are too many people involved because
no one knows what they are fighting for, in particular the common man who dies. This, of course, echoes the conversation between Kay, Arthur
and Merlyn in the previous chapters. The author is attempting to show that there is reason for Merlyn to be sympathetic regarding the Gaels;
they are, after all, not so different in their sensibilities.
The boys are asked to leave shortly thereafter, and they go out onto the street where they find an old donkey. The boys ride the donkey down
to the sea where they torture the donkey. They apparently lack compassion for hurting things; the author attributes to this to their apathetic
upbringing.
Meanwhile, a magic ship is approaching the island. On the ship are Pellinore, a black knight named Palomides, and another as yet unnamed
knight. The knights startle the boys.
This is a climactic first between between representatives of the British and the Gaelic people. The Gaels are mesmerized and frightened by
the British knights. They know that the knights work for King Arthur, and that Lot is currently fighting against the King, and that they should
be antagonistic against the knights, but they are too fascinated and bewildered by their accidental presence on their island to react. On the
other hand, the knights have no idea where they are or of the current conflict between the two parties; they’ve been on the ship for a long time
and are not up on current events.
BOOK TWO: THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS
Chapter 6 / Summary and Notes
The second round of battles between Lot’s confederation and King Arthur’s army continue, and King Arthur has a revelation. He climbs up
the tower to tell Merlyn his ideas, but Merlyn dismisses him, saying that now that Arthur is a proper king, he should summon people to him.
Arthur then gives his first speech to a summoned Merlyn, Ector and Kay. Arthur is uncertain about his ideas and words, but slowly builds in
confidence as he gauges Merlyn’s reaction to his ideas. His ideas are as follows:
a) the ethos of the land up until now has been Might makes Right;
b) we shouldn’t always do what we can, but rather what we ought to;
c) Merlyn disagrees with war but nevertheless has been helping Arthur win these current battles;
d) Merlyn must have a reason for allowing Arthur to keep fighting
e) that reason must be that this should be the battle to end all battles;
f) in order to make a fresh start and begin something radically different
g) what we ought to do should rule the land; that is, Right should be Might;
h) All the opposing parties involved in the current battle can be united once Arthur has won this last battle and given a chance to be part of this
new way of ruling and living.
Arthur in addition adds that he plans on making this new knighthood, this new order of chivalry fashionable so that knights from all of the
different factions will desire to be part of it and do good throughout the countryside.
Merlyn is ecstatic about Arthur’s new approach; he has, after all, been trying to bring this about since Arthur’s boyhood. This is the beginning
of Might as Right rather than Might is Right.
Chapter 7 / Summary and Notes
Back on the island, Pellinore is lovesick. In turns out that a few months earlier on their trip before the magic barge landed on the island, he met
and fell in love with the daughter of the Queen of Flanders, whose name is Piggy. Now he is lovesick and forlorn and wants nothing more than
to see her again.
Morgause wants to capitalize on the situation by seducing Pellinore or either of the other knights. She lures them into the countryside under
the pretense that they are going to hunt unicorn together, and she will be the virgin required for unicorn bait.
The reader learns all of this secondhand via a conversation between Morgause’s four sons. It is clear from the conversation that not only are
they enamored by the visiting knights, but that they are skeptical of Morgause’s virginity, and thus her ability to catch a unicorn. There is a lot
of confusion on the boys’ part about the nature of their mother’s sexuality, especially for Agravaine.
The boys decide to visit St. Toirdealbach for counsel on how to catch a unicorn. They would like to surprise their mother and the knights with
a unicorn, for then they would win her love and the knights’ admiration. Apparently Morgause has not seen or spoken to the boys for over a
week, and, like puppies, they need her attention, no matter how distracted it is.
St. Toirdealbach goes through he books until he finds the information the boys need. The boys find a virgin; the kitchenmaid named Meg, who
is extremely reluctant and scared to play this crucial part in their scheme.
The boys take Meg violently into the forest, dragging her by the hair, and threaten her into waiting by a tree for the unicorn to appear.
The unicorn does appear, and he is far more sympathetic and beautiful than any of the children expected. He peacefully and movingly places
his head in Meg’s lap, and all of the children are moved, except for Agravaine, who has a moment of violent delusion. The boy imagines that
Meg is his mother, and is a rage of sexual confusion, kills the unicorn. His brothers and Meg try and stop him, because they understand the
nobility of the creature, but to no avail.
The scene is extremely upsetting for all of the children; the unicorn dies with his head in Meg’s lap, and Agravaine cries that it was necessary
for him to kill the unicorn in order to protect his mother. The boys remember that the whole point of the unicorn was to win their mother’s
affection and this desire for her overrides their sorrow for the passing of the creature. The boys then have to slice off the head as their
souvenir; this scene is particularly grisly.
The boys lug the unicorn head home and display it for their mother, who returning home after a frustrating day with the knights is too distracted
to notice it. When she finds out about the unicorn later that evening, she whips the children because she is upset and her lack of success with
the knights.
BOOK TWO: THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS
Chapter 8/ Summary and Notes
The scene changes again to the battle at Bedegraine; the field is filled with all sorts of banners and medieval heraldry. The mood is more
festive than the modern reader imagines the day of a huge battle might be.
Arthur spends his time in his tent conferencing with Kay, Ector, and Merlyn. The men are ironing out the details of this new order of chivalry.
They decide that the table at which the knights sit will be round to prevent competition, and that the order will be called the Knights of the
Round Table.
Merlyn mentions that he could get the table as a wedding present from King Leodegrance, whose daughter, Guenevere, Arthur is going to
marry soon. This is the first time that Arthur, and the reader, have heard of Guenevere. Merlyn adds that at some point he has to warn Arthur
of Guenevere (because he knows the future), but now is not the time because they are discussing the battle.
The men also decided that once a year, at Pentecost Feast, the knights would return and tell their stories of what they have accomplished.
Arthur suddenly tells Merlyn that he has discovered a good reason for war and it is this: to make humans accept a new way of living, similar to
the campaign that he is currently engaged in.
This infuriates Merlyn, and he uses Hitler as his example for why this way of thinking is erroneous. It is important to recognize the difference
between making a new way of thinking available to the common people and not force it on them as Hitler did.
Chapter 9 / Summary and Notes
Pellinore is increasingly lovelorn and melancholy, and Palomides and Grummore want to help. They believe that by dressing up as the Questing
Beast, they can distract him from his melancholy and give him reason to live. They do know, of course, of the real reason for his pining, which is
for Piggy, the Queen of Flanders’ daughter.
What follows is a long slapstick scene of Grummore and Palomides first designing and then sewing and then learning to walk in the Questing
Beast costume. The general incompetence of the two knights is comical.
Morgause, meanwhile, has recognized the futility of seducing the knights. She decides instead to focus on being a loving mother, and is proud
of herself as she watches herself in the mirror hugging her son Gareth.
Gareth runs joyfully to look for his brothers to tell them of their mother’s change of mood. He looks in an old fortress, and here the author gives
historical background on the conflict between the Old Ones and the Saxons and Normans. He finds his brothers in the storeroom where they
are having an argument.
Gawaine and Agravaine are brawling over something to do with their mother and the knights-it is not clear what and they come to blows. The
brothers have to pull Gawaine off of Agravaine before he strangles him, and Gawaine’s temper is both emphasized and foreshadows problems
later in the novel. His “sees red,” whereas Agravaine is a bully and whiny; this will be important for understanding their future actions.
Once the knights are done with the fake Questing Beast, they set off to find their friend. They find him pining in his bedroom, and they tell him
that they have spotted the Questing Beast on the cliffs. He cannot be distracted from his sorrow, and continues to talk about Piggy and how
perfect they were for each other. After some conversation, Pellinore reluctantly agrees to go in search of the Questing Beast.
That night, Palomides and Grummore dress up in the Questing Beast outfit to go surprise and enliven Pellinore. There is further argument
between the two knights about how to prance in the costume. They also work on braying convincingly.
Pellinore waits on the cliff with his hunting dog, and he reflects on Piggy. He thinks about how well she understood him, and he thinks about how
he has written a letter to her every day, and she has yet to respond. As the two costumed knights make their way to where Pellinore awaits, they
are suddenly attacked by a series of bumps and pushes. It is the real Questing Beast, who has fallen in love with the fake beast and is trying to
mate with it.
BOOK TWO: THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS
Chapter 10 / Summary and Notes
Back in Bedegraine it is the night before the battle, and the mood is solemn. Merlyn tells Arthur that he will win the battle, but that he is
concerned about something else. He tries to remember what he is supposed to tell the young king, and he cannot. He has warned Arthur about
Guenevere, about Excalibur, about his father, but he is forgetting to tell Arthur something crucial and he can’t remember what it is.
Arthur asks him to not tell him, because he doesn’t like the feeling of knowing the future. Then the wizard and the king have an interesting
conversation: Merlyn asks him if he remembers being turned into animals when he was a boy, and the king does not. Arthur merely has the
feeling of understanding the various animals, but not the actual memories.
Then, Merlyn tells Arthur another parable about a man who is trying to elude Death. The story reiterates the theme brought up in an earlier
story of Merlyn’s in Book One: fate cannot be changed. Arthur understands the point of the story: he has a Destiny, and so does Merlyn (to
be kidnapped by Nimue), and no amount of discussion of the future will change that Destiny.
The mood is quite sad at the end of this chapter; the tension of the all-important battle and the dawn of the new age is nerve-racking for both
Arthur and Merlyn.
Chapter 11 / Summary and Notes
Pellinore goes in search of his friends because he has become lonely. He finds the men dressed up as the Beast, and he, humorously, has no
idea what they are up to. The real Beast is holding them hostage on a cliff, and the knights plead with Pellinore to kill the Beast so that they
can go home.
The Questing Beast is positively lovesick, and Pellinore sympathizes with her (it) far too much to lay hands on her. He suggests that the two
knights should flirt with the Questing Beast in order to get out of their predicament. This plan is successful in that the knights are able to make
it into the castle to safety. The Beast stands outside “besieging” the castle.
As Palomides and Grummore wait inside the castle, they see Pellinore at a distance arriving with his arm around a “horsy-faced” lady. This is
Piggy. She hadn’t received any of Pellinore’s letters because he hadn’t addressed them, and she went in search of him. The Questing Beast
has helped her find Pellinore.
As Pellinore announces his engagement to Piggy, St. Toirdealbach, drunk, appears and announces that he too is about to be married, but to
Mother Morlan. There will be a double wedding, uniting, in effect, the Old Ones and the British.
BOOK TWO: THE QUEEN OF AIR AND DARKNESS
Chapter 12 / Summary and Notes
Back at Bedegraine, the battle has begun, and it is a decisive victory for the British, because it is the beginning of Total War.
Arthur has devised a new way of fighting: the knights fight the knight, the serfs the serfs, and he breaks the rules of war by committing
“atrocities.” For example, he attacks at night, which had never been done; he fights unarmed men (a necessity if you’re attacking at night!); he
concentrates more on the fighting between the knights and less on the kerns. This last atrocity is key because it catches the confederation’s
knights by surprise. They are not used to actual fighting, after all; it is usually the common man who dies for sport and not the nobility.
In short, he goes for the total kill and demoralization and breaks the code of formal, polite fighting. Lot‘s army, by the second day, offers
surrender.
Chapter 13 / Summary and Notes
Pellinore and Piggy sit on a cliff gazing out to sea and dreaming of their children. The Questing Beast is still laying siege to the castle,
mourning for her lost love.
Merlyn arrives one afternoon to help with the Beast situation. Merlyn tries to explain to the Beast that the knights were only dressing up, but
she does not understand the magician. He distractedly tells the knights to psychoanalyze her and to give his regards to Morgause.
Inside the castle, Lot is asleep. He and Morgause have been fighting because she has decided to go to Pellinore’s wedding, and he does not
want her to go.
She leaves him in the chamber sleeping and unfolds a strip of tape called a Spancel. A Spancel is a tape of human skin from the perimeter of a
dead man’s body. If you tie a Spancel around a sleeping man’s head without waking him, when he awakes he will fall in love with the first woman
he sees. If he awakes while you are tying the Spancel, he will die. It is clear from Morgause’s actions that she is planning on using the Spancel
soon.
Chapter 14 / Summary and Notes
Pellinore resigns from his job as questing the Questing the Beast in order to marry Piggy, and Palomides is his replacement. The wedding
party leaves to travel to Carlion Castle, where the wedding will take place, and the Old Ones send them off festively.
King Arthur is delighted to see his friends again once they reach Carlion and he designs a wedding to beat all weddings for his old friend
Pellinore and Piggy. Merlyn send the newlyweds a telegram from the future. During the wedding party, a youth tournament is set up, and young
boy excels above all the other lads: Lancelot.
Meanwhile, in a far away land, Merlyn remembers the thing that he had been wanting to tell Arthur all during Book Two and could not
remember: it is Arthur’s mother’s name. Arthur’s mother was Igraine, the same Igraine who is Morgause’s mother and who was kidnapped and
raped by Uther Pendragon. Merlyn is about to tell Arthur, but he is too tired and decides he will save it for another day.
At the same time, Arthur suddenly awakes to see Morgause standing above him, folding the Spancel up in her hands. She has just
successfully used the Spancel, and the reader can infer that Arthur is now in love (or lust) with Morgause.
This is the turning point of the novel, and this action determines the rest of the events of the plot. Arthur and Morgause make love, and the
result is that Morgause gives birth nine moths later to a baby boy named Mordred, who will be the King’s undoing.
It is important to understand the family structure: Arthur and Morgause are half bother and sister, with the same mother: Igraine. Furthermore,
Mordred is the half brother of the Morgause’s four sons.
The author makes the point that this is why this novel is a tragedy: Arthur was innocent of what he was doing, but in this case, innocence is not
enough to prevent tragedy. This action also reiterates the theme of unchangeable fate: despite Merlyn’s best intentions to circumvent fate,
and Arthur’s innocence, the inevitable still occurred.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 3 / Summary and Notes
The author notes that Uncle Dap, Lancelot’s trainer, is similar to Merlyn and St. Toirdealbach. He is the only one who understands
Lancelot’s seriousness and discipline, and he is an expert on fighting in the old school way.
Years pass, and Lancelot is now 18. One day he is summoned to the court where his mother (whose name is Elaine, not to be confused with
other Elaines in the novel), and several guests, including Merlyn, are waiting. As a sidenote, his mother calls him “Galahad;” apparently this is
his given name.
Merlyn tells the group that Lancelot will grow up to be the best knight in the world. Sitting by the wizard’s side is Nimue. She is the witch who
Merlyn prophesied would kidnap him; they are taking a break from their honeymoon.
Lancelot asks if they have come from Arthur’s court, and Merlyn says that he has. Merlyn adds that from Arthur’s marriage to Guenever (this
is the first the reader hears of it), he has a gift of a round table. Merlyn tells the boy that there is still room at the table if he would like to join.
Lancelot asks if Gawaine, whom he fought when he was young at Pellinore’s wedding, has already been asked to join the Knights of the Round
Table. Merlyn says that Gawaine was made a night on the day Arthur was married. Shortly thereafter, Merlyn and Nimue disappear.
Lancelot tells Dap that he is going to run away that night without his mother’s permission and go to England to be Knight of the Round
Table.
The scene flashes forward to a week later when the two men are on a boat in the middle of the English Channel.
In this chapter, the reader sees again the surprising unlikebility of Lancelot. In an earlier chapter, Arthur was put off by Lancelot’s apparent
apathy about becoming a knight, not recognizing his strong emotions that he was hiding. In the first three chapters of Book Three, Lancelot is
portrayed as serious to a fault and ugly besides. In Merlyn’s conversation with Lancelot, the wizard is taken aback by the boy’s
unresponsiveness to his offer to join Arthur’s court. Only the reader and Dap are privy to the passion inside Lancelot’s soul at this point.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 4 / Summary and Notes
Lancelot is bitter about not being chosen first, or, at least, earlier, to be a knight for King Arthur. He is angry with Gawaine for being knighted
first and he is angry with Guenever because of his hero-worship of Arthur.
Uncle Dap travels by Lancelot’s side as his squire. The two men stop at a clearing where a knight clad in black stands. The black knight
challenges Lancelot and the two charge each other. Uncle Dap is confident in Lancelot’s abilities and watches the charge from the sidelines.
Lancelot, on the other hand, is feverish with excitement, for this is his first charge. Lancelot wins easily.
The black knight stands up cheerfully and congratulates Lancelot; it is King Arthur. In a flash, Lancelot’s anger has vanishes and the two are
great friends. This is the third time in a novel where the illogic of men fighting and then becoming best friends in explored: Grummore and
Pellinore; Kay and Arthur; now, Lancelot and Arthur.
Lancelot is promptly knighted at Camelot and is introduced to Guenever. Guenever is dark haired and bold. Lancelot does not like Guenever
because he believes that she stole the King from him. Arthur urges the two to be friends.
The conversation turns quickly to the Orkney faction. Morgause’s sons have become members of the Round Table, and the King has
immense sympathy for them because of their neglectful upbringing. He does acknowledge, however, that there is a bit of a problem with keeping
them under control. Gawaine has killed an innocent woman, and none of the young men seem to understand the idea of chivalry without violence.
To complicate matters, Pellinore accidentally killed Lot in a joust, and the Orkney boys are out for revenge against the Pellinore clan.
A few weeks later, Lancelot is out falconing. He has been given a faulty bird - an old and fat one. He is trying to train the flacon, when
Guenevere joins him. She has been coached by Arthur to be friendly to Lancelot - to try and draw him out of his shell. She tries to help
Lancelot by holding the string that he uses to train the falcon.
Lancelot doesn’t take much notice of Guenevere, until he notices that she is no good with hawks and is hindering his progress more than
helping him. He snaps at her, and she is visibly hurt.
This is the point at which Lancelot begins to fall in love: Lancelot’s tough exterior is suddenly penetrated by the idea that he can hurt another
person, and that Guenever is a real person with real feelings. She is his first emotional contact with a human being, and is thus indelibly
engraved into his heart.
Chapter 5 / Summary and Notes
Both Uncle Dap and Arthur noticed that Lancelot and Guenevere are falling in love with each other. Dap responds by lecturing Lancelot
sternly, who asks him to not bring it up again. Dap respects Lancelot’s wishes.
Arthur, on the other hand, decides that Lancelot should join him on the Roman campaign. The Roman campaign is simply an extension of the
battle at Bedegraine, and is, the author writes, of no great consequence.
It is important to realize, though, that Arthur took Lancelot with him because the knight was falling in love with the Queen. Lancelot initially is
irritated at having to leave Camelot and Guenever, but relishes the chance to prove himself. Furthermore, on the campaign, Lancelot and
Arthur become very close and completely trust one another. Lancelot proves his heroism repeatedly during the few years they are fighting, as
do a number of other members of the Round Table.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 6 / Summary and Notes
These chapters are very short, and are intended to flesh Lancelot out rather than to add much to the plot. The first few years the knight
spends at Camelot are spent chiefly on the campaign with Arthur, and thus this section is not plot-driven, but rather a character study.
The author notes that Lancelot is a man of honor, that he will always keep his Word. White capitalizes Word as if to emphasize the importance
it has in Lancelot’s life and in medieval chivalric culture in general. This is the reason that it is a momentous thing when Lancelot betrays Arthur
with his wife - he aspires to be more than anything, saint-like: beyond the common man in terms of decency, honor, and virtue.
Arthur and Lancelot return to England and it is immediately clear upon their homecoming that the love between the Queen and Lancelot has
not diminished. Lancelot, trying to protect his Word, asks for a leave of absence. Arthur does not understand why he would want to leave again
so soon after returning. Lancelot explains that he wants to go on a quest, because that is what knights do, and Arthur reluctantly lets him go.
In addition to Lancelot’s desire to remain honorable, the author in this section sees Arthur’s refusal to see what he has known since Merlyn
alerted him: his best friend and wife are going to betray him. His ability to recognize their infidelity is complicated: he is a good man, too good,
and he has a unique inability, probably formed under Merlyn’s tutelage to see bad in others.
Chapter 7 /Summary and Notes
Lancelot begins on his famous quests in order to escape from Guenever. The author chooses to describe one in detail because it is important
for Arthur’s restructuring of the justice system later in this book.
There are two violent, tyrannical brothers named Sirs Carados and Turquine. One day Lancelot encounters Carados with a bloodied knight
as prisoner. The bloodied knight is Gawaine. Lancelot challenges Carados to a duel to free Gawaine, wins, and forgets about the whole thing.
Lancelot meets up with his cousin Lionel and the two go off on other adventures without giving the Carados incident another thought. One
day they are napping under a tree and Turquine (Carados’s bother) comes along with several other knights in captivity. Lionel decided that he
will free the knights singlehandedly, and is taken prisoner himself. Lancelot is asleep and misses the whole thing.
Later that afternoon, he is kidnapped by four queens on white mules; one of these queens is Morgan la Fay. He wakes up in their castle and
doesn’t know where he is. The queens attempt to seduce him in order to ruin his purity. They have heard rumors of his love for Guenever, and
are interested in thwarting it. The queens are unsuccessful, and lock him in his room.
One of the maidens, the fairest, visits him with his meals and bursts into tears. She tells him that her father, King Bagdemagus, has been
challenged to a tournament which he will most certainly lose.
The young woman helps Lancelot escape so that he can fight for her father in the tournament. Lancelot cannot, of course, turn down such an
offer; to do so would be contrary to the new code of chivalry.
Lancelot arrives at a pavilion in the forest near where he is to meet up with the damsel and gets an odd feeling that something is amiss. He
ignores his foreboding and finding a bed in the pavilion, goes to sleep for the night.
He is woken up suddenly by a naked man who is trimming his fingernails. Lancelot wounds him, and a woman appears screaming; Lancelot has
been sleeping in their bed. The strange man and woman discover that their assailant is Lancelot and immediately forgive him; his name is already
legendary.
The next day the man and his wife put him on the correct road, and he meets up with the damsel and prepares to meet with her father King
Bagdemagus.
Lancelot easily wins the tournament, and goes off to search for his cousin Lionel. He meets up with a woman in the forest who tells him that she
will take him to Turquine, who has been terrorizing all of those parts lately. On the way Lancelot finds Lionel’s shield.
They shortly meet up with Turquine, who is huge and intimidating; the madman has Gaheris in tow. Lancelot watches Turquine’s riding and
fighting style carefully and notices that he has a few weaknesses in riding.
Lancelot challenges the villain. He has misjudged Turquine’s weaknesses, and the knight is a terrific fighter. Once both are knocked off of
their horses, they move to hand to hand combat. Turquine tells him that since he is Lancelot, he cannot surrender because he must avenge his
brother’s death. After a long fight, Lancelot kills Turquine.
Gaheris is grateful to Lancelot for saving his life, and notes that he has also saved his brothers Gawaine and Agravaine; the latter is being held
prisoner at Turquine’s castle at that very moment.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 8 / Summary and Notes
Lancelot has a few other adventures that the author relates in this chapter. White introduces a group called the Force Majeur, which the old
school nobility. These are the people that Arthur is trying to reform, and it is clear at this point that a big part of Lancelot’s role is to suppress
and reprimand these men.
One day he is riding along and a lost falcon perches on a tree above him. A woman comes, frantic for her bird, and asks Lancelot to retrieve it
for him. She tells Lancelot that her husband will kill her if she loses the falcon. Lancelot reluctantly agrees to retrieve the bird from the tree.
Once he is up in the tree, he realizes that he will not be able to climb down with only one hand available, and he asks the woman for help.
Suddenly, a fat knight appears and exclaims that he will now kill Lancelot. Lancelot infers that the man and his wife have tricked him. He tells
the knight that it is unchivalrous to fight an unarmed man, and he asks that the man let him arm himself. The fat man refuses, and Lancelot slits
his throat with a tree bough.
On Lancelot’s last adventure he encounters a man who is chasing a helpless damsel on a horse. Lancelot stops them and the man tells him that
his wife has been cheating on him and that’s why he needs to kill her. Lancelot informs the man that since King Arthur, men are not allowed to
kill women. The man decapitates his wife while Lancelot is not looking, jumps off his horse, throws his armor away and pleads for mercy.
Lancelot is forced to have mercy on the murderer because he is unarmed, and arranges to bring him back to Camelot as a prisoner.
These two adventures are noteworthy because they show deftly the rigors of the new chivalry. A knight must help a woman, whether he feels
like it or not, and he may not kill an unarmed man, no matter how justified the killing may seem.
Lancelot returns to Camelot for Pentecost. Arthur has deemed the annual Pentecost feast as the time when the knights return to share their
tales of chivalry. This year is the first year when Lancelot has returned from his own adventures, and he clearly outshines the other knights. In
fact, the reader should remember that he has rescued several of the knights - most importantly from the Orkney faction. All of his captives, and
all of his prisoners, and all of the knights who had yielded to him or been rescued by him are sent to Camelot, and they all kneel at Guenever’s
feet for her sentence.
Lancelot’s prowess is of course striking and impressive to Guenever, and the effect this has on her feelings for him is detailed in the following
chapter.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 9 / Summary and Notes
The author endeavors to explain how Guenever can have feelings for both the King and Lancelot. This parallels the conflict that Lancelot has
between his Word and his love, and Arthur’s conflict between his love for his friends and his knowledge of their betrayal.
For one thing, Guenever’s marriage was arranged. She loves the King, but not in a passionate way, whereas the feeling she has for Lancelot is
passionate. Furthermore, Arthur is now an “old”man of 30, whereas Lancelot and Guenever are really still children of 18 or 20, and this youth
binds them together.
Lancelot’s actions at Pentecost compound the problem. He has acted majestically on his adventures, and puts the other knights to shame, but
he ignites Guenever’s love for him by sending all of his prisoners to kneel at her knees. It is a gesture few women could resist, especially when he
tops that off by making a spectacular entrance into the great hall to an awed audience.
Guenever, when Lancelot arrives is nearly mad with desire, and Arthur notices this. There is an awkward moment between the three of them,
and they all try to prevent tension by talking wildly. The love between the two young people is acknowledged all around, and the reader knows it
is a matter of time before they consummate this love and Lancelot destroys his Word all together.
As they discuss business together, Arthur warns Lancelot that his rescue of the Orkney brothers will cause problems later on. The brothers
are so highly competitive and have to fight so against their violent impulses, that Lancelot’s superiority will be understood as an insult to their
family rather than a generous and manly gesture. The King reiterates that there is already a bloodlust for revenge against the Pellinore family
for Lot’s death, however irrational, and that Lancelot might want to be careful. Lancelot is nonplussed, and distracted by Guenever.
Chapter 10 / Summary and Notes
Uncle Dap and Lancelot survey the condition of his armor and his sword; his sword is called Joyeux. The author uses this scene to segue into
a discussion of Lancelot’s character, which mirrors Guenever’s in the last chapter.
The reader may wonder why, since Lancelot was desperately in love with the Queen, he did not simply abscond with her. For one, he is a
Christian in a way that is difficult for the modern reader to understand; he took the commandments literally. Second, he believes in the honor of
the knighthood and of chivalry; he believes there is such a thing as Right. Also, he loves Arthur, and “hates” himself; that is, he thinks less of his
own needs than of the king’s.
Lancelot asks Dap whether he thinks Guenever is in love with him, and Dap tells him to ask the Queen directly. Lancelot asks him for advice,
and Dap evades the question by telling him that it depends on what the Queen wants to do.
The last two chapters are parallel chapters in that they deploy a uniquely 20 th century treatment of two great literary characters. The author,
in effect, psychoanalyzes Lancelot and Guenever. Whether or not he is correct in his analyses is up to the reader, and is, anyhow, historically
debatable, but he presents himself as an authority on the inner workings of his characters’ minds. This is unprecedented and fascinating.
Furthermore, White dispels earlier treatments of his characters - he scoffs at Tennyson’s depiction of Lancelot, for example, as a romantic
figure, and at the common idea that Guenever was fair when she was “really” dark-haired. The fact that these characters are all fictional is
beginning to fall by the wayside as White excavates some
historical truth about them. This is important for chapters later in the fourth book, when what is real history (the Plantagents, for example) is
fictionalized and Arthur’s reign is discussed as real fact.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 11 / Summary and Notes
Lancelot stays on at Arthur’s court, and each week he finds it harder to leave the Queen. He pines for the Queen until Uncle Dap tells him
to go elsewhere because he is losing too much weight in his misery. Arthur begs him to stay, and interestingly, Guenever agrees that he should
go. The reader should recognize how difficult it is for the Queen and the knight to be unfaithful to Arthur; this is a testament to the sort of love
and respect he inspires.
White notes that this quest that Lancelot goes on was the turning point of his life. He covers this important event very quickly in the next five
chapters.
Arthur sends Lancelot to investigate a haunted castle. The castle is called Corbin and its owner a slightly mad King Pelles. Corbin overlooks
a prosperous, dreamlike village, and when Lancelot arrives he feels “peculiar.” The people welcome him to the village joyfully; they all know his
name, and the scene has a surreal, almost hallucinogenic quality to it, as if played in slow motion.
The people ask him to save a fair maiden who has been kept in boiling water by magic. Sir Gawaine had been there the previous week, to no
avail, and the people ask him for his help, for the best knight in the world should be able to save her. Lancelot is reluctant, for the title of best
knight in the world makes him nervous, but the village people persuade him to help the poor boiling girl.
He enters the castle, finds the girl, who is naked, and he helps her from the bath. Lancelot overcomes his embarrassment to be immensely joyful
to realize that he has just performed a miracle, just as he had hoped to when he was a boy.
King Pelles arrives, and introduces the boiled girl as his daughter Elaine. Lancelot is shy around her because she is very beautiful and he had
seen her naked.
This is the second time the reader has heard of Lancelot’s desire to perform miracles. Lancelot’s quest for spiritual purity is his most important
characteristic; he is a pilgrim of sorts when he is on his quests, because he is avoiding sin, performing penance through good acts, and focussing
on the spiritual. This is the greater theme for him of Book three.
Chapter 12 / Summary and Notes
Lancelot stays on at Corbin, lovesick for Guenever. He does not notice that Elaine, the boiled girl, has fallen in love with him. Elaine’s butler
takes control of the situation.
The butler gets Lancelot drunk, and Lancelot, unused to strong drink, begins to talk to the butler about love. In the midst of his despair, the
butler’s wife arrives with a message for Lancelot. The message says that Guenever is waiting for him at a nearby castle. Lancelot staggers out
the door to make love to her.
When he wakes up the next day, he discovers, tragically, that he been tricked and has made love to Elaine in his drunkenness rather than
Guenever. There was never a note from Guenever at all; rather this was an elaborate ruse so that Elaine could ensnare him.
Lancelot, in his sorrow, threatens to kill Elaine, but his sadness overcomes him and he begins to sob. Lancelot defends herself by telling
Lancelot that she loves him and her love made her trick him. She adds that she hopes she is pregnant, and if she is she will name the child
Galahad, after his given name. Lancelot tells her that it is her problem if she is pregnant and he will be of no help to her.
This tragic scene parallels Morgause’s seduction of Arthur at the end of Book Two. Lancelot, like Arthur, is innocent in the sexual act: magic
and Lancelot compel Arthur by both his love for Guenever and his drunkenness. In Arthur’s case, the product of his liaison with Morgause,
Mordred, is the key to his undoing.
In Lancelot’s, the loss of his virginity and his honor is devastating to Lancelot’s spiritual strength. As it is his spiritual strength that he believes
allows him to be the first knight, this act is the beginning of the end for Lancelot. He will never again be the best knight in the way that he had
been previous to this round of quests. It is fitting, then, that in conjunction with the loss of his virginity he is able to perform a miracle. Elaine
allows him to both reach a new spiritual height (by saving her) and a low (by losing his purity). This chapter, then, is a turning point for Lancelot.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 13 / Summary and Notes
The setting returns to Camelot, where we find Guenever sewing in her room. The author begins an analysis about Guenever, and how, now
that she is 22, she has reached some level of maturity.
He introduces an idea called the “seventh sense,” by which he means knowledge of the world. White writes that this knowledge is acquired only
through experience, and Guenever was beginning to have that in her twenties, but has not acquired maturity fully. He compares her to Elaine,
who is still a child.
White writes, interestingly: “It is difficult to imagine her.” This line sums up the psychoanalyses that he ahs been performing on his characters in
Book Three. It is difficult to imagine a character as overdetermined as Guenever, and yet White perseveres, and that makes this re-telling of
the Arthurian legends unique and singularly un-medieveal.
Guenever sings a song for Lancelot, and mid-song, Lancelot arrives like a bullet; he and Guenever fall into each other’s arms, and make love.
Lancelot’s loss of purity with Elaine makes him able to consummate his love with the Queen, although he does not tell her that at this point. He
has freed himself from the harrowing discipline of his training and that freedom has allowed him to love as any human would.
Chapter 14 / Summary and Notes
Arthur receives a letter from Lancelot’s father that asks for his help against an invader. Arthur owes Lancelot’s father from his help at the
Battle of Bedegraine, and he must answer his call. Arthur asks Lancelot if he would stay, and Lancelot, clearly not comfortable with the idea
that he is betraying Arthur, protests. Arthur, oblivious, ignores his protests.
Lancelot and Guenever are then left together alone for a year while Arthur helps Lancelot’s father. It is their honeymoon period, sweet and
sorrowful. Lancelot is preoccupied with the idea that he is not holy anymore. Jenny doesn’t take his distraction seriously, and laughs at him
when he tries to explain that his whole life he has wanted nothing more than to perform miracles, and now that he has sinned, that possibility is
diminished. Her feelings are hurt eventually in the conversation because she believes that he regrets loving her. He appeases her by telling her
“I have given you my hopes, Jenny, as a present from my love.”
Lancelot’s inner conflict is reemphasized here, and it is important his struggle between religious purity and his love, which is necessarily visceral.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 15
Summary and Notes
Arthur returns to Camelot and with him he has Sir Bors, Lancelot’s cousin. Bors immediately tells Lancelot privately that he has heard that
Elaine has given birth to a son, whom she has named Galahad.
Guenever gets wind of the news and is understandably furious and hurt. She confronts Lancelot and calls him a liar, a seducer. Furthermore,
she mocks his sorrow over the loss of his virginity and loss of miracles. Lancelot tries to explain that he was made drunk and tricked, but the
Queen won’t hear of it. In their mutual grief, they come together and understand each other once more.
Chapter 16 / Summary and Notes
Elaine is preparing to “capture” Lancelot. This is a futile cause, because Lancelot does not and never will love her; she has nothing as leverage
except the baby, which will only remind Lancelot of her treachery. She is no match for Guenever, although she is truly in love with the knight.
Meanwhile, in the castle, Lancelot is unconsciously dreading Elaine’s arrival; that is, he cannot directly recognize what he has done because it is
too great for his mind to bear. Again the reader sees Lancelot’s fragility when it comes to the issue of Guenever.
Guenever, on the other hand, is steeling herself for her rival’s arrival. She is jealous, not so much of Elaine, but of the baby Galahad, and she
tortures herself with her envy; because of her jealousy, she becomes cruel.
Furthermore, Arthur is miserable. The author points out that he is unsuited for jealousy because he is only a “simple and affectionate man,”
and therefore, unequipped for some of the problems in his court. He understands what is happening between his best friend and his wife, but
instead of reacting with overt anger, he believes that they are good people and will do the right thing eventually.
This is Arthur’s “fatal flaw,” and therein lies a whole discussion about whether he is really such a great king or not. It is useful to remember this
chapter later in the novel: the author is quite clear that Arthur has no malice or cunning, and therefore cannot always take the best route when
presented with others’ darker natures.
Arthur makes one effort to confront the problem: he asks Lancelot whether he will marry Elaine. Lancelot replies that he does not love her, and
Arthur leaves it at that. Lancelot feels an uncontrollable desire to tell Arthur his sin, but cannot; Guenever arrives shortly thereafter to tell
Lancelot that Elaine will be at the castle that evening. She asks Lancelot to keep Elaine away from her, but to marry Elaine if he likes.
This is a magnanimous gesture on Guenever’s part, and the reader should recognize her self-control and generosity.
Chapter 17 / Summary and Notes
Guenever welcomes Elaine to Camelot politely, but hesitates before seeing the baby. She tells Lancelot that he should go to visit the baby,
that it is his duty. Again, her generosity is apparent. However, one caveat: she requests that Lancelot not make love to Elaine; if he breaks his
word it will be finished between them. She warns the knight that she will send for him at sometime in the night, and if he is not in his room, she will
assume the worst.
Elaine, meanwhile, is in the guest room, miserable because Lancelot has shown now interest in the child. At the point, he visits her and the baby;
and Lancelot is amazed by the perfection of the child, who takes after her mother, thankfully. Elaine throws herself at Lancelot, and he is
repulsed. He leaves, and she weeps.
Guenever’s dignity and Elaine’s silliness are in sharp contrast to each other in this chapter, and it is no wonder that Lancelot should prefer the
cool mystery and control of Guenever to Elaine’s hysterics.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 18 / Summary and Notes
Lancelot and Elaine are summoned to the Queen’s chamber the next morning. Lancelot reminisces on his way to the Queen about their
passionate liaison the previous night; he is happy because they have apparently made up.
When the two arrive in her chamber, Guenever is furious and accuses them of being traitors. She orders both of them to leave the castle, and it
slowly dawns on Lancelot that he did not make love with Guenever as he thought, but rather Elaine. In other words, Lancelot has been duped
again.
Lancelot is shocked to the point of immobility, and the Queen’s wrath is royal; she spits on him and calls him ugly. His mind breaks, and he, with
a shriek of “Galahad,” and “Arthur” leaps out the window. Guenever tells Elaine to leave and breaks down sobbing.
The reader has seen the mental strain that the conflict between Lancelot’s duty to God and the King and his love for Guenever has caused
him. Throughout the last ten chapters, this has been a constant theme and has been growing in force and tension since the miracle at Corbin. It
is necessary, then, that Lancelot should be forced to some kind of breaking point, that this contradiction in his life needs to be resolved, in this
case by rather violent.
Chapter 19 / Summary and Notes
Two years pass, and the setting changes to Corbin Castle. Pelles and Bliant are snacking at discussing someone named the Wild Man.
The two men are speculating on the Wild Man’s past. Bliant believes he was Lancelot, and Pelles reminds him that Lancelot has been dead for
a year after being mauled by wild boars.
Bliant tells Pelles that the Wild Man came to him the previous summer, and that he spoke in the high language of chivalry, which proves that he
was a gentleman in his previous life. The Wild Man also fought against Belias in self-defense when Belias first found him, and he fought
exceptionally well, which lends credence to the theory that the Wild Man is Lancelot.
Belias adds that once the Wild Man was subdued, he went to sleep in Belias’s bed (scaring Belias’ wife). The royals cleaned him up and kept
him for a year and a half in prison.
One day when Belias was out riding Sir Bruce and another bad knight attacked him. Sir Bruce was discussed early in Book Two as a
symbol of the Force Majeur, or the old way of doing knighthood. The Wild Man escaped from prison - he broke the chains that held him - and
fought Sir Bruce, winning.
Belias felt guilty about keeping the Wild Man imprisoned, and they let him stay on as a guest until one day he stole a horse and rode away.
The two kings muse about whether the Wild Man could have been Lancelot.
The subject then changes: Pelles tells Bliant that his daughter Elaine is going to be received at a convent (made into a nun) next year, and she
is coming to visit the following week.
The reader learns in this chapter what has happened to Lancelot. Although Pelles and Bliant believe he is dead, there is enough reasonable
doubt, and the fact that the book is barely halfway through, that Lancelot must surely be the Wild Man. Having the characters discuss him at a
distance is an effective, albeit slightly contrived device. Both men have objectivity about the situation that allows them to impart facts about
what has happened clearly without emotions running amuck.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 20 / Summary and Notes
Peels is intrigued by the possibility that the Wild Man is Lancelot, and he researched whether there is a history of lunacy in Lancelot’s family
history. Pelles has a vested interest because his grandson, after all, is Galahad. He has no luck.
Pelles glances out the window and sees the Wild Man heading up to the castle, being chased and stoned by village boys. He is emaciated,
naked, and truly pathetic, and the sight of him moves Pelles. He races downstairs, and asking the Wild Man his real name to no avail, he decides
to make him into his court jester. Lancelot (the Wild Man) is now lodged in Pelles’s pigeon house and garbed as a clown for Pelles’s amusement.
In this chapter, Lancelot, despite his insanity, has not lost his intrinsic dignity and nobility. He is moving in this section because those who do
not understand his worth, his real purity and ability, taunt him. It is hard not to notice a similarity to Christ in his last days in this chapter, and this
subtle comparison will be emphasized later in both this book and book four.
Lancelot has already been tied to Christ through his genealogy: Pelles notes that he is “eight degrees” removed from Jesus genetically.
Furthermore, his quest for chastity, his struggles between piety and the flesh, the scars on his hands from his imprisonment, and the ridicule he
faces in this struggle make his journey comparable to Christ’s on many levels.
Chapter 21 / Summary and Notes
Elaine is at the garden, dressed in convent clothes and plump in her misery at losing Lancelot. There will be a ceremony at which Sir Castor
will be knighted, and Elaine is at her father’s castle for that purpose. She has her son Galahad with her, who is now three.
One of her ladies-in-waiting alerts her that there is a man sleeping by the well. Elaine, curious, goes to check it out. She recognizes Lancelot
instantly, and cries over him.
Once she collects herself, she tells her father that she has found Lancelot. The King recognizes immediately that he has mistaken the noble
knight for a mere clown, and is remorseful. He makes arrangements for his recovery in a private chamber.
When Lancelot wakes up, his mind is clear, and the breakdown has passed.
Chapter 22 / Summary and Notes
After several days’ recovery, Lancelot and Elaine discuss their future. They speak frankly and candidly. Lancelot reminds Elaine that he
does not love her, and cannot marry her, as that would be a transgression on his Word. Elaine understands the situation perfectly, but would
like for the two of them to live together privately with their son anyhow.
The reader will notice in this chapter that although Elaine has been portrayed as immature and hysterical on occasion, in his scene, she is
remarkably practical and stoic. She loves Lancelot; furthermore, she does not seem to be deluding herself as to the nature of their relationship.
The reader may also be surprised by Lancelot’s apparent affection for Elaine. He is able to see that she is likeable despite her trickery, and
that the lengths to which she resorted to is not indicative of the state of her heart overall. Elaine is truly kind and caring toward Lancelot, and
he recognizes that in her.
King Pelles provides them with a castle called Joyous Island. Lancelot is to live there incognito because of its proximity to Camelot and his
reputation as a great knight. Her takes an alias: the Chevalier Mal Fet, or, the Ill-Made Knight. Whether the Ill-Made is referring to his
physical ugliness or his fatal flaw (his love for Guenever) is not clear.
Lancelot kisses Elaine and calls her darling in this chapter after she encourages him to hold tournaments and be social while he lives at the
Joyous Isle. He is humiliated on some basic level by her unconditional love for him. The author attributes this to his low self-esteem, which his a
particularly 20 th century view of Lancelot, but fitting considering the psychoanalysis these legendary characters have undergone thus far in the
novel.
At the end of the chapter, Lancelot is stopped by Sir Castor, who calls his bluff and calls him Sir Lancelot. Lancelot is stern and reminds
Castor that there must be very good reason for him to have an alias, and Sir Castor respectfully obeys Lancelot’s wishes.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 23 / Summary and Notes
Elaine arranges a tournament at the Joyous Isle, and the Chevalier Mal Fet (Lancelot) beats all competitors handily. Lancelot’s shield has a
crowned woman on it with a knight kneeling at her knees. Elaine finds Lancelot after the tourney on the field gazing towards Camelot, and she
cries privately.
One later afternoon Lancelot is challenged by two knights to joust. Lancelot beats them easily, and the one knight, named Degalis, asks for his
identity. Lancelot confesses that he is Lancelot. The other knight is Ector, not the Sir Ector who raised Wart, but a brother of Lancelot’s.
The knights are ecstatic at having found him, not only because of their admiration and kinship for Lancelot, but because the Queen has
offered a substantial monetary reward for anyone who finds him.
Elaine watches the scene of the brothers joyfully reuniting from a hill, and understands intrinsically that her time with Lancelot has come to an
end.
In this chapter, the tone is decidedly melancholy and the reader feels sympathetic for two opposing forces: Lancelot and his homesickness and
yearning for Guenever is in sharp relief against Elaine and the futility of her love.
Chapter 24 / Summary and Notes
Lancelot tells his brother Ector that he cannot leave Elaine because he has some unsaid obligation towards her. Ector counters by explaining
that not only is the Queen desperate for him, but so is Arthur.
Apparently there have been problems with the Orkney brothers at Camelot. Lancelot is keen for gossip and pesters Ector for more details,
but Ector is not so easy. Ector tells him that to stay at the Joyous Isle means no knighthood, no chivalry, complete anonymity, and no glory.
Furthermore, he reiterates that the Queen is “wretched” and desperate to find him. In addition, Lancelot does not love Elaine and never will,
whereas he loves the Queen and she in return.
In considering Lancelot’s character, it is clear that those values that make his essence would be suspended or even eliminated were he to stay on
the Joyous Isle. Although it may be the “right” thing to do in that he would be fulfilling an obligation to Elaine and his child Galahad, he would
not be true to any part of himself were he to stay on. White has done a thorough job of depicting Lancelot’s conflict between his knightly honor
and his love, and in staying with Elaine, he is effectively dismissing both. He will be neither a Knight of the Round Table nor the Queen’s lover.
Therefore, it is imperative for the survival of his character that he return to Camelot.
One day Elaine asks Lancelot what she should do with Galahad when he leaves her. Lancelot denies that he will leave her, but Elaine presses
on. Lancelot promises that if he would leave, he will come back to her eventually, which the reader may be surprised to hear. Whether he can
keep his Word on this issue remains to be seen.
There is a knight waiting patiently for Lancelot on the other side of the moat across from the Joyous Isle. This man is Uncle Dap, Lancelot’s
old squire, and he carries Lancelot’s armor from Camelot. Lancelot has an intensely visceral, almost sensual response to his own armor, which
brings back thoughts of Guenever (Jenny). He immediately dons the armor and rides away.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 25 / Summary and Notes
Fifteen years suddenly pass. Lancelot is at Camelot, and the three major characters are all middle-aged.
This is an interesting device that White uses. He allows a huge amount of time - really, the last years of the three characters’ youth - to pass in
one sentence. To narrate this time period thoroughly would probably be redundant. The reader can infer, then, that all is resolved between
Guenever and Lancelot, and that Arthur is still in a state of friendly denial.
A new generation has come to Camelot. To these youths, Arthur, Guenever and Lancelot have become the stuff of legends: romantic,
revolutionary, dashing, and almost mythical. This is the author’s way of explaining the plausibility of Arthur being a real king yet so deeply
legendary. As he ages, the public’s perception of him becomes less focussed and more steeped in fiction.
Moreover, it is made clear in this chapter that Arthur’s revolution (Right is Might) has been successful and has changed the country radically in
the twenty-one years he has ruled. Although White notes that much of the success of this revolution was steeped in violence - it was necessary
to strong-arm such rebels as Sir Bruce sans Pitie into submission - Britain under Arthur is a kinder, gentler nation.
This chapter is replete with historical detail, and will be interesting to the medieval scholar, but describing the detail here is not necessary. What
is crucial to understand is that England pre-Camelot was a lawless, brutal place, and now under Arthur has reached an unprecedented “pitch
of civilization.” This is why the young idolize Arthur; two of this new generation are Gareth and Mordred, the author notes ominously.
Chapter 26 / Summary and Notes
Arthur and Lancelot discuss Gareth and the rest of the Orkney faction. The tenor of their conversation is intimate and affectionate. Gareth
came anonymously to Camelot and slaved in the kitchen until he had an adventure and became a great knight with Lancelot’s help. Arthur
thanks Lancelot for guiding Gareth, and Lancelot criticizes Morgause for being a “bad old woman.” Arthur quickly defends her, and the reader
gain will notice Arthur’s sympathy and generosity towards those who may deserve it least.
Lancelot instinctively dislikes Mordred, but keeps this information from the King, because Arthur expresses affection towards Mordred.
Lancelot, of course does not know that Mordred is Arthur’s son, and it is not clear at this point whether the King himself knows.
Further gossip reveals that Morgause has seduced Lamorak, which is one of King Pellinore’s sons. The reader will need to recall at this point
that Pellinore accidentally killed Lot, the Orkney brothers’ father, and they, in turn, killed Pellinore. Considering Morgause’s semi-incestuous
relationship with her sons (particularly Agravaine) and the sexually violent reactions they have regarding her, this is a precarious situation.
The King reacts dramatically, and asks to talk to the brothers. Arthur emotionally tells Lancelot that he is afraid for the future of his Table
because of the rivalry and history of violence between the Orkneys and Pellinore’s family.
Gareth enters at this point with a letter from a message. He is distraught, and the King asks him what happened. Gareth tells him that
Agravaine has killed Morgause; he cut off her head “like the unicorn.” Moreover, Mordred, Agravaine and Gawaine hunted Lamorak down
and Mordred stabbed him in the back, killing him instantly.
This chapter is important for understanding the downfall of the Round Table. The conflict between the Orkneys and Pellinores is more
sharply described, and Mordred’s potential for violence is sharply realized. It is interesting that the reader has not yet met this most intriguing
character, Mordred, and the first encounter with him is such a brutal act, which casts a tragic pallor over the idealism of Camelot. It is indicative
of his effect overall on the narrative, and any character analysis of Mordred would include this ominous introduction.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 27 / Summary and Notes
Gawaine and Mordred come to Camelot, leaving Agravaine behind. Agravaine’s murder of his mother was foreshadowed by his murder of the
unicorn; both were crimes of passion, and his two brothers are furious at him. Gawaine is anxious about Arthur’s reaction to the crime, and
hopes that he will be punished justly. Gawaine, in the chapter becomes a more distinct character in his own right, and a fairly sympathetic one.
The brothers enter the court, and the reader’s first impression of the physical Mordred is that he is slight, shrewd and slightly physically
deformed (like Richard III, the author writes - not an accidental allusion, after all, Richard III is one of the most heinous, and most charming, of
the canon’s characters).
The men ask for pardon from the King, Gawaine sincerely and Mordred ironically. Arthur pardons them but is clearly still angry and asks them
to leave his chamber.
Once the brothers leave, Arthur turns to Lancelot and Guenever for advice. He reminisces about the lesson that Merlyn taught him, and
decides that although the Round Table has been a good idea for restructuring the country, now it is time for some revisions. He thinks that the
major problem has been that the knighthood established Right through Might, but now that they have justice, there are knights running round
with lots of excess energy and outlet.
If there were still dragons and villains to conquer, Arthur continues, then these petty jealousies between the Orkney brothers and the Pellinore
family wouldn’t have gotten so out of hand. The idleness among the knights in peacetime has led to unrest.
Arthur has an epiphany at this point: the way to keep the knights occupied, and good, is to make them busy with good. The Table was a
“temporal ideal,” he says, but now it must be made into a “spiritual ideal.” In other words, the Table should work for God now. Lancelot is
excited by this idea, and the Queen is very reserved and clearly troubled about the presence of God in their lives; this will take Lancelot away
from her.
Lancelot and Arthur begin brainstorming ways to bring the spiritual into the knighthood: Crusades, a search for relics, the True Cross, etc.
Each is dismissed for some conflict or another, and then Lancelot hits upon a search for the Holy Grail.
The chapter ends with a couple of foreboding and complicated ideas. Arthur, liking the idea of the Holy Grail, muses, “What if someone were
to find God?” and simultaneously an announcement arrives that a fine young man named Galahad is being knighted at the abbey. This is
Lancelot’s son Galahad.
In this chapter, the spiritual quest is introduced as the major motivating force for the rest of Book Three. Although the struggle between
personal purity and earthly pleasures has been an ongoing struggle for Lancelot, it has been a private one, and one, for the time being, that he
seems to have lost. This quest for spiritual rigor and perfection has been made public in this chapter, and will occupy the major and minor
characters for the rest of the novel.
Chapter 28 / Summary and Notes
The knights leave en masse to search for the Holy Grail. White tells the reader that if they really want the particulars, to read Malory's Le
Morte d’Arthur.
The author chooses to relate information about the quest through third person accounts of returning knights. Over the course of the next two
years, various knights trickle in, all discouraged, some half-mad and hallucinating.
One of the first to return is Gawaine, the oldest Orkney brother, who relates his story in heavy Gaelic dialect.
Gawaine’s chief note is a description of Galahad’s character. Galahad is disliked by all of the other knights because of his radical piety: he is a
virgin, a vegetarian, and a teetotaler, can apparently predict the future, and believes himself imbued with mystical powers. Gawaine finds him
arrogant and too pure, and gives a number of examples of this from their quest.
First, Galahad knighted a man named Sir Melias, which Gawaine and the others found incredibly conceited and forward thing for a lad of 18
to do. His “social intercourse” leaves much lacking; he doesn’t fraternize with the other knights but is condescending and reserved.
In addition, Gawaine tells the court, Galahad unhorsed Lancelot and made his father kneel before him and ask for his blessing. This will be a
surprise for the reader, of course; it is the first time Lancelot has lost in a joust.
Gawaine continues with his tale. He found himself at the Castle of Maiden with Sir Gareth and a knight named Uwaine, where they killed a
group of knights. Galahad snubs them after this event because he doesn’t approve of such wanton violence.
Gawaine soon after happens upon a hermit who tells him that it was wrong to kill other knights while on a spiritual quest, and he should ask for
forgiveness. He insincerely makes a confession, and rides on. He notes that after this lie he went on without another adventure for many
months, as though he was cursed.
After several months, Gawaine met up with Ector, Lancelot’s brother. The two camped in the woods and had the same ominous dream: a
priest gives them each a candle and a bridle.
Soon after, the knight accidentally kills his cousin Uwaine, who had an unfamiliar shield that Gawaine didn’t recognize. The shield turns out to
be Galahad’s, a relic he found. At this point, Gawaine regards himself as cursed, and seeks out the priest that he and Ector dreamt of. The
priest tells the knights that on a holy quest, adventure and success is contingent on purity. In other words, their excessive violence prevents them
from any progress in the search for the Holy Grail. The reader can infer then that only the pure can find the Grail, and that this will most likely
be Galahad.
Gawaine finishes his tale by telling the court that he had to fight late in his quest anyhow - he killed King Bagdemagus - and was subsequently
in bed for more than a month with injuries.
In this chapter, it becomes clear through Gawaine’s irritable account that this quest has more than a token spirituality to it. This grail that the
knights are searching for is really imbued with something otherworldly, and success in the quest in dependent on one’s own piety.
Galahad is introduced as a surprisingly pious and unlikable young man, and an effective tension is built between the physical necessities of life
on the road for a knight (sexual relations, fighting, drinking) and the need to be pure in order to “win” at this quest. This conflict, of course,
mirrors Lancelot’s struggle since the beginning of Book Three between the body and the soul; the reader may well wonder what is in store for
him.
It is worth recognizing the significance of his unhorsing by Galahad. Lancelot is no longer first knight: how tied in to his sin with Guenever is his
defeat?
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 29 / Summary and Notes
The next account is via Lionel, Lancelot’s cousin, who was introduced early in Book Three during the Turquine episode. Lionel has a brother
named Bors, and he is angry with his brother.
Lionel criticizes Bors for being “too moral.” He apparently has only once made love to a woman, and he is a prig, and a “saint,” according to
Lionel. Lionel tells Arthur that his own story amounts to nothing, but Bors’ is interesting and so he’ll relate that second hand to the court.
In contrast to many of the other knights, who did not take the spiritual aspect of the quest seriously enough, Bors immediately went to
confession and began living purely, eating only bread and water. The immediate result was that he started having visions - different animals that
represented aspects of theology. After the visions, he rescues a lady and has an opportunity to kill a knight, which he declines.
Bors told Lionel that he felt as though he were being put through trials; not killing the knight (Sir Pridam) was a test and he passed and was
allowed to continue on his quest.
Bors’ next trial has to do with Lionel. Bad knights are persecuting both Lionel and a virgin lady, and Bors has to choose which one to save.
Bors chooses the maiden, because he believes her to be purer than Lionel, who has sinned. Lionel is furious at being passed over by his own
brother, and he tries to kill Bors. Apparently, though, this was the best decision for Bors, because he survives and is allowed to continue with
the quest.
Bors’ third trial is a fascinating one, a sort of prisoner’s dilemma. A lady held captive in a castle tells him that she is cursed and that if Bors does
not make love to her, she will die. Bors chooses to let her die. Then, the beautiful woman climbs to the top of her castle with twelve other fair
ladies, and tells Bors that they will all commit suicide if he doesn’t relent.
Bors is torn, but refuses to sleep with the lady, and they all jump, turning into a collection of fiends - they fly off into the air and the castle
implodes.
Arthur muses about the moral: you must not commit mortal sin, even if 12 lives are dependent on it. Both he and Lionel are unsure whether they
understand the lesson correctly.
Bors’ fourth trial relates back to Lionel: Lionel searches him out to kill him. He finds his brother at a chapel and tells him that he is going to kill
him. Bors tells him that he will not fight him back. Bors kneels and asks for mercy in the face of Lionel’s anger. As Lionel prepares to cut off his
brother’s head, a hermit appears and lays himself across his brother’s body, pleading for Bors’ life. Lionel kills the defenseless hermit. Bors
doesn’t react, but continues to plead for love and mercy, which muddles Lionel’s intentions - he doesn’t know what to make of this passive
resistance.
A knight named Sir Colgrevance shows up to defend Bors, and Lionel kills him as well. Bors holds his shield over his head, but does not
struggle. Suddenly, “God came,” Lionel tells Arthur, because Bors prayed, and his shield burns. The two brothers suddenly being to laugh
filled with love, and they kiss and make up. At that point, Bors goes on with his quest and Lionel returns to court to tell his brother’s tale.
In this chapter, complex theological issues are brought up briefly. Is it ever right to kill? Is it ever right to commit a sin to save others? Is it ever
right to fight back? Many of these ideas were anticipated far in the beginning of the novel (for example, Merlyn's pacifism and the Wart’s
experience with the geese and ants); they are all burning moral imperatives for a British intellectual in the late 1930s. If ever a time seemed
simultaneously right and wrong to fight, is must have been the eve of World War II against the monstrosities and tyrannies of Hitler; any learned
person in those times must have been preoccupied with the question of whether violence is ever justified.
Furthermore, White recognizes the power of passive resistance and anticipates its use during the second half of the 20 th century as a
sometimes substitute for warfare. Ghandi, King, and many other successful peace movements were dependent on passive resistance as a
powerful negotiation tool. Bors is successful against his brother’s mindless violence by doing nothing, in effect, but pleading for love and mercy.
Of Course, the mediating power of “God” cannot be discounted in this scene; it is clear that there is a divine plan at work through which only
the best knights will be allowed to continue to search and the flawed will have to return to court.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 30 / Summary and Notes
Sir Aglovale, a new character, is the third knight to tell his story. Aglovale is one of Pellinore’s sons, and thus has revenge on his mind for the
deaths of his father and his brother Lamorak.
Aglovale asks Arthur where he might find the Orkney brothers so that he can kill them, and Arthur tries to stop him.
Arthur explains to Aglovale that he is trying to make a new system of justice in England rather than the blood feuds that has persevered in the
North and is playing itself out in this particular rivalry. He adds that the Orkneys had a sad family life, and should be pitied.
Aglovale counters that since Pellinore’s death, his mother Piggy has died of grief and his sister has died as well.
Arthur then reminds Aglovale that Pellinore was the first knight the King ever feel in love with, and yet he didn’t punish Gawaine for murdering
him. Arthur adds that his hope is with him to stop feud law, because the Orkneys are too inherently violent to appeal to. If there is any chance
that this rivalry will cease and true justice persevere, Aglovale must resist the urge for revenge. Aglovale says that he has to think it over, and
Arthur allows him to by changing the subject.
Arthur asks after his sister’s death. Aglovale explains that she was found dead in a boat with a letter from their bother Percivale (Percy) in her
hands. Aglovale begins to tell his brother Percy’s tale. Percy is a virgin and religious, like Galahad, but simple and kind. Initially he went on an
adventure with Lancelot, but they encountered Galahad who unhorsed them both. Percy went to confession and decided to follow a hermit’s
advice and follow Galahad. Galahad rescues him from a battle with some knights, but then leaves Percy high and dry. Lionel, who is listening,
expresses disapproval at Galahad’s arrogant manner.
Percy’s horse was killed, and he continues on foot to find Galahad. He meets, among others, a lion and a good fairy. He drinks too much with a
beautiful woman in the forest and nearly makes love to her when he sees a cross on the ground and remembers his knightly duty. He is so
ashamed that he stabs himself with a sword, and immediately afterwards a magic boat shows up with Bors in it and the two sailed away.
Guenever is doubtful about Percy’s ability to continue with the quest - his holiness is dubious when compared to Bors and especially Galahad.
Aglovale defends his brother by reminding his audience that Percy is pure, as opposed to Bors.
At this point in Percy’s story, his sister appears; she has become a nun and has had a vision that tells her to look for Galahad. She finds him,
and they together find Percy and Bors in the magic boat. The quartet then finds a second boat inscribed with a warning to not enter unless
completely faithful. They all climb in the second boat and find King David’s sword (intended for Galahad), inferior swords for the other two
knights and spindles made of the Eden tree.
Percy’s sister sews a girdle out of her own hair with the spindles, and affixes the girdle on Galahad: from one virgin to another. The four get
back into the first boat, and fight some men whom they kill. Galahad tells Percy and Bors that it is all right to kill people who have not been
christened.
The boat arrives in a place called Carlisle where a woman lives who has the measles. The only cure for her is to bathe in a virgin’s blood; Percy’s
sister volunteers and is bled to death to save the lady of the castle. Her body is put back into the boat and pushed out to sea; in her hand is a
letter that describes Percy’s adventures, and this is the letter that Aglovale reads. The young knight finishes his brother’s story and shyly asks
the King whether it would be all right to dine with the Orkney brothers tomorrow. Arthur is moved, because this signals a possible end to the
rivalry. He kisses Aglovale affectionately.
This chapter is replete with Biblical and theological imagery, and the spiritual aspects of the quest for the Holy Grail are emphasized and
sharpened. All of the knights who are unpure, whether in thought or deed, have been eliminated; the three most pure - Galahad, Bors, Percy are allowed to continue. Galahad is clearly the most pure of the three, and the reader expects that he will be the one who finds the Grail itself.
This still does not answer the question of what Lancelot’s role in the quest will be, and the suspense to hear Lancelot’s story is great at the end
of this chapter.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 31 /Summary and Notes
There is no news of Lancelot. Rumors are milling about Camelot of his death and the events of his crusade.
One by one other knights return from the search for the Holy Grail, most of them exhausted and broken. All of the characters from the
previous two books appear in this section, mentioned briefly; the reader has probably wondered what had happened to Kay, Ector,
Grummore, etc.; they have been questing and have failed.
Because all of the knights have returned or have been confirmed dead, the rumor heightens that Lancelot has died - either by murder or by
natural disaster -as well. The inhabitants of Camelot from Arthur to the serving maids are morose as each day passes. Guenever cannot react
because of the possibility of such intense grief and because Mordred and Agravaine are watching her like hawks to gauge her infidelity.
Finally one rainy night, Lancelot returns, his head humbly down, wearing a hairshirt as penance under his red garment. He is weary and broken
and wants to sleep. Uncle Dap puts him to bed and Lancelot tells him that Galahad, Bors and Percy found the Grail; that Galahad and Percy
have taken it to Babylon and will never return to Camelot
Chapter 32 / Summary and Notes
When Lancelot comes down the next morning to tell Guenever and Arthur his story he finds badly overdressed and made up Guenever who is
nervously awaiting his arrival. Lancelot feels the same love for her and pity besides, because she is obviously anxious and needy for his approval.
Lancelot is serene, remarkably good-humored and pensive. Lancelot tells them right away that he was not allowed the Grail as the others did.
He defends Galahad’s arrogance by asking whether angels such as he are expected to be human and act human. The knight then begins to
explain his spiritual frame of mind: he has been to a place that Arthur and Guenever would not understand; he has witnessed the eternal and
divine, and so much of mundane daily life now seems to him irrelevant and foreign. He begins to tell his tale:
He was riding along with Percy, when they met Galahad and Galahad unhorsed him. A holy woman nearby curtsied and called Galahad the
best knight in the world, and Lancelot was stunned by his defeat and his second place ranking. He felt broken, and he separated from Percivale
so that he could be alone and contemplate what it meant to no longer be first knight.
He found a chapel in the forest where he had a dream that all of his knightly accessories were being taken away from him. He realized that with
all of his knighthood stripped away he had nothing else to be proud of. He did not have his Word; he did not have miracles, and know he did not
have his knighthood. He wept. When he woke up, he heard birds singing, and decided to go to make confession. Lancelot, for the first time in
his life, confesses everything and was given penance.
While he is telling the story there is a tense moment where it is not clear whether he will confess to Arthur as well; Arthur gets him out of the
bind by urging him to continue to tell his tale.
Lancelot’s penance includes wearing the hair shirt and eating no meat. He has another dream in which he retrieves his armor. He believes that
the dream is a sign that he can continue on his chivalrous way, and he does, encountering a battle between a group of white knights and a group
of black knights. He intends to help the black knights, and he is taken prisoner by the white knights. He is defeated a second time, and he
weeps again.
Lancelot then realizes that it was not only the sin with Guenever that he was to do penance for but also his sin of pride: he is proud that he is
the best knight in the world. Because he hasn’t confessed his second sin, he was beaten a second time. He confesses and is absolved.
The next day he encountered a black knight who defeats him easily: a third defeat. Lancelot chalks this third defeat to the fact that he had
never given God thanks for allowing him to be victorious. He accepts the third defeat gracefully and thanks God for the adventure.
The Biblical and theological imagery continues: Lancelot is defeated three times (three being a religiously symbolic number); his weeping in the
forest, having visions, etc. echoes Christ’s journey which culminates in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before he died.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 33 / Summary and Notes
Arthur reacts to Laneclot’s humiliation with anger. Lancelot appeases him by telling the King that he is glad he gave up “love and glory;” that
the acceptance of the divine feels right to him. Indeed, Lancelot is calm in a way that neither the King or the Queen has seen him before, and
they allow him to continue his story.
When Lancelot woke up, there is a ship, the ship that is carrying Percivale’s dead sister and the letter that tells of his adventure. He climbs in
the ship, which is fragrant and made of thick green glass and it takes him past a remote, mysterious island populated by geese and strange birds.
Lancelot travels as if in a dream, through seasons and time and strange places, and he doesn’t know where he went or how he survived. He says
that he was at peace, a sort of “communion” with the dead woman. At some point, Galahad appears to him and “allows” Lancelot to kiss his
sword.
Six months pass altogether. Galahad and Lancelot become very close and Lancelot has a profound admiration and reverence for his son.
After a time, they arrive at a forested land where a white knight appears and takes Galahad away from Lancelot to get the Holy Grail.
Lancelot is not allowed to join him, and is sad, but peaceful.
Arthur and Guenever both express pity for Lancelot, but he is sanguine and philosophical about why he wasn’t “picked.” He continues with his
story: soon afterwards the ship takes him to Carbonel Castle, where the Grail is. Although he knows that he will not be allowed to see it all, he
understands that the keepers of the Grail, or God, is being kind to him in allowing him a part of the miracle.
Lancelot dons his armor, prepares to use his sword to gain entrance to the Castle, and then realizes he has no need for it if he trusts in God.
There is the most beautiful chapel, so beautiful that he is overwhelmed and speechless. He is not allowed to enter; a sword stops him, even
though he yearns with his whole being to be a part of the mystery inside.
He can see through the door Galahad, Bors, Percy, and nine other knights inside (the twelve, which is the same number as the disciples of
Christ), Percy’s sister, a priest, and on a table the Holy Grail. Lancelot is overwhelmed with emotion and is suddenly struck down with a breath
of air, like the Holy Spirit itself.
Chapter 34 / Summary and Notes
Guenever takes a bath and thinks about Lancelot. Her ladies in waiting are happy because she is in a much better mood than she had been
while Lancelot was gone; they assume they are sleeping together again, but they are not.
The author segues into a description of Guenever’s midlife personality. One myth he dispels is that she was some sort of man-eating vixen;
White points out that there was never anyone for her but Arthur and Lancelot, and she loved both of these men. He calls her a “real” person,
and what he means by this is that she was conflicted and contradictory. She defies categorization. The author continues his privileged view of
the characters of this novel; he is fleshing them out for the reader. Instead of flat mythological heroes and heroines, he has made them relevant
for the 20 th century - like us, in other words.
He notes that Guenever had a number of admirable traits, chiefly that she was courageous and generous. But her “central tragedy” as he calls
it, is that she is childless, which must have been even more tragic in the Middle Ages when a premium was placed on a woman’s fertility. This also
reinforces her jealousy of Elaine, who after only one night was able to bear Galahad for Lancelot.
Furthermore, as she ages, she becomes increasingly eccentric - the author implies that she is too large for her times - and thus unpopular with
her subjects toward the end.
Guenever thinks about Lancelot in the bath, and knows in her heart that she will eventually win against God with him. She doesn’t take his
devotion seriously and believes that she will eventually persevere.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 35 / Summary and Notes
However, as time passes and there is still no intimacy between Guenever and Lancelot, she begins to get impatient, and then angry. She
begins to be hurt that she is so disposable and perplexed by his apparent devotion to the divine. Lancelot feels pity for Guenever when he
sees her becoming angrier, and he wants to be “generous” towards her; thus, White writes, “Generosity is the eighth deadly sin.”
Guenever asks Lancelot to go away on a quest and leave her alone; he is “wearing her out.” Lancelot rides from Camelot the next day.
In the previous two chapters, White redefines Lancelot’s inner conflict between the spirit and the flesh. It is not a battle easily dismissed, and
despite his satisfaction at the outcome of the Search for the Holy Grail, and despite middle age and the cooling of lusts between them, this
conflict is as relevant as ever.
Chapter 36 / Summary and Notes
The mood at Camelot changes for “the fourth time.” The author quickly reviews Books Two and Three: the youth and vigor of the beginning
of Camelot, which changed to the “stale” rivalry of the Table, to third, the beauty of the Quest for the Grail, to finally a mature and sad place.
The sadness is caused by several factors. First, the best knights were killed in the Search for the Holy Grail. “If you achieve perfection, you
die,” the author notes, which underscores the religious and Christian tenor of the table. Second, the knights who are left and “surly” and
“angry:” Agravaine, Gawaine, Mordred, etc.
These bitter knights who were left from the Search for the Grail are preoccupied with Guenever’s infidelity and court gossip. The morals in
this crowd are low - they are not faithful to their wives, nor, by extension, their kings, and besides, they are dandies, concerned with outrageous
clothes and parties. This, white writes, is the beginning of the modern age: satirical and ironic without a trace of the innocence and idealism that
marked the early Camelot days.
This society despises Guenever - they find her outdated and “barbarous;’ she is unfashionable and a nuisance. Arthur reacts in his usual way,
by trying to be polite and plain; Guenever ungracefully by becoming more bold and painted.
The scorn the young heaps upon the old is a timeless theme, and nowhere is it more evident than in this chapter. The idolatry of early chapters,
the legends of the three central characters has been forgotten. It is an old tale: the son needs to “kill” the father, to dismiss what has made him
great in order to define himself and become his own individual. Mordred is doing this to Arthur in this chapter.
Guenever curries favor from the younger generation by pathetically throwing an extravagant dinner party. She hears a rumor that Gawaine is
fond of fruit, and orders baskets of apples and pears for her guests in hopes of winning his respect.
Unfortunately, a distant member of the Pellinore clan - a knight named Sir Pinel - poisons the apples intended for Gawaine. This is a holdover,
of course, from the Orkney/Pellinore feud, and despite a temporary lull in the fighting, there are still distant members of both clans who are
bent on revenge.
Gawaine doesn’t eat the apples, though, but a young knight named Sir Patrick does a promptly dies. The dinner guests immediately suspect
poor Guenever, and a knight named Sir Mador de la Porte accuses Guenever of treason.
In Arthur’s court, a modern system of justice was still being developed, so the appropriate “trial” at this time was a joust: the accuser (Sir
Mador) versus a knight who would fight on the Queen’s behalf. Lancelot, of course, is away, so the Queen has to plead to Sir Bors to fight
for her. Bors is a champion fighter, but a terrible misogynist, and like everyone else of that generation, he dislikes Guenever. He only
reluctantly agrees.
The symbolism in this chapter in heavy: the doomed woman, the poisoned apple - both are not only ubiquitous in fairy tales but in the Garden
of Eden. The author depicts Guenever as intensely sympathetic but her own worst enemy in her brazen need to be accepted by the younger
generation.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 37 / Summary and Notes
Sir Bors consents to fight for the Queen, even though he is a misogynist. Preparations are made for the joust to defend her honor.
At the last minute Lancelot rescues the pitiful Queen and fights Sir Mador.
The author changes the subject abruptly in this chapter from the excitement of the knight riding in to save his lady to a discussion of Lancelot’s
theology. God is a real person for Lancelot, White writes; thus his conflict between the Queen and God is really like an infidelity in a love
affair. Either choice for him is cheating on a real person. Both God and Guenever have real needs that he fulfills for them, and he feels
neglectful towards God when he’s with the Queen and towards the Queen when he’s with God. Therefore, it’s necessary to go back and
forth - to vacillate - between the two.
Lancelot handily beats Sir Mador - knocks him to the ground - and Sir Mador retracts his accusation of treason. Lancelot has mercy on him
after Sir Mador promises not to write anything about the poisoned apple on Sir Patrick’s grave. Lancelot takes off his helm and Arthur and
Guenever both feel a swelling of love towards the knight, and the Queen bursts into tears.
Chapter 38 / Summary and Notes
The whole apple matter is cleared up the next day with the arrival of Nimue. Merlyn had made Nimue promise that while she was holding him
captive, that she must watch out over Arthur and Guenever. She arrives a day late to tell the truth about who really poisoned the apple and
how Guenever was innocent, and the Queen is exonerated.
Arthur decides to hold a tournament to celebrate the Queen’s acquittal at, of all places, Castle Corbin, King Pelles and Elaine’s home.
This infuriates Guenever. She is already angry because even though Lancelot rode in majestically to save her, he is still stuck on God and the
Holy Grail, and she feels as though he is being unfaithful to her. She is becoming angrier and angrier because of this threat of cuckoldry, and
she takes it out on him by demanding that he not go to Castle Corbin. Any idea that he would cheat on the Queen with Elaine is of course
ridiculous, but Guenever is displacing her jealousy of God onto Elaine.
In this chapter we see Guenever’s difficult nature and Lancelot’s infuriating serenity. She is trying to pick a fight with him and he does not take
the bait, not because she’s being passive aggressive, but because he is so preoccupied with the divine that he doesn’t notice. She is becoming
an unsympathetic shrew in this section, and it bears remembering the author’s description of her in a previous chapter as a “real” person.
Guenever changes her mind and tells Lancelot that he should go to the tournament that she doesn’t want to see his face anymore. He complies.
Elaine, when she sees him, remembers his promise many years before that he would come back, and she understands his return as permanent
rather than just a few days’ visit for a tournament. She tells him that he will be staying for good now, as if it were fact
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 39 / Summary and Notes
The author defers to Malory again on the details about the tournament at Corbin. Apparently Sir Thomas Malory’s description of the
tournament are far too detailed and esoteric for the modern reader, and White chooses to leave them out, for what he is really concerned with is
character development and not medieval verisimilitude.
Lancelot is wounded, but wins despite his pain. He cannot bring himself to tell Elaine the truth about his love for the Queen and his love for
God. The author muses about why this is: perhaps he is a weak man. Also, Elaine has sensitive nature; she has been waiting all of these years
for Lancelot, and he is aware of that sacrifice. He doesn’t want to “kill her joy,” so he procrastinates.
Elaine, deluded, had asked Lancelot to wear her token at the tournament. Lancelot is shocked at how pitiful she is, and accepts the token,
which is a red lace sleeve. He is in a bind - clearly she has been dreaming of this moment for the last twenty years, and he cannot hurt someone
so weak.
Back at Camelot, Guenever complains to Bors, the misogynist, about Lancelot, for she has heard about him wearing the sleeve. Bors, of
course, does not respond appropriately. The Queen is miserable because of rumors circulating about how deeply in love Lancelot and Elaine
are.
After Lancelot is wounded at the tournament, Elaine nurses him back to help, and Lancelot takes the opportunity to tell her he is going back
to Camelot.
Chapter 40 / Summary and Notes
Guenever believes that Lancelot and Elaine are lovers again, and she is fuming when Lancelot returns. There is a rift between the two that is
unprecedented.
Elaine commits suicide, and shocks not only the court, but also the reader. She is alone now - no lover, no son - and she kills herself on a death
barge that floats down the river to Camelot.
The court and the entire town go to see the barge. Lancelot is overwhelmed with regret and guilt.
Guenever adds to it by berating Lancelot for not being kinder to Elaine. This is, of course, a switch from the previous chapters where she
viewed Elaine as a threat. Furthermore, she is becoming an even more unlikable character.
It is clear to the reader that Lancelot has tried to do the right thing throughout Book Three. He has always tried to keep his Word, and if
anything his Word has been misconstrued by the two women in his life. Now Guenever nintentionally causes a greater division between her and
the knight, which gives Elaine the victory over the Queen that she always wanted.
Chapter 41 / Summary and Notes
Life goes on at Camelot without incident, except for a few small stories, which the author relates. The first is that one-day when Lancelot is
asleep in the woods, he is shot at and wounded by a lady archer.
The second is that at a tournament at Camelot, Arthur challenges Lancelot, and tries to hurt him in the tournament. It is extremely
uncharacteristic, of course, and a glitch in the otherwise calm and loving persona of the King; the author chalks it up to a flare of temper, an
apathy about keeping the peace, a sudden conscious realization that was being betrayed and the lust for vengeance. At any rate, it passes,
nothing serious happens, and he and Lancelot are friends again afterwards.
At this same tournament, Lancelot unhorses all of the Orkneys one after the other, and accidentally and permanently makes enemies of them
all, except Gareth. The reader will need to remember that Gareth was the sensitive one who did not take part in the violence exhibited by his
brothers in their youth, and that Lancelot helped Gareth when he first came to Camelot and worked as a kitchen slave. As a result there is a
bond between Lancelot and Gareth that causes a rift between Lancelot and the other Orkney brothers.
The final event, and the most important, concerns an unhappy knight named Sir Meliagrance. One day Arthur and Lancelot are walking
discussing the latest gossip which concerns King Mark, Tristam, and Isolde (this parallel and famous legend is alluded to frequently throughout
the novel and is juxtaposed to Lancelot and Guenever’s betrayal; it has a tragic ending and thus serves as a constant warning to the Queen
and her knight. For our purposes here, it is not necessary to understand the details of the tale, but would be worth researching for a short
paper).
A messenger suddenly arrives who tells the King and knight that the Queen, while a-Maying in the forest, has been kidnapped by Sir
Meliagrance. Her bodyguards tried to defend her, but the Queen surrendered in order to save their lives. Lancelot immediately dons his armor,
and Arthur helps him dress, symbolizing their unity in protecting Guenever.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 42 / Summary and Notes
Sir Meliagrance realizes that Lancelot will be out to capture Guenever, and he prepares an ambush for him. Meanwhile at his castle,
Meliagrance designs a boudoir for Guenever; he is genuinely in love with the Queen and is trying desperately to make accommodations for her
as seductive and comfortable as possible.
Guenever waits serenely for Lancelot to rescue her when a maid announces that a knight is arriving in a cart with an injured horse. The horse is
dying, and Lancelot is in the cart, whipping it; he had been ambushed after all. The maid speculates that he will be hanged and Guenever lashes
out at the maid. Meliagrance, seeing Lancelot arriving, panics and asks the Queen for mercy because he is terrified of the knight. Guenever is
in a radiant and generous mood, and grants him forgiveness. Meliagrance offers his castle for the night for Lancelot and Guenever.
When Lancelot and Guenever see each other again, it is as if no time had passed and they were young lovers again.
In this chapter, Lancelot’s chivalry and Guenever’s generosity are emphasized for the first time in many pages. It is as if they are young again,
and their greatness transcends the petty and not-so-petty differences of the last ten or so chapters. This also re-establishes their love as
eternal and not simply the fling that romantic legend has made it.
Chapter 43 / Summary and Notes
Lancelot spies a ladder propped outside of Guenever’s room and he climbs it, Rapunzel style to make love to her. The conversation between
them is only imagined, and the author admits that neither he nor Malory can truly know what was said. An interesting statement, considering that
the entire book is fictional.
He breaks the bars on her window with his bare hand, cutting it to the bone. It is implied that they make love at this point for the first time in
many years.
The next morning, and anxious Sir Meliagrance barges into Guenever’s room to see why she is sleeping so long. Lancelot is gone, but the
blood from his hand is all over the sheets. He accuses her, in extreme fury, of being a traitress to King Arthur.
His staff comes running when they hear his accusations: a wounded knight has been sleeping with the queen.
Lancelot arrives and coldly reminds Meliagrance that if he is to accuse the Queen of treason, it means that he will have to fight the knight
himself. Meliagrance, in a furious passion, does not heed his warning, and throws down his glove.
Lancelot accepts the challenge, and Meliagrance asks, strangely, if they can continue to be friends until the duel. Lancelot agrees, and
Meliagrance opens a trap door that Lancelot is standing on; the knights is thrown into the dungeon.
BOOK THREE - THE ILL-MADE KNIGHT
Chapter 44 / Summary and Notes
The second trial by combat to defend Guenever ends the same way as the one against Sir Mador: Lancelot arrives to save Guenever in the
nick of time. Another knight named Sir Levine was supposed to fight Meliagrance, but Lancelet had been liberated from the dungeon in
exchange for a kiss from a serving wench.
Meliagrance asks Lancelot for mercy, but Guenever gives the knight a signal that she does not want him saved. The audience at the joust
wants him killed, as well. The author notes that this is because their idea of love was much more romantic than ours - it was for a lifetime and not
a thing to be trifled with. So when someone accused another of infidelity it was treacherous and should be punished accordingly, preferably by
death.
Lancelot decides that he and Sir Meliagrance should fight to the death, but that he will take off all of the armor from the left side of his body
and tie his left hand behind his back in order to make it a fair fight. Meliagrance pitifully accepts, and Lancelot promptly decapitates him.
Chapter 45 / Summary and Notes
The author again reiterates the differences between the lifelong passion of medieval adults and the fleeting adolescent fumblings of the
modern day. He marvels at the fact that it has taken Lancelot and Guenever 25 years to reach an “understanding;” a romantic peace in their
relationship; we moderns would have no time for that.
White turns his focus to the King, who, while Lancelot and Guenever have been redefining and solidifying their relationship, has been
“inventing Law as Power,” a variation of Right as Might.
The author notes that the main reason Arthur allows Guenever and Lancelot to keep betraying him is simply because he has so much power.
They are both entirely at his mercy, and his generous and kind spirit cannot bear to confront the power that he has over them.
The kingdom is at a temporary peace; the Orkney faction is sidelined for a few years, and Arthur has the leisure time to work on reinventing the
justice system of England - but that is the topic of Book Four.
Lancelot has one more confrontation with God and his conflict between the spirit and the flesh in the book.
A knight from Hungary named Sir Urre arrives at Camelot. After killing the son of a Spanish witch seven years previous, Urre had been
cursed with wounds that would not heal. His wounds would go on bleeding until the best knight in the world laid hands on him.
The question has been left unanswered as to what exactly happened to Galahad after the Search for the Holy Grail. The reader will
remember that he unhorsed his father Lancelot, and was declared the best knight in the world, leaving Lancelot second. Galahad allegedly went
to Babylon, but beyond that, the reade4r does not know whether he is alive or dead, and so by extension, whether Lancelot is the best knight
or not.
A sumptuous ceremony is put on for Lancelot to try his powers on Sir Urre. Lancelot, understandably, is more than a little reluctant and
nervous. The author asks the reader: How would you feel to be the best in the world? The pressure to be the best is tremendous, and the
repeated trials nerve-racking and exhausting. Lancelot is no different, and his anxiety is compounded by the fact that he wants so desperately
to perform miracles. A laying-on of hands is so obviously Christ-like and miraculous that for Lancelot, the meaning of Sir Urre is too heavily
symbolic to bear. He prays mightily before the ceremony to be allowed to perform the miracle.
The knights, one by one, go to Urre and attempt to cure him, and all 100 of them fail. Lancelot believes in his heart that he will not be able to
perform the miracle because of his current ongoing affair with Guenever. He pleads with both Arthur and Urre not to make him try, because
then he will be forced to tell of his love for the Queen, but neither listens to him.
White chooses not to let the reader actually see the miracle; Guenever, standing from a distance hears bystanders yelling about what has taken
place: Lancelot has cured Urre. Camelot is in an uproar with joy and amazement. Lancelot, for his part, is overwhelmed and grateful that he has
been allowed to perform a miracle despite trading God for Guenever. He kneels and weeps “like a child.”
The fact that Lancelot is allowed to be pure despite is sin is the real miracle in this section. It must be remembered that Christ himself was
believed to be both man and divine, and Lancelot is in the chapter as well: able to perform miracles yet be seduced by earthly love. Therefore,
he has completed his Christian journey as both a knight and a man.
BOOK FOUR - THE CANDLE IN THE WIND
Chapter One / Summary and Notes
The rest of Camelot is now middle-aged. Agravaine is 55 and a drunk; Mordred is ageless and cold. The two are standing looking at the
falcons, some of which are quite exotic and expensive. The mood at the opening of this chapter is foreboding and even murderous. Mordred
complains that the mews stink and they go to the gardens.
Mordred is compared physically to an owl; in the opening of the chapter in the description of the falcons, one owl is described as terrifying and
homicidal. The parallel is clear.
Mordred has become a popular speaker, a revolutionary, and a “Cause;” next to him Arthur seems a relic. The race division in the Round
Table and between Mordred and his father has become and issue - the emancipation of the Old Ones and the “tyranny” of the British has
become a popular issue again in the interim between Books Three and Four.
Agravaine and Mordred are conspiring about some matter. Mordred malice and taste for revenge are stronger than Agravaine’s. Agravaine
hates Lancelot, but beyond that he is just a bitter drunk.
Mordred tells Agravaine that he has a perfect right to topple the King of England because Arthur turned him adrift in a boat when he was a
baby. The reader may be surprised to hear this, and can chalk it up to Morgause’s anti-British propaganda.
Agravaine cleverly points out that Mordred may have valid personal reasons for a vendetta against Arthur, but in order for a true takeover,
there must be some sort of overarching political cause that will rally the masses. He suggests a scapegoat, such as the Jews, and perhaps a
banner and some slogans that will get the common people excited about their cause.
This is a captivating opening to the chapter, because nowhere in the previous chapters have the themes of evil against Arthur’s Table been so
contemporaneous - that is, this section smacks of the seeds of World War II, and the author is not trying to hide the comparisons.
Mordred reluctantly agrees with Agravaine’s assessment of the situation - Arthur’s attempted murder of Mordred and the subsequent hushup are hardly reasons for a revolution. Mordred feels contempt against Agravaine for dismissing his reason for the cause. Agravaine begins to
drink and Mordred watches him with distaste.
Agravaine brings up his hatred for Lancelot. This bitterness is left from when Lancelot unhorsed the Orkney brothers back at the beginning
of Book Three. Agravaine still feels the sting, and hates the idolatry and saintliness that follow Lancelot. Then, in a pivotal moment,
Agravaine muses about what would happen if someone were to accuse Lancelot and Guenever of having an affair to the King’s face in open
court.
In turns out that King Arthur has successfully begun the last phase of his reformation - the judicial system. He has introduced the idea of an
English Common Law, that is, that trial and an impartial jury rather than trial could settle disputes by combat. Mordred and Agravaine decide
to take advantage of this system: if they are to accuse the Queen and her lover of treason, they will have to be put on trial - instead of fighting
against Lancelot as Midor and Meliagrance did - and they will be found guilty. This will split the power between the King and the army, which is
effectively represented by Lancelot, and will pave the way for a revolution led by Mordred.
The author then reviews the history between the British king and the Orkneys for the reader. It is important to understand that Mordred’s
animosity towards the King has been fueled by a variety of factors: the rape of his grandmother Igraine by Uther Pendragon, Arthur’s father,
years ago; the isolated and neglectful upbringing in the North with his vengeful mother Morgause; his own feelings of abandonment by Arthur;
his own feelings of inadequacy as the youngest brother in a family of great knights.
The tragedy alluded to at the end of Book Two is beginning to fall in place immediately in this first chapter of Book Four. Arthur’s
generosity and earnestness - schooled by Merlyn in Book One and brought to fruition by the invention of Right as Might in Book Two - is
about to become his own worst enemy because of the sins of Book Three.
Chapter Two / Summary and Notes
The Orkney brothers are re-introduced. They are all middle aged now and spend all of their time together as they did when they were children.
Gawaine is still large and coarse; Gaheris a younger copy of him and Gareth is still youthful and likeable. The reader has met Agravaine and
Mordred again in the previous chapter, so they need no introduction.
Mordred and Agravaine antagonize the other brothers by discussing Lancelot’s infidelity. It is important to note in this section the other three
brothers’ surprisingly steadfast loyalty to Arthur; the thirty or so years they have spent at Camelot has not been without effect. This loyalty is
the opposite of what the reader might expect, but it is another indication of how much time has passed since Books Three and Four.
Mordred announces his intention to accuse Lancelot and the Queen of treason. Gawaine reacts with horror, and forbids Mordred to do any
such thing. Mordred scoffs at his older brother, and Gawaine tells him that he will forcibly stop him if necessary. Agravaine steps in, his fury at
years of being dominated by his brothers coming to a head, and threatens Gawaine with a sword.
It is necessary to recognize the feud between the brothers as not just an ancient one between Orkney and British, but as the realization of
their childhood conflicts: the incident with the unicorn, the mother’s death, etc. Gareth and Mordred fight each other; Agravaine and Gawaine,
and Gawaine nearly kills his younger brother before Arthur suddenly appears at the threshold.
Arthur does not seem to notice the tableau of violence in front of him, but kisses Mordred on the cheek paternally, and the situation is diffused.
BOOK FOUR - THE CANDLE IN THE WIND
Chapter 3 / Summary and Notes
Lancelot and Guenever gaze out an upper window of the aisle, and the author describes the scene upon which they gaze. White returns both
to the history books and to Malory in this chapter for reference.
Throughout the novel, the author has been slowly establishing Arthur as a true historical figure, and not just the stuff of legends, by attributing
real historical fact to his policies. Now, in the chapter, White drops the subtlety, and in one last passage writes that not only was Arthur
responsible for some of the important events of the Middle Ages, but all of the innovations of that time; not only that, but the figures that we
learn of in school are the imaginary and mythic ones and Arthur is the true king. So, for example, the Plantagents and Capets are storybook
characters; Arthur is the one who can take credit for the invention of English Common Law or the Magna Carta. Furthermore, Arthur
reigned during the entire Middle Ages, it seems - his lifetime is something on the order of a thousand years, from the fall of Rome, until the dawn
of the Renaissance.
This is a strange and noteworthy device. White is accomplishing several things at once at the beginning of Chapter 3. The first is to explain
the title of the novel to some degree: Arthur is The King of all time, both in legend and in historical fact: he transcends Henry Plantagent or
William the Conqueror. And from a literary perspective, this is true; when the literature scholar thinks of this time period, he automatically
considers King Arthur as the representative of the time. Whether this is from a comparable lack of written material about other characters, or
from the force of Arthur’s own myth, Arthur is the medieval ambassador to the modern reader. He is, then, a king of staying power, larger than
life, overdetermined: the once and future king.
Secondarily, and less importantly, by dismissing real actions and events as mythological, White continues in his effort to define these legendary
characters as “real” people. The reader has watched a progression in Arthur’s personality from fantastical child in Book One to a real
conflicted man in Books Two and Three. It is now time for White to articulate his character as a real king. He has persisted in psychoanalyzing
characters that until this point had been the flat two-dimensional stuff of legends; he has tried to make them relevant for the modern mind. It is
the natural extension of this fleshing out to take his protagonist completely out of myth and place him in real history - he has to make him
responsible for the Middle Ages as a whole.
The tone of this section is breathless and impressed, but the reader should note the distinct change that is happening: the Middle Ages are
ended, and the “Age of Individuals” (that is, the Renaissance, or what you will) is beginning. T
BOOK FOUR - THE CANDLE IN THE WIND
Chapter 4 /Summary and Notes
Lancelot and Guenever are still gazing out the window and singing to each other, but rather than describing the scene below, the author turns
within to describe the lovers and how they are in old age.
The two are happy, in the pure, peaceful way of old people, and there is a touch of foreboding in their peace. Lancelot asks the Queen’s
permission to visit her that night, and she denies him, because Arthur is home. Lancelot does not understand, and Guenever explains that that
if Arthur catches them in the act, he will have to kill them. She is not exactly right, but this statement serves as effective foreshadowing, and
demonstrates the Queen’s understanding of their predicament.
Lancelot reacts with jealousy and disbelief, but the two do not quarrel. Instead, Guenever articulates her discomfort about deceiving Arthur,
and the two commiserate in their mutual love for Arthur and their sorrow at cuckolding him for so long.
It may be unbelievable to the reader that these two characters should persist in this conversation after thirty or forty years of infidelity but this
is just a device: Arthur is eavesdropping accidentally, and this conversation only exists to make it clear to the King - as if he did not know - that
his wife and best friends and lovers.
Arthur, embarrassed at the evidence, sends a page in to break up the lovers’ conversation; then he enters the room. The Queen and her knight
are still surprised; although they do not know that he has overheard them, they are still ashamed that they have been caught talking in a room
together.
The tension is quickly broken as the three friends joke with each other. The reader will again notice Arthur’s extreme kindness and generosity he does not want his wife and his friend to feel uncomfortable, and he eases their nerves by discussing mundane and humorous matters
initially.Soon, however, his tone changes, for he is worried. He is suddenly deadly serious, and he begins to discuss his familial background with
his two friends. This section is an effective review of the Orkney feud for the reader, for Arthur describes the conflict between his father
Uther and the Earl of Cornwall, and then between Morgause and himself. With Lancelot and Guenever listening avidly, Arthur describes
then Morgause’s seduction and trickery, Mordred’s conception, and then his decision to kill Mordred. This will be a tremendous surprise for
the reader. Mordred had mentioned in earlier chapters that Arthur attempted to drown him, but chalked it up at that point to some propaganda
of Morgause’s. Not only is this true, but the young Arthur, when he discovered that Morgause had given birth to a boy, decreed that all infants
of that year should be put on a boat and sent to sea to die.
This decree is, of course, a wild abuse of kingly power, and horrific in its scale and manner besides. The reader has followed Arthur from his
boyhood through his old age, and that this incredible crime was withheld from the reader’s knowledge until the last 50 pages of the book is
shocking. It should give the reader pause, and allow him to reconsider the character of the king and the validity of Mordred’s wrath.
Lancelot and Guenever, as generous souls, react with sympathy and support. They both understand all too well the nature of sin, and may be
privately relieved to understand that the King has sinned grievously too. However, the King has carried this terrible burden of his sin for the
last forty years, and is sharing it with his friends for a reason.
Mordred, of course, did not die, but was saved “by God,” and sprung on the King later. Mordred’s persistence in living not only echoes
Arthur’s own birth (and Merlyn’s saving him), but alludes to great literary characters such as Moses, Perseus, and Oedipus. Mordred’s desire
to avenge his birth (and supposed death) assumes Greek proportions here.
The King explains to his friends that because of this terrible sin Mordred wants to kill him. Lancelot suggests that the King simply execute
Mordred, and Arthur responds sternly. Arthur explains that one sin is enough on his conscience, and that he must, as the king rule with
complete and pristine justice. He cannot simply execute anyone at will, but especially not his own son.
Arthur’s tone becomes quite grave, and he explains to Lancelot and Guenever that Mordred should never be given any reason to destroy the
King. This is a direct warning to Lancelot and Guenever, because Mordred can use their treason and leverage against Arthur. Whether or not
the Queen and the knight understand the veiled warning, the reader will see in coming chapters. For now it is important to see Arthur as old,
repetent, and completely aware of the situation at hand. This means necessarily the end of Arthur’s reign.
BOOK FOUR - THE CANDLE IN THE WIND
Chapter 5 / Summary and Notes
The author repeats that King Arthur’s main desire in his waning years is to revamp the justice system in England. Whereas the previous
method of settling disputes was generally trial by combat (as evidenced by the Lancelot and Meliagrance duel), Arthur would like a trial by jury
- something on the order of English Common Law.
With that in mind, the Orkney brothers summon Arthur to a meeting. The brothers are still arguing before Arthur arrives in the great hall at the
appointed time. Agravaine and Mordred intend to accuse Guenever of infidelity publicly and first in front of Arthur. Agravaine makes it clear
that his anger is directed at Lancelot, not at Guenever, for saving him so many years ago, and thus, presumably, ruining his honor. Mordred, of
course, has a private vendetta against Arthur himself. The other three brothers vehemently disagree with the anger and vengeance; Gareth
calls Lancelot “the greatest man I know.” When Arthur enters, Gawaine, Gaheris and Gareth excuse themselves and tell Arthur they want no
part of what Mordred and Agravaine are about to say.
Arthur sits humbly, and, as he knows what is about to happen, submits his will in a Christ-like manner. Mordred makes his accusation, and
Arthur reminds him that he will need to defend that accusation against Sir Lancelot. The King furthermore reminds Mordred of what
happened to the last two people who accused the knight of infidelity - they were killed without compunction.
Mordred has planned for this, and he and Agravaine retort that they would like to use the King’s new reforms to settle the matter - they would
like a Trial by Jury to decide whether Guenever has been unfaithful. They are triumphant in this coup de grace, and Arthur is visibly shaken
and upset to have his own goodness used against him and those he loves most.
The old King collects himself and tells Mordred that it is all well and good to have a trial by jury, but that he shall need evidence. Mordred
explains that the next time the King is out of town, Lancelot will go to Guenever’s chamber, and Mordred and a band of guards will catch them
in the act. Mordred warns Arthur that the King cannot interfere in the manner in anyway, as that would constitute an abuse of his kingly power;
Arthur therefore cannot postpone going out of town or warn his wife and Lancelot.
Arthur ends the meeting by telling Mordred and Agravaine with dignity that he hopes that Lancelot and Guenever will persevere, and that if
they do, he shall pursue vengeance against his son and nephew with all of his power.
The Greek tragic influence is strongly evident in this chapter: Arthur cannot escape his fate, his demise at the hand of his son; he sits, mutely,
and with great dignity and helplessness as the plot has its way with him. He assumes the stature of any number of classical and Biblical heroes
in this chapter. The reader may take this time to review the unraveling of events that were put into motion in Book Two.
BOOK FOUR - THE CANDLE IN THE WIND
Chapter 6 / Summary and Notes
Arthur, as promised leaves for a hunting expedition, and Lancelot is in his chamber preparing to meet Guenever. Gareth surprises Lancelot in
his chamber and proceeds to warn him of the plot against him and the Queen. The reader should remember that Gareth and Lancelot have had
a special relationship since Gareth first arrived at Camelot - Lancelot took him under his wing.
Gareth is tangibly frightened for the lovers, but despite his urgent pleas, Lancelot does not take him seriously and laughs at the younger man’s
seriousness.
Lancelot is evocative of any number of Greek characters here, which extends Arthur’s tragic fate and characterization in the previous chapter.
Gareth acts as a sort of oracle - he warns Lancelot of dire future events, and Lancelot, not understanding the strength and omniscience of his
enemies, believes too heavily in his own power. The knight’s foolhardiness implies necessarily that Mordred and Agravaine are stand-ins in this
tragic triangle for the gods themselves: their wrath at being ignored or defied is enormous, and vengeance will prevail. This makes sense
thematically in the book: White has slowly been making a case that war is almost certainly an inevitability; that man, despite his best efforts, will
be overwhelmed by an urge for violence and revenge. Arthur is merely a pawn; after all, his fate is to succumb to the ubiquitous tides of war, here
represented by his son and nephew.
Chapter 7 / Summary and Notes
Lancelot arrives at Guenever’s chamber, and they have several pages of romantic banter. They are old now, and their meeting is bittersweet
and nostalgic. White is emphasizing their true love here, as he had in previous chapters: it is important to understand that this is no fling for the
Queen and her knight.
Lancelot tells Guenever of the warning he received, and they decide that Arthur could and would never do something like this. This is a serious
miscalculation on the couple’s part; they fail to understand how dear Arthur’s principles are to him - that he is a king first and a man second.
They also neglect to understand how important it is for Arthur not to repeat the mistake he made with Mordred: he will not, ever, abuse his
power in nay way, and this extends most necessarily to the lovers.
During their discussion, however, the Queen begins to analyze Agravaine and Mordred’s characters in tandem with Arthur’s “sense of justice”
and both she and Lancelot have the horrific dawning realization that they could be set up tonight. Just as Lancelot goes to leave Guenever’s
chamber in a panic, the handle on the door jiggles, and they realize it is too late.
The band of men outside begin to pound on the door in an effort to break it down, and Lancelot and Guenever have one last loving moment,
where they promise their love to one another. The door bursts open, and Lancelot, unarmed, pleads for a chance to put on his armor for a fair
and chivalrous fight. He is denied, which demonstrates the mercilessness of the new law. Lancelot strikes and kills the first man through the
door, and on pulling off the man’s helmet realizes he has killed Agravaine. He bars the door for a moment, slips on Agravaine'’ armor, exchanges
rings with Guenever, and leaves the chamber to fight Mordred’s men.
Chapter 8 / Summary and Notes
One week later, the remaining Orkney brothers sit in the great hall to watch Guenever’s execution from the window. She will be burned to
death. All but Mordred and saddened by the necessity of the event. Mordred callously remarks that it is law that Arthur must personally watch
the execution in order for it to be valid.
The brothers argue with Mordred, and accuse him of cowardice. They retell the remainder of the previous chapter: Lancelot had killed all of
the knights who were breaking into the chamber, but somehow Mordred escaped with only a broken arm. The brothers infer rightly that
Mordred ran away because he was frightened of fighting Lancelot, and they are right. Mordred, weeping, tries to defend himself against the
accusations.
Arthur enters on this scene, and sooths Mordred. It is quite unbelievable that Arthur has any residual tenderness for his son, especially
considering that Guenever is about to be burned at the stake, but White wishes to underscore again Arthur’s extreme generosity as a human.
Mordred tells the King that his brothers should go defend the Queen against Lancelot’s inevitable rescue attempt. Gawaine refuses; he
doesn’t care about justice, he tells the king; he is fond of the Queen and hopes she is rescued. Gareth and Gaheris reluctantly agree to fight
for the king against Lancelot, and sorrowfully leave.
Mordred also leaves the room to tell the executioner to begin with the burning. Gawaine and Arthur sit alone together, sad and nostalgic, and
talk together about days past. Arthur asks Gawaine if it is ever possible to undo to effects of a bad action, and whether he should have
ignored justice in this case to save his wife; he is intensely morbid and depressed, and Gawaine, while fully sympathetic, cannot sooth the old
king.
Because law demands it, Arthur watches the execution from the window. Lancelot, of course, comes in the nick of time to rescue here, and the
reader learns of the dramatic scene through Arthur and Gawaine’s narration from the window. The two are ecstatic as they watch Lancelot
kills men by the dozens in an effort to get to the Queen; he succeeds and rides off with her on his horse, and Arthur and Gawaine celebrate.
In the midst of the revelry, Mordred enters in a furious daze; he has bad news. Gaheris and Gareth have been killed in the melee below; both
were unarmed and Lancelot himself slaughtered them. Mordred does not seem as upset by his brothers’ deaths as by this insurmountable
evidence that Lancelot is a beast who deserved the worst kind of vengeance. Gawaine’s reaction is total: he moves from glee to shocked wrath
in a few lines, and sobs like a child at the news of his brothers’ deaths.
BOOK FOUR - THE CANDLE IN THE WIND
Chapter 9 / Summary and Notes
Months later, the setting moves to the Joyous Isle, Lancelot’s castle, where he is under siege from King Arthur’s army. It is winter, and the day
is too icy for battle, so there is no fighting.
Lancelot and Guenever are inside the great hall talking. Lancelot expresses extreme remorse over the way the Orkney brothers died, and
Guenever attempts futilely to console him. He is miserable over many things: Gareth and Gaheris’s deaths, the siege be his best friend, that
the knights of the Round Table are now his enemies, that he will not leave the castle to fight this ignoble battle, and is thus branded a coward.
Guenever offers to give herself up to Arthur and place herself at his court’s mercy, but Lancelot refuses. Suddenly she has a brainstorm:
instead the will offer themselves up to the Pope, who will draw up the terms of peace; Arthur (and Mordred) must obey the Church’s law and
will abide by their demands. The couple is relieved and they embrace even as the knights outside the castle taunt Lancelot for his cowardice.
Chapter 10 / Summary and Notes
Some time has passed; Mordred and Gawaine are angrily discussing the truce that has been drawn up by the Pope between the King, his wife
and her lover. Outside, a “pageant of reconciliation” is taking place; both men are cynical about its honesty. Mordred is apparently dressed in
his new uniform: all black, with a symbol of a fist clenching a whip. He has organized some sort of ultra-nationalist group called the Thrashers
who are roaming Britain torturing Jews and dissenters. The reader should not have to look hard to understand the parallel between Mordred’s
Thrashers and Hitler’s Stormtroopers.
Mordred and Gawaine discuss Lancelot, and it is clear the Gawaine feels somewhat ambivalent about whether Lancelot is actually evil or not;
Murdered reacts by spewing propaganda and capitalizing on Gawaine’s sorrow over his brothers’ deaths. The brainwashing works: Gawaine is
in a fury by the time the conversation is finished.
Gawaine and Mordred now take part in the pageant of reconciliation; Gawaine speaks for the throne, and Arthur, old and tired, submits to
their will. Lancelot and Guenever enter the court with olive branches and kneel at the King’s feet; Gawaine interrupts with fighting words
towards Lancelot. The Bishop of Rochester, representing the Church, tries to intervene.
Gawaine is furious about his brothers’ murders, and Lancelot offers to walk barefoot across England as penance for his crime. Gawaine does
not relent, and the foes appeal to the King for interference. This puts Arthur in the tremendously awkward position of having to go either
against his best friend (with whom he sympathizes in this situation), or risk the wrath of Gawaine and Mordred. He does not say anything, and
therefore acquiesces to Gawaine, who pronounces sentence on Lancelot for treason.
Lancelot’s punishment in banishment to France; Lancelot pleads with Gawaine not to challenge or fight him once he is in France because he
cannot fight against his friend King Arthur. Lancelot bids adieu to Guenever and the King, and it is the last time the three are to be together.
This is, perhaps the final turning point of the novel: the plot hurtles in a downward tragic trajectory from this point on. Mordred and Gawaine
have triumphed; they have used the King’s best intentions -a desire for Justice and fairness - against him to isolate and diminish his power and
goodness. The triumvirate has been broken as well - Lancelot banished, the King and his wife estranged, and, most of all, Arthur rendered
impotent and old.
Suffice it to say that the tone is not optimistic: war and tyranny have prevailed and have easily vanquished justice and peace; a timely idea for
White and his contemporaries - such must have seemed the Europe of the late 1930’s.
BOOK FOUR - THE CANDLE IN THE WIND
Chapter 11 / Summary and Notes
Guenever is at Carlisle Castle, alone, and nervous. She is worried about Mordred, about Arthur, about Lancelot. She gossips with her maid,
Agnes, about happenings abroad.
Gawaine has ignored Lancelot’s request and waged war on France; he and Lancelot have dueled. War is now general in Europe, fueled by
Mordred’s nationalist propaganda and the King’s tired obedience. Guenever explains: “The King likes Lancelot so much that he is forced to
be unfair to him.” In other words, the King cannot refuse to fight Lancelot because it would smack of favoritism and make him a hypocrite.
Apparently Gawaine taunted Lancelot outside of his castle in France until the knight relented and agreed to fight Gawaine. Lancelot gave
Gawaine a hard blow on the head, but did not kill him; this act of mercy recalls Lancelot’s greatest as a knight in Book Three - like Arthur, his
sense of Justice is primary.
The discussion turns to Mordred, and both the Queen and Agnes express ambivalence about his moral character and fear. Both women
become increasingly uneasy, and Agnes speculates that Mordred could be listening to them now. They become frightened, and Guenever
asks Agnes to open the door to her chamber, she does, and Mordred is there.
Both women jump in fright; Agnes leaves and Mordred enters. The author notes that the fierce cynicism in Mordred's eyes has been replaced
by a madness - he is insane. He begins immediately implying that he and the Queen are lovers and the Guenever attempts to remain dignified
despite her fear and revulsion.
After a few minutes of banter, Mordred tells her his plan: he is going to announce the death of the King - a lie, of course - take over the
kingdom, and marry Guenever. Guenever is horrified and helpless.
BOOK FOUR - THE CANDLE IN THE WIND
Chapter 12 / Summary and Notes
The setting shifts to France, where Gawaine lies weakened and sobbing in his tent and Arthur is comforting him. The younger man is
humiliated because of Lancelot’s mercy, and Arthur is trying to explain what a brave and necessary warrior Gawaine has been to him, and why it
is necessary to stop the war. Arthur is eminitely kind, reasonable and loving, and Gawaine cannot help but respond to the power of good in the
old king.
Gawaine complains that his head hurts where Lancelot hit it, and the King asks him if he might be able to find it in himself to forgive the knight
for beating him not just this time but so many years before.
The Bishop of Rochester enters with letters for the King. Arthur opens his mail and becomes distressed and quiet. He has received a letter
that informs him about his son: Mordred has declared Gawaine and Arthur dead, has taken over England, and has proposed to Guenever.
Most surprising to the two men, Guenever accepted his proposal, and then locked herself in the Tower of London. Mordred’s army is sieging
the castle with cannons. The invention of gunpowder, is novel and horrifying to the king, and both men decide to rescue the Queen. Gawaine,
standing, immediately sways and collapses.
Chapter 13 / Summary and Notes
Two knights of Lancelot’s army, Bors (whom the reader met in Book Three) and Bleoberis, discuss the recent happenings over a dying fire
on a windy night. They are perplexed at why Arthur’s siege ended so abruptly.
Lancelot joins the two men and announces that they shall have to go to England at once. The two knights are surprised and disbelieving
because of Lancelot’s banishment, and Lancelot explains what has happened to Guenever. Furthermore, Lancelot has an unopened letter,
and he sits down to read it before departing.
The letter is from Gawaine, who has died from his injuries. He expresses forgiveness and love for Lancelot, and urges the knight to join forces
with Arthur to save the Queen and defeat Mordred. Lancelot, overcome with emotion, springs into action and leaves France.
Chapter 14 / Summary and Notes
The King is in his tent at Salisbury, exhausted and prone on his bed. The author lists all of the factors working against Arthur to emphasize
the mood of prevailing evil and despair: all of the Good, the Right, for which Arthur worked has been destroyed, and as an old man he has only
evil to contend with.
Arthur wonders whether he had been wrong in asking men to work for good, but he decides that his first premise - that men are basically decent
- is irrefutable. The King looks back over his life (the reader can understand here that he is near death), and his achievements with the Round
Table, the Holy Grail, and the invention of Justice, and is bewildered by his inability to surmount evil.
He wonders finally whether man is naturally evil, or, even worse, whether man was neither good nor bad, but simply reflexive, like an ant. If that is
the case, then war is necessary to ensure survival of the fittest - a Malthusian proposition.
His thought processes are circular: he wonders then: why do men fight? He wonders whether it is evil leaders who lead antlike populations to
war or whether the population chooses leaders to fulfill their wicked impulses.
Furthermore, he ponders the presence of the past in this particular feud: would this war have happened without the anger because of the
Orkney vengeance?
And then there is the problem of possession: do men fight because of the have and have-nots?
BOOK FOUR - THE CANDLE IN THE WIND
Chapter 14 / Summary and Notes
For any student writing a paper on theme, this chapter, in conjunction with chapters 2 through 4 of Book Two are invaluable. White is trying to
explain the nature and prevalence of war, and while he has no answer, his ideas are fascinating considering their historical context. The
bewilderment of pacifist Europeans during the 30’s as they watched the rise of the Third Reich must have been heartbreaking, and White - not
knowing how World War II will turn out, of course - is attempting to relay this mood to the modern reader.
He cannot definitively say why we continue to fight, and why peace seems to be a failing proposition, but the struggle for peace, and the
despair that accompanies its failure is relevant, constant, and worthy. Arthur is the personification of the struggle, once and for all time: the
once and future king.
Arthur summons a page, and a small boy enters to take a note to the bishop. Arthur suddenly calls the boy back, and asks him his name - he is
Tom of Warwick. Arthur interrogates him further, and Tom of Warwick expresses his desire to kill and fight nobly in this battle.
Arthur asks the boy to sit down, and Arthur tells him about the Knights of the Round Table and about Right as Might. He explains that
despite it was a noble cause, it was defeated, and everyone was killed except for a page named Tom of Warwick who went forward to the
people of England and told them about Camelot, about the King’s noble intentions, and the possibility of good in the world.
The old king makes Tom promise not to fight, and to promise to spread the word about the Round Table. After Tom promises, Arthur
knights him (“Sir Thomas of Warwick”), and Tom leaves.
Tom’s significance as a character, despite his brief appearance, is huge. His function as a missionary and disciple of Arthur - the King even
calls him the “light” of the world - in telling the tale is imperative for the success of the Arthurian legend. In this way, then, Tom is a stand-in for
the author himself: he tells the story of King Arthur to the world. Of course, the Christian parallel continues as well: the boy will spread the
Word of Arthur even as it seems that evil is persevering. The light, the good, will triumph.
After Tom leaves, Arthur sits at his desk, exhausted. He weeps, and then remembers Merlyn. The novel comes full circle as Arthur’s mind
revisits the wizard’s lessons and sees his life flashing before his eyes. He thinks about the joy and beauty of the geese community, and of its
representative, Lok-Lyok, as is inspired anew by the possibility of truth and goodness. The reader has a brief look into the future, and finds
out that Lancelot becomes and monk and Guenever a nun after Arthur’s death. Meanwhile, in the tent, the King feels a great wave of energy
and vitality pass over him, and, the reader assumes, draws his final breath.