the once and future hyperfixation

Picture Books

Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson & Alan Lee (1988)

Young Merlin (Young Series #1) by Robert D San Souci & Jamichael Henterly (1989)

Tales From the Mabinogion Gwyn Thomas, Kevin Crossley-Holland, & Margaret Jones (1992)

Sir Gawain and The Loathly Lady by Selina Hastings & Juan Wijngaard (1985)

The Quest for Olwen by Gwyn Thomas, Kevin Crossley-Holland, & Margaret Jones (1988)

The Kitchen Knight by Margaret Hodges & Trina Schart Hyman (1990)

The Knights of the Round Table by Lee Ann Bortolussi & Piero Cattaneo (1991)

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight by Selina Hastings & Juan Wijngaard (1991)

The Tale of Taliesin by Gwyn Thomas, Kevin Crossley-Holland, & Margaret Jones (1992)

Young Guinevere (Young Series #2) by Robert D San Souci & Jamichael Henterly (1992)

The Knight with The Lion by John Howe (1996)

Young Lancelot (Young Series #3) by Robert D San Souci & Jamichael Henterly (1996)

Young Arthur (Young Series #4) by Robert D San Souci & Jamichael Henterly (1997)

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight by Michael Morpurgo & Michael Foreman (2004)

Perceval: King Arthur's Knight of The Holy Grail by John Perkins & Gennady Spirin (2007)

Comics

Prince Valiant by Hal Foster & many others (1937-present)

Camelot 3000 by Brian Bolland and Mike W. Barr (1982-1985)

Arthur, King of Time and Space by Paul Gadzikowski (2004-2014)

Tristan & Isolde: The Warrior and The Princess by Jeff Limke (2008)

Muppets King Arthur by Paul Benjamin & Patrick Storick (2010)

Children's Chapter Books

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great (The Knights' Tales #1) by Gerald Morris (2009)

The Adventures of Sir Givret the Short (The Knights' Tales #2) by Gerald Morris (2009)

The Adventures of Sir Gawain the True (The Knights' Tales #3) by Gerald Morris (2013)

The Adventures of Sir Balin the Ill-Fated (The Knights' Tales #4) by Gerald Morris (2013)

The Legends of King Arthur: Merlin, Magic, and Dragons (#1-#10) by Tracey Mayhew (2020)

Intermediate Retellings

The Idylls of The King by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1859)

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (#1) by Howard Pyle (1903)

The Story of the Champions of The Round Table (#2) by Howard Pyle (1905)

The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions (#3) by Howard Pyle (1907)

The Story of The Grail and The Passing of Arthur (#4) by Howard Pyle (1910)

Hero Myths & Legends of the British Race by M. I. Ebbutts (1910)

The Squire’s Tale (The Squire’s Tales #1) by Gerald Morris (1998)

The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady (The Squire’s Tales #2) by Gerald Morris (1999)

The Savage Damsel and The Dwarf (The Squire’s Tales #3) by Gerald Morris (2000)

Parsifal’s Page (The Squire’s Tales #4) by Gerald Morris (2001)

The Ballad of Sir Dinadan (The Squire’s Tales #5) by Gerald Morris (2003)

The Princess, The Crone, and The Dung-Cart Knight (The Squire’s Tales #6) by Gerald Morris (2004)

The Lioness and Her Knight (The Squire’s Tales #7) by Gerald Morris (2005)

The Quest of The Fair Unknown (The Squire’s Tales #8) by Gerald Morris (2006)

The Squire’s Quest (The Squire’s Tales #9) by Gerald Morris (2009)

The Legend of The King (The Squire’s Tales #10) by Gerald Morris (2010)

Abridged Medieval Literature Translations

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (Unrepresented #1) by Jessie Weston (1889)

Tristan & Iseult (Unrepresented #2) by Jessie Weston (1899) [Part 2]

Guingamor, Lanval, Tyolet, Bisclaveret (Unrepresented #3) by Jessie Weston (1900)

Morien (Unrepresented #4) by Jessie Weston (1901)

Sir Cleges, Sir Libeaus Desconus (Unrepresented #5) by Jessie Weston (1902)

Sir Gawain At The Grail Castle (Unrepresented #6) by Jessie Weston (1903)

Sir Gawain & The Lady of Lys (Unrepresented #7) by Jessie Weston (1907)

The Story of Sir Galahad by Mary Blackwell Sterling & William Ernest Chapman (1908)

The Story of Parzival by Mary Blackwell Sterling (1911)

The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of The Round Table by Alfred W Pollard & Arthur Rackham (1917)

Le Morte d'Arthur by Keith Baines (1962)

The Lancelot-Grail Reader by Norris J. Lacy (2000)

Lancelot and The Lord of The Distant Isles by Patricia Terry, Samuel N. Rosenberg, & Judith Jaidinger (2007)

The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell by David Breeden (????)

Informational Resources

Warriors of Arthur by John Matthews, Bob Stewart, & Richard Hook (1987)

The New Arthurian Encyclopedia by Norris J. Lacy (1991)

The Arthurian Handbook 2nd Edition by Norris J. Lacy & Geoffrey Ashe (1997)

The Arthurian Companion by Phyllis Ann Karr (1997)

The Arthurian Name Dictionary by Christopher W. Bruce (1999)

As always I'll be adopting the regional spelling of the characters' names.

Sir Galehaut, son of the Fair Giantess, Lord of the Distant Isles, makes his grand entrance at the very end of Lancelot I and passes away in Lancelot III, both in volume 2. Galehaut's death isn't known by Lancelot until he discovers the tomb and inscription in Lancelot IV in volume 3. Last tidbit here is that Galehaut leaves his property to his godson and nephew, Galehodin, although no clear family tree is established beyond that.

Brutal. But it gets worse. Now we have to deal with the Post-Vulgate. This version of the narrative has a sort of epilogue in which King Mark makes it his mission to destroy the kingdom of Logres. He demolishes all the castles he comes across, including Sorelois, and goes so far as to defile the tomb and remains of Galehaut and Lancelot. Yikes.

After this, Galehaut of Soreloys appears in maaaany Tristan-centric texts. In the Prose Tristan, Galehaut's family includes his evil father Brunor, mother the Fair Giantess, and a sister named Delice who I assume is the mother of Galehondis, Galehaut's nephew. In this story, Tristan kills Galehaut's parents. This motif is carried to the subsequent stories and somewhat overtakes the themes of Galehaut's closeness to Lancelot. (I am missing volumes 8 and 9, where I presume this happens as I don't see it in 1-7, unfortunately.)

Then Italy takes the field and writes a zillion Tristan texts with Galehaut in them. In Tristano Riccardiano, Prince Galehot the Dark, the Lord of the Faraway Lands, is subject to the usual from Tristan, both of his parents killed and his sister burying them. After Galehot loses to Tristan, he then destroys the Castle of Weeping and undoes the evil custom on the Isle of Giants. He then dies off page for love of Lancelot and his tomb is even more beautiful than that of Tristan/Yseut's.

The character doesn't appear per se in Tristano Panciatichiano, however his name comes up as a point of reference to indicate the depth of love between Tristan and Yseut. His name is translated as Prince Galahad of the Faraway Lands, son of a giantess, which comes with profound implications as it relates to Lancelot's son, Galahad.

The final Italian text I'll mention is La Tavola Ritonda specifically because it gives us an English translation of the murder of the parents of High Prince Galeotto, lord of the distant lands and islands, his father, Brunoro the Brown, and his mother, Bagotta the Fair Giantess, at the hands of Tristano.

Not so much a true appearance as a little reference, but an alternate origin story for baby Gallehault is mentioned in Perceforest.

Now here's where things devolve. For some reason Sir Thomas Malory decided in Le Morte d'Arthur that High Prince Galahalt of Surluse was gonna be purely an antagonist with no loving relationship with Lancelot at all. He does host the joust though at which everyone beats each other up. There's also this weird line from Dinadan about Galahalt's dislike of fish likening him to a wolf? Fascinating. At the joust in which Lancelot is disguised and wearing Elaine's red sleeve, Galahalt does ask Lancelot to join him... and the other lords. It just doesn't hit the same.

As for modern appearances, the list is exceedingly short.

Lancelot and the Lord of the Distant Isles by Patricia Terry and Samuel N. Rosenberg: A retelling of the Vulgate!

Sword Stone Table edited by Jenn Northington and Swapna Krishna: Contains a short story that mentiosn Galehaut.

The Winter Knight by Jes Battis: Galehaut is in a throuple with Guinevere and Lancelot. It takes place in modern Vancouver, Canada.

Arthur is first given a sister in Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain. Arthur and Anne are the children of Uther and Igerna after the slaying of Gorlois.

It's here that Anne is married to an ally of Uther's, Lot of Londonesia, by whom she has two sons, Walgan and Modred.

In another Latin text, De Ortu Waluuanii, the relationship between Anna and Lot is developed even more. Lot is now the nephew of the king of Norway, and he and Anna fall in love.

Ultimately the two lovebirds conceive a son, Gawain, and Anna sends their baby away to be raised in secret so Uther won't punish them.

There are other Latin stories which are quite favorable to Anna/Lot and their children Gawain and Mordred, the nephews of Arthur. But moving on, after this, they're next mentioned by Chretien de Troyes in his incomplete romance, The Story of the Grail. The city "Orcanie" is introduced as a place where Arthur's court is held, but it's not yet established as Gawain's birthplace. While questing, Gawain finds a castle of women and explains his lineage, where the family tree has changed to give his unnamed mother, wife of King Lot, three new sons, Agravain, Gerit, and Gueret. Even more interesting is the addition of a daughter, Clarissant, who's been living with her grandmother Igerna and mother in secret all these long years.

The German tradition, however, does name Gawain's mother. In Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, she's called Sangivé, the daughter of the elder queen and the mother of Arthur, called Arnivé. Sangivé has two daughters by Lot, Itonjé and Kondrie.

In The Crown by Heinrich von dem Turlin, it's Gawein who achieves the grail. During a virtue test in which all the ladies at court try on a glove to see how it fits (and how it affects the clothes they're wearing), his mother Orcades is found to pass the test with flying colors, so much so, that her exposed breast which nursed baby Gawein is given credit for his strength.

Now. We must unfortunately come to the crux of your ask. In The Story of Merlin portion of the Vulgate, the Queen of Orkney, who is unnamed, is not the daughter of Uther. She and Morgan are daughters of Gorlois, whom Uther impersonated to rape their mother. So Arthur is their half brother by the same mother. Fast forward many years, Gawain, Agravain, Guerrehet, and Gaheriet are practically grown up, old enough to be sent to battle with their father shortly after Mordred's conception, when Lot brings his wife with him to court. It's here that Arthur sets his sights on her and she pointedly ignores him.

Very important last line there. Now whilst the queen is sleeping, her husband Lot leaves in secret so that she has no idea.

Arthur takes advantage of this.

Meanwhile the Queen of Orkney was still oblivious until Arthur confessed.

So if we consider what Uther did to Igraine to be rape (it is), and if we consider what Elaine did to Lancelot to be rape (it is), then what Arthur did to the Queen of Orkney is also rape (it is). It's not an accident that all of these used manipulation and subterfuge to get an uninformed "consent" from the victims. They didn't consent to have sex with those people, but with their trusted partners to whom they were faithful. It's rape.

However, in fairness, the story differs in the Post-Vulgate, which is what Thomas Malory adapted. In the very first chapter of The Merlin Continuation, the Queen of Orkney comes to court with her four sons, young children in this version of events, and stays for two months. During this time she's apparently impregnated by Arthur.

Lot doesn't die for another year after this (Gawain is said to be eleven at the funeral) so this would be considered adultery on the Queen of Orkney's part, assuming this was consensual. But the Vulgate uses the words "lay with" to mean consensual sex and non-consensual sex interchangeably, so it's anybody's guess what it means here.

All of that aside, most people are adapting purely from Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory.

Then after the departing of King Ban and of King Bors, King Arthur rode into Carlion. And thither came to him, King Lot’s wife, of Orkney, in manner of a message, but she was sent thither to espy the court of King Arthur; and she came richly beseen, with her four sons, Gawaine, Gaheris, Agravine, and Gareth, with many other knights and ladies. For she was a passing fair lady, therefore the king cast great love unto her, and desired to lie by her; so they were agreed, and he begat upon her Mordred, and she was his sister, on his mother’s side, Igraine. So there she rested her a month, and at the last departed. Then the king dreamed a marvellous dream whereof he was sore adread. But all this time King Arthur knew not that King Lot’s wife was his sister.

Malory's story added that Morgause, as he named her, came to court with the intention to spy on Arthur. This detail literally never comes back around. No explanation of what information she gathered or shared with her husband is ever outlined nor impacts the story. But most importantly, Malory states explicitly that their union was mutually agreed upon. No one was raped, it's just adultery.

Despite this, due to the game of telephone from Vulgate to Post-Vulgate to Le Morte d'Arthur, Malory maintains Arthur's divine punishment, seemingly in opposition to his own words, "they were agreed [upon this coupling]..." Even unknowing that Morgause was his half-sister, even though it only happened once, Arthur is tormented by prophetic nightmares and taunted by the Questing Beast (a monster born of incest), ultimately deciding to try and kill Mordred, the proof of his incest and evidentially a divine threat destined to kill him, but only sins further by accidentally murdering a bunch of innocent babies who are not Mordred (King Harod is that you?).

So what does this mean? Well, at no point in the Medieval Literature was Morgause ever a sexual aggressor and at no point was anybody blamed for this besides Arthur, even after the change to a consensual encounter. At the absolute worst, Morgause was a flop spy for Lot who had a single extramarital affair with Arthur prior to his marriage to Guinevere.

So how did Arthur's sin become Morgause's? You already guessed it...

So in The Once and Future King (specifically book 2 The Queen of Air and Darkness) published in 1958, Morgause utilizes human sacrifice to cast a spell which enables her to rape her brother in front of her four children. Beyond that, White also implies that Agravaine had romantic/sexual feelings about his mother, which he builds on throughout the books.

Later, Morgause is said to have a sexual relationship with Lamorak, which is consistent with Medieval literature. White takes great pains to emphasize the age gap and power imbalance between the two.

All of this culminates in Agravaine, not Gaheris as in the Post-Vulgate and Le Morte d'Arthur, beheading his mother after catching her with Lamorak, a teenager.

The wording of this is crazy. It's not sympathetic to Morgause at all. And while it does insult Agravaine, both his mental state and physical appearance (Rogue fat-shaming out of no where?), reiterating his interest in this matter stems from jealousy of her lover, the text still provides an excuse for his behavior and reinforces it by emphasizing the tragedy comes from the loss of Lamorak, not Morgause. Agravaine is not punished whatsoever.

In the Post-Vulgate, Agravain and Mordred attempt to behead Gaheriet for what he's done, but are stopped by Lamorak who wisely counsels them against further kin-slaying. Further reasoning for Gaheriet's absolution is because someone with a name on the Round Table cannot be purposefully slain by other members, it's a divine loophole he exploits. White's Arthur hates Morgause, as she sexually abused him and continued doing so to others, so her murderer, Agravaine, is off the hook. Furthermore in the Post-Vulgate, Morgause is given a grand funeral by her brother, just as her husband did before her. Not so here.

And for some sick reason, everyone and their mama is utterly obsessed with this interpretation from T. H. White and biting at the bit to worsen it. Most modern retellings maintain that Morgause is Arthur's rapist, and that she did so, knowing their relation, with the intention of using Mordred as a tool against him. Details often added include that she doesn't love Lot and has some dark magical connection. Rosemary Sutcliff did all of this in The Sword and the Circle, published in 1981.

Now here's when everyone completely lost the plot. Authors began to really, really lean in to Morgause's older age and evil magic, going so far as to build on the implications of the gap she had with Arthur to then depict her as a pedophile toward her son Mordred or other young knights like Lamorak.

I believe the first instance of this is The Wicked Day by Mary Stewart, published in 1983.

A boldly misogynistic choice from Stewart after spending the preceding three books of the series woobifying Merlin, a canonical pedophile that groomed 12 year old Viviane in the Vulgate. Creating a sympathetic Merlin on its own is by no means a problem, but in conjunction with the extreme characterization of Morgause? Writing the May Day Massacre to be Lot's doing instead of Arthur's? Well, those come with implications, particularly as Stewart went the way of T. H. White with characters in-universe excusing the behavior of Gawain and his brothers because of "The way they were raised." When T. H. White did this, it was borne of racism against Scottish people like Lot and the sexism toward Morgause; Stewart was continuing this trend.

That same year, 1983, the infamous The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer-Bradley was published, in which Viviane tricks Morgaine and Arthur into having sex and begetting Mordred, while Morgause is busy being evil in a different direction by using sex to pay for Gwenhwyfar's poisoning, leaving her barren. The TV show from 2001 doesn't improve on this, but merely changes the means so Morgause instead curses Gwenhwyfar with a spell herself. Wow. So feminist. Very progressive.

Furthermore, based on the testimony of Moira Greyland in her book The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon, her parents and abusers, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Walter Breen, viewed incest and pedophilia as a sexuality under the same umbrella as bisexuality and lesbianism. This sentiment is prevalent throughout the book and despite the death of those aforementioned abusers, family friend and co-author Diana Paxson, founder of the Society for Creative Anachronism, was let go after her failure to protect members of her chapter from sexual abuse as recently as last year. In an interview following her removal from the Troth, she expressed only disdain and toward the child victims and indifference to her own complacency in their suffering.

So. As a result of the legacy of these books written by garbage human beings, the character of Morgause has been permanently altered forever. Many more authors have followed in these footsteps and created a version of Morgause with little to no redeeming qualities who traps Arthur, preys on, and abuses boys, often times her own. Persia Woolley, Ian McDowell, Elizabeth Wein, R. H. Stewart, Kari Sperring... and sometimes they flip the script for a lark and Mordred rapes Morgause, as Sharan Newman and Lavinia Collins wrote in their series. Even stories which write a consenting and loving incestual pair, like Parke Godwin's or Joan Wolf's books, seem to emulate Marion Zimmer Bradley's work and her real-life philosophy regarding the "naturalness" of these abuses. It's disgusting.

Even in best case scenarios where Morgause isn't pure evil, her legacy (and Morgan's, for that matter) is forever linked to ulterior motives and the promiscuity she uses to reach her goals, as evidenced by this interview between Marion Zimmer Bradley and Parke Godwin, may they rest in piss.

This doesn't even touch on the many films and television series which perpetuate the idea of Mordred's rapist mother (often Morgan instead of Morgause, but the same principle). Excalibur (1981), New Adventures of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1988), Guinevere (1994), Starz Camelot (2011), Fate (2004-present), Queens of Avalon (2016) (and the 2001 album by Heather Dale that inspired it).

Now one can't go in the Morgause tag on tumblr without finding memes about murdering her because this portrayal is so universally accepted the character is cooked. Like what are we doing?

I don't even necessarily hate or condemn all of these! I love Excalibur (1981), for example; but it's important to recognize that Morgana transforming into Guinevere to trick Arthur into siring Mordred isn't based in Medieval Literature, it's John Boorman's creative interpretation. Furthermore, this writing choice isn't Morgana's introduction, as is the case in most retellings, but happens near the end of the film. Morgana is introduced to the audience as a child who witnessed Uther transformed into the likeness of Gorlois raping her mother Igraine. From here, Morgana is a character throughout the film until pushed to the brink and made evil by circumstances when, yes, she perpetuates the cycle by raping Arthur to become pregnant with Mordred whom she uses as a tool for revenge.

I'm not saying dark storylines should be completely off-limits, but that we should consider the types of people we choose to take inspiration from, such as profoundly racist, misogynistic, losers like T. H. White, and acknowledge their bias seeping into their work. Mostly, my point is, this shouldn't be the default. In 2025, clinging to The Once and Future King or The Mists of Avalon is just lame. We can acknowledge their influence, even study them, without pretending they're somehow accurate to Medieval Literature. As I've already shown plainly, no, The Once and Future King is NOT "a good summary of Malory." These people are delusional.

If someone wants queer Arthuriana, support your peers. There's plenty of other media to engage with, like Spear by Nicola Griffith or High Noon Over Camelot by The Mechanisms or any one of dozens of projects promoted here on tumblr by living breathing queer people who aren't hateful cunts. I hear all the time "White and Bradley are dead." That shouldn't be the default excuse to continue yapping about the greatness their books, but a reason to get the fuck over it and read something that's actually feminist and not horrifically racist by someone alive who would benefit from your feedback and revenue.

If we had kinder portrayals of Morgause to turn to, I wouldn't be so pressed about it. But we don't. I made a recommendations list of media that includes Morgause, but her options are very limited. I refused to include anything in which she's a predator or gets brutalized (oftentimes by Lot or Mordred, yuck), so there's not much to choose from.

Which is where the next part of your question comes in.

My second book will feature Morgause prominently as a pov character! And no, she doesn't rape Arthur, so there will be no exploration of his sexual abuse as he doesn't suffer any. I can't really explain more than that without spoiling, so I won't.

But I will say there are books out there which do explore Arthur and Lancelot's feelings regarding sexual assault if it's something you're still interested in exploring. The Guinevere trilogy by Persia Woolley is entirely first person Guinevere, but through her studies the impact of abuse via Morgause against Arthur and Elaine against Lancelot. Sharan Newman's Guinevere trilogy also explores this and goes into many different points of view, including Arthur's and Lancelot's. Arthur Rex by Thomas Berger writes a consensual Morgause/Arthur encounter before they knew they were siblings, and while that means Arthur suffered no violence, he's forever changed when he learns that she was his sister, and it informs his choices for the rest of his life. Big content warnings for them all as Guinevere is raped in both trilogies and Thomas Berger is a bigoted piece of shit so any "good" that came out of that novel is greatly overshadowed by overwhelming homophobia and racism, even though I found his handling of that particular aspect to be compelling.

Now for the fully endorsed no-caveats recommendations. Books first then other media in order of release.

Blessed Bastard by Ruth Lehmann

Lehmann details Galahad's whole life not only from his point of view but that of Lancelot's, & how Elaine's deception facilitated by Pelles against Lancelot traumatized them all. The rape of Lancelot is fade-to-black, so it's there & apparent but not graphic. Morgause is mentioned to be a temptress, but it's more like a rumor at court & she's never on page, so I'll let it slide.

Exiled From Camelot by Cherith Baldry

Baldry loosely adapts Perlesvaus but with much of the Vulgate storylines intact, including the deceitful conception of Galahad & second rape of Lancelot & subsequent madness after Elaine comes to court. The book is Kay, Gawain, & Gareth points of view, so we get all of their perspectives on the event, including a touching scene of Lancelot opening up to Gawain about how violated he felt & where he had been since fleeing Elaine's clutches.

Lancelot du Lac (1970)

A French film adapting the Vulgate, including the conception of Galahad via deception when Lancelot visits the grail castle.

BBC The Legend of King Arthur (1979)

A short series adapting the entire legend. Here, Mordred is the son of Morgause and Lot, so he's Arthur's nephew as in the original Latin texts, but the rape of Igraine by Uther is in the first episode, as well as Lancelot rescuing Elaine of Corbenic from a curse followed by her transformation into Guinevere to trick Lancelot. Elaine of Astolat is a separate character featured in the show, renamed Ellie.

Excalibur (1981)

As I said already, this movie literally opens with Uther transforming into Gorlois to rape Igraine while Morgana looks on helplessly. Later, she transforms into Guinevere to rape Arthur & becomes pregnant with Mordred. As she raises Mordred to resent Arthur, Arthur is shown to be a husk of his former self. He's a Fish King type figure, & as he withers away, so too does his lands, until Perceval can return with the Holy Grail to heal him, renewing Arthur's strength & will to live. It's obviously a metaphorical "suffering" after what happened to him, but showing how the land dies with him is a poignant metaphor.

New Adventures of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1988)

A Russian film which turns the entire rape by deception thing on its head by having Morgana trick Lancelot to sire Mordred on her. So Mordred is Arthur's nephew & revealed later to be Lancelot's son. Guinevere & Arthur have their own daughter.