#oks-isolde

Let’s start with the fan favourite stalker, Adrian. Like everyone else and their mothers, I suspect him to be Lancelot or Mordred, since both of them would explain his self-deprecating tendencies and visceral guilt. But, imho, the mysterious woman in his POV is one of the Lady of the Lake, probably Nimue, since Vivian is otherwise occupied with the repercussions of a certain demon’s actions.... From one of the Q&As, we know that Vivian, as the Lady of the Lake, would be capable of recognizing Lancelot’s reincarnation, so it is possible that even a deposed Nimue might have the same ability. This would also explain his distrust of fae and possibly clairvoyants, if Nimue is also one of them. Nimue is also one of my favourite possible parents for Changeling!MC, since Adrian seems to distrust Changeling!MC’s mother and Merlin suggest that the homicidal inhuman tendencies came from the mother and not the father of this MC. But more importantly, the absolute drama of Nimue being the mother of a Guinevere’s reincarnation that is romancing Adrian du Lac.

Now with Percy, I think he might be connected to Corbenic and the Grail guardians, but who specifically idk, maybe Elaine or Percival- although Percival is possibly a red herring because it’s too obvious. Also, the conditions to be Percy’s soulmate make me doubt he might be the saboteur.

For Cassandra, I know many suspect her to be a fae infiltrator cough Morgana cough, but I actually think that to be a misdirection. I suspect that Cass is Morgause’s reincarnation. There is some sort of irony in Morgause being confused with Morgana; what with the amalgamation of the two in modern culture? Morgause is a descendant of Ninianne, so she also has a connection to Avalon, and is a highly skilled sorceress whose magic is described as more water than fire in one of the Q&As. And about water, the concealing spell, used in chapter 2 to hide the harbingers, is described by Changeling!MC as a passing ocean weave... What if Cass!Morgause has already awakened her powers and cast the spell herself? And if she were a fea, Changeling!MC and Merlin would know immediately -Merlin can tell that MC is a changeling even with their state of the art conceiling mambo jumbo.

Gwen is the more likely “broken lamb with the heart of a wolf” and saboteur, and I tend to agree with Percy’s Guinevak theory. But, what if she isn’t the saboteur? I suspect she might be Isolde’s reincarnation. Gwen claims to be a queen or a princess in her dream/memory, and she loves romance and courtly love. Everyone in the group is hoping for her to be a powerful magic user because of her low body stats, but what if she is the healer of the group, and the best option for this role is Isolde, a known healer in Arthurian lore. And even if Tristan is truly dead there is still Cador around... Good luck Gwen with the repercussions of curtly love.

Lorelai, idk why but the whole “I hate knights and their chivalry” reminds me of Mordred. There’s something dark going on with her , especially with that dream Arthur witnessed, that also imho points to Mordred. If Adrian is Mordred, then she might be Lancelot.

Broderick John Doe, I don’t have theories other than his clearly fake name and identity and possible saboteur. But if I have to choose a reincarnation for him, I would go with Kay.

This soulmate thing was very suspicious and that Sir Percival bait is way too obvious.

Sorry I just finished the Mabinogion and started Chrétien, so reading Geraint there really made me think 😅

All things being equal, I generally go with the more well known version of the name/character. That's why we have Isolde in OKS instead of Iseult or Essylt etc.

That said, all things aren't always equal. If I've got a personal bias for a variation of the name, I'll sometimes go with that, which is why OKS has Morgana even though Morgan le Fay is the more common spelling now. (But growing up, "Morgana" was much more popular in the pop media I read/watched, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also, it's interesting to note that a lot of the other Arthurian IFs use "Morgana" as well like Bastard of Camelot, Arthurian Tale: Camelot, Guenevere etc... maybe for a similar reason?)

Also, mentioned in the *Comment of Merlin's Guide

*Comment 'Cameliard' is probably slightly more popular spelling than 'Carmelide', but my brain refuses to parse that as anything except Camelizard (Camel Lard?), so we're not doing that.

No Camel Lizards!

OKS also tends to favor the OG Welsh version of the tales over the later English & Continental romances.

So, when it comes to Geraint vs Erec

"Geraint" + Enid gets 297k hits. "Erec" + Enide only gets 116k.

Geraint is the Welsh version of the tale

Geraint is what he was called when I was reading Arthurian classics as a kid. I actually had more stories about him than Tristan. (Not sure if that's a USA vs European thing. Tristan's tales seem really big over on the continent)

"Geraint" just sounds more old-timey Arthurian to me than "Erec"/"Erik"

I think the *comment in the game code itself pretty much sums it up.

*Comment How the &$%^ are King Cador and King Mark both ruling over Cornwall in the same time period? You can't even say that Mark was Cador's son who later took over, since they're both supposedly present during/after the final Battle of Camlann. Since Gorlois/Cador is sometimes called 'Duke' perhaps it was a different region of Cornwall… nope, they're all based out of Tintagel. As is this random Tibaut/Tybalt dude who's also supposedly ruling Tintagel. All right then, SMASH THEM TOGETHER and now Tibaut is the seneschal.

Depending on the version of the story, they were ruling the exact same region at the exact same time and I gave up on trying to wrangle the timeline where Cador, Mark, and Constantine (Cador's son/historical person/ruler after Arthur) are all present.

Since Arthur is an RO/major character while Tristan isn't, Cador (Arthur's half brother) > Mark. Also, Mark is sometimes called Cynfawr/Conomor which sounds kinda close to Cadwr/Cador if you squint sideways. Mark's earlier sympathetic portrayal would also fit in with how OKS Cador is presented.

Otherwise, like Urien, King Cador has been remarried several times because (like OKS Gawain) I made all his many wives and children present in different stories actually canon in OKS. (Although, thank god for Cador, he doesn't have the complete boatload that Gawain has).

Always glad to see another Arthuriana fan! It increases the chances of someone seeing all the extra (arthurian = 3) stuff. Thanks for all the comments!

And yeah, if the MC claimed dibs on a Camelot character than Merlin should have a throwaway line about it in that character's entry in Merlin's Guide to Arthurian Lore.