How King Arthur's Legend Lives on in Fantasy Novels

Hey guys, it’s Jim Wilbourne, author of The Continua Chronicles, and today I want to talk about a specific legend in the Western mythos that had an outsized effect on the development of fantasy fiction: The Legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

The fantasy genre has had several iterations over the centuries, starting with our ancient myths and developing into the myths and tales of the middle ages. 

As the years passed, storytellers honed their craft, zeroing in on the stories that capture and entertain their audiences. These efforts culminated in one of the most enduring stories in human history: the Arthurian legend.

The Story and its Origins

Born out of oral tradition, historical events, and the influences of several cultures, the story of King Arthur made one of its earliest appearances in Historia Brittonum, an early account of the history of Britain, written in the 9th century. The second of its two primary movements is where King Arthur makes his written debut. The early text chronicles King Arthur as a great warrior, battling against the Saxons, establishing peace in Britain, and attracting a group of loyal followers.

Though Historia Brittonum gives little detail about King Arthur, in the 12th century, Historia Regum Britanniae shares tales of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, Camelot, and Merlin, the legendary wizard. It also talks of Excalibur, Arthur’s famous sword. The text served as the basis for the primary elements of the king’s legendary conquests.

Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart expanded the Arthurian legend through its focus on his most famous knight. It established a love triangle between Lancelot, Arthur, and Guinevere who becomes Arthur’s queen. The story adds a new level of interpersonal conflict to the story, expanding on themes of love, loyalty, and duty.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem written during the 14th century that centered around another of King Arthur’s knights. The story adds more themes through a tale of morality and redemption when the Green Knight challenges Sir Gawain’s bravery through a challenge, one that ultimately proves his dedication to his moral code even when he makes mistakes.

Sir Thomas Malory’s 1485 tale, Le Morte d’Arthur, pulled together many of the previous texts into a more unified narrative and more firmly establishes the idea of the Knights of the Round Table as a brotherhood through its rise and fall.

Key Elements of the Arthurian Legend

The legend of King Arthur has many variations, but the broad strokes tend to circle a common narrative. The king himself is a central figure along with his round table of knights, especially Lancelot and the love triangle with Guinevere. Magic and prophecy also play a key role in almost all of the tales, including the great wizard, Merlin. Also, Excalibur and the Holy Grail often have magical properties.

King Arthur often represents leadership, goodness, and justice. He is exemplary of the “chosen one” trope that we so often find in fantasy fiction and takes on qualities of a messianic figure that can free his people from evil and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity through his bravery and wisdom.

To further the messianic parallel, The Knights of the Round Table were chosen by King Arthur just as Jesus is said to have chosen his disciples. Sir Lancelot and Saint Peter are often compared as similar figures. Both were loyal followers of their respective leaders, but both had moments of weakness and disloyalty—Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere and Peter’s denying of Jesus. However, both are ultimately redeemed.

Arthur’s love triangle with Sir Lancelot and Guinevere represents the conflict between reason and emotion and the struggle to serve both duty and the desires of the heart.

Merlin fills the role of the powerful mentor in the story, representing wisdom. Excalibur represents the blessing of the divine, and the Holy Grail is the ultimate test of bravery, leading to enlightenment and spiritual fulfillment.

Contained within each of these common threads are almost every level of storytelling conceivable, weaving action with war, meshing love with esteem, and binding personal development with self-actualization, all trading values in a brilliant amalgamation that continues to enrapture our imagination and grip our emotions.

How the Arthurian Legend Influenced Modern Fantasy

The Arthurian legend has been retold and modified time and again over the generations. As one of the most beloved tales in British folklore, it’s one of the most influential stories of modern fantasy fiction, perpetuating the ideas of chivalry, honor, and justice across time to nudge the pens of our modern literary masterpieces.

T. H. White’s The Once and Future King and The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley are both modern retellings of King Arthur’s legend. White’s work is possibly one of the most influential texts for our modern understanding of King Author and the Knights of the Round Table while Bradley’s novel tells the story from a new perspective, focusing on the stories of the women rather than our male heroes and depicts forces of power, politics, and religion in the fall of Camelot.

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan is practically a love letter to the Arthurian legend, drawing on many of its themes, character names and roles, and plotlines. The hunt for the Horn of Valere, Caemlyn, The Stone of Tear and Callandor, Moraine, Galad and Gawyn, the green man, the list goes on and on. It’s practically a feast for anyone familiar with the Arthurian legend and is hungry to draw parallels between the two.

Star Wars also draws on the Arthurian Legend. Obi-Wan and Yoda—solitary and magical figures, living isolated and communing with nature—stand in for Merlin. Luke and his lightsaber mirror Arthur and Excalibur. The Jedi Order echoes the Round Table. Darth Vader is similar to Mordred. Perhaps even Luke, Leia, and Han Solo are a loose representation of the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle.

There any many other examples of the Arthurian Legend’s influence, but it’s pretty clear how important the story is to Western storytelling, especially fantasy stories. From the obligatory quest, to love triangles, the wise wizard mentor, to a knightly code, and even the hero’s journey, The Legend of King Arthur lives on in our collective consciousness.

But what do you think? What do you think the story of King Arthur has contributed to fantasy? Where have you seen the influence of the Arthurian Legend in modern fantasy stories?

Let me know in the comments. I’d love to know what you think and discuss it further with you.

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Until next time, err on the side of awesome.