Mordred
Sir Mordred is a character from Celtic mythology, the incestuous son of King Arthur and Morgause or Morgana, known for having been killed by King Arthur and, at the same time, end his life at the Battle of Camlann. Although his relationship with Arturo depends on legend, the best known is that of being his illegitimate son never accepted from him. The name (either Old Welsh: Medraut, Cornish: Modred, or Old Breton: Modrot) ultimately derives from the Latin Moderātus.
Mordred in the legend of King Arthur
Mordred appears very early in Arthurian literature. The first mention of him, as a Medraut, occurs in the Annales Cambriae in his entry for the year 537:
Gueith Camlann en qua Arthur et Medraut corruerunt. ("Camlann's fight, in which Arthur and Medraut fell".)
Mordred was associated with the Camlann battle even at that early date, but as Leslie Alcock points out, this short entry gives no information about whether he killed or was killed by Arthur, or even whether he was fighting him; it is the reader who assumes this fact in the light of later tradition. However, even if he was not at the time the notorious villain he would later become, his appearances in the Welsh Triads and genealogies show that he was at least a well-known character.
The earliest surviving account of Mordred is found in Godfrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, where, for the first time in literature, he plays the role of Arthur's traitor. Godfrey introduced the figure of Mordred (whom he calls Modredus) to the world beyond Wales, detailing how Arthur temporarily leaves Mordred in charge of his throne by crossing the English Channel to wage war against the Emperor Lucius. Tiberius of Rome. During Arthur's absence, Mordred crowns himself king and marries Arthur's wife Guinevere, forcing Arthur to return to Britain. They face off at the Battle of Camlann, and Mordred is killed, while Arthur is taken to Avalon. Arthur's successor, Constantine III of England, has to deal with the rest of Mordred's army, led by his two sons.
A number of Welsh sources also refer to Medraut, although he is never considered Arthur's son in these texts, only his nephew, although the tale "Rhonabwy's Dream" mentions that the king had been his adoptive father. However, the later characterization of Mordred as the villainous son of the king has a precedent in the figure of Amr, a son of Arthur of whom there are only two references. The most important of these, found in an appendix to the Historia Brittonum , describes his grave beside wonderful Herefordshire in the spring, in which he had been murdered by his own father in a untold tragedy. The relationship that exists between the stories of Amr and Mordred, if it exists at all, has never been satisfactorily explained.
In Godfrey and some other sources, such as the alliterative poem "La Morte de Artús", Mordred seduces and marries Guinevere, after which he seizes the throne. However, in later writings, such as the Lancelot-Grail cycle and Thomas Malory's The Death of Arthur, Guinevere is not treated as a traitor and she flees Mordred's proposal, hiding in the Tower of London. The adultery is still present in later novels, however, Mordred is replaced by Lancelot. Godfrey and the Lanzarote-Grail cycle affirm that Mordred is succeeded by his two sons.
Incest
Incest was introduced in the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and has been incorporated into most subsequent versions. In these versions, the incest is generally accidental, the participants unaware of their parentage. In one version, Morgana mistakes Arturo for her husband by mistake and visits him at night. In another Arturo rapes his sister, overcome by her lust. In any case, the discovery of the incest is usually disastrous, aggravated by hearing a prophecy about a child born on the first of May, as Mordred was, will destroy his kingdom. Therefore, Arthur sends all the babies born in May of the nobles to their deaths in a rickety ship. The ship sinks, and the only surviving child is Mordred, who is rescued and eventually returned to his parents, though Arthur never accepts him as his son.
Mordred in later works
Just about everywhere Mordred appears, her name is synonymous with treachery. He appears in Dante's Inferno in the last circle of hell, reserved for traitors: & # 34; the one who, with a single blow, had his chest and shadow / shattered by Arthur's hand, & # 34; (Canto XXXII).
Some works from the Middle Ages and today, however, portray Mordred less as a traitor than as a conflicted opportunist, or even a victim of fate. In the 14th century, the Scottish chronicler John of Fordun even claimed that Mordred was the rightful heir to the throne of Great Britain, being the son of Arthur. This sentiment was elaborated by Walter Bower and Hector Boece, who in their Historia Scotorum Gentis go so far as to say that Arthur and Guinevere were traitors and villains who stole Mordred's throne. Even Malory, who shows Mordred as a villain, points out that the people of England rallied around him, for "with Arthur life is but war and strife, and with sir Mordred was a great joy and happiness."
Mordred is especially important in well-known modern-era Arthurian texts, especially in fiction, film and television, and the comic book medium. Some modern works about King Arthur, such as Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon substitute Morgana as Mordred's mother. Mordred remains a major villain in many modern adaptations of the legend, including John Boorman's acclaimed film Excalibur (film) and T. H. White's novel The King of Past and Future (where Mordred plays the role of an embittered but successful populist and Bolshevik look-alike) and the musical based on her, Camelot or Hal Foster's popular Prince Valiant comic strip. In the 2008 episode "The Beginning of the End" In the BBC television series Merlin, Mordred appears as a young druid boy whom Merlin protects despite being warned that he will one day kill Arthur.
In the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, by James A. Owen, Mordred is the main villain. In the third book, The Indigo King, it is revealed that Mordred was born as Madoc in a place called the Dreaming Archipelago, from which he was banished for trying to use knowledge of the future to shape it. He and his twin brother, Myrddyn, were the sons of Ulysses. Mordred was banished by his brother until he was allowed to fight again to become High King, assuming the name Mordred.
Other works treat the character differently. Victorian poet George Augustus Simcox wrote a poem titled 'Mordred My Master', from the perspective of Mordred's dog. Rosemary Sutcliff's novel, Sword in the Sunset is fatalistic, but fairly ambiguous, casting him as a product of her mother's hatred, inexorably bound toward her downfall. Elizabeth Wein, in Prince of Winter, portrays him as a troubled young man doomed by his mother's manipulations and his own jealousy of his legitimate half-brother Lleu. In Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles, Mordred is Uther Pendragon's rightful grandson and heir, and Arthur serves as regent of the realm during his minority. In Vivian Van de Velde's The Book of Mordred, Mordred is portrayed as the protagonist of the story, killing an evil sorcerer and saving a telepathic girl, her mother, and a witch named Nimue, who They were disciples of Merlin. Similarly, Douglas Clegg's Mordred Bastard Son plays the character not just sympathetically, but heroically (he and Lancelot save Guinevere from a murderous plot).
In popular culture
- Mordred appears as a playable character in Fate/Grand Order.
- Mordred appears as a character in Fate/Apocrypha, a Japanese light novel series in the Fate saga, first released in 2012.
- Mordred Appears in the Justice League animated series voiced by Soren Fulton in the two-part episode "A Shadow Knight Part 1 & 2" Mordred appeared with Morgana Le Fey in search of Merlin's Philosopher's Stone, Morgana tries to make Mordred the king of the new Camelot (Castle that she created only with the stone). They battle the Justice League and the demon Etrigan, later losing as the Martian Manhunter destroyed the Philosopher's Stone. In Justice League Unlimited, he reappears in the episode "Kids' Things".
- Mordred Appears in the 1981 Movie Excalibur.