(no subject)

[fajrdrako]

This quiz was: What character from Arthurian Legend are you?

First I ask myself: who would I want to be?

There are so many versions, in fiction and in film. In the John M. Ford version (my favourite), I'd want to be Galahad or Melin. In most versions, Arthur or Merlin. But I'm rather pleased with this one.

Your result for The Camelot Test...

Lady of the Lake

Mistress of the Enchanted Isle (Avalon), you are beautiful, poised and very powerful. You strike fear and love in the heart of your peers.

Take The Camelot Test at HelloQuizzy

Interesting to see that my second-highest scores were Arthur and LAcenlot, characters I've always liked, and found instrinsically slashy: the love triangle that went way beyond the obvious. My lowest score was Guinevere, whom I've always felt got a raw deal, though I've seldom seen a modern fictional account of her that I've liked. (Recommendations welcome.) And so absurdly low on Mordred, whose story needs to be told.


But the Lady combines magic and power: what could be better? But I don't have much sense of The Lady as a personality; when I think of powerful magicians I tend to think of Merlin, Prospero, Michael the Scot, John Dee, Harry Potter... Oops, wrong fandom.

Maybe I should look her up. After all, she had a sword. I like swordswomen.

My favourite versions of the Arthurian legend:

1. Winter Solstice: Camelot Station by John M. Ford (poetry)
   
2. Camelot 3000 by Mike Barr and John Bolton (comic book)
   
3. Camleot (the musical, and it has good songs, too. My favourite song from it is "Fie on Goodness", though I also like "Follow Me" and most of the repertoire.)
   
4. First Knight, one of those unpopular movies with I loved. Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julia Ormond. And swords and medieval costumes. I swoon.
   
5. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

I haven't yet seen the current TV series Merlin, though I hope to soon. And though the 2004 movie King Arthur had a terrible premise, script, style and concept, it also had Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Mads Mikkelsen, Ray Winstone, and Kiera Knightly, making it one of those nice eye-candy movies best watched with the sound off.

Comments

[louiex.livejournal.com]

Hee, I got Arthur followed by Gwen and Mordred :O What does THAT say about me~

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, it is, as best, and interesting triangle!

[louiex.livejournal.com]

Hah! That's to say the least~ I find myself intrigued by the Mordred tales (Douglas Clegg's version is very interesting 'Mordred, Bastard Son'). There should be more back story research done on him in my future :D

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I hadn't read that one - thanks for the tip. I'm happy to see that my library has it.

Yes, research on Mordred: good idea. I loved the way David Hemming portrayed him, but then, I always liked David Hemming.

[louiex.livejournal.com]

Yeah the only downside to the Clegg book is its a first of a trilogy that... hasn't been worked on and I'm not sure if it ever will be finished. HOWEVER, its incredibly well-done and creates this very sympathetic character for someone who's been vilified since his birth.

And oooh, I shall look into this David Hemming~ Youtube seems to fail me for the moment but I will keep looking!

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

David Hemmings was very cute in Camelot. Sadly, he took to drink and ruined his looks – got dreadfully fat and seedy-looking.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I've always loved Mordred. Of course, in the earliest versions of the story, before Lancelot was invented, he was the Queen's lover, which makes it all wonderfully entangled.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Mordred's role is in so many ways the most interesting.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I prefer versions of the story that don't include Lancelot (a 12C innovation), and have Mordred/Medrawd properly as Gwenhwyfar's lover. My favourites are:
Joy Chant, The High Kings
John Arden & Margaretta d'Arcy, The Island of the Mighty (play)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Generally speaking, it depends what they do with Lancelot as to whether I like him, though he is seldom my favourite part of the story. I did like Franco Nero, though. (Don't so much like Robert Goulet.)

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I haven't yet seen the current TV series Merlin, though I hope to soon.

Avoid at all costs. It's as bad as the recent Robin Hood. It ditches all the traditional material. Arthur and Merlin are contemporaries (both teenagers), and Arthur is being brought up as crown prince at Uther's court. Morgen (here Morgana) is Uther's ward. Guenevere, here 'Gwen', is Morgana's maidservant, and is the daughter of a blacksmith, who is also Black.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You make it sound very funny - making me all the more curious about it!

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

I'm actually enjoying it - against all expectations! I spent a lot of last weekend watching it and am now caught up and eagerly awaiting the next episode. I'm not sure why it isn't terrible, but I'm finding it tremendous fun.

Part of it, I think, is that the characterisation is good and is backed up by solid acting by just about everyone - Merlin is an awkward but irrepressibly cheerful teenager and Arthur initially comes across as a most unpleasant bully but is gradually shown to have rather more to him. He's also far from unattractive. *g* And he has Daddy issues and overcompensates by having to be the best at everything while secretly thinking he's a disappointment to his father. Shades of Lymond and Faramir. ::shrugs helplessly:: And Daddy Uther is Anthony Head, you might like to know.

It's like crack fic - irresistible when done cleverly, with a bit of thought - which this is, IMO. Frex, it's slowly feeding us information about the mystery surrounding Arthur's birth, a nameless supporting child character who featured in only one episode was revealed at the end of the episode to be Mordred (and the episode was called "The Beginning of the End", which is nicely ominous), and we've had Excalibur being forged in a somewhat unusual way and then being hidden in the lake.

It may not be your cup of tea, but I'm enjoying it! And if you do watch, don't stop at the particularly heavy-handed bit of scene-setting that is the first scene in the castle courtyard in the first episode. It gets (a lot!) better.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

It is much better than the recent Robin Hood - I couldn't even watch a full episode of that and I am happily addicted to Merlin.

The difference, I think, is that Merlin is charming and made by people who obviously love what they are doing and love genre series in general, whereas Robin Hood was annoyingly smug and felt like it was made by people who were cynical and patronising about genre shows. Plus how can you go wrong with Anthony Stuart Head, Richard Wilson and John Hurt as supporting characters?

It's not like the Arthurian legends haven't been flexed until they cracked before either!

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

The difference, I think, is that Merlin is charming and made by people who obviously love what they are doing and love genre series in general

But don't love the Arthurian legends. Compare and contrast the BBC's Merlin of the Crystal Cave, which was based on Mary Stewart's novels, in the late 80s or early 90s.

It's not like the Arthurian legends haven't been flexed until they cracked before either!

But that doesn't make it right!

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Or they love playing with them and riffing off them - isn't that what every writer who has used them as a base does? Some are closer to the really old versions than others, obviously. But I like what the series has done with Mordred and Morgana, for instance - I find the differences to the established legend interesting because they are a response to the established version and it plays with audience expectations.

I haven't seen Merlin of the Crystal Cave so I can't compare it - I expect I would have enjoyed it. The one I really didn't like was the big, shiny Merlin series (or 2 parter, I can't remember) with Sam Neill and a cast of names.

I can see why the new Merlin would be annoying if you really love the traditional material, and I admit it can be cheesy. I actually didn't expect to like it at all and was surprised by how much I was enjoying it after the first episode. But now I just love it. *shrugs*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

But that doesn't make it right!

Or necessarily wrong either. I don't care about canon when it comes to King Arthur: I like seeing the variations people come up with.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It is much better than the recent Robin Hood

I haven't seen that at all. Though I've always wanted to like various versions of Robin Hood, they've never really worked for me, not yet - can't quite say why. Michael Praed in Robin of Sherwood was beautiful, though.

that Merlin is charming

Good! I don't like the crusty, dysfunctional Merlin we often get.

Who is Richard Wilson?

It's not like the Arthurian legends haven't been flexed until they cracked before either!

It's a case where I don't care about canon. I don't even believe there was a historical Arthur - it's a story about a king, and we're free to reinterpret at will, as far as I'm concerned.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, Robin of Sherwood! I was obsessed with that when I was a kid - it was on while I was at primary school and everyone watched it every week. I was so gutted about Michael Praed's last episode - I can remember crying and crying! Though, sadly, I saw an episode recently and it was hugely cheesy and 80s - better not to go back to that one.

Richard Wilson is an elderly and very respected British actor, most famous for the series One Foot in the Grave - but you will probably know him best as the hospital doctor in The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. He does the slightly crusty mentor type extremely well.

I'm not really bothered about Arthurian canon so much either - I've read enough reinterpretations that I've enjoyed. I thought with the recent Robin Hood that it was the changes they'd made there that annoyed me, but I've since decided that I just didn't like their Robin or Marian at all, because I'm actually quite flexible about my Robin Hood canon too.

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

Surely you'd have the sound on for the bits featuring Ioan? "I don't like anything that puts a man on his knees"? OWTTE. I hated Clive Owen as Arthur, but still, all that wonderful slashy subtext was pretty inspiring. :D

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Surely you'd have the sound on for the bits featuring Ioan?

Yes. Probably.

I love Clive Owen generally; and I thought he was fine in King Arthur, he just had little or no resemblance to anything I could recognize as King Arthur. He wasn't even British.

And yes, the slashy subtext was fun, but I generally see that. Which is why I like Lancelot as a character.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Oh, bugger. I came out as Lancelot! Apparently that is:

"Honourable and passionate. You never back down from a challenge. Your friends are very important to you. You believe in justice and duty far above your own personal security and comfort.
Congratulations! This was the most challenging result to get. You are one of a kind."

but considering Lancelot is my least favourite character, I am not best pleased. Though I my second and third (and very close together) results were Arthur and Merlin, so that's a small comfort!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

but considering Lancelot is my least favourite character, I am not best pleased.

Just rewrite him to suit yourself! I like Lancelot because he's so slashy. Generally speaking.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing*

If you think that now, wait until you see the Merlin episode featuring him...

(He's also played by Santiago Cabrera from Heroes.)

But Gawain is my favourite knight, I think. He got all the best stories.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Santiago Cabrera

I have to admit, I had to look him up, not knowing which one he was... Isaac! Hmm. He was rather good, I thought.

I liked Gawain in King Arthur, I think (the 2005 movie), but it was Tristan who really got my interest, and he had almost no lines.

If you think that now, wait until you see the Merlin episode featuring him...

Is this... surprise in a good way, or a bad way?