Wolfram Bane (wolfram_bane@hotmail.com) writes...

Pendragon

In Arthurian lore, Arthur Pendragon is generally born because his biological father, Uther Pendragon, took on the form of Gorlois, the Duke of Cornwall and the first husband of Igraine, Arthur's biological mother. Uther was transformed through the magic of Merlin to appear as Gorlois, and essentially sexually assaulted Igraine by tricking her into taking him into her bed.

Given the moral focus that often is found in animated series, how would you have handled the situation surrounding the birth of Arthur Pendragon and Merlin's part in the events.

Wolfram Bane (wolfram_bane@hotmail.com) writes...

Pendragon

Geoffery of Monmouth states that Mordred was the son of Lot and Anna (Arthur's sister), and Arthur Pendragon's nephew. Sir Thomas Malory later expanded upon the story, having Mordred be the son of Arthur and his sister Anna (now Anna Morgause, Arthur's half-sister) through an incestuous tryst. This created the idea that Mordred was both the son and nephew of Arthur, and both his eventual heir and ultimate nemesis.

I read that you had intended Mordred to be the son of Arthur and Morgause, but was he conceived through an incestuous relationship, or given the moral focus that often is found in animated series, is their another explanation?

If the answer for the above question is that Mordred is not the product of incest, than is he the biological son of Lot and Morgause, yet have some special paternal bond with Arthur (ie. godfather or such)?

Lord Sloth writes...

1. Is Blanchefleur an original character on your part, or is she in any other older Arthurian Legends?

2. If she is in other stories, in what ways dose she vary, or stays the same as what you have planned for your version? Is she always Persival's wife?

3. If she is in other stories, do you know what books I might find reference to her in? What books I might find reference to her in?

Todd Jensen writes...

In "A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time", when Macbeth starts reading the Scrolls of Merlin out loud, the part that he's reading is about Merlin's first encounter with the young Arthur and his impressions of the future king. Something that I've occasionally wondered over is that this does seem a bit late in Merlin's life to begin his autobiography, considering how many things had already happened to him (according to traditional legend), prior to his becoming Arthur's tutor (such as his boyhood encounter with Vortigern and the ensuing battle between the dragons, becoming involved with Stonehenge, helping to bring about Uther and Igraine's meeting and Arthur's subsequent conception at Tintagel, etc.). Were the Scrolls really only a partial autobiography, beginning relatively late in Merlin's life and career? (Which, if so, is a bit of a pity, but even an incomplete autobiography's better than nothing).

Anonymous writes...

Was arthur's alliance with gargoyles an extrapolation of Gargoyles being used on coat of arms?

Todd Jensen writes...

You've mentioned how, in the Gargoyles Universe, you see Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone as being one and the same. One thing that I found myself wondering lately was whether you'd ever worked out a plan to reconcile these two different accounts of how King Arthur got his sword.

After all, the "Lady of the Lake" account of how Arthur received Excalibur portrays him as receiving it from her some time after he became King via the Sword in the Stone, so that if Excalibur was the Sword in the Stone, he would already have it by the time that he met her. (Of course, as I recall, the movie "Excalibur" did manage to reconcile the two different versions by having Excalibur be broken under the strain when Arthur used it to defeat Lancelot and then being briefly returned to the Lady of the Lake, who restores it and gives it back to Arthur).

Of course, if you've managed to find a solution yet, you're probably choosing (and understandably so) to keep it secret for now to be saved for the possible future occasion that you get to do the "Pendragon" spin-off, but I was still wondering if you'd ever come up with a way to reconcile the two different origin-stories, seeing that you treat them as both true in the Gargoyles Universe.

Anonymous writes...

Does alex or merlin have enough fay blood in them to mate with non-compatible species?

Anonymous writes...

Does Duval still remember Arthur?

Anonymous writes...

1.In which series did you plan to introduce Castle Carbonek?