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Chaosium Digest Volume 04 Number 07
Chaosium Digest Volume 4, Number 7
Date: Sunday, October 17, 1993
Number: 2 of 2
Contents:
Sir Lancelot: A Chronology [Part II] (Peter Corless) PENDRAGON
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From: Peter Corless <pcorless@cisco.com>
Subject: Sir Lancelot: A Chronology [Part II]
System: Pendragon
This is an excerpt from the work in progress "The Knights of King
Arthur", Copyright 1993, Peter Corless (written under contract for
future publication by the Chaosium).
-Peter Corless
Sir Lancelot du Lake, Knight of the Round Table
Clan: de Ganis
Character Entry, Part II:
Note: This is the continuation of the History of Sir Lancelot, begun
in V4.6 of the Chaosium Digest.
Although Lancelot is often captured, mostly by women, he always
thereafter escapes, either by the same woman releasing him or through
the aid of another damosel friendly to him. Such is the instance of
his capture by Camille de la Roche, a leader of the Anglian rebellion.
Lancelot becomes demented at being captured by her, so Camille
releases him for his sanity's sake. He repays her by returning to her
castle to rescue Arthur, which leads to her suicide when Sir Kay burns
her collection of magical books. Even Arthur was saddened by her
death.
Lancelot sets off to kill the next great villain, Carados of the
Dolorous Tower (Turquine's brother), after he spots Gawaine being
carried off by the giant on horseback. (This is also the first
instance of seeing a destrier, for no smaller horse could bear
Carados!) En route, though, he is sickened by drinking from a well
poisened by venomous snakes. He is healed by the maiden Amable, who
vows to love Lancelot. He is moved by her kindness, and returns her
love -- but chastely. They become close friends, and she is the one
woman besides Guenever that Lancelot holds dear in his heart. Amable
and Guenever meet years later and become friends after Lancelot
explains things.
In the meantime, Lancelot leaves Amable and falls into the hands of
Morgan le Fay. Morgan tries to make Lancelot love her, but to no
avail. Lancelot remains fixed on saving Gawaine. She lets him go
either through frustration or a true sense of his love for Gawaine.
Finally, he rides against Carados and slays him in combat.
Shortly after saving Gawaine, Morgan Le Fay captures Lancelot again.
This time, she holds him in her castle near Tauroc in Cambria. It was
here that Lancelot spends over a year painting his autobiography in
mural on his bedroom wall, including scenes of his love affair with
Guenever. Eventually, he sees a rose growing outside his bedroom/cell
window. It reminds him of his love for Guenever, and inspires him to
break the iron bars on the window and escape.
After this episode, Lancelot saves Mordred from abuse at the hands of
a crowd of ruffians, and accompanies the young knight to the Peningues
Tournament. It was on this trip that a hermit prophesies that these
two men are the most unfortunate knights alive. Mordred is so
incensed that he beheads the hermit, greatly shocking Lancelot.
After the tournament, Lancelot finds the hidden kingdom of
Listeneisse. He rescues Elaine of Carbonek from a boiling bath (see
Perilous Forest, pages 90-95). He meets her father, King Pellam the
Grail King. The King and Dame Brisen (Elaine's lady-in-waiting, and a
good sorcerous) get Lancelot drunk to trick him into sleeping with
Elaine. Lancelot, thinking he's sleeping with Guenever, begets a
child on her. Upon waking, Lancelot threatens Elaine, thinks better
of it, then instead vows vengance against Dame Brisen. He leaves
Listeneisse and Elaine behind.
The next year, Lancelot returns to court and allows Arthur to finally
induct him into the Round Table. Although he is only 27 years old, he
has achieved more than most other knights achieve in their entire
lifetime. During this year, Amable joins King Arthur's court. She and
Guenever become friends.
In the spring of 536 AD, Arthur helps take back Ganis from King
Claudas. All of the exiled knights and ladies of Ganis return to their
homeland to celebrate, including Lancelot, who returns to Benwick.
There, he is joyously reunited with his mother, Queen Elaine.
An instance late that winter shows the depth of friendship that
Lancelot holds for his friends and inspires in others. Duke Galeholt
hears of Lancelot's death, false reports possibly sent by Morgan Le
Fay. Regardless, he dies upon hearing the news. When Lancelot learns
of Galeholt's death, he almost commits suicide himself, but is saved
by Seriade, one of Viviane's Ladies of the Lake.
Just before the war in Ganis, Morgan Le Fay gives up trying to seduce
Lancelot. Her plans now shift to discrediting or killing both
Lancelot and Guenever. The year before the Ganis war, she created the
"Horn of Chastity." Any woman who was unfaithful that drank from it
would spill all the contents. Lamorak intercepted it and sent it to
King Mark's court for spite of Tristram, where all but four women
failed the test! The Barons there smartly decided to destroy it
rather than kill their wives, but it caused considerable familial
strife for years to come.
Years later, in 543, Morgan recruited thirty knights to kill Lancelot
in an ambush. Fortunately, Tristram and Dinadan find them first, and
kill most of them before their plot is hatched. Later in the same
year, she also dispatches thirty knights to capture either Lancelot or
Tristram (whichever they encounter first), and bring them to her.
That plot is foiled by again by Tristram, this time with the aid of
Gawaine.
In the same year, Morgan gave a shield to Tristram in exchange for his
release. It bears as its heraldry "a king and queen therein painted,
and a knight standing above them" with his feet on their heads. This
was to represent Lancelot's betrayal of Arthur by sleeping with
Guenever, but is was a miserable failure. No one seemed to notice the
symbology at the Hard Rock tourney, or if they did, they thought it
applied to Tristram's affair with Isolt which was well known by then
anyway.
Lancelot had wounded Tristram the year before at the Castle of Maidens
tourney (when Tristram fought as the mysterious "Knight with the Black
Shield"). But Lancelot's chivalrous nature kept Tristram from feeling
any ill will to his good friend. Indeed, it was after the Hard Rock
tournament that Tristram finally joins the Round Table.
In 547, when Lancelot was 39 years old, trouble arrived at court in
the form of Elaine of Carbonek, who brought with her Lancelot's son,
Galahad. Guenever was cool but cordial to Lancelot's long-past lover.
If things weren't tough enough on Lancelot as it was, that evening
Elaine tricks Lancelot into bed again with the help of Dame Brisen.
Guenever finds out and drives Lancelot insane with scorn. Lancelot
swoons, and when he awakens he is totally mad. He leaps out a window
and runs into the woods. He spends the next year wandering as a wild
man throughout Logres. Shortly thereafter, Guenever regrets her
scorn, and asks Lancelot's friends to search for him and see that he
is brought back safely, but Lancelot eludes them.
A few people try to take care of the wild man. Those who try to
befriend him include Sir Bliant (whom Lancelot, even in his madness,
nobly saves from both Sir Brus sans Pite and Sir Bertelot) and his
brother Sir Selivant of Castle Blank; a lone hermit of the forest; and
then finally Sir Castor (nephew of King Pellam) and Elaine of
Carbonek. She recognizes him for who he truly is, and brings him
before her father, who heals Lancelot by exposing him to the power of
the Holy Grail.
Lancelot finally recovers his senses, and remembers how he was
banished by Guenever. Elaine offers to live with him, in a small
castle of her father's. Since he believes he is still banished from
court, Lancelot conceeds to live with her. Pellam is pleased, and
grants the couple the Castle of Bliant on Joyous Isle to live within,
and ten knights and twenty ladies to attend them.
Although everyone in Listeneisse knows Lancelot's identity, he has
them all refer to him as "Le Chevalier Mal Fet" (The Knight Who
Trespassed). He offers to joust all comers to his island. Before
long, over five hundred knights show up for a full-blown tourney,
including Percival and Ector, who had been in the area searching for
Lancelot. They recognize him immediately, and retire to the castle to
celebrate their reunion. Elaine happily greets her husband's kin.
But soon, Percival and Ector turn their conversation to persuasion.
They tell Lancelot that Guenever has forgiven him, and had sent them
to search for him and request his return to court.
Amid a tearful farewell from Elaine, the knights ride forth. Elaine
says that she will send Galahad to court shortly to be knighted. It
is the last that he sees of her, for some time after taking his leave,
Elaine dies. Lancelot is 43 when he returns to court. Upon seeing
Guenever, all is forgiven, and their love is renewed once more.
Three years later, Galahad does arrive at court, accompanied by a
dozen nuns who cared for him after his mother's death. He is girded
by Lancelot in a secluded ceremony, and occupies the Siege Perilous at
the Round Table, which had remained vacant for thirty years. With
these events begins the Grail Quest. Lancelot takes his leave with
the rest, for which Guenever bemoans.
Upon the Grail Quest, Galahad meets with Lancelot and Percival, and
unhorses them both in the same encounter! Shortly after having met
his match in combat, Lancelot finds an old chapel. Within it,
half-sleeping and half-awake, he watches as the Grail heals a sick
knight. The healed knight and his squire talk on their way out about
the sleeping Lancelot, and how he cannot see the Grail fully cognizant
because of his sinful ways. A voice then commanded Lancelot to remove
himself from the presense of the Grail. After this encounter, he
sought confession with a hermit, but the hermit rebuked him, knowing
that Lancelot could not fully give up Guenever.
With this, Lancelot returns to court with a heavy heart, but with the
hope and intention of foregoing Guenever's love. Old habits are the
hardest to break, however, and Guenever is a demanding lover. Shortly
after his return, Lancelot renews the affair.
It is fortunate for her that he returned when he did, for Guenever was
shortly thereafter kidnapped by Meliagaunt. Lancelot rode two horses
into the ground to rescue her, and was reduced to riding in a cart
like a condemned prisoner (a very ignoble state for a knight).
Eventually, Lancelot defeats Meliagaunt and rescues the queen. She,
however, is furious. Somehow, she could tell that Lancelot waited all
of two steps before asking for a ride from the carter! Lancelot vows
that he will make amends, and decides to travel throughout the land
for the next year doing great deeds while riding in a cart.
Lancelot is much more concerned about the circulating rumors than
either Arthur or Guenever (who both seem to ignore them). Therefore,
upon his return, he takes up the practice of championing other women
besides Guenever at tournaments. For his pains, Guenever banishes him
from court. Still, he comes faithfully to her rescue when she is
wrongly impeached for death of Sir Patrice. He defeats Sir Mador de la
Porte, which according to custom, proves her innocence.
Again attempting to squelch the rumors, and regardless of Guenever's
complaints, Lancelot continues to champion other ladies. However,
Lancelot's custom is never to wear a favor for any woman -- not even
Guenever's. That is why he sees it as a great disguise to arrive at
the Winchester Tournament wearing a token of Elaine of Astolat. She
is a beautiful maid who pledges her love to him only. At the
tournament, Lancelot is wounded and nursed back to health by Elaine,
but he still refuses her advances. No matter how many times Lancelot
tries to explain that he wishes not to wed, she begs him to
reconsider. He offers to arrange and dower a wedding for her with any
other man that she chooses, but she turns down the offer. She wishes
only to love Lancelot, and not just platonically, like Amable. As
soon as he is healthy, Lancelot leaves her. Elaine dies of unrequited
love. Everyone at court, including Guenever, mourn her death when a
barge carrying her lands at Winchester.
Late one night in 563, Lancelot and Guenever are caught in the queen's
chambers by Mordred, Agravaine and twelve other knights. Lancelot,
armed with nothing but a sword and a wrapped cloak around his arm,
manages to slay all of the attackers but Mordred. He offers to take
Guenever away, but she declines. Arthur, finally but reluctantly
convinced, condemns Guenever to burn as an adulteress. At the last
minute, Lancelot recuses her. He vowed to kill anyone who stood
between himself and the queen, and was as always true to his word.
During the rescue, Lancelot kills some of his best friends, including
Sir Kay, Griflet, Tor, Gareth and Gaheris. These last two were not
even armed, but were standing in the crowd. Lancelot takes Guenever
to Joyous Garde. Arthur mobilizes the army, pursues, and lays siege
to his best friend's castle. The Pope himself intervenes in the
conflict, and requests that Guenever return to Arthur's side in return
for a truce and Lancelot's safe passage to France.
The peace is short, though. Lancelot barely had time to return to
France, grant lands to his kinsmen, and mobilize his forces before the
Pendragon's army arrives. Lancelot took pains not to injure his
friends any more. He ordered his men to fight defensively, and not to
sally forth to engage the attackers. Gawaine, furious at not being
able to finish the feud, challenges Lancelot every day before
Benwick's walls. Eventually, after six months of siege, and only at
the prodding of his kinsmen, Lancelot rides forth when Gawaine openly
calls him traitor. After hours of close combat, Gawaine lay
grieviously wounded at Lancelot's feet. Gawaine provoked Lancelot to
kill him to end the feud, but Lancelot refused, saying he would not
strike a felled knight. It took Gawaine three weeks before he could
rise from his sick bed, and as soon as he did, he rode to the castle
gates to again challenge Lancelot. This second duel was much shorter,
but ended the same way, when Lancelot hit Gawaine where the old wound
was. Again Lancelot refused to kill his friend. This time it took a
month before Gawaine could rise. But before he could issue his next
challenge, word came of Mordred's treachery.
Shortly after Arthur's army leaves to return to Logres, Lancelot
received a letter from Gawaine. In it, Gawaine begs Lancelot to
forgive him and Arthur for harboring any hatred towards him. It also
explains the full extent of Mordred's treachery, and Arthur and
Guenever's peril . Lastly, Gawaine asks Lancelot to visit his tomb,
and to avenge himself, as well as Guenever and Arthur against Mordred.
Sir Bors comforts Lancelot, and they make plans to cross to Logres.
But no matter how fast his forces sail across the channel, they are
too late to save Arthur from the final fateful encounter at Camlann.
After visiting Gawaine's tomb at Dover Castle, Lancelot disbands his
army. He leaves on one last solitary adventure, to find Guenever.
Indeed he does see her at the nunnery of Almesbury, but she entreats
him to leave her be, and never see her again. Lancelot finally offers
to marry her, but it is too late. She stays at Almesbury as a nun.
Lancelot in turn vows to become a priest. He wanders the land until
he encounters the Archbishop of Canterbury living as a hermit, with
Sir Bedivere, and asks to be shriven. A few months later, he is
joined by his kinsmen Sir Bors, Blamor, Bleoberis, Galihud, Galihodin,
Villiars, Clarus and Gahalantine. They become brothers as well.
After six years of penance, Lancelot becomes a priest at Glastonbury
Abbey. After his ordination he sings mass for a full year. Upon one
morning, at the age of sixty-five, he receives a vision that Guenever
is dying. With his companions, he travels from Glastonbury to
Almesbury. There they find the former queen had died just hours
before their arrival. They bore her body back to Glastonbury, for
burial next to Arthur's tomb. Lancelot sickens and dies not long
after, found in bed one morning smiling blissfully. The same noble
procession carries the body of the best worldly knight ever known from
Glastonbury to his castle of Joyous Garde. At his funeral, they are
reunited with Sir Ector de Maris, who had searched for Lancelot across
the lands for the last seven years to no avail. They say their last
goodbyes, and depart for their own lands. Of Bors, Ector, Bleoberis
and Blamor, it is said that they went to the Holy Lands, and there
died upon a Good Friday.
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