Research Links for Time Knights

I noticed a few people seem to not quite understand where I was getting a lot of the concepts of King Arthur, so I thought I would share a few of the links and research that I did for the series. Realize, however, that there is a lot more involved in this story than just here.

King Arthur is a legend that dates back thousands of years. T.H White wrote "The Once and Future King" which was one of the more modern approaches to the King Arthur legend, but it wasn't the first, nor is it the last (by far). Whenever I go into a bookstore, I see children's books that have Arthur legends redone. These, of course, are all the modern renditions, including the "true story" (I say that dripping with sarcasm) of "King Arthur" that was a movie staring Clive Owen and Ioan Gruffudd in 2004 and of course, "Excalibur" (1981), and the musical "Camelot" which was made into a movie in 1967. I'm not going to go into all the animated films, TV shows, and spin offs. There are too many to mention. But I think you get the idea of how many modern versions of "Arthur" there are, and no two are exactly alike.

Before all these more modern writings, Sir Thomas Mallory (1399 - March 14, 1471) has written about Arthur. His stories are very different than T.H. White's. And even HIS stories are different than the many other Arthurian legends that came before Mallory's time. A lot of what I am writing is based mostly on his work, but it isn't 100% firm.

Yes, not even White kept to the popular writings of Mallory. And Mallory didn't keep to the legends he found. Eleanor of Aquitaine, (1122-1204) had a hand in creating some of the legends of Arthur with her visions of "Courtly Love" especially "Launcelot Du Lac."

Recently, I have been incorporated Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Mists of Avalon" as well as some of Stephen R. Lawhead's "The Pendragon Cycle" series within my work (mostly concepts of Avalon, Roman connections and old magic).

There are a number of other reference books I own that I use as well from other authors, but these have been the most prominent.

So, for those people getting upset that I "changed the legend of King Arthur," then I think you need to get mad at all the hundreds of others that did so before me. There isn't an end-all-be-all legend to Arthur. It's been rewritten to often and it is based off oral tradition that has developed a life all its own.

Things I Kept, Tweaked and Modified

Merlin was Half Incubus in many of the legends I read. Born to a nun in one, born to a noblewoman in another, but each that I read, he was Half Incubus.

Apollo/Gwalchmai/Gawaine was mentioned as the Sun God in a poem I read. He was mentioned connected to Apollo and related to Arthur. I found a reference to him being the god, so I kept that. His strength was connected to the time of day and position of the sun, especially in Mallory's work.

Apollo/Gawaine, in legend BEFORE Launcelot, was one of the most popular knights, however once Launcelot was created, he took a back seat (so to speak). Gawaine was no longer the perfect knight. I write Gawaine/Apollo as a pretty powerful character and incorporate him at the same time as Launcelot. Usually it was either/or. You didn't see that in most of the legends. Either you'd see Gawaine being used or Launcelot. So, THAT is actually a BIG change which I would think is a big bone of contention that most purists would give me a hard time about. However, I don't think anyone noticed or cared about that that I saw.

Other more obvious changes like: time travel, reincarnation, sexual situations, sexual orientations... those are all changes. Of course, I am not exactly retelling the story of Arthur but telling a separate story. That's why I avoided the Arthurian time frame whenever I could.

THE LINKS

Ah, did promise you direct links, didn't I? I didn't use all these links. I used one or two of them and used others when I first started, but I had a massive computer crash at the time. But these do say a lot of the same things I had originally found.

If you have specific questions about my story, feedback, whatever, feel free to contact me. Hopefully this all makes better sense as to why I did what I did. I am always open to feedback of all sorts: both negative and positive I will welcome. The Arthur Legend is rich in creativity and it was a lot of fun to really play with the concepts of it.

--Mercy

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