Sorceress. Confidant. Traitor. Sister. All of those words describe Morgan Le Fay, King Arthur's half-sister. She is by far the most complex character I've come across in the Arthurian legends, but she's constantly portrayed in the medieval and early modern texts as a one-note traitorous baddy who is evil because she's an evil [...]
I wanted to name this episode "it's not easy being green," but it really is. The Green Knight had his head chopped off last episode...but still carried it out of the most uncomfortable Christmas dinner ever. Really, it's not easy being Gawain, who has to go present his neck in payment. Except it [...]
You probably had to read the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in high school. I know I did, and it's a great story. There are beheadings, green guys, confusing interactions with ladies. It might be one of the most violent non-Die Hard Christmas stories. Anyway, everyone knows that. You probably don't know [...]
Things get weird on Lancelot's journey to become a knight of the Round Table...if Merlin trying to pick up a twelve-year-old last week wasn't strange enough. This week has ancient prophecies, a dangerous quest, a father and son stalker duo, kind of too much hair-smelling, and a sleazy innkeeper. Arthur has a particularly bad month, where his two [...]
Episode summary: We're back in the time of King Arthur, picking up right about where we stopped off last time (though you don't need to have heard last time to listen today). We'll be talking about the story of Lancelot - where this incredibly important character came from and why he's know as Lancelot of the Lake (spoiler [...]
This is a place to listen and discuss episode 27C: The Errant Knight, with pictures, extra details, and historical background. [...]
The discussion post for episode 27B: Mayday, where we learn about the Questing beast and Arthur gets Excalibur [...]
This is a new weekly post where I'll talk about the episodes released that week. I'll discuss my thoughts, talk about sources, and present some corrections and elaborations. This week: we return to the world of King Arthur. [...]
Videos of actual places we've talked about on the podcast! Like the island where Icarus crashed down, and the hill that the Lambton Worm wrapped himself around. [...]
Multiple epic battles and a ridiculous idea getting taken way too far end up with one king possessing a cloak made out of the beards of all the kings of the earth. He just covets one more - the beard of a man we've seen before on this podcast. This is the story of the mantle [...]