5 ms·

Forget the castle, where is the lake & the Lady?? We want the sword, even though: "...strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system

Forget the castle, where is the lake & the Lady?? We want the sword, even though: "...strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony..."

arethuza 10y ago
Which sword though, aren't the Sword in the Stone and Excalibur different swords? :-)
- cyberferret 10y ago
  Hmm... I thought it was one and the same... But you could be right... Drawing the sword from the marked him as the true King, but I recall Excalibur was handed to him by the lady in the lake later... I might have to consult Malory's tome again...
  - josh-wrale 10y ago
    Pretty sure he cast Excalibur into the lake and the Lady of the Lake cared for it before returning it to him later. (making the stone sword Excalibur).
    - cyberferret 10y ago
      I do recall Sir Bedevere(?) throwing it back in the lake in the end after Arthur is mortally wounded, but I can't recall the bit where Arthur first throws it to the 'watery bint' before that. Having trouble locating my Arthurian books to research that bit...
      - Declanomous 10y ago
        Well, according to the wikipedia page on Excalibur, depending on the story, sometimes the Sword in the Stone and Excalibur are one and the same, and sometimes they aren't.
- dudul 10y ago
  There exist 2 versions of the legend you're right. Depending on the version, Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone were the same, in another, they are different swords.
  - smhenderson 10y ago
    If I recall correctly the movie Excalibur used the one where they are different. The Sword in the Stone was Uther Pendragon's that he buried in the rock just before dying from battle wounds. Arthur received Excalibur later from the Lady in the Lake as mentioned in other comments. Admittedly I was young and deeply in love with all things Swords and Sorcery but I really liked that movie. Wonder what Le Morte d'Arthur has to say about it... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Morte_d%27Arthur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Morte_d%27Arthur
    - duaneb 10y ago
      It's kind of silly as it's an oral tradition that was eventually written. Half the fun is the variation.
      - smhenderson 10y ago
        Ah well that's pretty much true of all old myths and stories. I know what you're saying but personally I think the variation we get on these stories in modern media is pretty incredible. From the cheesy to the epic a lot of the books, movies, games etc. we enjoy today are just modern variations of ancient stories.
        duaneb 10y ago
        There's also a lot to be said for telling the same story—obviously the same story—with your own touch. Personal storytelling is a dying art—arguably already effectively dead. The most obvious version of this would be telling ghost stories, but who is even good at those anymore?
    - teddyh 10y ago
- duaneb 10y ago
  It depends entirely on the version. The version I learned insinuated the lady in the lake did something to the sword in the stone after Arthur threw it in.
jandrese 10y ago
Maybe Colliford Lake? Dunno where the lady went, maybe she wandered off after 1400 years?

arethuza 10y ago

Which sword though, aren't the Sword in the Stone and Excalibur different swords? :-)

cyberferret 10y ago
Hmm... I thought it was one and the same... But you could be right... Drawing the sword from the marked him as the true King, but I recall Excalibur was handed to him by the lady in the lake later... I might have to consult Malory's tome again...
- josh-wrale 10y ago
  Pretty sure he cast Excalibur into the lake and the Lady of the Lake cared for it before returning it to him later. (making the stone sword Excalibur).
  - cyberferret 10y ago
    I do recall Sir Bedevere(?) throwing it back in the lake in the end after Arthur is mortally wounded, but I can't recall the bit where Arthur first throws it to the 'watery bint' before that. Having trouble locating my Arthurian books to research that bit...
    - Declanomous 10y ago
      Well, according to the wikipedia page on Excalibur, depending on the story, sometimes the Sword in the Stone and Excalibur are one and the same, and sometimes they aren't.
dudul 10y ago
There exist 2 versions of the legend you're right. Depending on the version, Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone were the same, in another, they are different swords.
- smhenderson 10y ago
  If I recall correctly the movie Excalibur used the one where they are different. The Sword in the Stone was Uther Pendragon's that he buried in the rock just before dying from battle wounds. Arthur received Excalibur later from the Lady in the Lake as mentioned in other comments. Admittedly I was young and deeply in love with all things Swords and Sorcery but I really liked that movie. Wonder what Le Morte d'Arthur has to say about it... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Morte_d%27Arthur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Morte_d%27Arthur
  - duaneb 10y ago
    It's kind of silly as it's an oral tradition that was eventually written. Half the fun is the variation.
    - smhenderson 10y ago
      Ah well that's pretty much true of all old myths and stories. I know what you're saying but personally I think the variation we get on these stories in modern media is pretty incredible. From the cheesy to the epic a lot of the books, movies, games etc. we enjoy today are just modern variations of ancient stories.
      - duaneb 10y ago
        There's also a lot to be said for telling the same story—obviously the same story—with your own touch. Personal storytelling is a dying art—arguably already effectively dead. The most obvious version of this would be telling ghost stories, but who is even good at those anymore?
  - teddyh 10y ago
duaneb 10y ago
It depends entirely on the version. The version I learned insinuated the lady in the lake did something to the sword in the stone after Arthur threw it in.

jandrese 10y ago

Maybe Colliford Lake? Dunno where the lady went, maybe she wandered off after 1400 years?