King Arthur
King Arthur comes from arthurian legend where he is known as a legendary British king who appears in a cycle of medieval romances as the sovereign of a knightly fellowship of the Round Table.
In the modern days, many movies, books, and games use different mythologies to create a modern story about them. One modern story that takes an original mythology story and creates it into a modern one would be the mythology about King Arthur. We can see the original story of King Arthur through the book called, “Le Morte d’Arthur” created by the author Thomas Malory. We can see the modern interpretation of King Arthur through the Fate/Stay Night stories of the Japanese author Kinoko Nasu. In the original story of King Arthur, or Arthur Pendragon, he was a legendary British king and a leader of the Round Table. The modern story of Arthur Pendragon comes from the TV and story series called, “Fate/Stay Night.” Fate/Stay Night is a series following a young mage named Emiya Shirou who becomes a “Master” in a battle between “Servants” known as the Holy Grail War. We see in this modern story that King Arthur is now a woman called Arturia Pendragon who became a servant. During her early life, we see that after she pulled the sword Caliburn on the request of Merlin, she became the king of Britain and established the Round Table. Throughout the essay, we are going to see the story of both the original and modern story of King Arthur and the similarities both of them have with each other.
In the original story, King Arthur was the king of Britain and the leader of the Round Table. King Arthur was born in Tintagel Castle which is located in Cornwall. When he was born, Merlin the wizard took Arthur to be raised by Sir Ector and to be taught by Merlin himself. After his fathers death, Arthur came upon a sword called Caliburn that was stuck in stone. Not knowing the prophecy, Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone and became the new king of Britain. King Arthur is associated with his knights of the Round Table. The website “Camelot, King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table,” King Arthur's association with the Round Table was described as, “Merlin said that from "now on you must love one another and hold one another as dear as brothers, for from the love and sweetness of this table where you will be seated there will be born in your hearts such a great joy and friendship ..."” (Jarus 1). King Arthur’s does have a history and it is explained throughout the journey he embarks in. King Arthur is also associated with Merlin who has been leading Arthur throughout his journey. King Arthur also has his kingdom in Camelot, where he and his knights live.. King Arthur is associated with chivalry values. His actions caused many knights to take inspiration from him. King Arthur was a great man who was smart, had skills, and was strong, But, his greatest weakness was his pride especially in his strength, skills, and intelligence. King Arthur was characterized as being honest, courageous, and intelligent. King Arthur was successful throughout his journey but there was an obstacle that led to his downfall. Throughout Arthur’s journey, he becomes king of Britain, brings in the code of chivalry, and defeats nobles that try to take his place as king. His purpose of going through this journey is in order for him to unite England into a single peaceful land which is protected by his knights and himself. Lives are lost throughout King Arthur's journey. In King Arthur's most famous and last battle, The Battle of Camlann, King Arthur had to fight against his own son, Mordred. Throughout the fight, many knights, kings, even knights of the Round Table lose their life. After King Arthur defeats Mordred, Arthur himself is mortally wounded and asks his loyal knight Bedivere to return his sword Excalibur back to the Lady of the Lake. In the motif created by Geoffrey called, “Historia” King Arthur is taken to Avalon, which is a magical isle, where Arthur would spend his rest of his time in. The importance of King Arthur and his story is that he symbolizes our ideals from day to day life. Ideals like telling the truth, being courteous, and protecting the weak. Now, how does the modern interpretation of King Arthur live up to the original story.
In the modern story, Arturia Pendragon has become a fighting spirit known as a servant that fights against other servants in order to obtain the holy grail. Before becoming a servant, Arturia Pendragon's history and story are similar to the original King Arthur except for the fact in the modern story, Arturia Pendragon is a woman. In the Battle of Camlann, Arturia Pendragon is mortally wounded after the defeat of Mordred. Before Arturia is about to die she makes a contract with the World in order to pause her death to fight in the holy grail war. So in 2004, Arturia Pendragon was summoned into the fifth holy grail war which was in Fuyuki City, Japan. During the Duration of the Grail War, Arturia Pendragon is associated with the young mage Emiya Shirou. Arturia is associated with Emiya Shirou because Shirou was the one who summoned her to the war and is providing her with mana in order to keep her in this time. Throughout the series associated with Shirou, Arturia learns how to love herself and not to regret her past actions as king. Arturia’s main strengths would be her: loyalty, strength, and chivalry. She has the strength to protect the people around her and her chivalry allows her to devote herself to any task at hand. But, Arturia’s biggest weakness would be her stubbornness. Her stubbornness causes her to spend hours on a task until she is satisfied and is devoted to her tasks to the point that, “she ignores, rejects, and/or actively fights against other's opinions to validate herself.” (“Artoria Pendragon (Saber)”) Arturia Pendragon fights many enemies (servants) throughout the series. She fights servants like: Heracles, Gilgamesh, Sasaki Kojiro, Medusa, Cu Chulainn, and Medea. She fights these servants in order to retrieve the Holy Grail to make a wish that would change her story. Throughout her journey as a servant, she learns more about why her choices in life as the king of Britain weren't wrong and the choices she chose weren’t the wrong ones either. Arturia is successful in her journey for the holy grail because she grows as a person and learns that her life as king wasn’t a mistake, so she no longer needs the grail and destroys it. Throughout the series, many servants' lives are lost and at the end of the series, Arturia herself returns back to the Battle of Camlann. As in the original story, Arturia tells Bedivere to return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake and as she dies, she is taken to Avalon to go live her life in this paradise. Arturia Pendragon appears to wear a blue dress, wears armor, and holds Excalibur in her right hand. The purpose of Arturia Pendragon’s story is to allow the reader to learn from their mistakes in order to not make the same mistakes again in the future. Now, how does the modern and original story compare to each other?
Both King Arthur and Arturia Pendragon had relatively similar lives when it came to their mythological stories. King Arthur's original and modern interpretation of his mythology are similar to each other in more ways than one. Both King Arthur and Arturia Pendragon lived similar lives when it came to becoming king and ruling Britain. Both started off with pulling Caliburn from the rock which fated them to become king of Britain. Both established the Knights of the Round Table and fought the same battles. Arturia is similar to King Arthur in the modern story in which they share similar personality traits. In the original story, King Arthur's personality is portrayed by Thomas R. Fox who says King Arthur was “Honest, intelligent, courageous, imaginative, and inspiring.” (Fox) With the modern version of King Arthur, Arturia Pendragon’s personality is portrayed by Arvin Saints who says Arturia, “valued her chivalric ideals, was intelligent, and strong enough to hold her own.” (Saints) With both King Arthur and Arturia’s weaknesses being their pride. Even though Arturia Pendragon was a female, that didn’t change the fact that she was similar to King Arthur because she was King Arthur. The modern story of King Arthur follows the original story of King Arthur closely which allows the audience to see the similarities between the two stories.
During both the original and modern stories, we see the similarities between King Arthur and Arturia Pendragon. Whether that is both having the same story of becoming king and ruling Britain; to having the same personality traits as each other. Throughout the story, we saw the stories of King Arthur and Arturia Pendragon through who they associated with, their identifying factors, strengths/weaknesses, their battles, and the journey they embarked in. The modern interpretation of King Arthur faithfully followed the original story of King Arthur and allowed the audience to see how King Arthur was through a modern story. With the only difference being that Arturia Pendragon was a female instead of a male like the original story. Both original King Arthur and modern Arturia Pendragon stories follow each other closely, which allows an audience to see a story of King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table through a modern story like Arturia Pendragon in the Fate/Stay Night series.