Galahad - Blog Posts

Veronica Whall’s stained glass depiction of Galahad ascending, with Bors, the Grail Maiden, and eight angels, from King Arthur’s Great Halls at Tintagel

Arthurian Quotes I Love, pt. ?

“The music of the sword of the High-king of the World”. I love that phrase. Given that this is TSotCED, it could be poetic imagery or an actual, magical singing sword, but either way, I think it’s beautiful, and so is Lancelot recognizing Bhalbhuaidh by the sound of a weapon which Arthur lent him for his quest. Here, Galahad/Bhalbhuaidh, who might actually be intended to be Gawain, is not said to be Lancelot’s son and was fostered by Arthur (who is the High-king of the World, not only Britain or Logres). That Arthur raised him and gave him the sword, that Arthur sent Lancelot to lead the search party for his ward, and that Lancelot was immediately able to recognize him by the sound alone says a lot about how close to Arthur both of them are and how they slot into the court in general. You get so much from that one phrase.

The bit at the end about the Knight of the Lantern being able to fly like a bird is only a plus.

Arthurian characters I interpret as acespec:

Galahad, the Grail Heroine, and Bors: They generally have no apparent trouble or qualms with the eternal chastity thing (except Bors when he gets cursed, but he gets cursed).

Brangaine: In La Tavola Ritonda, she tells Gouvernail that she never wants to have sexual relationships, and in a text I haven't yet read or been able to identify, she apparently stops Kahedin from sleeping with her by using a magic pillow to make him fall asleep, a role which is Camille's in Kaherdin and Camille.

Dinadan: In LTR, they call him the Wise Man Who Does Not Love, and while he has a romantic interest in LTR, their relationship isn't sexual. To the best of my knowledge, he has no other romantic interest and no sexual relationship in all of medlit and pretty much always scorns both concepts. Usually aro, demiromantic in one text, and always ace.

Lucan: It's not anything he says or does, but unless you count the actions of Lucano the evil half-giant half-lion in LTR, he doesn't have any romantic and/or sexual relationships in any medlit I know of. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but in my mind, he's on the aro and ace spectrums.

Happy Ace Week to all who celebrate!

Edit: I had somehow left out Dinadan, who I originally meant to include a picture of. I guess you could say he's implicit. Truly one of the aroace icons of all time. He ran so Jughead could also run.

Veronica Whall’s depiction of Galahad ascending, from King Arthur’s Great Halls at Tintagel

A few things which are “canon” somewhere for people who are worried they’re stretching it too far

Arthur was killed by a giant cat.* 

Arthur killed the cat.

Arthur didn’t fight the cat. Kay did.

Kay and Bedivere use salmon as taxis. 

Lucan is half giant, half lion. (This Lucan, Lucano in the original Italian, is evil and not related to Bedivere). 

King Arthur raided the land of the dead.

The human knight Caradoc Briefbras has three half siblings: a dog, a horse, and a pig.

A large portion of Arthur’s troops was killed a while before Badon by his nephew’s attack ravens in self-defense. Arthur and said nephew were playing chess at the time and neither did much to stop it. [Edit: before Badon, not Camlann, which has apparently already happened despite Arthur and Mordred being alive]

Merlin retired peacefully and went to live in the countryside with his also-magic sister Ganieda, Taliesin, and another of their friends. [Edited]

Wherever Arthur walks, plants die. They don’t grow back for years.

Arthur had a spunky (half?) brother who died in battle after making a mysterious oath.

Dagonet is more or less able to run the kingdom when Arthur is gone. His biggest error is overspending on mercenaries.

Guinevere has an evil almost identical twin half-sister.

Hector beat up all the best knights except for Galahad while possessed by a demon.

Gawain plays tennis.

Gawain has used a chessboard as a weapon.

Near the start of his reign, Arthur left Lot in charge of the kingdom and went on a quest with a sassy parrot.

Gawain or Galahad succeeded Arthur as king.** 

*Whether or not this is canon anywhere is a somewhat meta matter. André de Coutance complains that the story that Chapalu/Cath Palug killed King Arthur and conquered England is a slanderous lie while also implying it's widely circulated. He's saying that it's canon in other places and also that it's wrong. As far as I know, no other text mentions a tradition where the cat kills the king.

**Not in different texts--Bhalbhuaidh is either Irish Gawain or Irish Galahad.

Made fancy tea for my mom for Mother's Day. Mom served as the model for Mrs. Whitaker in my adaptation of Neil Gaiman's CHIVALRY graphic novel You can also see the china I used in the book. It's my favorite pattern.

Dindrane: claimed I could remember my unborn sibling from Heaven, then gave a description of said sibling which turned out to be accurate 

Taliesin: went outside during a lightning storm and tried to fly away by using a Mary Poppins umbrella to catch the wind while making dramatic poetic declarations (I got about two feet in the air)

Sebile: tried to practice necromancy to talk to a dead Monarch butterfly

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This isn’t something I did, but an evangelical organization once showed up at my family’s house to see whether one of us was the Messiah, and that seems pretty Galahad-esque.

arthurian legend characters as weird things i did as a kid

Arthur: created clubs for the sole purpose of making myself in charge of them

Guinevere: played barbies, but the plot of the game was that they were fighting in world war iii

Lancelot: pretended to be an exterminator by spraying actual hornets with a hose, and somehow not getting stung, against all odds

Gawain: held stair-jumping competitions, and regularly jumped down around 10 stairs at a time

Merlin: designated a particular tree branch for reading and refused to let anyone climb this branch

Gaheris: held ‘screaming contests’ in my backyard to which invited my friends (this is exactly what it sounds like and it was banned by my mother immediately)

Dinadan: eaten spaghetti while riding a bike

Galahad: made a graveyard for bugs

Morgana: recruited a friend’s little brother to spy on said friend because she wasn’t talking to me

Mordred: accidentally made a gallon of poison

any platonic ships?

I like the wacky friendship between Galahad and the Grail Heroine. They’re both such weirdos (affectionate) that he thinks nothing of wearing a belt which she made of her own hair which she had previously been carrying around in a box because she had a prophecy. He needed a belt. She had hair. That’s just how they are. 

When it comes to not-canon-anywhere friendships in not-canon-anywhere timelines, I think that it would be entertaining if Galahad was also friends with Mordred but either Galahad strenuously denied it to himself until he couldn’t any longer or was somehow unaware of or unable to comprehend the absolute havoc wreaked by his friend.

Propaganda:

I generally interpret Galahad as aroace. That being said, if he wasn’t and Galadred were a thing, I think it could save the Round Table. Being in a relationship might stop Galahad from going on the Grail quest, which would stop a great number of people from dying, and having a very Catholic boyfriend might stop Mordred from participating in some of his more dubious hobbies, like plotting murder.

The Grail Heroine leading Galahad to the ship, where Percival and Bors wait

Stained glass by Veronica Whall for King Arthur’s Great Halls at Tintagel

Arthurian hot takes from before I joined the fandom

Funny story: the way I got into this fandom was a seventh-grade assignment to write an alliterative paragraph using the letter G. Something clicked (or snapped, however you want to look at it) and though I’d never given much thought to the Round Table before, I wrote a paragraph about Gawain, which spiraled into a chapter, which spiraled into an attempt at a novel, which spiraled into a neverending research wormhole and long term fixation. Older and at least a little wiser, I give you ten of my original takes on the characters and how they seem in retrospect.

Guinevere doesn’t really do anything. In my defense, my knowledge of her mostly came from watching the first half of an amateur production of Camelot, which is bound to give anyone the wrong idea.

Mordred is a socially awkward evil wizard. In my book, he made a number of cartoonish villain speeches, mostly to his long-suffering familiar, since no one else would listen. No, I have no idea why I thought he had magic… Is it awful that I kind of like him that way?

Arthur is perfect. Uh…

Gawain is perfect. Uh….

Lancelot is an absolute monster. My version of him was a mix of a guy who bullied me and the god Ares as depicted in D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. Needless to say, he did not have an affair with Guinevere, because she would never cheat on Arthur, because only morally pure characters are good, and she is secretly awesome, even though most people think she doesn’t do anything… Uh… Yeah. I was wrong.

Agravaine is mildly aggravating. Gareth and Gaheris are just sort of there and uninteresting. This opinion was derived entirely from their names.

Morgause is an evil witch but has great style. That sounds more like Morgan.

Morgan is a terrible name. I debated renaming her Marianne or Meredith. Yes, I have seen the error of my ways.

Galahad is a rustic himbo. That was the vibe I got from the name “Gallahad”.

The Lady of the Lake is awesome. I stand by this one and always will.

“The Elder Knight” by Dorothy L. Sayers

Note: the speaker is Galahad; the elder knight is Lancelot. This poem is one of my favorites. It’s unusual in that its version of Galahad is really, really spiteful, and the ending is unforgettable.   I.

I have met you foot to foot, I have fought you face to face,

I have held my own against you and lost no inch of place,

    And you shall never see

    How you have broken me.

You sheathed your sword in the dawn, and you smiled with careless eyes,

Saying "Merrily struck, my son, I think you may have your prize."

    Nor saw how each hard breath

    Was painfully snatched from death.

I held my head like a rock; I offered to joust again,

Though I shook, and my palsied hand could hardly cling to the rein;

    Did you curse my insolence

    And over-confidence?

You have ridden, lusty and fresh, to the morrow's tournament;

I am buffeted, beaten, sick at the heart and spent.—

    Yet, as God my speed be

    I will fight you again if need be.

               II.

A white cloud running under the moon

   And three stars over the poplar-trees,

Night deepens into her lambent noon;

   God holds the world between His knees;

Yesterday it was washed with the rain,

But now it is clean and clear again.

Your hands were strong to buffet me,

   But, when my plume was in the dust,

Most kind for comfort verily;

   Success rides blown with restless lust;

Herein is all the peace of heaven:

To know we have failed and are forgiven.

The brown, rain-scented garden beds

   Are waiting for the next year's roses;

The poplars wag mysterious heads,

   For the pleasant secret each discloses

To his neighbour, makes them nod, and nod—

So safe is the world on the knees of God.

             III.

I have the road before me; never again

   Will I be angry at the practised thrust

That flicked my fingers from the lordly rein

   To scratch and scrabble among the rolling dust.

I never will be angry — though your spear

   Bit through the pauldron, shattered the camail,

Before I crossed a steed, through many a year

   Battle on battle taught you how to fail.

Can you remember how the morning star

   Winked through the chapel window, when the day

Called you from vigil to delights of war

   With such loud jollity, you could not pray?

Pray now, Lord Lancelot; your hands are hard

   With the rough hilts; great power is in your eyes,

Great confidence; you are not newly scarred,

   And conquer gravely now without surprise.

Pray now, my master; you have still the joy

   Of work done perfectly; remember not

The dizzying bliss that smote you when, a boy,

   You faced some better man, Lord Lancelot.

Pray now — and look not on my radiant face,

   Breaking victorious from the bloody grips—

Too young to speak in quiet prayer or praise

   For the strong laughter bubbling to my lips.

Angry? because I scarce know how to stand,

   Gasping and reeling against the gates of death,

While, with the shaft yet whole within your hand,

   You smile at me with undisordered breath?

Not I — not I that have the dawn and dew,

   Wind, and the golden shore, and silver foam —

I that here pass and bid good-bye to you —

   For I ride forward — you are going home.

Truly I am your debtor for this hour

   Of rough and tumble — debtor for some good tricks

Of tourney-craft; — yet see how, flower on flower,

   The hedgerows blossom! How the perfumes mix

Of field and forest! — I must hasten on —

   The clover scent blows like a flag unfurled;

When you are dead, or aged and alone,

   I shall be foremost knight in all the world —

My world, not yours, beneath the morning's gold,

   My hazardous world, where skies and seas are blue;

Here is my hand. Maybe, when I am old,

   I shall remember you, and pray for you.

I know people clown the erect codpiece in plate armor but . personally. Sitting on a knight’s lap and grinding on this would uhhhhh

Sir Galahad from Arthurian Legend.

The red part of his outfit is a Gambeson, a type of padded fabric armour worn by itself or under metal plate armour. ^_^

(I'm also slightly proud of how weird that sword hilt design ended up.)

The Greatest Showman AU (I might write this)

Characters/Who's who:

Flynn- PT Barnum

Eve- Charity Barnum

Jacob- Phillip Carlyle

Ezekiel- Anne Wheeler

Cassandra- Lettie Lutz (bearded lady)

Jenkins- Constantine (the man with 1000 tattoos)

Nicole- Jenny Lind

Songs:

A million dreams: As kidsFlynn talks to Eve about all the dreams he has about their future. He shows her an abandoned house and they play around in it. Flash forward, Flynn comes to admit his love to her and she's done with finishing school. They get a home together in the city. He continues to talk to her about the future they'll have.

In between that and come alive, he looses his job, buys a museum and ends up turning it into a house of curiosities.

Come Alive: He's encouraging these people to be proud of their oddities. Charles Stratton is the first, followed by Cassandra, the bearded lady and the Lord of Leeds. Then that night during the show, there are a couple more acts. The trapeze artists, Ezekiel and a close friend Alec Hardison (this is foreshadowing for a oneshot I'm gonna write) soar through the air.

The other side: Flynn meets Jacob Stone, a rich man who writes plays and has his fathers inheritance. He offers him a drink and Jacob doesn't refuse. Flynn offers him a job, "take the key and see the other side." Jacob turns him down. "I'm okay with the uptown part I get to play. I don't need to see the other side." Flynn watches him go and stands to follow. "Is this how you spend your days, whiskey, misery, a lifetime of plays? No joy or laughter? I guess I'll lab it up to you~" Jacob joins him on the other side.

In between other side and never enough. He goes with Flynn to the circus and they end up in a boothe and comes fave of face wit a gorgeous, exotic man has he is flying on the trapeze. "Who is he?" "That's Ezekiel Jones, one of many trapeze artists. Though he is the best."

Still dumbstruck, he follows Flynn down the stairs and comes face to face with Ezekiel again. "Ezekiel, Alec, meet Jacob Stone. Hell be joining us from now on."

Ezekiel steps towards him, but Alec is staring him down. "What's your act, Mr. Stone?" His accent has Jacob even more dazed.

"I uh... Don't have an act." "Everyone's got an act."

Jacob manages to get the entire troupe to London to meet the queen. He still has connections even though he lost all his inheritance.

They met Nicole Noone and Flynn is awestruck by her. And maybe she can sing.

Never Enough- Nicole sings her opera about nothing being enough for her. Jacob stands with the troupe because he's come to respect them. During the part where she days take my hand. Share this moment with me, Jacob take Ezekiel's hand but drops it when people look back at them. Ezekiel walks away. (FYI they're back in America)

Before This is Me, Flynn I'd introducing Nicole to Eve. Then he brags to Eve's old family about being successful like her dad said he wouldn't. Then he leaves the troupe in the back hallways.

This is Me- Cassandra lifts everyone's spirits. They go into the room anyways. Then they go past the protesters outside the circus. The whole group going "I'm not scared to be seen, I make no apologies. This is me" At the protestors. Then it's showtime. They're singing. Ezekiel makes eye contact with Jacob in one of the rooms above the seats. "I make no apologies. This is me" And that's stomped into the ground.

Before rewrite the stars, Jacob goes to meet Ezekiel at the playhouse. Ezekiel us trying to refuse the two tickets. Jacob shows up. "I wasn't sure you'd show up if I had asked." They go in and are walking up the stairs, arm in arm. "Jacob?" It's his dad. He insults Ezekiel and caused him to run off. Jacob tells off his dad before going after Ezekiel.

"Who cares what they think?"

"You don't get it." Ezekiel looks ready to cry. "You've never been looked at they way your dad looked at me."

Rewrite the stars: Jacob talks about rewriting the stars. Ezekiel and him are meant to be. "You're my destiny." He's trying to keep Ezekiel down at his level as they talk, but he keeps going up into the air in the trapeze. Ezekiel talks about how it's not easy. How they can't be together. "No one can rewrite the stars." They both begin to do the trapeze together, but at the end, they're nearing a kiss and Ezekiel pulls away. "You know I want you, but we're bound to break and my hands are tied. "

Before tightrope: Jacob is trying to talk sense into Flynn about staying and not going on tour with Nicole. He's not listening. He never listens. Flynn is staying goodbye before climbing into a carriage with Nicole to go on tour.

Tightrope- Eve sings about everything she's ever done, she's done it to be with Flynn. "Life's an adventure with a breath taking view. Walking a tightrope with you."

Before from now on, Flynn almost kisses Nicole, then he does and reporters catch pictures of it. There's a fire when Flynn gets back. Jacob is helping the troupe out, but realizes Ezekiel isn't with them and runs back into the burning building. Ezekiel comes back out another way. Everyone is frozen in place. Flynn goes running into the building and Eve screams for him to come back. The building collapses. Then, Flynn emerges from the fire, dragging Jacob with him. He's badly burnt and wheezing.

Ezekiel sits with him in the hospital.

Eve finds out about the kiss and their marriage is ruined.

From now on: The troupe finds Flynn in a bar. "If you've come to get paid, it won't happen." "Mr Carson," Cassandra says. "You've brought happiness into our lives... What more could we want?"

They sing about how they'll be a family from now on. Flynn goes to make things right with Eve.

Before the greatest show, Jacob wakes up and Ezekiel finally kisses him. "You're here."

Flynn makes up with Eve. It was hard for her, but she truly loved him.

Flynn comes back from the bank. They won't loan him anymore. Jacob laughs. "You being who you are, I asked for my pay weekly. I put it aside."

"I can't take your money, Jacob." Flynn now tries to be humble. Ezekiel sees through it.

"Why now are you being humble, Mr. Carson?"

They talk about it, but they won't be able to get another building.

"I can get us some land by the docks. All we need is a tent."

They greatest show: They sing about how it's the greatest show. First it'd Flynn as the ringmaster, but half way through, he turns it over to Jacob. He runs into the ring. "This is the greatest show!"

Flynn runs home to be with Eve.

That's it. That's my au.