okay now I can’t help but imagine Malory as Sebastian Stan like
“gotta throw in all the characters!!”
omg as a HUGE NERD who discovered Irish mythology as a wee kidlet and then as a teen discovered why “primary sources” are totally different from Lady Freaking Gregory and Yeats and SERIOUSLY PAY ATTENTION TO WHO TRANSLATED STUFF (AND ADDED/REMOVED BITS FOR LOLZ) VERSUS WHO WROTE SHIT DOWN COS IT WAS ALL VERBAL AND 27 DIFF VERSIONS OF THE SAME SHIT EXISTS DEPENDING ON HOW MANY MILES APART THE PEOPLE WERE and by 16 I had already read EVERYTHING I COULD GET MY HANDS ON about Celtic folklore and mythology all over Europe and no-one prepared me for The Mabinogion and shit, but I read IT ALL, including hilariously dodgy ‘scholarly’ books by Jon & Caitlin Matthews like there are no words I cannot even and it made The Mists of Avalon look totes legit and FYI wow so not.
Then when I was at uni I LOVED taking Arthurian Lit so much I TOOK THE SAME CLASS TWICE cos Leslie Donovan changed up the book list the 2nd time and then 10 years later watching people be confused as fuck when Merlin happened and having to explain to them “no, seriously, you don’t understand–Morgana wasn’t Arthur’s sister until way later, originally it was unclear WHO actually died at Camlann–Mordred or Arthur or who was even like the bad guy there–and all the shit you keep referring to is 20th century poetry or novels or the goddam Disney movie omg here’s all the Pre-Geoffrey Monmouth History of Britain Welsh stuff before the French got ahold of it GODDAM FUCKING BRITTANY ok no really, it makes total sense in context and THOSE WACKY NORMANS added Lancelot and shit to make Eleanor of Aquitaine’s court laugh and OMG LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT 8TH CENTURY MONKS THEY’RE HILARIOUS” and let’s face it, no-one was prepared for that shit. IT WAS AWESOME.
Also, The Romance of Arthur is the best fucking book ever. I have the 1994 edition, and clearly need to find the 2013 expanded edition omg I didn’t even know it existed.
Katherine Crighton 