Jul 6, 2012

Fantasy Weapons Lore: Excalibur of Arthur Pendragon

There is some confusion on the origin of one of the most famous legendary swords in history. So let’s set things straight. There are actually two swords in the legend of King Arthur and Excalibur is the second one he wielded. Excalibur was said to have been made by an Elvish smith from the island of Avalon. It was magically imbued so that nobody could defeat its owner. To aid the sword, its scabbard was also magically enchanted so that anyone wearing it would never bleed and could heal their wounds instantly.

The other sword used by Arthur Pendragon is known as the Sword in the Stone and was nothing more than an extravagant typical broadsword that was used by his father, Uther Pendragon. When Arthur was born, Uther was slain in battle. Merlin took this sword and jammed into the rock and enchanted it so that only the true heir of Uther Pendragon could pull the sword. Arthur’s half-sister, Morgan le Fay was not the heir as long as Arthur was alive and is why she never claimed the blade of her father. This is not Excalibur, despite a lot of popular movies, books and cartoons making the blades the same.

Eventually Arthur came to the sword in the stone and retrieved it, making himself the king of Britain. Merlin gave him his support and Arthur went on to gather the people under the new banner of Pendragon. That would also involve some battles as Arthur’s father was a warmonger and not very well liked by several rulers. Many lords joined with Morgan le Fay, Arthur’s half-sister, who felt cheated out of the throne by a brother she didn’t know existed.

After one battle the sword of Uther was broken. Merlin was afraid that Arthur would die before he could unite Britain and so he went to the mystical lake, climbed in a boat and rowed to the center. He asked the Lady of the Lake to lend him a weapon that would protect the king. A mysterious hand rose from the water and handed him a sword sheathed in a jeweled scabbard. Legends don’t really explain much about the mysterious Lady, but some would say she was the keeper of the weapons that were forged on Avalon. Some stories say that the Lady was a mistress of Merlin’s past and granted him the sword as a favor for her old flame.

The extravagantly ornamented sword was jeweled and the blade itself was etched with phrases and symbols of chimera. The steel was imbued magically and was indestructible. It was also sharpened like a razor and because of its strength, could slice through anything as if it was made of butter, including other swords. Sometimes the blade would burn bright and blind all that faced it. The scabbard kept the wielder from harm when faced with ranged weapons or when faced with a superior swordsman. In short, anyone who held Excalibur and wore its scabbard was unstoppable on the battlefield.

Arthur’s half-sister was a crafty woman, and eventually stole the scabbard and tossed it into a lake to never be found again. At the Battle of Camlann, Arthur was mortally wounded by Mordred and entrusted one of his knights to return Excalibur to the lake. The knight struggled with this idea, thinking it a waste to throw such a fine blade away. After several attempts, Arthur finally convinced him to toss it in the lake and the knight returned with the story that a woman’s hand rose out of the lake and caught Excalibur by the hilt and then lowered it into the water. Excalibur was never seen again.

I hope you have enjoyed this installment of Fantasy Weapons Weekly. Click here to view the catalog of all the fantasy weapons I’ve written about.

6 comments:

  1. Such cool info! I love these Arthurian legends. Thanks for another great installment, Tim. :-)

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    1. Some of the best stories and books are redos of King Arthur. It's a great romantic story full of magic and monsters.

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  2. Huh! I'm one of those who labored under the "one sword" misconception. Thanks for the insights. I remember reading about the scabbard and how it was lost. Funny how I missed the part about Excalibur being the second sword.

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    1. You can blame Hollywood, that's what I'm doing. I used to think they were the same for the longest time too. A lot of movies, including the classic cartoon Sword in the Stone, made them the same sword. During my research I ran across a blurb about the first time the swords were combined as one in a story was in the 1600's. Not sure how accurate that is, but still interesting to know that people have tinkered with the story for centuries.

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  3. "The scabbard kept the wielder from harm when faced with ranged weapons or when faced with a superior swordsman. In short, anyone who held Excalibur and wore its scabbard was unstoppable on the battlefield." Could be useful to avoid damage from trips and falls around the house too. :P

    I love the pictures, btw. Where are you getting the artwork for your posts?

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    1. lol, I guess it would be good for balance handicapped.

      I get most of the pictures from Photobucket and Wikipedia. Every once in a while I'll go to Deadliest Warrior's wiki when I can't find pictures on the other sites.

      I avoid other blogs or artists sites because a lot of the time they probably don't want me linking to their pics.

      Eventually, all of the weapons and warrior posts will be compiled into a downloadable pdf. When that project comes, I have an artist who is going to do new artwork for that and I'll be replacing all the artwork on those posts with his work.

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