Knight Notes: The Knight, Chapters 4-6

Chapters 4, 5, and 6: Sir Ravd, Terrible Eyes, and Seeing Something

Chapter Summary

These three chapters involve Ravd’s share of the WK. He begins Able’s instruction in the way of the knight. Able also meets Svon for the first time, and we make a visit to the village of Glennidam. Able encounters Sir Ravd and his squire, Svon, in the forest near Berthold’s hut. Some time has elapsed since Chapter 3, as we learn that Able has been to the village of Glennidam.  Ravd has been sent by Duke Marder to integrate Duke Indign’s lands into Marder’s dukedom (based in Forcetti). Ravd hires Able to be his guide.

Able agrees to take them to Glennidam, and tells Ravd that it is inhabited by bad people.  Glennidam is a shadowy reflection of the ruined Griffinsford. We later learn from Ulfa that its people have taken up the worship of the Aelf, and take part in secret ceremonies she is too embarrassed or afraid to talk about. Perhaps the “dam” in its name is a reference to damnation. We learn in The Wizard that Griffinsford was apparently destroyed by Setr and his allies for refusing to renounce the gods of Skai.  The Griffins of legend were servants of the gods, and considered noble creatures.  The people of Glennidam also trade with the Free Companies, who are essentially bandits.

Able is fascinated by Ravd, and tells him of his desire to be a knight.  Ravd is impressed by Able’s character, and acknowledges that Able is “nearly” a knight already, maybe in terms of his desire, character, etc. He tells Able that “honor” is the quality that distinguishes a knight. Svon is unimpressed by Able, and mocks him out of his own insecurity.  They scuffle, and Svon runs off into the woods. Svon plans to kill Able with his dagger, but is captured by Aelf who have been watching over him. The Aelf threaten Svon, and then send him back to Ravd’s campsite with a message.  Ravd gets the story out of him, and Svon tells Able that the message is that his playmate (Disiri) is watching out for him. Ravd shares that Arnthor is King of Celidon, and that both the King and Princess Morcaine were born in Aelfrice.

In Chapter 6, the party arrives in Glennidam. The inhabitants are invited to take a new oath of allegiance to Duke Marder.  Ravd begins to question the villagers in private to learn more about the Free Companies and their location.   Ravd sends Able to find Disira, who is the wife of the villager who is their main contact with the Free Companies. Able starts calling her name, and then follows something into the forest.

The Idea Of Honor

Honor is sometimes a controversial concept, and not everyone has the same definition.  We read about men killing their daughters because they were dishonored by dating or touching other men. These are called “honor killings.” So it’s probably good to clarify what the WK means by honor. Ravd asks Able to describe what honor is. Able offers strength and wisdom. Ravd says this is close, and expands on it:

• Honor is a code of conduct that governs a knight’s behavior
• It includes a courage and self-sacrifice, as a knight will fight to preserve his honor, even against insurmountable odds
• It involves keeping your word to others, even when they are not honorable.

The Sword in the Stone

The Ravd, Svon, Able grouping is an allusion to events in T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone.  This book is about Arthur’s early years, and here Ravd is Sir Ector, Svon is Kay, and Able is Arthur (or Wart).  Kay and Arthur squabble, like Able and Svon squabble. Ector is a foster father to Arthur, and Ravd is almost a foster father to Able for the few days he knows him.

Svon losing his sword is an allusion to Sir Kay losing/breaking his sword right before a tournament in The Sword in the Stone.  Able holding Ravd’s sword is an allusion to Arthur/Wart drawing Excalibur from the stone.

Greek Mythology

Ravd’s mythological counterpart is the centaur Chiron.  Chiron was known for being a tutor and caregiver to many of the Greek heroes in their youth. Especially those that are alluded to in the WK: Heracles, Theseus, Perseus, etc. He was the most revered centaur of Greek myth.  A centaur is not that unlike the mounted knight. And Able considered Ravd the best knight he ever met.

For purposes of this post, the most interesting story involves the Greek hero Peleus, the father of Achilles. Peleus was out in the woods one evening, and his companion hid his sword. When he awoke, he went looking for it, and was caught by centaurs. Chiron saved him and returned his sword. This incident is alluded to in the WK when Svon and Able fight, Able tosses his sword, and Svon is then taken prisoner by the Aelf. Svon then finds his sword in Ravd’s presence.

Robin Hood

Some of the Robin Hood elements appear in these chapters. Svon refers to Able and Berthold as possible “outlaws.”  Glennidam is the equivalent of Nottingham, and the surrounding forests of the north are Sherwood.  GW later gives a clue to the presence of the Robin Hood legend by calling Marder’s castle “Sheerwall”. Sheerwall = Sherwood.

A supporting bit of evidence for Glennidam as Nottingham is the presence of Seaxneat, the most important man of the village. Seaxneat is a Saxon name, and he was the god of the Saxon people. Seaxneat is also known as Saxnot, and Nottingham was believed to have been founded by a Saxon chieftain named Snot. Saxnot = Snot.

Jer is the Sheriff of Nottingham, the leader of a group that preyed on the poor and weak, like the Free Companies.   If you look at the Wikipedia entry for the Sheriff, one of the historical basis for the Sheriff was named Roger De Laci. Jer = Roger. Every named person in the WK has one or more intended counterparts in mythology, folklore, etc.

I think Svon’s Robin Hood counterpart is Will Scarlet, but I am not confident about this one. Svon does have red pants, like the color scarlet. Scarlet, like Svon, is portrayed as a young man, and skilled swordsman in some forms of the tale. Scarlet also fights a giant in one of the stories, and Svon fights giants in the trial by combat.

Glennidam (version 1.1 addition)

I have linked Glennidam to Nottingham.  However, I think there is one other source for its name: Gehenna.   Gehenna was a location outside Jerusalem, and a site where some apostate Israelites sacrificed children to various Caananite gods like Moloch.  Gehenna in Yiddish is spelled Gehinnam, or Gehinnhom in Rabbinical Hebrew.   In the Gospels Christ equated Gehenna with hell, or a place of damnation.  The spelling is very similar.

We learn from Ulfa that the residents of Glennidam engage in rituals and offer worship to Garsceg, and she won’t speak of what they do.  Perhaps child sacrifice, like those of Gehenna? I think this is another case where GW is able to use a name to allude to multiple people or locations from literature, the Bible, etc.

Christian Allegory and Svon

I think Svon is a counterpart to Saul/Paul. Svon is an enemy of Able initially, and they come to blows twice.  He then changes during the mission to Utgard and becomes one of his strongest allies.  Similarly, Saul/Paul was an early opponent of the Christian church.

Svon being knocked off his horse by Toug may be the version of Saul being knocked to the earth by the light of God.  Saul is temporarily blinded during his conversion, while Svon suffers a broken nose.  Svon looks in a mirror after he is struck, perhaps reflecting an interior examination that Saul underwent.  Svon becomes an ally of Able after he died, as Paul became an ally after Christ was crucified. Paul’s saint symbol was a sword, and Svon is a great swordsman.  Svon goes off to live with Idnn in her new kingdom after the events of the WK, like Paul becoming an apostle to the Roman Empire. I will revisit this in another post.

Christian Allegory as it Pertains to Ravd

While I’ve associated Ravd to Chiron and Sir Ector, I think most of the main characters in the WK also have a counterpart in the Bible or early Church history. Does Ravd correspond with anyone? The closest match is John the Baptist.  John lived in the wilderness, baptized people, and encountered Christ at the beginning of his public ministry. He was then killed shortly after this.

Able encounters Ravd in the wilderness. Ravd demanding oaths of the people of Glennidam to a new duke is akin to John baptizing people into a new faith.  One of the women is crying throughout her interrogation by Ravd, perhaps calling to mind the plunge into the River Jordan.  Ravd begins Able’s instruction, sort of like John preparing the ground for Jesus’s ministry. Ravd’s colors are red and gold. John was known for his camel hair shirt and eating honey. The paintings of John the Baptist often have him wearing a red cloak, a symbol of martyrdom. So Ravd’s red and gold colors may be a reference to the camel/honey (goldish) and red associated with John.

John the Baptist by Juan de Jaunes, from wikipedia

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Knight Notes: The Knight, Chapters 2-3

Chapters 2 & 3: The Ruined Town and Spiny Orange

Summary

In these chapters Able travels from Bluestone Island to Irringsmouth. He then ventures into the wilderness and meets Bold Berthold. Berthold takes him to the ruins of the village of Griffinsford. These chapters serve to educate Able, and the reader, about the land of Celidon, the world of Mythgarthr, and the cosmology of the WK universe.

First, Able learns about spiny orange (SO), and that his cutting a SO branch (which becomes his bow) apparently triggered his capture by the Moss Aelf.  I think Disiri acted opportunistically when her Mossmen presented him as a prisoner. The real Able had (apparently) died recently, and they needed a replacement.  It was probably the Most High God  that allowed/caused Art Ormsby to travel to Mythgarthr from Earth as his agent.

Second, we learn about the external threats to Celidon, the Osterlings and the Frost Giants. The Osterlings destroyed Bluestone Castle, slew Duke Indign, and burned part of Irringsmouth.  The Osterlings have an uncanny quality, gorging on flesh to regain their lost humanity. This may be related to their sacrifice to the dragons. They are almost undergoing a devolution, or dehumanization due to their evil acts.

The Frost Giants raid northern Celidon during colder weather, killing many and carrying off prisoners into slavery. The Angrborn are party based on the Jotuns of Norse Myths.  GW uses names for them, like Thrym, that come from Norse legends. In behavior and personality they seem closer to the brutal, stupid giants of the Jack the Giant Killer stories.  I think there is probably one other basis for the never loved giants, but it’s too sad to talk about, and I am not going to bring it up in this blog series.

Third, Berthold begins Able’s education about the WK cosmology. There are seven worlds. Skai is the world above Mythgarthr, where the Castle is. Aelfrice is the world below, where the Aelf live. This system is roughly based on the nine worlds of Norse legend. It also reminds me of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Elysion reminds me of the Comedy’s Empyrean level.

Able’s Bowstring

Able’s bowstring, given by Parka, is related to the lives of people from America. In the opening sentences of Chapter 2, the voices of the string are apparently already speaking to him, as it will do throughout the WK. The bowstring’s mythological counterpart may, in part, be Mimir’s head from Norse legend.  Odin carried around the head, and it allegedly spoke to him of knowledge of other worlds.

It may also be related to the Norse concept of magic, or Seidr, meaning sorcery. According to Wikipedia, seidr can be translated as “cord” or “string.”  A related concept is “galdr” or the casting of spells.  Galdr is related to the word “sing” and Able describes the bowstring as singing at times.

I think the bowstring is also a reference to Ariadne’s string from the legend of Theseus.  Theseus uses the string to find his way out of the lair of the Minotaur.  The minotaur is killed by sword, but in Pindar’s version, Theseus strangled it.  In The Wizard, Setr is strangled by Able’s bowstring, at the hands of Vil.

Additionally, the string is also an allusion to the Lyre of Orpheus. Several times during The Wizard Able describes the string as singing underneath his fingers. Orpheus is one of the Greek heroes Able is playing in this drama. Disiri is his love Eurydice, one of her many identities in the WK (there is a post focusing on Disiri near the end of this series).

Finally, the bowstring may be GW’s tribute to his readers. Its made up of lives of people in America, from a variety of backgrounds.  Maybe its a meta-commentary on how its his readers that truly empower his stories.

The Three Seeds

The Jack the Giant Killer and Jack and the Beanstalk legends are repeatedly alluded to throughout the WK.  The SO seeds are in part, the magic beans of the Beanstalk legend. Able returning to Griffinsford with the SO seeds is like Jack coming home without the cow or the gold. Able plants the seeds, and his adventures follow shortly thereafter. He later makes his lance from a spiny orange tree.

Time Travel

Able sees his future self watching him on Bluestone Island. Michael (Chapter 44, The Knight) later confirms that this is older self, and that the older Sir Able “called him” to Mythgarthr. In The Wizard, it appears to be stated that Able viewed himself on Bluestone Island after drinking from Mimir’s well in Skai. This may be a reference to time having a cyclical nature.  Time will be referenced again later in the WK.

The Blue Boar

This was Duke Indign’s badge.  I discussed the apparent Elizabethan era reference in the prior post on Edmund Spenser and The Faerie Queene.

Bold Berthold and Family

Berthold has been permanently handicapped by his injuries from the Frost Giants. By the end of Chapter 3 he thinks Art/Able is the real Able. We learn that the real Able had gone away years ago, and that Mag was their mother. At the end of Chapter 3, Able implies that Parka giving him this name and his finding Berthold was the Most High God’s way of helping this particular family.

We later learn from Mag (in The Wizard) that Bold Berthold and his father had led the resistance to the Dragons efforts to get Griffinsford to abandon their faith in the gods of Skai.  Griffinsford was a battle ground in their efforts to overturn the cosmology of the WK.

Berthold is playing a variety of roles from literature and mythology. Primarily, he is the Merlin figure of the WK, based on T.H. White’s Merlin of The Once and Future King.  He is old and frail at the beginning of the WK, but becomes young at the end. White’s Merlin also aged backward in time.

A minor role is that of Gilbert Whitehand, one of Robin Hood’s Merry Men. Gilbert is a minor figure. In one version of the story, he acted as a foster father to the orphaned Robin Hood. That role and the name similarity (Berthold/Gilbert) lead me to believe that he is also Gilbert. Like the Arthurian legend, I believe that GW is using at least one character from the WK to allude to every named figure in the Robin Hood mythology.

Place Names

Celidon

This is the name of the kingdom Able arrives in. I agree with MAD  that this is an adaptation of Caledonia, which was a name the Romans gave to Scotland.  There is a Scottish flavor to much of the WK.  Some historians believe that the King Arthur legend had a Scottish origin.  The Norse people also settled and controlled parts of Scotland for extended periods during the Middle Ages. Celidon has a “sea blue” flag, and Scotland has a flag where blue is the dominant color.

There was a mythological river “Celadon” that Hercules crossed during one of his labors. Given that Able seems to be partly based on Hercules legend, this may be an example of GW using a single name to reference multiple ideas, legends, etc.

Irring River & Irringsmouth: Color Symbolism

MAD suggested that these names might be based on the Irren, a river in Germany. Given the other Scottish references (Celidon, Scaur, etc.), I am going to propose that Irren is based on the River Irvine of Scotland.  One support for this is that the word Irvine/Irving has been thought  to have its origins in the Brythonic word “irafon” meaning “green water.”   This would track with GW’s past use of RBG primary color symbolism. Once again we have a blue-green-red trinity: Bluestone Castle and the Green Water river.  We meet a Sir Ravd of Redhall in the next chapter.  In my prior post on color symbolism, I have suggested that the blue-green pairing used in the Sun books is actually a red, blue, and green trinity, which are the primary colors in the RBG color system. The three primaries make white, which can be associated with the divine or the Holy Trinity.

Additionally, the Griffin river flows into the Irring, and the Griffin is white colored in the WK.

Parka’s Cave, Bluestone Castle and Bluestone Island

I assumed that GW was alluding to something from literature or mythology with Bluestone Island.  It stumped me for a long time. However, I think that these locations are actually allusions to Tintagel Castle, which is on Tintagel Island, and Merlin’s Cave, also there.

Tintagel Island is connected by a strip of land to the mainland, like Bluestone Island. There is a ruined medieval castle on Tintagel, and archaeologists have found artifacts there dating back to the Roman period in British history.   Tintagel Island is also strongly associated with the Arthurian legend in various works, including those of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Sir Thomas Malory.  I think GW has one additional source for Bluestone Island, which I will discuss in the post about Ulfa and Toug.

In Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, a long series of poems about King Arthur, an infant Arthur arrives on the waves and is gathered up by Merlin at this sea cave on Tintagel Island.  Since GW is acknowledging nearly every well known literary exploration of the King Arthur legend in the WK, it seems appropriate that he give a nod to this work by Alfred Tennyson. There are plenty of nice photos on the web of the island and the cave.

So I think the use of the word “Bluestone” was a clue to lead a reader to the Merlin’s Cave story.  Stonehenge may be the most famous structure in the world associated with bluestone, and in some legends Merlin built it using his magic.

Christian Allegory

Able’s first human contact in Celidon is with two fishermen, Scaur and an unnamed brother. Simon (Peter) and his brother Andrew were among the first of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus, and were both fishermen.  MAD, in his WKC, says that “Scaur” is based on a Scottish word (“skerry”) for a rock in the sea.  Jesus gave Simon his more famous name, Peter, which means “Rock.”  Able meeting a fisherman named Scaur/Rock is another hint by GW that this is a Christian Allegory, and Able is playing a Christ like role.

While I have suggested that Berthold is partly based on Merlin of the Arthurian legends, I think Berthold may also be intended to be a version of the James the Just of the Bible.  The Bible references Jesus having one or more brothers, (a James is identified sometimes) though scholars and theologians have not conclusively agreed whether these were cousins, step-brothers, half-brothers, etc. A James becomes an important figure in the early church after Christ’s ascension, and Berthold is apparently an important military figure in Celidon after Able leaves (e.g. he slays King Schildstarr of the giants).  James the Just is allegedly stoned to death, and dies from a head wound. Berthold says he suffered his critical head injury from a stone thrown by the giants.

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Knight Notes: So What’s It All About?

In previous posts I’ve identified influences in the WK and some of the themes GW explores.  But what’s the overall purpose?  The WK can be read in various ways, and in varying depths:

• Its a boy meets girl, boy loses girls, boy gets girl back narrative. Able’s pursuit of Disiri is the central thread of the story.
• Its Joseph Campbell “hero’s journey.” Able is a representation of the “Hero with a Thousand Faces“, and this is GW’s version of the mono myth.
• Its GW’s tribute/acknowledgement/homage to some of his and our culture’s prominent literary and cultural influences: Lord Dunsany, Sir Walter Scott, George MacDonald, T.H. White, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Tennyson, Edmund Spenser, Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant comic strip, movies about King Arthur, etc.
• Not only is it his version of the monomyth, but GW also weaves into the WK the actual stories of famous heroes, including Lancelot, Heracles, Odysseus, Theseus, Beowulf, Perseus, Bellerophon, Cadmus, Oedipus, Orpheus, Jack the Giant Killer, Robin Hood, and maybe others.  The name of the world Able visits, Mythgarthr, could arguably be translated as “Myth World”, or a land inhabited by living myths.
• At a deeper level, the WK is a Christian allegory, somewhat like Pilgrim’s Progress, the Divine Comedy or C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. Able is a distant echo of Christ who undergoes a process of theosis and serves as an agent of a higher power to set right a broken world. GW uses Greek, Norse and other mythologies, and Arthurian legends, to code the elements of the allegory into his tale.  The events Able experiences and people he meets match up with the events and people from the story of Jesus in the Gospels and other books the New Testament. Please note that the allusions to events in the New Testament in the WK don’t happen in the same chronological order that they do in the Gospel stories.
• At its most mystic level, the WK is a parable of Men and Women, our mutual estrangement, and the hope of reconciliation.  GW alludes to and uses the Divine Comedy, Greek mythology, the Kabbalah, and color symbolism in communicating this theme.
• Finally, there are faint traces of GW’s biography in the WK.  The War with Osterland is partly based on the Korean War, similar to what he did with The Book of the New Sun.

All of the above are true, but the story can be enjoyed by a reader who only perceives the first few levels. Its the “rereading with pleasure” that allowed me to discover the remaining themes.

This is an incredibly dense book, with each character representing mulitple allusions to folklore, mythology and literature.  I don’t expect a reader to agree with everything I propose. But I would encourage a new or young reader of GW to hold the image of a layer cake in their mind when reading his books. There are usually multiple stories or narratives stacked on top of each other, like the different levels of a layer cake.  If you find yourself strongly disagreeing with another reader’s theory of a GW book, consider the possibility that you are both right.

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