Knight Notes: The Wizard, Chapters 31-34

This post covers the period from Able’s trial by arms through his initial imprisonment under Thortower.

Chapters 31-34: A Snack with Lord Escan, Trial By Arms, Under Thortower, My New Sword

Chapter Summaries:

Lord Escan, Queen Gaynor and Princess Morcaine contrive a ruse to get Able an audience with the King in Chapter 31. In Chapter 32, Able fights a duel with Sir Loth. He wins, and dines with the King. Able finally delivers his message from the Aelf, but Arnthor does not take kindly to it. Able is imprisoned in Thortower’s dungeon in Chapter 33, and meets the jailers.  Able gets a new sword in Chapter 34, and has another meeting with Morcaine.

The Black Hart vs. The White Hart

Able’s foe is Sir Loth, who bears a shield with a Black Elk. I think this confirms the theory that Able’s real moniker is the “High Hart”, not the “High Heart.” An elk is a member of the deer family and Loth’s elk is black. I previously suggested that Able’s true badge was a white deer, or  “White Hart.” Its another example of GW leaving clues for the reader.  Loth’s name may suggest a connection with Lothur and the most low god.

Christian Allegory: The Transfiguration

The duel with Sir Loth is the Transfiguration event of the WK. The Transfiguration is one of the key miracles of the Gospel. Jesus becomes radiant, the shades of Moses and Elijah appear, and he is called “Son” by God. The miracle is witnessed by the Apostles Peter, James, son of Zebedee, and John. Pouk, Uns and Wistan fight with Able against the dead, like Peter, James and John were at the Transfiguration. Able is assisted by the Knights of the Sword, which may be an allusion to Moses and Elijah appearing.

The clouds disperse and the sun comes out, an allusion to Jesus’s radiance, making the snow sparkle. Cloud and Gylf also fight for Able, a sign of the Most High God’s favor. Able contending with the dead for “the honor of the living” is a reference to Christ’s defeat of death by his sacrifice on the Cross.

Wistan’s New Sword

Wistan acquires a new brand of “watered” steel, which is another name for Damascus Steel. The properties of Damascus Steel were discussed by Sir Walter Scott in his novel The Talisman, which is a possible source for the Sir Leort character.

Dinner with Arnthor

Able finally gets to deliver his message from the Aelf. He encourages Arnthor to consider certain reforms, such as allowing the peasants to arm themselves for protection, and to not to tax them too much. Arnthor interrupts him, and Able does not finish his message. He is confined for disloyalty, and Eterne is taken from him. Able’s message to Arnthor may be the WK’s version of the Sermon on the Mount.

Christian Allegory: The Moneychangers in the Temple

Able’s dispute with Fiach over money and change, and his fight with the other jailers, is an allusion to Christ’s argument with the moneychangers in the Temple of the Lord.

Able’s New Sword

The Old Caan’s sword is later described as having a “thirst” for blood.  This sword appears to be a based on the legend of King Arthur’s spear, which has been named Rhongomynyad or Ron. The spear was described as “thirsty for slaughter.”

version 1.0

Knight Notes: The Wizard, Chapters 7, 9, 11, 13

These alternating chapters cover Able’s stand in the mountain passes while Beel’s embassy is at Utgard. They conclude with Idnn arriving from Utgard seeking Able’s help.

Chapters 7, 9, 11, and 13: Hela and Heimir, The First Knight, The Second Knight, The Third Knight

Chapter Summaries

In Chapter 7, Able travels south with Gylf, Cloud, Uns, Berthold and Gerda to take his stand in the passes, as he had promised Duke Marder. Able contemplates various mysteries.  Hela and Heimir introduce themselves over dinner. Uri makes an appearance, and Able sends her to Utgard. In Chapter 9, Able meets Sir Leort, and defeats him. Sir Woddet returns in Chapter 11, and Able defeats him as well.  Woddet is seriously wounded, and prayers and sacrifice are offered to save his life. Duke Marder pretends to be the Black Knight to test Able in Chapter 13.  Lady Idnn arrives at the end of Chapter 13, after a long ride from Utgard to fetch Able.

Hela

Hela has multiple counterparts in mythology and history. She is an allusion to Thecla of the New Testament Apocrypha, and Dame Ragnelle/the Loathly Lady from the stories of Sir Gawain. Hela recounts fighting off an attempted rapist, and there is a similar experience in Thecla’s story.  She is also based on some giants of Norse legend who married human heroes.

Heimir

Heimir is loosely based on Sir Sagramor.  Sagramor was from Hungary in one story, and noted for his fierceness and fighting ability. Heimir is from beyond the borders of Celidon, and prone to anger, and a strong fighter.  GW provides a clue/pun/joke to this source by having Able comment about Hemir’s hunger (he is so thin that Able can see his ribs). So Sagramor is from “Hungary”/hungry.

Sir Leort

In the earlier post on WK characters and Arthurian sources, I have linked Leort to Sir Palamedes and Sir Feirefiz.  Both were Saracen knights who joined the Round Table. GW alludes to these origins by having Leort hail from the southern  Celidon, with his manor named Sand Hill.  I think Leort is also an allusion to Sir Kenneth the Leopard Knight of The Talisman.  Able’s fight with Leort seems similar to Feirefiz’s fight with Percival.

I think the capture of Leort the Leopard Knight is also an allusion to some of the stories of Robin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford. Robin captures the Bishop and forces him to provide food for his men. Able similarly “captures” the noble Leort and makes him provide food for the party.

The Fight with Woddet

Woddet plays the role of Sir Gawain in the WK, as Able is the Lancelot character. In many versions of the Arthurian legend, as in the WK, Lancelot and Gawain have at least one fight. This is usually tied to Lancelot’s affair with Queen Guinevere.  Lancelot always wins these if I recall correctly, and sometimes Gawain is wounded or dies. Gawain dies while besieging Lancelot’s castle in The Once and Future King.

The fight may also be the WK’s version of Little John and Robin Hood’s duel with quarterstaves at the river bridge. Instead of wooden staves, they fight with wooden lances initially.

Woddet and Hela

Woddet/Gawain begins his courtship of Hela, a Dame Ragnelle figure, after he recovers.  Woddet took part in the sack of Khazneh, and has been affected by the experience of combat.

Hela cares for him after both his defeat by Able, and his later wounding by Prince Smiler. Hela “bore him away” after Smiler wounded him.  GW describes Woddet lying in the arms of the much larger Hela at camp one evening. Hela also cries for Woddet while they pray for his recovery.

This particular pairing may be a reference to Michelangelo’s Pieta. In this famous sculpture, the Virgin Mary is holding the dead body of Jesus. What is interesting about this sculpture is that the Virgin Mary’s body is larger than that of Jesus.  The physically larger Hela may be intended to symbolize the maternal love of God for the suffering of Jesus and humanity.

The Round Table

The more popular Arthurian legends feature a Round Table in Camelot. King Arthur and his knights can sit together at the table and discuss matters.  I have been looking for the table in the WK, but I only have a one candidate.  After his recovery, Woddet tells Able about how Duke Marder and his knights responded to Arnthor’s summons to war against Osterland.

Marder’s knights are called one by one into a special room in Sheerwall called the Sun Room. There is a hanging of the sun on the wall. Marder interviews the knights, and asks who they would want to accompany them to Osterland. This involves placing a grain on an image of each knight’s device on a parchment. The knights who got the most grains would go to Osterland. Woddet doesn’t come out and say it, but I think he and the Duke put two grains down for Able.

I think this scene in the Sun Room, and the Sun hanging (with a sun being “round”) is an allusion to the Round Table.

Christian Allegory: Able’s Temptation, Three Days and Nights, and the Defeat of Death

Able throws his fight with Sir Leort because he is so eager to find Disiri. He admits later that it was a “coward’s path”, and takes his next two jousts seriously.  This could be a reference to Jesus asking that the cup pass from him during the night in the garden.

Able sleeps for three days after healing Woddet. The three jousts are the three “knights.” So the stand in the pass may be a reference to Jesus’s three days and nights in the tomb.

Duke Marder is disguised as the Black Knight, and wears a skull on his crest. Able wins, and skull is broken. Perhaps symbolizing Christ’s defeat of death.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

As Michael Andre-Driussi noted in The Wizard Knight Companion, Able tells Leort the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  Able claims to have played the role of the Green Knight. It appears the Valfather may have sent Able on missions to other worlds during his stay in Skai.  GW will revisit that story in another novel, which I plan to  review after the WK.

version 1.0

Knight Notes: The Knight, Chapters 32-34

This post covers Able’s first visit to Sheerwall Castle.

Chapters 32-34: The Marshal’s Tower, Drink! Drink!, and Being a Knight

Chapter Summaries

Able arrives in Forcetti, and makes his way to Sheerwall, the castle of Duke Marder of Celidon.  He meets Agr, the Duke’s Marshal, and asks to take service with the Duke. Agr does not believe he is a knight, and demands that Able joust with Master Thope to prove it. Able is unhorsed, and gets into a brawl with a  group of knights.  He is seriously injured, and healed by Baki’s blood in Chapter 33. He then becomes friends with Sir Woddet of East Hall, and is introduced to Duke Marder in Chapter 34.  Marder agrees to take him into his service, and once Able is healed, he is to be sent to take a stand at a mountain pass until winter.

Master Agr

Michael Andre-Driussi (MAD), in his Wizard Knight Companion (WKC), stated that Marshall Agr’s name may derives from the word “agriculture.” I am going to suggest another possibility.

Agr might also be based on the Old Norse words “ergi” and “argr”. Argr was an adjective meaning “unmanly” or “effeminate”, and apparently considered an insult. Marshall Agr was not a knight or fighting man, and more in the nature of an administrator.  Sir Woddet, when he visits Able, refers to Agr sarcastically as “His Hungryhunks.”  I am not sure what this nickname means.  Moguda later tells Able that Agr is not popular with the knights because he orders them around. Its possible there is something more to this, and that GW is hinting that Agr is gay. I don’t believe GW intends to portray Agr negatively, as he is shown to be an effective administrator, and sympathetic to Able once he got to know him.

Wikipedia notes that in modern Scandinavian languages, the root “arg” is more associated with being “irritable” or “angry.” Agr does seem somewhat irritated by his initial dealings with Able, and the subsequent matter of Master Caspar and Org. So perhaps “irritable” is all that’s intended by GW’s use of this particular name.

Duke Marder

I have previously suggested that Marder is based on King Richard from Ivanhoe, and that events at Sheerwall match certain events from the novel. I also link Marder to Duke Cador and Joseph of Arimathea in posts on Arthurian and Biblical counterparts, respectively.

I think Marder may also be based on the Sir Richard at the Lee, a knight and nobleman friendly to Robin Hood in the Child Ballads and later versions of the Robin Hood legend.  I think the use of the name Sheerwall was another example of GW leaving a clue to the mythic underpinnings of the book. Sheerwall = Sherwood.

Sir Woddet

In a prior post on character sources, I have linked Sir Woddet to the Norse hero Orvar-Oddr and Sir Gawain.  Woddet teaches Able how to use the lance after he heals up. I think he is also an allusion to the Apostle Jude Thaddeus (see the Biblical counterpart post).

Woddet may also be the “Little John” of the WK.  Able makes a point to emphasize how big Woddet is, bigger than even him. Little John was bigger than Robin Hood in the tales. In the stories, both men fight the first time they meet, like Able and Woddet in the joust fight. Able and Woddet later fight during his stand in the passes.

“A man of your hands”

Woddet uses this expression to describe Able’s brawling skills. Its a term I’ve seen used in literature about knights before, so GW did not invent it.  Its also used by an uhlan in describing Severian, in Chapter 19 of Citadel of the Autarch. An uhlan was a mounted warrior, like a knight.  I think GW  is alluding to the Book of the New Sun in a variety of ways in the WK.  Able is like Severian in that he dies, has a foe based on the Typhon of legend, etc.

The Siege Perilous

The Siege Perilous was a chair in Camelot reserved for the knight who would find the Grail. It would slay those who weren’t destined to get it.  I think Able sitting in Master Caspar’s chair, despite being warned not to, is a reference to this. Able sitting in the chair foreshadows his success in the Grail Quest by entering the Room of Lost Loves. Able is a version of Galahad, who obtained the Grail in some versions of the story.

Christian Allegory

Able’s beating by Marder’s knights is an allusion to Christ’s beating after he is taken before the Sanhedrin.  Christ says he is the Messiah, which angers those present, and the high priest’s guards beat him severely.  Able claims to be a knight, which the other knights do not accept, and beat him for it. Agr plays the role of Caiaphas or Annas in his questioning of Able.  Master Caspar of the warders may also be an allusion to Caiaphas. The warders may be an allusion to the Pharisees.  Able claiming to be a knight throughout The Knight is like Jesus claiming to be the Messiah. Neither is initially believed. Able’s discussion of Marder’s rules with Agr recalls Jesus’s conflict with the Pharisees over what the law of God requires.

Caspar’s branding may be a reference to the Mark of Cain.

version 1.0

Knight Notes: Knights of the Round Table

When I began this review I had no expectation that I would be discussing movies.  However, after reading about a few movies I realized that GW is also paying tribute to/or acknowledging certain movies about knights. Perhaps they are ones he personally enjoyed.

Knights of the Round Table was released in 1953 by MGM and directed by Richard Thorpe (sound familiar?). Richard Thorpe also directed the 1952 MGM release Ivanhoe, which is based on the book of the same name. I think Master Thope of Sheerwall is a sneaky reference to Richard Thorpe. GW just dropped one letter. I can’t think of any other source, and MAD did not identify a source for Thope’s name in his WKC. Remember John Clute’s advice about GW: “not an inadvertent word.”

It starred Robert Taylor as Lancelot.  King Arthur, Merlin, Morgan Le Fey, Percival, Elaine, and Gawain are also major characters in the movie.

The main story follows an ongoing conflict between Arthur and Mordred, backed by Le Fey, over the right to rule England. Lancelot is Arthur’s ally, and at one point goes off to fight the Picts on the northern Scottish borders.

Percival and Elaine are brother and sister in this movie, and this is one factor that persuaded me that Toug and Ulfa are supposed to represent Percival and Elaine. Lancelot and Elaine marry in this movie, and many Arthurian legends involve Elaine and Lancelot in a romantic relationship. Remember that Ulfa put the moves on Able early in The Knight.

Ava Gardner plays Queen Guinevere, who is attracted to Lancelot. Lancelot never reciprocates, but their alleged affair brings civil war to Arthur’s realm. Is Queen Gaynor of the WK a reference to Ava Gardner? Gaynor is described as having a voice like a “dove”, and the name Ava is thought to be from the Latin “Avis”, meaning “bird.”

Able’s description and the cover images from the books reminds me a bit of Robert Taylor’s look in this movie and the posters (the facial hair).  I also note that GW includes the character “Rober of Greenglory” in the WK, identifying him as one of Arnthor’s best knights.  Rober or Robert is not a knight that is present in any of the Arthurian legends.  Nor can I link the name to the Bible or Greek/Norse mythology. I suspect that the Rober character is GW’s tribute to Robert Taylor.  Remember, Robert Taylor also played Ivanhoe in the movie of the same name, and GW did include elements of the novel Ivanhoe in the WK, as I explained in the post about Sir Walter Scott.

“Greenglory” could be a reference to Robert Taylor’s Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1300 Vine Street.  “Glory” is his Star, and “Green” could be referring to either “Hollywood”, a green leaved tree, or “Vine” street. Taylor also had a famous 100 acre ranch in Brentwood, Ca.

version 1.0

Knight Notes: Sir Walter Scott

The WK also reflects the influence of Sir Walter Scott, one of the most popular writers of the 19th century, and a Scotsman (there is a definite Scottish undercurrent to the WK).  GW references Scott in the text of An Evil Guest, when he praises Scott’s definition of “glamour.” Some of Scott’s more famous books are Ivanhoe, The Talisman, and Rob Roy.

GW pays tribute to Scott in his creation of Duke Marder, the Knight of Leopards, and certain events which occur in the story:

• In Ivanhoe, Wilfred of Ivanhoe takes part in a joust under a pseudonym. He is initially successful, but finds himself beset by multiple knights, and is sorely injured. He is saved by the appearance of a mysterious Knight in Black.  Ivanhoe is tended to by Rebecca, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy moneylender.  Rebecca is a skilled healer, and uses her knowledge to successfully heal Ivanhoe. The Knight in Black is later revealed to be King Richard the Lionhearted. Richard take parts in some of the fighting and is restored to his throne at the end of the novel.  Ivanhoe meets Robin Hood and his band of outlaws during the story.
• In the WK, Able participates in a test joust at Sheerwall Castle to prove his worth. He gets into an argument with a group of Marder’s knights, who attack him as a group. He fights back, putting some of them out of action, but is knocked out, and severely injured.  He is tended to by Baki, who uses her Aelf blood to heal him.  Duke Marder takes Able into his service. Marder later disguises himself as a Black Knight and tests Able in a joust. Marder takes part in the fighting during the war with the Osterlings. Able comes into conflict with a group of outlaws who live in the woods called the “Free Companies”, who “rob the tax gatherers.” They fight with bows and arrows.
• There is a good match with certain events of the Ivanhoe and the WK.
  • The bow wielding Free Companies are a fit for, and a more realistic version, of Robin Hood’s merry men of Ivanhoe.
  • Marder is loosely based on the King Richard of Ivanhoe (same three letter combination “ard”  is in both names). Both disguise themselves as Black Knights.  Marder might be the implied King of Celidon after Arnthor’s death. He is the highest ranking nobleman to survive the war, and knights Wistan.
  • Is Marder’s “Sheerwall” castle a reference to “Sherwood” forest, where the Robin Hood of legend hid with his Merry Men?
  • The healing of Able by the fire Aelf Baki after the joust fight is like the healing of Ivanhoe by Rebecca after his joust. Girls with the name Rebecca are often called “Becky” or “Becca.” Baki = Becca/Becky.

For Sir Leort, the Knight of Leopards, I propose Scott’s The Talisman as a source:

• In The Talisman, we meet the young Sir Kenneth, the Knight of Couchant Leopard, who is participating in the Third Crusade. This is the same crusade that King Richard led.  Kenneth has some adventures in the Holy Land, and at the end of the story is revealed as a Scottish prince, Earl John of Huntingdon. The Huntingdon estate is in southern England.
• Sir Leort is the Knight of the Leopard, and a young knight. He wears a leopard pelisse, and has a leopard crest.  His home is Sandhill, calling to mind the desert sands of the lands of the Crusades. Its also in southern Celidon, similar to John of Huntingdon’s estate being in southern England.

version 1.0