Uther Pendragon (/ˈjuːθər pɛnˈdræɡən/ or /ˈuːθər/; Welsh: Uthyr Pendragon, Uthyr Bendragon) is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur.
A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in most later versions.
He is a fairly ambiguous individual throughout the literature; he is described as a strong king and a defender of the people. According to Arthurian Legend, Uther, through circumstances and Merlin's help, tricks the wife of his enemy Gorlois, Lady Igraine, and sleeps with her. Thus Arthur, "the once and future king," is an illegitimate child (though the later legend emphasizes that the conception occurred after Gorlois' death and that therefore he was legitimated by Uther's subsequent marriage to Igraine). This act of conception occurs the very night Uther's troops dispatch Gorlois. This theme of illegitimate conception is repeated in Arthur's siring of Mordred by his own half-sister Morgause in the later prose romances. It is Mordred who will eventually mortally wound King Arthur in the Battle of Camlann.
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