A Unique Arthurian Career, Without A Tragic End
The French poet Chrétien de Troyes created a version of a naive, victimised King Arthur who is cuckolded by his allegedly best friend Lancelot and left by his knights who rather seek for the Holy Grail than to stand by his side while Mordred is about to become Arthur's nemesis. Films like First Knight that pick up these motifs, depict Arthur as a King whose Britons fail him and who lives in a gigantic castle which must have required such a great deal of drudgery that it is hard to believe in his legendary popularity. Finally he dies tragically. In Arthur of the Britons the protagonist does not die, nor does he have to escape to Avalon or Brittany in France. In the penultimate episode, which probably should have been the second season finale, under threat of attack by the Scots, Arthur comes close to securing a treaty between himself, Cerdig and Yorath the Jute, but a carelessly placed target board results in a death, and old hostilities quickly re-surface. Arthur and his men return home, disappointed, but still hopeful that one day, there will be a lasting peace.
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