Modern Adaptations
Kay is a main character in the first three books of T. H. White's The Once and Future King, The Sword in the Stone and The Queen of Air and Darkness. His portrayal is based on Malory's account of Arthur's upbringing, but White adds a number of new elements to the story, including one in which the young Kay kills a dangerous griffin with the aid of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. White's Kay is quick-witted and often mean, but always a loving foster brother to Arthur, whom he calls "the Wart". Kay appears in the 1963 Walt Disney Studios film adaptation of The Sword in the Stone, in which he is outwardly boorish and bitter but still loves Arthur all the same.
Kay is the main character of Phyllis Ann Karr's 1982 novel The Idylls of the Queen. Expanding on a scene from the classic tales in which a knight is poisoned at Guinevere's feast and the queen is accused of the crime, Karr turns her story into a murder mystery with Kay as the detective attempting to discover the truth.
In Thomas Berger's 1978 Arthur Rex: A Legendary Novel, Kay is a somewhat foppish, sharp-tongued gourmand. Relieved to be freed from his bucolic upbringing in Wales, he takes charge of the kitchens at Camelot and yearns to make it a more sophisticated court. Arthur good-naturedly complains that Sir Kay is always serving him rich foods, when the king would rather just have simple meals. Kay supplies occasional comic relief in the book, but ultimately fights and dies with honor in the last battle against Mordred's host.
In the 1970s HTV-series Arthur of the Britons, Kay (spelled Kai) was played by Michael Gothard. In this version of the legend, Arthur is a Celtic chieftain and Kai is a Saxon orphan, raised together as brothers by an adoptive father, Llud, amongst the Celts. He is portrayed as somewhat hot-headed and sometimes distracted by female company, but a fiercely capable warrior (sometimes favouring an axe-weapon) and Arthur's most trusted and loyal friend.
In Stephen Lawhead's Pendragon cycle Kay, spelled Cai, is Arthur's most loyal companion. As a child he had a crippled leg and Arthur was one of the few who defends him. This earns Arthur his complete and unquestioning loyalty. He dies in the battle against Mordred.
In the French comedy series Kaamelott, Kay is portrayed as a rogue centurion and rival of Arthur named Caius who refused to follow his troops back to Rome and therefore celticized his name and was given knighthood by Arthur to end their rivalry.
In the 2011 Starz TV series titled Camelot (after the highly successful British series Merlin aired on BBC One), Kay is played by Canadian actor Peter Mooney. In this is an American-Irish-Canadian adaption of Arthurian Legend, Kay is portrayed as a loyal and protective older brother to Arthur. Although raised in a rural setting, he appears educated and somewhat idealistic, described by the actor who plays him as having "a world of book-smarts, but no practical experience ".
Read more about this topic: Sir Kay
Famous quotes containing the word modern:
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