Shining Knight 1
From Barbelith
Categories: Seven Soldiers Issues
"The Fall of Camelot"
Barbelith thread: Fight on! (http://www.barbelith.com/topic/20484).
| Table of contents |
Background and General Commentary
Synopsis:
This is the fall of Avalon.
Neh-Buh-Loh has killed Lancelot, using the Sheeda's peregrine weaponry, and the other knights appear ready to meet their deaths.
The Harrowing nears closure, but for Sir Ystin and his winged horse Vanguard, who have entered Castle Revolving through Oethanoeth (http://www.maryjones.us/jce/oethanoeth.html) - Arthur's grave.
Ystin discovers the undry cauldron (http://www.traditionalwitchcraft.org/witchcraft/cauldron.html), with which he hopes to reverse Camelot's fortunes, and in it, apparently, the lost Olwen (http://www.maryjones.us/jce/olwen.html).
The Gloriana Tenebrae confronts them. Using Arthur's Caliburn (http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/caliburn.html), which she cannot wield, and with Vanguard's aid - utilising the green 'true lantern' - she is repelled, for long enough for Ystin to throw the Undry into the green lake which surrounds the chamber, a lake which "flows through time itself!" This appears to vanquish the Queen of Terror; and Ystin attempts to make good his escape. Olwen, however, reveals herself to be a lethal Sheeda changeling and stabs Ystin.
With Ystin embattled and wounded by the changeling Olwen's poison, Vanguard insists they follow the cauldron. Which they do, crashing down into 21st cenury LA, where the Shining Knight is arrested and Vanguard appears to lay dead in the street.
General Thoughts:
A preview is here (http://www.popcultureshock.com/reviews.php?id=3931). It's touted as "Lord of the Rings meets The O.C. -- Arthurian hero Sir Justin hopes to turn the tides of Arthur's knights' final, world-destroying battle with the Beyond -- by travelling through time to contemporary Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.
An early review is here, at Fourth Rail. (http://www.thefourthrail.com/reviews/critiques/030705/sevensoldiersshiningknight1.shtml) It off-handedly draws an interesting comparison between this title and the Wachowski Bros' Shaolin Cowboy.
Annotations
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Page 1-2
PANEL 1: "Brothers, Knights of the Broken Table... Fight On!"
Who are the knights?
There are six other knights besides young Justin.
- Gawain -- whose name means the White Falcon (or, perhaps, "courteous"). In Le Morte D'Arthur, Gawain is a shady character, a knight who tries to be good but fails. Impulsive, temperamental, shallow, fights on Mordred's side in the final battle. In other tellings of the Arthur myth, Gawain is more like Lancelot, strong and virtuous. Here, he's conflated with Silent Knight, another old DC hero (who happens to have a trained falcon).
- Caradoc -- a gentle giant type. In Le Morte D'Arthur, Lancelot kills a king named Caradoc the Huge -- the King of the Dolorous Tower, who imprisons and tortures Arthur's knights. In other tales (http://www.bartleby.com/182/107.html), Caradoc of the Shrunken Arm is Arthur's great-nephew, a good guy who participates in (the virtuous) Gawain role in a retelling of Gawain and the Green Knight.
- Peredur -- who, in this version, is more like Percival the wounded knight, blinded (but gifted with second sight) after directly looking upon the Holy Grail.
- Bors - the "laughing knight". In Morte D'Arthur, Bors and Percival accompany Galahad on the Grail Quest, which ends with Galahad, the most perfect of all knights, being taken bodily up to heaven.
- Lancelot -- here called "defender of the faith," and "the perfect knight." In Morte D'Arthur, he is only allowed to see the Grail veiled under its cloth, and winds up retiring to become a monk. In this issue, he's also referred to as "Lancelot of the Long Arm," a possible link to Lugh of the Long Hands, an old Irish god.
- Galahad -- here called the "giant-killer." Hmm. In Morte D'Arthur, he's Lancelot's son and a much better knight than Lancelot. Or anyone. Despite being the youngest at the table (perhaps like Sir Justin here?). I seem to recall Irish hero Finn MacCumhail (aka Finn MacCool) being a giant-killer as well.
The Knights of the Broken Table may be analagous to the characters of the JLA, as follows:
Lancelot seems quite Superman-ish, and (these just being rough estimates), Gawain is Batman, Caradoc is J'onn, Peredur is Wonder Woman (well, she *was* recently blinded, and, erm, this is the closest match), Bors is Flash, and Galahad is Green Lantern. Also, notably, King Arthur is clearly wearing orange scales, so he's Aquaman. But the Seventh Knight we've got here is Justin, our new Shining Knight. Also note: He has to capture the lantern from the baddies, the lantern which just happens to be green (and there are big green giants attacking with the Sheeda). -- BillR
Note also that Rick Veitch's recent Aquaman run is all about Aquaman (who is a king, and who is named Arthur) acting as a hero for the imperiled Lady of the Lake, who gives him a healing hand made of her magical waters.
Page 5
PANEL 1: "Lancelot of the Long Arm is no more!"
Lancelot is described by Neh-Buh-Loh as "Lancelot of the Long Arm", which links him to the Celtic god "Lugh the Long-Handed", who had mastered every skill.
Yet more complexity ... the Gaelic "Lugh Lamfada" (Lugh of the Long Hand) is associated with the Welsh "Llew Llaw Gyffes" (Llew the sure-handed), who finds a possible analogue in Llenlleawch, a companion of Arthur in Culwch and Olwen who kills the giant and allows the cauldron to be taken. Now this is where things get really silly. This first issue Shining Knight seems to be based very heavily on Preiddu Annwn (or Annwfn, or Annwvyn), in which Arthur and his knights appear to storm Caer Sidi and steal the Cauldron. There's a quatrain in there about the sword of Lluch Lleawch and the left hand of Lleminawc, either of which could be a mangling of a Lancelot-analogue or a Llew-analogue. Whether Lugh/Llew is a solar deity or a lake deity let's forget about for now - Justin seesm to be pretty solar. Butbut, Lluch also means "flashing" or "shining". "Lleminawc" is variously identified as a version of a Llew-analogue, or as an epithet for Arthur, in which case it would mean something like "the Leaping One" - so Justin is potentially cognate with Arthur, with Lancelot and with Lugh/Llew here... that quatrain is, regrettably, a big mess. Does that tie in to "Llamin Arach"? I'm guessing so - so Justin is taking the place of Arthur in the theft of the cauldron from Caer Sidi, just as Arthur probably replaced Bran in the foundation myth. -- Haus
Preiddu Annwn is also referenced in Seven Soldiers 0.
Page 6
PANEL 3: "We made it into Castle Revolving, but I think we're trapped in the catacombs of Oethanoeth."
Castle Revolving is likely a contemporisation of Caer Sidi, the castle of the goddess Arianrhod, which sat at the hub of the "Silver Wheel" in Annwn, the Welsh underworld. It was also called the Castle of Glass, which links it to Ynis Witrin, the Isle of Glass (aka Avalon, and possibly Glastonbury).
Page 7
PANEL 5: "The Lantern, Justin!"
Here Justin retrieves what Vanguard describes as a "True Lantern." Later in the issue, Vanguard uses the Lantern's light to repel Gloriana Tenebrae. The Lantern is Green (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern). How an Oan Power Battery ended up in Primordial Camelot, we may never know, but is seems that even here, "Those Who Worship Evil's Might" have learned to beware the power of a Green Lantern's light.
Page 8
PANEL 3: "The inexhaustible cauldron. The Undry. It sang once in Murias, at the mighty Dagda's table. It brings the dead to life and heals all wounds.
One notable request in the Welsh folktale of Cluhwch and Olwen is for the Cauldron of Diwrnach, which acted as a horn of plenty, and was rumored to be able to raise the dead. It has been suggested that this was the same as the Cauldron of the Dagda, chief of the Tuatha de Dannan, which had the same properties.
Page 9
PANEL 1: "Olwen! Not you, too."
Olwen is the daughter of a giant in the Welsh folktale Culhwch and Olwen, and the desired bride of Culhwch. He, along with a whole bunch of Arthur's knights, quest to achieve the nearly impossible tasks her father sets before him, in order to gain her hand.
Page 10
PANEL 3: "Ahhhh, you recognize Caliburn, Arthur's sword. 'The Treasure of Findias.'"
The Sword of Findias formerly was the property of the god Nuada Silverhand, and was said to make its wielder invincible. Along with the Cauldron of the Dagda, it was one of the four Treasures of Ireland.
Page 11
PANEL3: "Gloriana Tenebrae. Fairest of Them All!"
Gloriana Tenebrae shares characteristics with other Evil Queens from folklore and literature. Here she resembles the queen from the story of Snow White, both in her foundness for apples and in her desire to be known as the "fairest of them all."
Page 21
PANEL: "Y llamin arach arwyr! Arwyr y roi! Arach Avallach, Ystin!"
What does Justin say at the end?
He appears to be speaking Welsh.
I don't speak Welsh, but I've been able to make some headway on the words at the end: Y = "the", or "of the". Llamin = dunno "llam" means "jump"...perhaps a verb form? Arach = not sure, but it's apparently important. Arwyr = "hero", and may be their translation of "knight", which might make "arwyr y roi" mean "knight of the king". "Avallach" is an old name for Avalon, and I'm betting "Ystin" is Justin. -- Mario
After more research. Arach could be "contract" or "dragon". I'm guessing "dragon". "Llamin" is tougher. It just _might_ mean "shining" or "leaping", as in: "The Shining/Leaping Dragon Knight! Knight of the King! Dragon of Avalon Justin! Dragon of Avalon." -- Mario
This sounds oddly plausible, given that Siadwel Rhys in Morrison's "Zenith" Phase I also faced off against intimidating enemy odds with a defiant self- proclamation of "You hear me? I'm Red Dragon! Y Ddraig Goch..." -- kovacs
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