Celtic Myth 17: King Arthur’s Death, Returning Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, and the Boat to Avalon

Celtic Myth 17: King Arthur’s Death, Returning Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, and the Boat to Avalon

For all its glories, King Arthur’s life ended in betrayal and tragedy. Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte D’Arthur described Arthur’s final confrontation with the evil Sir Mordred at Camlann and his fate after he was carried fatally wounded from the battlefield.

In Mallory’s account, Mordred provoked a war between Arthur and Lancelot, and took advantage of the strife to seize Arthur’s throne. Fighting to reclaim his kingdom, Arthur met the usurper’s forces at Camlann on Salisbury Plain. The two rivals met face-to-face on the battlefield, each mortally wounding the other.

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Dying, the king asked to be carried to a waterside chapel. There he instructed Bedivere, his loyal marshall, to take his sword Excalibur and throw it into the depths, then to return and tell him what he saw.

Dazzled by the weapon’s splendor, Bedivere at first could not bring himself to do as he was told, and instead hid it under a tree. “What did you see?” Arthur asked him on his return. “Nothing but the wind and the waves,” Bedivere replied.

Hearing his words, Arthur angrily accused him of disobedience and sent him again to accomplish the task. This time too, Bedivere’s avarice got the better of him, and he returned once more without having done what he was asked. Now the dying King charged him with treachery, saying he had betrayed him twice. Chastened, Bedivere set off once more and finally did as the king wished. As Excalibur flew through the air, an arm emerged from the water to catch the great sword by its hilt, flourishing it three times before disappearing under the surface.

Bedivere ran to tell the king, who now asked to be carried in person to the water’s edge. There, out of the mist, a barge appeared bearing three queens. Bedivere gently set Arthur in the vessel. As it drifted away from the shore, Arthur called to the knight that he was bound for Avalon, where his wounds would be healed. Then he disappeared, never to be seen again. Scholars have since speculated that the queens may have reflected the Celtic triple goddess, whose three aspects Maiden, Matron, Crone represented the span of human life.

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