Pendragon Cycle Loose Ends?

[dgan]

I think what we have to remember is that the Grail is not Arthur's memoirs - the "feelings" of Arthur recorded there is what he told the Cymbrogi. What we see is what Arthur wanted them to see. It is quite possible that Arthur had forgiven his champion, perhaps even while they were tracking him, but was required by duty/justice to take such a hard line in the punishment. If that were the case, it would be probably be quite simple to win Arthur's favor again, because it is all perceived in the eyes of the men.

Imagine a followup by Merlin in which Arthur is telling him how much it grieves him to banish his most trusted warrior/friend - that he fully forgives him and understands the wiles of Morgian. Yet he cannot let the men see that such betrayal could go unpunished. It would tear him apart. And in the end, he and Merlin devise a way for redemption.

That would be a good read, eh?

[Gwalchmai]

To be honest, I'd rather read some narration from the rest of the Dragon Flight.

[zoob]

When I read the first three books years ago, I remember being mainly curious about three women. It's been a while since I've read these, I hope I'm remembering right:

-Ygerna: she shows up in the third segment of Merlin, and is said to be dead in the first segment of Arthur.
-Arthur's stepmother: she makes what are essentially cameos at the end of Merlin and the beginning of Arthur and is never heard from again.
-Guinevere (the Celtic name is too hard for me to even guess at): it's never really explained why she was afraid of bearing Arthur a child, and that revelation by Morgian in Arthur seemed very out of place.

I also wondered about Medraut and his very sudden appearance at the end of Arthur, but Grail did at least an attempt to explain it further.

[Merlin]

i know this is a necropost, but i really want to hear some more on this. I also am wondering something: what exactly happened when avallachs palae and everyting disappeared. How did merlin come back and wait for arthur's return?

[gracebridges]

I have the music cd "Dream of Taliesin" - instrumental only - and had no idea there were short stories to go with it. I'll have to go hunting for it...

[Tegid]

gracebridges said:

I have the music cd "Dream of Taliesin" - instrumental only - and had no idea there were short stories to go with it. I'll have to go hunting for it...

The Dream of Taliesin is a re-release of a CD that was originally titled Music of Celtic Legends: The Bard and the Warrior on the Windham Hill label. The re-release does not have the original liner notes, which included two short stories by SRL. You could try looking for a copy of the original disc; Amazon and eBay sometimes list copies for wildly varying prices from under $10 to $40 and beyond. A few leads are given at the end of > this < post.

By the way, Taliesin in this short story is treated quite differently from the Taliesin in the Pendragon cycle. Here, he is accompanying the king in the Region of the Summer Stars. Also, in most of the tale, he dreams he is someone else altogether; he himself hardly enters the story.

What an excellent CD this is! Incredibly beautiful music! It is one of my all-time favorites!

[bookwyrm]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wondered about the redemption of Llanlleweg. After finishing 'Grail' I flipped through the other books, trying to piece together the timeline, wondering if I missed anything that would have given me an answer. I agree that some things are intended to be left to the imagination, but that is one part of the story that I really wish SRL would have told.

I also wondered what happened at Aelles (sp) niece, the one who was offered to Arthur in exchange for peace between Arthur and the Saceans. At the time the exchange seemed like a big deal, that Arthur had to keep her safe to ensure the peace, and yet she was never mentioned again. I don't think it ever mentioned where she really ended up. If she stayed at the Caer I wondered if she was among the dead when the castle was overtaken at the end of 'Pendragon.'