Discussion:
Archetypes in King Arthur's Legends
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h***@gmail.com
2006-03-12 14:00:42 UTC
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Hello, I have a question. Who would be the trickster in the legends of

King Arthur - would it be Merlin? Also, who would be the shapeshifter
and a threshold? I think Mordred would be a shapeshifer, and I don't
know what/who would be a threshold. Thanks for your help :-) .
PAUL GADZIKOWSKI
2006-03-13 14:22:28 UTC
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***@gmail.com wrote:
: Hello, I have a question. Who would be the trickster in the legends of
: King Arthur - would it be Merlin? Also, who would be the shapeshifter
: and a threshold? I think Mordred would be a shapeshifer, and I don't
: know what/who would be a threshold. Thanks for your help :-) .

Merlin is demonstrably a shapeshifter, as shown in the stag hunt scene
when he teases Arthur for not knowing who his mother is. That's pretty
tricksterish too, innit?


Paul Gadzikowski, ***@iglou.com since 1995
http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com New cartoons daily.
http://members.iglou.com/scarfman/new.htm Fanfiction stories and cartoons.

"Shut the **** up and draw something."
Bert Olton
2006-03-13 23:43:02 UTC
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Post by h***@gmail.com
Hello, I have a question. Who would be the trickster in the legends of
King Arthur - would it be Merlin? Also, who would be the shapeshifter
and a threshold? I think Mordred would be a shapeshifer, and I don't
know what/who would be a threshold. Thanks for your help :-) .
Hello hypatia,

Fun question and a tough one in the sense that a number of the
characters assume overlapping archetypal roles in the legends. I agree
with Paul that Merlin can be seen as a Trickster, but he also has
elements of Mentor and Threshold Guardian. But then The Sword in the
Stone itself is also a Threshold Guardian. Morgan is clearly a
Shapeshifter...it goes on and on.

Bert
--
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Heather Rose Jones
2006-03-14 03:56:18 UTC
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Post by h***@gmail.com
Hello, I have a question. Who would be the trickster in the legends of
King Arthur - would it be Merlin? Also, who would be the shapeshifter
and a threshold? I think Mordred would be a shapeshifer, and I don't
know what/who would be a threshold. Thanks for your help :-) .
I doubt that archetypes work in quite such a Chinese menu
fashion (one from column A, one from column B, etc.). I
suppose if you work hard enough, you could shoehorn
characters into all the available archetypes, but what would
be the point?

Heather
--
Heather Rose Jones
***@heatherrosejones.com
<http://heatherrosejones.com>
Livejournal: hrj
Duggy
2017-07-10 15:26:38 UTC
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Post by h***@gmail.com
Hello, I have a question. Who would be the trickster in the legends of
King Arthur - would it be Merlin? Also, who would be the shapeshifter
and a threshold? I think Mordred would be a shapeshifer, and I don't
know what/who would be a threshold. Thanks for your help :-) .
Those sort of archetypes work better for single stories rather than applied to a varied group of stories. Even something like Malory would be difficult to apply them to for this reason.

===
= DUG.
===

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