I jUst watched the final episode of Merlin. Excellent show if anyone has missed it. Possibly the only show that I have watched every episode of from start to finish.

Anyway, from the ending I had a bad feeling and did a bit of googling. Turns out that it was the last series!!!

Gutted!



I really wanted to see a series with Arthur (and possibly the other knights) having accepted Merlins magic so that he can openly use it.

Or possibly a series where Arthur has to convince the knights and the rest of Camelot that magic can also be used for good.

Also, Morgana's end was a bit under played. Should have made more of a scene over it.

Thing is, that's how the story of King Arthur ends. If it's the last bit, then we're onto the whole 'confrontation with Mordred and Excalibur being thrown in the lake' routine and that's kind of it. Unless someone feels like 'reinventing' one of the greatest mythic sagas in the history of literature, which would require something of a brass neck.

As to the knights 'accepting' magic, I'm not sure they'd get any say. Arthur's King, what he says goes. If he says 'magic is OK now', they just have to get on with it.

OK, in the original myth we still have the 'age of prosperity' over which Arthur rules (I'm ignoring all the holy grail later added bullcrap) but that kind of doesn't make for good telly. Everybody being happy and just basically having a nice life is all very desirable but it doesn't have a lot of dramatic tension.


Yes, preferably as long as possible with none of the rest of them in it.

I suppose you're right.

I don't really properly know the story of King Arthur and Camelot etc...

You know a lot more than I do.

Do you know of any good books that tell the story? Love fantasy books and seems like a good story to read.

(I just realised that that may be a stupid question but it also highlights how little I know about it)

Haven't you got a Kindle? Chances are the free/dirt cheap books on it are hanging out of Amazon

Trouble is that there are so many I don't know which to get.

I'd like something in a similar style to Tolkein or something. But just not sure

Sample 'em, I love that feature

It's actually much less of a stupid question than you think .

The story of King Arthur is old. Really old. You may think that old geezer in the corner of the pub with a half of mild is getting on a bit, but that's just peanuts to King Arthur. It was believed to have been originally written down by Geoffery of Monmouth who lived around 1100AD. Nobody knows who actually came up with it in the first place, although theories abound that it's actually a dramatisation of the life of the ancient king Charlemagne who lived roughy 200 years before that and ruled an empire that covered a large chunk of Europe.

The (supposedly) definitive version is called "Le Morte d'Arthur' by Thomas Mallory which is sort of Chaucer period I think (1500's?) and, to be frank, isn't an easy read. if you can find a 'modern edition' of that that's about the most 'canon' version of the tale you're going to get. Tennyson also recreated the story of Arthur in 12 poems in a book called 'The Idylls of the King'. There's also another novel called 'The Once And Future King' which tells of the period of King Arthur's rule, from his ascent to the throne up to the eve of the final battle with Mordred. That's a modern work, well, 1950's anyway. It's not really part of the original myth but it is an easier read if you fancy it.

To be honest, you could do a lot worse than waste a couple of hours watching John Boorman's 'Excalibur'. It's got some historical anachronisms (the armour they wear didn't exist until well after Mallory's death for example) but it gets most of the major story points right, it looks amazing and the guy playing Merlin gives a fantastic performance, although he's hardly ever been seen on screen since. Oh and Morgana is played by Helen Mirren who was, frankly, epicly hot at the time, both as an actress (she was probably the most sought after actress in Britain at the time) and just, well, hot.

Sorry if that's a longer answer than you expected. I really am a bit of a fan of the whole Arthurian myth thing. I wasn't too happy with Merlin when it started but it definitely grew on me.

EDIT : Wikipedia helps a bit

* Gets coat *

image removed

4. Links. Any postings or links to voyeuristic, sexually explicit ........

* gets fur coat *