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<blockquote data-quote="epithet" data-source="post: 7739602" data-attributes="member: 6796566">I think the enduring appeal of Lancelot is his struggle. Percival is pure, and is held up as an icon of virtue, but that's his nature--he doesn't have to work for it. Lancelot embodies the struggle of man in medieval myth: to rise above his nature and achieve perfect devotion to his king and to God. Lancelot's tale comforts the reader because despite him being greater than any of us will ever be, he still fails to control his passions and is consumed by his lust for Guinevere. Nevertheless, he is not a villain in the story, and remains a sympathetic character who finds redemption and atonement, ultimately being forgiven by Gawain or Arthur.The influence of the fey in Lancelot's origin reinforces the wildness and primal essence of his otherwise mortal nature, and represents both the power that Lancelot commands in battle and the urges that he strives to control and to elevate himself above. I personally like the idea that if Lancelot were to ever achieve the sanctified ideal and free himself of his passions, he would lose his might in combat. In fact, when he went full-on penitent as a peasant priest in Excalibur, he was not a warrior or a hero, and became a nobody. At the end of the movie, he embraces his full nature as if to say &quot;Lo, I am horny and angry, but wouldst thou forgiveth me any how? For I shall smite thine enemies with might and gusto anon!&quot;I don't know that I would give Lancelot a power boost from his oath. For him, the oath (Chivalry, Christian virtue, fidelity to his king, etc.) is his ideal, but one that remains fundamentally unattained, and perhaps unattainable. Lancelot's power comes from his flaws and limitations; the primal savagery that gets him into trouble is the only thing that offers him a path out of it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="epithet, post: 7739602, member: 6796566"] I think the enduring appeal of Lancelot is his struggle. Percival is pure, and is held up as an icon of virtue, but that's his nature--he doesn't have to work for it. Lancelot embodies the struggle of man in medieval myth: to rise above his nature and achieve perfect devotion to his king and to God. Lancelot's tale comforts the reader because despite him being greater than any of us will ever be, he still fails to control his passions and is consumed by his lust for Guinevere. Nevertheless, he is not a villain in the story, and remains a sympathetic character who finds redemption and atonement, ultimately being forgiven by Gawain or Arthur. The influence of the fey in Lancelot's origin reinforces the wildness and primal essence of his otherwise mortal nature, and represents both the power that Lancelot commands in battle and the urges that he strives to control and to elevate himself above. I personally like the idea that if Lancelot were to ever achieve the sanctified ideal and free himself of his passions, he would lose his might in combat. In fact, when he went full-on penitent as a peasant priest in [I]Excalibur[/I], he was not a warrior or a hero, and became a nobody. At the end of the movie, he embraces his full nature as if to say "Lo, I am horny and angry, but wouldst thou forgiveth me any how? For I shall smite thine enemies with might and gusto anon!" I don't know that I would give Lancelot a power boost from his oath. For him, the oath (Chivalry, Christian virtue, fidelity to his king, etc.) is his ideal, but one that remains fundamentally unattained, and perhaps unattainable. Lancelot's power comes from his flaws and limitations; the primal savagery that gets him into trouble is the only thing that offers him a path out of it. [/QUOTE]

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