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Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Stephen Weeks

A few of us are going to be reading this book soon and will then have a chat about it. If anybody else is interested... join in :-D

I just started reading! I got up to the bit where Gawain has (view spoiler)[killed the guardian of Lyonesse (hide spoiler)]. I doubt it's coincidental that this whole bit of the plot appears to have been taken from Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain. Interesting...

Right, back to reading now -- doubt it'll take me that long to finish.

Finished - It's about as good as I remembered from reading it in 1984 - which is "Okay". There are some good and effective bits, but most of the fight scenes read like somebody's description of watching the film.

The Sage seems to have been inspired by Yoda, more than by anything Arthurian (interesting that Mark Hamill was originally wanted to play Gawain).

I liked the idea of blending of the original Green Knight tale with the story of Linet, but apart from the Beheading Game, this really was more Yvaine than Gawain.

(view spoiler)[I was disappointed that Sir Bertilak was not the Green Knight - what was the point of his character, then? - and I missed the hunting/gift exchange scenes. Without that, why should Sir Bertilak's home be called "The Hunting Castle"? What is the significance of the green scarf? There's a hint of a deeper relationship between Linet and Sir Bertilak, but as it isn't developed any romantic tension there might have been between them and Gawain is lost.

Then there is the end: I thought initially that Gawain was going to become the Black Knight, Guardian of Lyonesse and the Linet the Lady, instead of which she turns into a bird and flies away - I didn't get it - can you explain it to me? (hide spoiler)]

Hmm - I've dwelt upon what I didn't like, but despite the deficiencies it was an engaging retelling and not without interest, just not brilliant. So I will keep it on my bookshelf and maybe read it again in another 27 years.

Oh, the "Making of" the film section was interesting :-D.

Anna -- the code is [spoiler]stuff you want to hide[/spoiler], except with the pointy brackets. (Mmm, technical terms.)

Anna wrote: "Nikki wrote: "Anna -- the code is [spoiler]stuff you want to hide[/spoiler], except with the pointy brackets. (Mmm, technical terms.)"

Thanks! I'm not html literate."

Anna, if you look at the top right of a comment box you will see a link: (some html is ok): click that & you get a list of the html tags you can use on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ :-)

Thinking about Linet, there is a line in the book where Gawain describes her beauty as being like moonlight. I liked that as it links back to an earlier spelling of her name, Luned, which evokes the moon, "La Lune". Then, Gawain is a solar hero in the early stories, so the tale becomes one of the Moon Maid and the Sun Knight.

I don't think Gawain and Linet are together in any "traditional" Arthurian stories, are they? If not, their pairing in Sword of the Valiant is pretty neat.

I don't think Gawain and Linet are together in any "traditional" Arthurian stories, are they? If not, their pairing in Sword of the Valiant is pretty neat.

Lynette marries one of the Orkney brothers (sometimes Gareth, sometimes Gaheris), but not Gawain. (And her sister is called Lyonesse, in those stories, adding another level of confusion to this version.)

Then, Gawain is a solar hero in the early stories, so the tale becomes one of the Moon Maid and the Sun Knight.

How early are we talking? "Early" for me means the Welsh, in which he's not as far as I know? He's a 'solar hero' in some of the French stories, and in Malory, which is comparatively late -- have I got a gap? How worrying! Heh.

How early are we talking? - I guess I meant early as in "not Hollywood" or post 19th century literature, not in an academic sense :-D I'm probably thinking of Malory.

I wasn't thinking in an academic sense, I was thinking as a Welsh person. They seem very relevant to me!

The French stories seem a little late to have a 'solar hero', since it's probably something quite pagan... There seems to be a missing link, there, to me. Mind you, the origin of those stories needn't have been Gawain explicitly. He might have taken on someone else's role.

I wasn't thinking in an academic sense, I was thinking as a Welsh person. They seem very relevant to me!

The French stories seem a little late to be the first to have a 'solar hero', since it's probably something quite pagan... There seems to be a missing link, there, to me. Mind you, the origin of those stories needn't have been Gawain explicitly. He might have taken on someone else's role.

Sir Ironside, Gareth's sparring partner, lost strength after noon, so there does seem to be some kind of tradition linking hero/strength/sun.

Have you read The Three Damosels by Vera Chapman? That's got a story about Lynett and Gaheris in it. I've had it sitting on my shelf since 1982 but haven't gotten around to reading it yet!

The solar/lunar thing may only be due to author getting a bit Joseph Campbell. I know there's wee bits of old myths that crop up in any newer tales, but I think many late 20th cent stuff actually tries to reflect the more mythic stuff rather than do it by accident...Star Wars for example.

Well, Gawain definitely is a 'solar hero' in Malory, but I agree that it is probably done on purpose by the author of Sword of the Valiant, in this case, rather than unconsciously picked up from older myths.