Lancelot

Summary

Season 1, episode 5 of the series Merlin is called "Lancelot." This episode started with a man getting attacked by an animal. This animal had wings and a beak, and seemed to be dangerous. Another man came and saved this man, and both ended up being okay. Once the episode actually begins, it is clear that Merlin and Lancelot are the two main characters. They are friends. Lancelot wants to be a knight, but the rules don't allow it. However, he and Merlin decide to try anyway. Merlin takes him to see Guinevere, who measures him for armor. Then, the villagers were attacked by a "winged monster," which seems to be the same one that attacked Merlin in the very beginning of the episode. They described it as having "the wings of an eagle and the body of a lion." Lancelot tries to become a knight soon after, however, Prince Arthur does not think that he is ready so he puts him to work in the stables instead. Not long later, though, Lancelot proves himself worthy of being a knight, and Arthur changes his mind. Later, people found out that Lancelot had lied about who he was in order to become a knight. Since honesty is a very important policy for knight and since he is not actually from noble blood, he can no longer be a knight. Then, the characters learn that the "winged monster" is actually a griffin. It is born by magic and it can only be killed by magic, which explains why no one has been able to kill it. Therefore, Merlin has to kill it with magic. Lancelot and the knights go out to try to kill it, and merlin follows soon behind. Lancelot and the knights fight, and Merlin does his magic at the perfect time. The griffin dies, and Lancelot looks like a hero. Because it looks like Lancelot is the one who killed it, he is allowed to be a knight. He has proven himself to be worthy and ready, even though he broke the conduct. However, he still feels bad for breaking it in the first place, and he does not believe that he's made up for it, especially because he knows that it was Merlin who actually killed the griffin and not him. So, he declines the offer and decides to leave the kingdom and look for somewhere else to become a knight that he is actually worthy of being.

Representations of Characters

The characters in this episode were supposed to be portrayed as if they were from the Medieval Times, and I think that the creators of the episode did a good job of making that a reality. The scenery and backgrounds also look very Medieval. The characters all seem very similar to the characters we read about in the stories that we read for class. Merlin is represented as a very nice person. He doesn't have very much magical power, but he loves being kind and helpful. In most modern day stories about Merlin, he is said to be very powerful, so it is interesting to notice that this episode showed the opposite. Lancelot is portrayed as a nice, kind, honest man, who has good morals and cares a lot about the rules. He wants to be a knight, however, he is not of noble blood, and it is the first rule that only a nobleman can be a knight. The fact that he is not a nobleman is different from the stories that we have been reading in class, in which he was born into noble blood.

Guinevere, Lancelot, and Merlin, as Lancelot is about to to try to become a knight

What Does it Add to the Arthurian World?

I was able to make a lot of comparisons of this episode to the stories we have been reading together for class. For example, in this episode I noticed that Lancelot is a kind, honest man, who cares a lot about following the rules and having good morals, and who is on a journey to become a knight. The Lancelot that we have been reading about, Sir Lancelot, is already a knight, meaning he doesn't have to go through this process and all the emotions that Lancelot in the episode did. This adds to the Arthurian world because we are seeing a new perspective of characters we already know. We are learning more about how they feel and how they act. We have not had the opportunity to see this side of them yet, so this representation of them is adding a lot to what we know about them and their time period. We also get to see how each of these characters might have interacted with and spoken to one another. This is an interesting representation to think about when we are reading the stories for class, because it could help us to picture the storyline better and to understand the plot and what is going on easier. This adaptation was very interesting, because it was so modernized. You could tell what time period it took place in, and the way that everyone talked, acted, and looked made it clear that they are in the Medieval Times. However, they spoke almost modern day English, and and the quality of everything that we saw was very good. The scenery will help us to be able to picture events that happen in our stories better, and the storyline of the episode will give us something to think about in comparison to our stories as well.