Guenevere (WIP)

Any other Mara idioms you’d like to share with us? :smiley:

@skulls :smile: Great suggestions; thank you! They’re in the file for consideration next time I edit part 2.

I guess some people would consider it such? It might seem out of place culturally in the Guenverse, since there’s not really a concept of being damned (at least, I don’t think there is).

Lol that happens to me, too. Sometimes I can draw something that looks halfway decent, but consistency is tough.

As usual, you’re asking the really perceptive question that I can’t really answer because spoilers. :slight_smile: That issue – whether or not Lancelot really agreed to the marriage, and why he did it – will be a major plot point in part 4.

The trophies you can take from Hrothulf were added to the game because of popular request. I don’t have a specific plan for them right now, but chances are good that I’ll find a way to use them in the future.

Guen and Morgana were definitely searched for weapons before they were put in the hold of the boat. And in more practical terms, it would take me a month to rewrite that whole scene without the ropes. I’d rather spend the month progressing with the Michaelsmount branch.

Actually, it’s my understanding that people very commonly carried knives with them in the historical Middle Ages. If you make a doppelganger of Morgana, she shows up with a knife on her belt. So sure, I’d assume Guen might have something like that most of the time, but probably not while she sleeps. And again, there’s the practical issue that giving her a knife during the doppelganger scene means a ton more writing.

In the game, it will be possible for Arthur to continue to be an idealist, and his doing so will not necessarily result in the downfall of Camelot. It all depends on Guen! :smile:

@rialta :smile: That’s great to hear! Thank you for posting!

I’m hoping to achieve a sort of combination of these elements… Arthur’s idealism may contribute to, but will certainly not be the sole cause of, his downfall. “Hardened” Arthur doesn’t have any better chance of a happy ending than “non-hardened” Arthur; they’re just different and they do different things.

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No idea, They come to my mind without thinking. I am rather peculiar I know that. :wink:

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“MADAM MIM” I CAN’T BREATHE OH MY GOD

The Sword in the Stone is pretty much my only reference to Arthurian legend (and generally one of my favourite Disney animations!) aside from the occasional Wikipedia pages if I’m surprisingly not feeling lazy at the time. So, anyone, pray tell: does Madam Mim actually exist in (what can be passed off as) Arthurian canon?!

Was this supposed to be funny? Because I found this too funny for my own good. :joy: Either that or I’m being too easily amused because it’s nearly 2 AM rn. In any case, sheep are funny.

I don’t know how to succeed (or not) per se, but my own plan is for Guen to go to Michaelsmount and save Arthur (and get that Awesome Dark Magic Sword. Because DARK MAGIC! And SWORD! AWESOME!). In my general playthroughs, Meligaunt was more often than not injured due to Guen and Lance fighting him off together back in Camelot, and Guen usually tells her fae cat to go with Meligaunt. Someone needs to keep an eye on him, no? Who better to do so than my loyal, powerful kitty who’s proven to be more useful than human beings in crisis situations? :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Also, my Guen told Lance to go back to Camelot and warn our peeps about the invasion. In my (and my Guen’s) opinion, if anyone can be trusted to gather defensive forces in very restrictive time limit, it’s Lance. She’d go there herself, but 1. She fears for her occasionally witless (yet adorable) husband greatly, 2. Fears for her cat’s safety (it pains her to let him go off with a would-be murderer but like I said, someone has to keep an eye on Meligaunt), 3. Wants to make sure she gets her hands on the Awesome Dark Magic Sword, and 4. Would rather have a hard time convincing Arthur that she’s not a doppelganger than have a hard time convincing the Camelot public that she’s not a doppelganger.

My Guen just left Tilda to resolve whatever internal conflict Frankmarch has, but tipped her off about the kitchen intel.

My Guen doesn’t go after Morgana because she thinks her Dark, badass sis-in-law can handle herself and will be of great help to any branch she ends up in. She’s also less worried because in my usual playthroughs, Guen and Morgana escaped the ship together but then my Guen let herself get captured, saving Morgana in the process. Speaking of which, @jeantown, is Morgana’s position in the conflict predetermined or will our choices and/or whether or not Morgana escaped affect her branch?

Did you not say that having Lance with your Guen on any branch she decides to take ensures her success in that particular branch? :yum:
Also, I totally wouldn’t have thought of you as an INTJ. I have a schoolmate who’s an INTJ and he’s nothing like you. :sweat_smile: (That’s supposed to be a compliment on your part, since he’s not the outwardly-kindest person I know and can be oblivious to the people who care about him at times.) But then again, I’m no psychologist and not everyone of the same MBTI type has to have the exact same personality.

I’m an INFP myself if anyone’s wondering. :yum: Though I did get the INTP result once. It feels kind of wrong to read the description. :confused: Not that all of it suits me ill. Interestingly enough, I got 23% on Feeling in my INFP result and 22% on Thinking in my INTP result. Since I value balance between the heart and the mind greatly (but sometimes am slightly more emotional than rational), this pleases me. :blush: I’ll probably need to take another test to determine my Guen’s type, but since my main Guen is pretty much a self-insert of me, I’ll stick with INFP for now.

These are all awesome, I’d like to play this kind of Guen sometimes.

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It’s already been stated that Morgana can end up in different places depending on how things play out. If she saw the invasion force and escaped before Guen, for instance, it’s probably most likely that she’ll go to Camelot, but if those conditions aren’t met, she’ll likely be go somewhere else.

That’s just a theory, of course, since we don’t know how it’ll play out yet, but Morgana can go to different places depending on how things go.

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Thanks! I do hope Morgana will get to Camelot in my eventual playthrough, Lance will need all the help he can get. Also, despite having my Guen go to Michaelsmount, I’ve come to think that there are a lot — almost too many people (and cat!) working on that branch compared to the others, with Guen, Arthur, Guen’s cat, and half of the Round Table there.

That said, my Guen isn’t going to go home and gather an army (military-related matters are a chore for her, even though she has a knack for devising strategies), set off to find her already very capable sister-in-law whose whereabouts she doesn’t even know, or go off to help resolve the conflicts of a country that’s not even her own when her husband is out there getting himself killed for a dumb reason.

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Wasn’t it stated somewhere in the thread that Morgana can’t end up on the Michaelsmount branch? So my theory is that if she escaped first, she’ll go to Camelot. If not she ends up in Frankmarch.

Also on an unrelated note, I did a quick playthrough for fun the other day and the fact that you can sleep with all three of the mains in the space of, what, 3 days(?) brings me endless joy. I’d create a Guen solely for that if I didn’t think she would suffer Severe Consequences.

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Technically, Arthurian ‘canon’ is mostly just whatever becomes popular. The Disney movie was based off T.H. White’s The Once And Future King series, which is massively influential in Arthurian lit, and is the series Madam Mim came from (though her role in the book is a lot smaller than in the movie) so yep, she’s ‘canon’!

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I don’t recall that ever being said, but it’s possible I missed it. It does seem less likely she’d go to Michaelsmount, though, since she wouldn’t know about Arthur walking into Meligaunt’s trap. The only way she’d know about it is if Guen finds Morgana and tells her (or if she finds out on her own somehow after they’re separated). Camelot and Frankmarch are probably her most likely destinations, depending on how things happen.

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Is Galehaut going to play a major role in the series?

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Although T.H. White was a formative influence on me, it’s been so long since I read his books that I can’t remember… was Madam Mim perhaps his version of Nimue, or does Nimue appear elsewhere?

Guen’s previous actions will indeed affect where Morgana goes. More than that I should not say, though it’s not hard to guess (as some people are doing).

Yes, unless you do something really obviously stupid. Like if you want to take Lancelot with you and fail on purpose for some reason, the game should still let you do that.

Oh, I have an extremely hard time with in-person social interaction and I can be very oblivious in “real” life. I find it much easier to be myself, and to interact with other people, when I’m doing it through writing. Perhaps your schoolmate is a completely different person online. :smile: (I’ve also gotten somewhat better at these things with age.)

It’s too bad there’s not an easy shorthand for those borderline cases. For example, both Arthur and my physical-world LI are ambiverts, on the borderline of introverted and extroverted. That’s just as legitimate a personality descriptor as “very introverted” or “very extroverted.” Same for the borderline of thinking/feeling.

Yes, it was. :slight_smile: I didn’t want to get people’s hopes up.

Well, sometime (when part 2 is finished) you should do it anyway, just to see what the Severe Consequences are. :smile:

Prince Galehaut will indeed have a plot-relevant role in one of the upcoming books. :slightly_smiling:

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@jeantown Nimue does appear in the series!

And I’m excited to see Galehaut. :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

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@jeantown I just wanted to say that I love what you have done with Arthurian legend and that I am an INTJ as well! There are so few INTJs it is interesting to find others.

Oh, that’s cool. Is your version of Galehaut going to diverge too much from any old versions? I’ve always thought that his story to be as appealing as other characters, but there isn’t much out there, from what I know.

Would it be best to say that Arthur had imagined the personality of his wife before actually meeting her? Perhaps he assumed Guenevere would be his version of the “perfect” wife? For example:

(1.) Arthur gives me a hopeful-looking smile, which falters for a moment as his eyes flicker down to see that I’m not wearing the necklace. He seems to shake off the momentary disappointment and smiles at me again, as if to say that it’s all right.
*Based on this he probably thought that Guenevere would be that type of girl (the type that likes jewelry), and maybe he’s a little disappointed or confused that she’s not. Also he’s probably curious as to why she didn’t wear the necklace.

(2.) Arthur looks concerned. “I know it’s unsettling,” he says. “And believe me, I wish we didn’t have to do any of this. But it’s vitally important for the people to see that you’re all right in every way. Otherwise, there could be a panic. Going on with the day’s plans is the best way to make it known that the assassin was completely ineffective.”
*He probably thought that his future wife would be the brave and fearless type (at least in the public eye), and he’s a little concerned that she’s not.

(3.) Nobody protests my act of violence, but Arthur and Lancelot look at each other with what seems to be a mixture of surprise and alarm.

  • He probably wasn’t expecting his beloved to have or show a certain level of violence (once again at least not in the public eye).

(4.) “I, ah… People will talk if I don’t stay in here tonight, but Lance said, after everything that’s happened, that you might not… I mean, it’s all right if you don’t want…”

  • Ohhh I think everyone knows what he was hoping for in the situation.
    “All right,” says Arthur, though he does sound disappointed. “Maybe we can talk tomorrow.”
  • He obviously wasn’t expecting that.

(4.2) Arthur rolls onto his side and looks at me. “I wish you’d been there,” he says. “They were so beautiful. You would have fit right in.” He strokes my cheek gently.

  • But, if you do become intimate with him, then he’s gonna think that you might want to do it all the times available.
    “I’m glad you two had fun,” I say. I close my eyes and snuggle into my pillow so he gets the point. I hear a bit of a sigh and the sound of his head hitting his own pillow."
  • Once again unexpected.

(5.) Arthur turns toward me with his eyes alight and says, “Are you up for a small adventure?”

  • He was obviously hoping for a wife that enjoys at least some of the things he does.
    "For the second time that night, Arthur looks terribly disappointed, but he just says, “All right. Sleep well.”
  • Exactly.

(6.) The knights look at me in surprise, but several of the older ones nod approvingly. Arthur, too, looks surprised, but not displeased. Nonetheless he says, “You’re absolutely right, of course, but I do everything I can to prevent people from losing their lives or their homes. Still, we should consider an attempt to cut off supply lines once we know what direction they’re coming from.”
*For some weird reason it probably never occurred to him that his wife might have an interest in leadership/politics, and the fact that she does is once again unexpected.

(7.) Arthur stays in the council chamber. When he sees that I’m not leaving either, he smiles broadly and takes my hand. “This is what I hoped it would be like,” he says. “My beautiful queen right by my side.”

  • I think his words speak clearly enough.

(8.) Lancelot’s eyes spark with happiness and he calls out to Arthur, "Did you hear that, your majesty? Your lovely wife is going to come kill Saxons with us!
“Oh!” exclaims Arthur, turning away from Kay and looking at me as if he hadn’t quite realized this was an option. “Of course! We could really use your sword. I’m glad you want to come.”

  • I’m assuming he thought she was gonna stay behind.

(9.)“I need someone I can trust to read the battle. If the darkness starts too soon, they’ll think my attack is just a bluff and they won’t cluster on the short ends of the hill, but if the darkness starts too late, the infantry will have heavy losses because the Saxons are so well positioned.”
“All right,” I say, although I’m pretty sure he’s asking me because he thinks I’ll be safer this way.
*Despite having the skills that could’ve helped people and saved time and energy (mostly Morgana’s).

(10.) “Guen,” says Arthur hesitantly, "I was just wondering if you’ve thought about how long it might be before you’re ready for… I mean, I don’t want to rush you, and I completely understand your wanting to wait a while, but, ah, the thing is…

  • I think we all know what Arthur’s main plan for his wife is.

(11.) The important thing is, Cornelia’s plan failed, and you’re still alive, and maybe… with time, you’ll… think more highly of me. I hope you will, anyway."

  • He is clearly stating how he wants Guenevere to feel about him.

So, that brings me to some more questions. In the future when Arthur becomes “hardened” (and Guenevere has been rude to him the entire time) will he possibly tell Guen how he hoped their marriage could’ve been? Also, will he tell her what kind of wife he thought she was gonna be to him, and what kind of queen to the kingdom (if she’s not an active one)?

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@talyka Thank you! :grin: And yay for INTJs! I haven’t met many, but I think if a small group of us could ever manage to work together, we could take over the world. Have you figured out your Master Plan yet?

Agreed. Galehaut deserves more attention than he tends to get. My version of his story will be “inspired by” the traditional one, to about the same degree that most of my other stuff is inspired by traditional material but also different. :slight_smile: And I hope that my version will make it highly unlikely that anyone will confuse him with Galahad. :smile:

@skulls That is some excellent citation-based scholarship you’re conducting… (are you by chance an English major? :stuck_out_tongue: ) Arthur, of course, didn’t have any sisters growing up, and didn’t know any noblewomen well. He only met Morgana after he became king, and his foster-mother was always somewhat distant and absent. So most of his ideas of how noblewomen behave come from stories and stereotypes. He thinks he doesn’t know what to expect, and he thinks he’s being open-minded toward Guen when they’re first married… but really he’s coming into it with some predetermined ideas that he doesn’t realize he has.

I don’t know if he’d have to be hardened to look back someday and talk about what his expectations were, and how reality may have differed from his expectations (if it did). Whether or not he’d talk with Guen about that would probably be determined more by how much he trusts her. A hardened Arthur who doesn’t trust Guen would probably not want to make himself look vulnerable to her by admitting he was wrong about anything. (Certainly he wouldn’t want to give her an opportunity to mock him for having once been a starry-eyed youth.) An Arthur who trusts Guen, hardened or not, might be willing to talk honestly about the hopes/expectations he once had.

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I dunno why, but the following scene came to my mind when I read this…

In the middle of the castle kitchen, Lancelot pauses his search, and sees a smudge on Guen’s cheek.
Lancelot: “Let me get this for you my Lady…” Lancelot reaches out tenderly and caresses Guenevere removing the soot smudge from her cheek.
Guenevere: “Lance…” Guen forces a whisper through her pursed lips capturing Lance’s hand between the palms of her hands, slowly bringing his hand to her lips. The electrical attraction fueled by the curse set upon the two coursing down their back, the two are frozen in time like statuettes… just as kitchen help bustle through the dinning hall doors…

This is what I get for reading Romance novels this weekend :confused:

I swear these books are sweet innocence! :slightly_smiling:

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Also, for the record: Way back (near the medieval ages) when I was in high school English lit, while reading the assigned: “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” I had a crush on Gawain. lol Explains a lot, I know. :slight_smile:

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I don’t know half of the people all of you are talking Mr Mime , Ninroth … Gardevoir… Is this a crossover between Pokemon and Skyrim? :wink:
You sure as hell doesn’t have a Quintañona. Our versions are so forgotten and ancient, and the new ones. After s XIX, are mostly humoristic and sarcastic that what we know is based in whatever Hollywood films.
However the saint grail is in Valencia or so has claimed Catholic church some centuries ago. And they shown it some special data.

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@jeantown I completely agree with that :joy: I haven’t figured out my Master Plan yet but it’s in the works! (Muahaha)

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An English major? Sadly no. But, what about Guenevere? At some point can she tell Arthur the expectations she had before they were married? Perhaps she could something like, “Arthur, did you know that before we said our vows I was feeling dutiful? Angry yet dutiful. I was willing to put my rage of not having a say aside, just to do what I thought was right to Britain. I was willing to use my skills to bring this country to impeccable heights, and I had hoped as the king, you would want the same thing. But, I can see now that was wrong.”

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