As @bobsmyuncle says, the big turning-point is going to be Mordred’s conception (though certain things at the end of part 2 might contribute, such as Guen breaking the news badly that she had sex with Lancelot). But mostly Mordred’s conception. So it’s not so much that Guen breaks his spirit, but that she can either contribute to the spirit-breaking, or try to stop it from doing too much damage.
I feel like such a horrible person for saying this, but I’m really excited to see Arthur truly lose his temper for the first time. He’s really such a sweetheart but just annoyingly nice and optimistic at times. My Guens tend to love him or like him at least but she always is in love with Lancelot and believes he would have been a better match.
So, @jeantown, from what you’ve said, Arthur gets furious if Gwen breaks the news of sleeping with Lancelot tactlessly. Does that apply only when she has a bad relationship with Arthur? Or also when he loves Gwen and believes they have a good relationship? I’d almost think he’d feel more hurt and furious if he thinks Gwen loved him. I’d love to see it as an option.
I’m a terrible person.
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Arthur: Y… you slept with Lancelot?! And you’re pregnant?!
Guen: Yeah. Why are you so upset?
Arthur: You’re my wife! How could you betray me like this?!
Guen: Hey, watch where you’re pointing that hypocrisy, bub! When you slept with Morgan and got her pregnant, I didn’t lose it.
Arthur: T-t-that’s… that’s different! We were under a spell, and-
Guen: Oh, did I forget to mention that Lancelot is cursed so that we’re uncontrollably drawn to each other, and every time we touch we get this feeling and every time we kiss I swear I could-
Arthur: 
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So basically, another one of Arthur’s flaws is being selfish.
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What? I don’t follow at all. What is Arthur doing that you think is selfish?
I think Arthur can be oblivious but he is considerate of Guen’s feelings when he knows what they are.
If you mean the Mordred thing, I think anyone would be traumatized by getting their sister pregnant while under a spell.
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Arthur is selfish because:
- He kept the assassination attack hidden from Guen on their wedding day. And before you say he tried to prevent her from worrying, he still should have at least warned her. If it was him I’d bet he would want to know.
- After the attack, if Guen says she doesn’t want to continue, he doesn’t even give her time to take a break. He makes her go through it again. Even though her life was at stake a few seconds ago.
- If Guen wants to assist Morgana in the interrogation, he discreetly asks Morgana to do it without her, just so he can get laid.
- He becomes disappointed, if Guen doesn’t want to consummate the marriage. Even though they had a wedding and an attempted murder around the same time, in the same day.
- If Guen decides she doesn’t want to go fight the Romano-saxons, Arthur basically makes her, just so her father’s soldiers will help him.
- He makes Lot stay a little longer, just so he could use Morgana to help him in battle.
- He knew Guen’s life was at risk, and he still brought her out into a huge battle, where she could’ve easily gotten killed. And before you say he was trying to keep her safe. He still risked her life by having her send up some rocket yards away while he was to busy fighting soldiers. So, he obviously wasn’t too concerned.
- If Guen is late firing the rocket, due to fighting the Romano-Saxons, Arthur will complain about the timing.
- If Guen tells him about Lance sneaking into her tent or about his feelings towards her, he will just say it’s no big deal. Or that she’s imagining things. Even though she might be really creeped out by it.
- if Guen says she doesn’t want to talk about having sex, he will constantly bring it back up just to having a child. Even though, he wants to build a world where people don’t have kings and queens. Even though his wife might not like sex.
- If Guen decides to kill the war Lord (I forgot his name), he will become disappointed/upset with her. Even though the war lord tried to kill her. And before you try to say that he is trying to be the change he wants to see in the world, let me ask you this, do you think Arthur would still want peace if the war lord succeed in brutally killing Guen? I don’t think he would.
- When Meligaunt came to the kingdom, Arthur did not even consider having one guard keep an eye on him. So not only does he not care much about his own life, but apparently not the lives of the other people living in the kingdom. And as a result of that, go to the demo and read about the current chaos that’s going on in part two.
Now. Based on these examples, can you honestly say that he isn’t selfish?
Also, @jeantown, could it stated that Arthur is only optimistic concerning other people? The reason I ask that is because, when you think about it, when it comes to other people having issues, he’s all “oooh, everything’s gonna be fine, you’re all worrying over nothing, you’re imagining stuff”, however, in the future when he learns about Mordred’s conception, when he has a issue, that is going to be the possible breaking point. Doesn’t that seem a bit hypocritical?
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If you’re saying more selfish than human beings can understandably be, then no. Absolutely not. What I got from this list: Arthur is human and imperfect ( like every other character; thanks @jeantown .) Arthur has goals outside of pleasing a kinda sulky wife’s every whim.
AKA being a healthy allosexual seventeen year old lol. (As long as he’s not demanding/ nasty/etc about it. I only every had my Guen turn him down first playthrough, partially because Morgana, so I can’t remember details.)
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Normal virgin 17 year old boys are selfish. Arthur is also a king. Even if he is selfish, Guen is to be the Queen and has to put aside her own wants for the good of the realm.
Even without kings and queens people still want to pass on their own progeny. And if you haven’t had sex with him the kid is still presumably a virgin. Maybe if Morgana is the one to take his card then he won’t like sex as much as your Guen 
Before I start responding I want to say that I think selfishness is prioritizing your own desires and wants over someone else’s. A lot of these complaints seem to be upset that Arthur even has desires and wants.
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You can tell him you want to be involved in these decisions, and he will change his behavior to include Guen. As of the start of the game, he doesn’t know her and is operating on an inexperienced seventeen year old boy stereotype of girls. I think this is very human and not something I consider selfish. Just young.
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This is true, but it’s not self-motivated. A gigantic crowd of people just watched an assassination attempt on a royal figure, so he is trying to avoid a panic. If Guen is shaken, he tries to cheer her up and encourage her, but he needs the public to see that the assassin failed so they don’t freak out. If Guen later wants to be reserved at the reception, she can, but “keeping up appearances” for politics’ sake, while unpleasant, is not selfish IMO.
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I don’t know how much Jean’s world corresponds to our own, but there is still an expectation that husband and wife sleep together on the wedding night. And again, Arthur is a 17-year old young man who is not asexual (I don’t know the word for that if there is one. Is it just “sexual”?) and badly wants to have sex. Not to mention the political gossip that would get around if the newlywed Queen participated in an interrogation rather than proceeding with her wedding night. And Morgana doesn’t exactly need Guen’s help anyway. She still offers to let Guen sit in the very next day. I don’t think it rises to the level of “selfishness” but I could see certain Guens being frustrated. It doesn’t seem like an offense to me, but I’ll accept that our perceptions are just different on this point.
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Again, Arthur is a sexual person. He wants to have sex, and that’s ok. He does tell Guen she doesn’t have to if she’s shaken up, but he’s going to stay in the room because he at least wants to meet social expectations and avoid gossip. Based on my own experience with 17 year old boys, this is shockingly considerate of Guen’s wishes. There’s no whining, pleading, begging, or pressuring. He’s just disappointed.
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Guen’s dad forces the issue, and yes he makes his military assistance contingent upon her presence with the army. This reflects poorly on him, IMO, since when you have a military alliance it’s not a good idea to threaten not to uphold it.
Anyway, Arthur never even considered that Guen would join them, probably because that’s not “what girls do” or whatever. Jean did say this was a gendered if not necessarily sexist society. -
Lot swore fealty to Arthur and this would include military support in time of war. Nothing surprising going on here. Why is this selfish?
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He did his best to keep her out of the fray - she had bodyguards and she was well away from the battle. He didn’t consider an ambush, but I think that a strategic mistake does not amount to willful selfishness. I’m not reading a lack of consideration for her safety in his behavior at all. Again, Guen’s dad insisted she be there because HE felt she’d be safest with the army rather than alone in Camelot. Maybe that’s wrong, we don’t know unless Jean tells us since that branch isn’t written. Hrothulf would have found Guen regardless, because of the hunter charm Cornelia made.
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He doesn’t blame Guen for the timing, he blames himself. I quote: “Well, that explains why the rocket was late,” sighs Arthur. “That was so stupid of me, sending you out here where you’d be vulnerable. You could have died. I’ll never forgive myself.”
Even the army doesn’t blame Guen:
A shout goes up when the soldiers see me. Word has spread that I was attacked by the Saxon warlord and survived. The soldiers seem to have decided that I’m one of them now. -
I’ll give you this one, although I chalk it up to Arthur’s obliviousness rather than thinking it’s selfish per se. I do find it annoying that he blows off her concern. It’s understandable given his character so I don’t really hold a grudge over it. My Guen just decided she’d handle the Lance situation herself.
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There are political and apparently magical consequences regarding whether Arthur has sex or a child. He only really gets frustrated if Guen shuts down the conversation without explaining herself. If she tells him she’s lesbian or asexual, he wants to know if she’d be willing to try to have an heir anyway, and if she says no then he accepts and says he’ll name Gawain his heir. To reiterate, this means he is willing to let his bloodline die and risk social and governmental upheaval by naming an heir of a different bloodline to the throne, in order to respect Guen’s sexual identity and choices.
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Well if circumstances were different, they’d be different. If Guen was murdered it would probably change Arthur’s personality and outlook in a huge way. But as things stand, he’s committed to trying to change the world into a field of flowers and sunshine, and Guen executing prisoners after they surrender does not mesh with that.
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No, he is just ridiculously trusting (Morgana would say he’s an idiot, lol). This isn’t selfish, it’s just Arthur’s extreme naivete. He thinks if you trust people and treat them well, they will be trustworthy - i.e. that people are inherently good. This apparently can change in future installments.
All human beings have desires that motivate them, and I’d say it only becomes selfish when you decide your desires are more important than someone else’s, so that their “no” doesn’t matter. Arthur will respect an ace Guen, you can even ace romance him if you want to. Yeah he’s disappointed he won’t be having sex with Guen, but he respects it and loves her anyway. I think Jean has made him more respectful and tolerant than many real men would be, TBH.
I also don’t think it’s strange that Arthur might be devastated by the circumstances of Mordred’s conception. Jean has said in this version it will not be consensual for EITHER Arthur or Morgana, but it will happen because of a spell. So one day he and his sister are both raped by magical means, and now she’s pregnant with his child because of it. I think that’s a lot for anyone to handle, and I don’t think it’s hypocritical if it’s a breaking point for him.
PS - If you want to know what I consider selfish behavior, here is a real life story. My grandpa used to be married to a woman (not my grandma) and they had a daughter. When they got divorced, he was legally entitled to half their daughter’s college fund, because it was an asset in both their names. His ex-wife pleaded with him to exclude it from their settlement, and he refused, even though it meant his daughter would have trouble paying for college (she was 17 at the time). He just didn’t care how it would affect her, and he wanted the money. That’s selfish.
Now that I’ve typed up so many words in response to your post, I’d like to finish by saying that I’m not mad, I just don’t agree with your assessment of Arthur’s actions. None of this is meant with ill will 
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Honestly, I’ll have to see how that goes when I write it. I’m hoping to give Arthur a generous range of possible reactions, from shocked and sad (probably if he thought his relationship with Guen was good) to furious.
As for the “Is Arthur selfish” conversation, I’m going to stay out of it, except to say that it always makes me happy when people interpret my characters in different ways. That’s what I hope for when I write them.
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I doodled that fun-loving fashionista guen i mentioned I’d play! Weirdly enough, Lance seems to like her best so far? I also have some doodles of arthur&gang if anyone wants to see those
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It’s so beautiful! I know I’d love to see the other doodles!
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eeeeeeeee it’s gorgeous! 
Thank you so much for sharing! I’d love to see anything else. 
Nice pic! I had imagined my Guen with blonde hair so it’s nice to see that here.
Also as a random FYI, if Trump wins and destroys the world before I get to play the rest of Part 2 I will be pissed. 
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ahh i’ve played through what you have so far like three times. i can’t wait to see the end of book two!!!
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All I can do in the face of darkness is create, create, create. So I am writing more than ever right now. I will do everything in my power to stay ahead of world destruction.
Thank you!! 
I can’t wait, either! I’m getting there… slowly but surely.
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You just keep being the best at what you do, m’lady, and we can hope common sense will triumph over idiocy. 
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Unfortunately, idiocy is so much more common…
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