Camelot to Canterlot · 3:55pm Oct 2nd, 2020
I have recently developed a passing curiosity about Arthurian Legend. It seems every story ever written about King Arthur is some sort of fan fiction. While stuck at home, I read T.H. White’s Once and Future King (1958), which is Thomas Malory fan fiction. Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur (1485) is a translation and compilation of fanfics by French writers, who created OCs like Lancelot, and added more romance to the pseudo-historical world-building hit Historia regum Britanniae (1136) by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who was a fan of earlier Welsh legends.
This got me wondering if there are any Arthurian references in MLP beyond the name Canterlot. As far as I can tell there isn’t anything else this direct. But, watch the series after reading the legends, and it’s easy to spot common patterns. The two share many tropes, linked through centuries of literature via later medieval chivalric romances and super hero comic books. The route from one to the other is a long convoluted path through many fantasy worlds inhabited by magical creatures.
Before I get any more pretentious, I should, perhaps, point out that I’m a physicist. My only qualification to write about literature is having read a few books and websites, some of which may have been reliable. If you want to read a more reputable account, see this blog from the British Library: The legends of King Arthur.
Unlike many locations in the legends, Camelot, the capital of Arthur’s kingdom, is not a real place. The pictures illustrating the stories show typical medieval castle walls, which have grown in height, and number of turrets, over the centuries. This makes Canterlot an especially apt name for the Equestrian capital. It sets the scene for the start of the series as a fantasy world, full of magic. The court of a sovereign ruler who dispatches her students on quests involving dragons and fighting dark forces.
Having set this scene, Part 2 of Friendship is Magic continues the style of an Arthurian tale. In the Quest for the Holy Grail, various knights set out to seek this object of power. Like the Elements of Harmony, it is not always clear exactly what the grail actually is, but it is to be found in a mysterious castle. As the knights pursue the adventure, they are tested, and only those who demonstrate their Christian purity reach the grail.
Star Swirl the Bearded is the pony version of Merlin, the original bearded wizard who advises the king from behind the throne. This lineage includes Gandalf, Dumbledore, and other robed sorcerers. Star Swirl’s return after hundreds of years in limbo echoes Merlin legends in British folklore that tell that he remains asleep in an underground cave somewhere, and could someday return. As does his connection with ponhenge. The construction of Stonehenge by Merlin's magic is told in the Historia regum Britanniae.
The 14th century fanfic Roman de Brut, introduced Arthur’s Round Table, the symbol of the order of chivalry where everyone sitting has equal status. This became a key part of the canon. In Season 5, Twilight has her own round table, complete with magical power to direct the knights of her fellowship on friendship quests. Indeed, the illusions created by the map are not unlike the vision of the grail seen by the knights at the Round Table.
The cutie map sets the pattern for many episodes, where ponies are called to a quest just as the knights of the Round Table would all gather at Camelot for the feast of Pentecost before something signals the start of a new adventure. The following tale would then include a lot of adventure, but is often more about some sort of moral instruction.
If friendship is the central theme to MLP, the equivalent in Arthurian romances is chivalry. It’s tempting to equate the two, but there are big differences. Instead of bringing every creature together, chivalry was about distinguishing an elite class of all-male knights who had to protect fragile females. It was also connected with some pretty weird interpretations of Christianity. In the medieval world, preserving the purity of your soul was of far higher importance than making friends.
There are common elements: Loyalty and Honesty feature prominently in chivalry. Generosity and Kindness can found under terms like Largesse and Mercy (Laughter and Magic are a bit more difficult to accommodate). But the more striking similarity is the way Twilight Sparkle’s interpretation of friendship, and the troubadours ideas of chivalry are both something which can be codified, written up in books, and taught through stories.
And a bit of etymology which amuses me is that chivalry comes from the French chevalerie, from chevalier (knight), from cheval (horse).
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From which we can conclude that a pony is more chivalrous than an Arthurian knight by default.
Of course, if you want the point where it truly became fanfiction, you're looking for the next-gen fic that is the Matter of France. Which then inspired the most stereotypical Isekai imaginable (half a century before that genre even existed), which in turn was cited as an inspiration for D&D.
Love this
I should like to add more Arthurian references from MLP, because this is my jam... but sadly I can't immediately think of any, I think you've already done them pretty thoroughly.
I will say that one of my favorite OSP videos is about Arthurian legend, and I like it especially because it doesn't just discuss the definitive version that people eventually arrived at but discusses how the stories developed and changed over time as the culture around them evolved:
And of course the history of fanfiction goes back further than that. The legends of Arthur and his knights were themselves inspired by Charlemagne and his court. And speaking of fun etymology, the word "paladin" ultimately comes from Palatine Hill in Rome, where Augustus Caesar built his imperial mansion (which also gives us the word "palace"). Charlemagne looked to Rome for inspiration and cast himself as a new Roman emperor, and he called his high-ranking officials Palatines. That's where the fairytale heroic knight comes from and that's why Twilight's brother is called Shining Armor
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No knight can be as chivalrous as the pony who carries them.
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Now here's a question. If the Matter of France (which is all about Charlemagne) is the next-gen fic to Arthurian legend, but the legends of Arthur were themselves inspired by Charlemagne, how does this line up? Were the later (13th century) French stories about Arthur crossing tales of Charlemagne's court with Geoffrey of Monmouth. Or was Geoffrey crossing stories of Charlemagne with Welsh legend?
That was an awesome video - thanks for sharing. Although a bit poor that they didn't make the effort to learn how to pronounce the Welsh.
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I always thought that the Matter of France, which has the advantage of being based on a real person, came first. And that Arthurian legend, which has the advantage of being entirely fictional, came after and drew inspiration from the former. And of course Feudalism and French culture generally was imported to England with the Norman Conquest. But I won't claim to have studied both in sufficient detail to say that with complete certainty.
Fun fact I learned from reading Charlemagne's (ginormous) wikipedia article a couple years ago: Charlemagne was a lover of schooling, even though he himself was illiterate. He invested so much in his library that basically all texts that survived long enough to be included there survive until today.
It also included a fun line which said that in so-and-so year Charlemagne left Saxony, and for the first time the province did not revolt
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3💗3🦁! Great book!
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I missed that OSP! Gonna go take a look.
I recall Ms. Faust stating Canterlot was based directly on Minas Tirith of Gondor, in The Lord of the Rings, but given J.R.R. Tolkien’s goal of synthesizing an English mythology, I suppose one could make a case that simply distances the Arthurian connection rather than removes it.
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It's a good one.
It's nice that iisaw pointed me here, I'd have missed it even though I follow you. Blogs are an easier draw if you start with just a sentence or two, then a picture, then a cut, because we only get to see a little snippet in our streams.
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boop
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I read that too. I think Faust liked the image of a city of gleaming towers on the side of a mountain. I don't think any of the old Arthurian stories describe anything quite like this, but it follows the idea of a kingdom recreating the glory of Rome or Troy. I also read that she first named it Canterbury, but this was later revised. A good move.
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I think she credited the name change to her husband, Craig McCracken. I agree Canterlot is better suited on a number of levels. It calls back to a mythical place rather than a real one and is a more obvious pun for the young audience (as well as less perceptive adults). And there definitely is a lot of cantering going on.
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There's a technical issue here which I have been meaning to look into. I host images on my deviant art stash, but it seems the URLs it produces are getting longer, and this may cause fimfiction to cut a blog preview short. (Not actually relevant to this post).
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So in this interpretation, the Matter of Britain would be a prequel? It's a good thing that's also a fanfiction cliche...
Interesting; thanks. :)
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Here's an amateur theory that might not be entirely wrong. We start with the French writers happily writing tales exaggerating the exploits of Charlemagne. The Anglo Normans feel they need to compete with this, and conveniently Geoffrey of Monmouth finds some old Welsh source which tells of a King of Britain from time before Charlemagne who was even greater and more powerful. He writes his history.
Writers across Europe (but mostly France) love this new material, and enthusiastically pen fanfics. The fact that it is set in a mysterious northern island just makes it more exotic and exciting. At the time there is a brief pretence at European unity as everyone joins forces to go off to clobber the infidels and capture Jerusalem.
A century or two later, things feel a bit different as England and France emerge as separate kingdoms, become embroiled in the hundred years war, Joan of Arc gets burnt at the stake. French readers become a bit less enthusiastic about the legendary British king. So their writers rework their material to create a G2 Charlemagne. Meanwhile the English keep pushing out stories about Arthur.
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And thanks for the recommendation of what I need to read next.
Fascinating stuff, I consider myself to be something of an armchair historian, so one of my favorite genres in and out of the fandom are the pseudo-history type fanfics that explore for example Equestria's past outside of the "pageant". Anyways, I really wish there was a way to favorite blog posts like this one on the website because that would certainly save my poor short-term memory a lot of hassle.
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Sounds perfectly plausible to me.