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 Mordred, Bastard Son by Douglas Clegg
This unusual fantasy novel reworks the familiar Arthurian legend with two creative approaches. First, it's told from the first-person viewpoint of the villain, Mordred. Second, Mordred is a gay man. Beautifully written, Mordred, Bastard Son became one of the five finalists for the 2006 Lambda Award in Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror.
For those not in the know, let me summarize the usual Arthurian legend, which involves much manipulation by the wizard Merlin to fulfill various prophecies. Merlin disguises King Uther as his enemy the king of Cornwall whom Uther has just killed in battle. Wearing the disguise, Uther sleeps with the Cornish queen Ygraine, and conceives Arthur. Arthur and his older half-sister Morgan have the same mother, but different fathers.
Years later, Arthur and Morgan have sex, and the result is Mordred. Why on earth would they do this? Usually because of trickery on one side or the other. Mordred becomes the instrument of vengeance by his mother. He infiltrates Camelot as a Knight of the Round Table, and exposes the adultery of Lancelot and Guinevere, which tears apart the kingdom. Then he kills his father Arthur, which leaves Britain open to invasion by the Saxons.
Mordred, Bastard Son does indeed begin in the chaotic days after King Arthur's death. A disoriented stranger wearing a pagan mask wanders through a Christian settlement. Realizing he is Mordred, monks capture him. They imprison him at their monastery. In the morning, they might decide to turn him over to Arthur's surviving knights. But that night a young monk is told to interview him.
Mordred says he will tell his story for a kiss. Surprisingly, the young monk agrees. So Mordred fills out this first book in a planned trilogy with his early years told in great detail. At the end, we readers and Mordred are still wondering who this young monk is, and what fuels his intense curiosity about these events that have happened a little before his time.
The monk refuses to reveal his identity … yet. Not in this book. However, by now we've heard about a son born to Lancelot and then hidden away. Here at Obsidianbookshelf.com, I'm guessing the monk is Lancelot's missing son which would make him, according to the usual legend, Galahad. But that's just my guess.
The story of Mordred's early years fills the novel with a unique turn on the old legend. Mordred's conception resulted from rape committed by Arthur under the malign influence of the sword Excalibur, which increases the aggression and paranoia of its bearer. Excalibur is a magical relic never meant to be possessed indefinitely. Its rightful place is alongside its counterpart the Chalice (also known as the Grail) within the Lake of Glass.
Arthur used to live with the Celtic tribes in the hidden valley near the Lake of Glass – until he stole Excalibur and got banished from the valley. Now Arthur can no longer find his way back.
Mordred knows this because of his mother. Through the teachings of Merlin, which she passes on to Mordred, she knows the secret of raveling, similar to a practice described in the 1965 science-fiction classic Dune by Frank Herbert: within a drug-trance, one opens one's mind to all of one's past lives. It's a risky endeavor that can result in death.
Anyway, that's the back-story. Mordred's own story opens when his mother, pregnant with him, flees from Cornwall one step ahead of Arthur's men who have instructions to kill her to defeat the prophecy that Arthur's bastard son will one day destroy him. Merlin fakes her death and helps her to hide in the hidden Celtic valley near the Lake of Glass.
Mordred grows up to be a good person, motivated by love for his family and friends. To his sorrow, his unstable mother neglects him, choosing instead to follow dark incarnations of the Goddess. Meanwhile, Merlin shows up sometimes to give Mordred another lesson in the mystical arts, demanding that he remain chaste so as to keep his developing powers pure and focused.
Poor Mordred is gay – not that anyone cares. The Celts in this particular universe take a spiritual view of homosexuality, regarding it as a shamanic condition that blesses one with a flexible and intuitive understanding of both genders. But Mordred is the only gay boy in the entire valley! As the years pass, he watches boys and girls pair off during the lusty pagan festivals that mark the year. Meanwhile, he's left with nothing except a stern order from Merlin to remain chaste.
But there is an alluring stranger who lives in the woods, keeping himself close to, but apart from, the tribes as penance for a grievous sin. Everyone warns Mordred to stay away from this man and not even to inquire into his identity! What do you think Mordred is going to do? Yes, I thought so, too, and I wasn't disappointed. He and the man have an affair. (Sex is implied but not described in detail.) I'll let you discover his lover's identity for yourself.
This affair has repercussions, which place Mordred in a terrible position of obligation to protect his beloved mother who has lost herself in the dark Goddess. It also opens him to betrayal from a surprising source.
When this story of his early years concludes and we find ourselves back in the monastery with the young monk, we realize that we've barely heard how Mordred came to leave the hidden valley. It's a satisfying story, but his tales of the world beyond – and King Arthur's court – will have to wait for later books. God only knows what price he'll ask of the young monk to hear those stories!
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