Lady of the Lake

The Lady of the Lake

Lady of the Lake - A Child of Oberon.

History

The enchanted sword Excalibur is in her keeping; in King Arthur’s time, she gave the sword to him, but received it back after his final battle. She was one of the three women who bore the wounded Arthur away to Avalon after the Battle of Camlann, the other two being Nimue and Morgana le Fay.

When King Arthur and Griff were brought to New York on their quest for Excalibur, they, accompanied by the trio and Hudson, encountered the Lady of the Lake in a lake in Central Park. She told Arthur that he must prove himself worthy of Excalibur once again, and tested him by pitting him against a water elemental, which he finally vanquished with the help of the gargoyles. Afterwards, she showed him where the sword lay, in the dragon statue in the center of the maze in Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and then disappeared.

Characteristics

The Lady of the Lake looks like a beautiful silver-haired woman in a gown of white samite. She is accompanied by small water-sprites, and has power over water itself.

Real-World Background

{The Lady of the Lake was the keeper of the sword Excalibur in Arthurian legend. According to Sir Thomas Malory, after King Arthur broke his original sword in battle against King Pellinor, Merlin brought him to the Lake of Avalon, where the Lady of the Lake appeared. She agreed to give Arthur Excalibur for his new sword, and he bore it from then on. Presumably she received it back after Sir Bedivere returned it to the lake. In the Vulgate Cycle, she also served as the foster-mother to Sir Lancelot, raising him in her home after Benwick, the kingdom of his father Ban, was conquered by King Claudas, and sending him to Arthur’s court when he was of age. (According to Mr. Weisman, this last did not happen in the Gargoyles Universe, however).

The Lady of the Lake is often identified - or confused - with Nimue, the sorceress whom Merlin fell in love with and who magically imprisoned him; even Malory did this. In the Gargoyles Universe, however, they are separate figures. Malory’s own account of the Lady of the Lake had her slain by Sir Balin of Northumberland, one of Arthur’s knights, who claimed that she was an evil sorceress who had murdered his mother; obviously this did not take place in the Gargoyles Universe (unless the Lady of the Lake underwent a temporary death, similar to that of the Banshee and Anansi).

"Gargoyles" interprets the Lady of the Lake as one of the faerie-folk; however, Malory and the Vulgate Cycle seem to have interpreted her as a human sorceress; the Vulgate even claimed that her "enchanted lake" was really a splendid human city concealed by an illusionary lake from outward eyes. This interpretation was clearly not used by "Gargoyles", however.}

Production Background

Voice Actor: BJ Ward