Lancelot (Shade)


 * This article is about the Shade version of the knight, Lancelot, for the original Lancelot, see: Lancelot.

"This man's a shadow of his former self. A shadow with ill intent."

- Gaius to Merlin on Lancelot (Shade)

The Shade Lancelot was a version of Lancelot created by Morgana to split up the relationship between Arthur and Guinevere shortly before their wedding.

Biography
Upon learning that Arthur intended to make Gwen his queen, Morgana travelled to the Dochraid and asked her advice regarding a magical coin Morgause had given her. With it she was able to resurrect Lancelot from the dead, but as a Shade without the majority of his memories and merely a shadow of what he had once been.

The Shade Lancelot still possessed all his skills, but could not remember anything other than his name, and was enthralled to Morgana. She filled his head with the information she needed him to know so he could pass as his old self, and he returned to Camelot, telling everyone that somehow he had cheated death but could not remember how. He claimed that he had been found by travellers who took him in, and he went with them till he had recovered sufficiently to return.

However, noticing several oddities in Lancelot's behaviour and discovering he could not remember that Merlin possessed magic, Merlin knew almost immediately that something was wrong. Upon study, he came to the conclusion that he was a victim of necromancy, the darkest form of magic.

Using a pentacle, Merlin confirmed that Lancelot was in fact a Shade, and he and Gaius therefore kept an eye on him, suspecting him of ill intent towards the King. In the meantime, Morgana enchanted a bracelet for Lancelot to give to Gwen in order to resurrect her old feelings for him. Lancelot, pretending it was a gift of goodwill for her marriage, gave the bracelet and she soon began falling in love with him again. Lancelot participated in the celebratory jousting tournament and continued to win until he was facing Arthur. Lancelot's first blow wounded Arthur, who refused to yield despite being in poor shape, thus putting himself in great danger. On the second run, however, Lancelot yielded in a reflection of the old nobility he once possessed.

Now that the spell was complete, Lancelot had Gwen meet him in the middle of the night. Merlin tried to intervene, but could not prevent Agravaine from leading Arthur straight to them, thus catching Guinevere kissing Lancelot. Filled with fury and hurt, Arthur turned on Lancelot and the duo commenced a vicious sword fight. Though Arthur was at first winning, Lancelot managed to gain the upper hand, leading Merlin to have to intervene to save Arthur's life. Incensed, Arthur went for the kill but Gwen, near hysterical, begged the two to stop. Lancelot and Gwen were both thrown into the dungeons where Gwen cast aside the bracelet.

Arthur had Gwen exiled from Camelot, but before he could pass judgement on Lancelot, a final order from Morgana came ordering Lancelot to kill himself, thus sparing Arthur the need to punish him. Arthur, melancholic on hearing the news, assumed Lancelot had done so out of guilt and because of his strong sense of right and wrong, commenting that he had always been a man of honour "in all ways but one". Arthur therefore gave orders for him to have a proper burial. Merlin then took Lancelot to the lake and performed a blessing on Lancelot's body, releasing the troubled spirit (Lancelot du Lac).