Board Thread:What If?/@comment-173.245.80.12-20140903054558/@comment-37017073-20190530213252

Hakka84 wrote: I'm not suggesting that Gaius should've told Arthur that they knew Lancelot was a Shade but he could've planted the seed of doubt: Lancelot "miraculous" return was, sorry for the pun, shady enough on its own (guy sacrificed himself by stepping into the Veil leaving no body behind but then wakes up somewhere on the other side of ?), and question a bit Lancelot's story was mandatory, to my point of view.

The problem is, there isn't a whole lot about Lancelot's story that can be proven or disproven. Arthur could try to send messengers to the Madhavi people that Lancelot claimed to have stayed with, but since they apparently live a nomadic lifestyle ("I traveled with them for many weeks, deep into the deserts of the south...") heaven only knows how long that would take.

Even from a magical standpoint, matters pertaining to necromancy/the Spirit World are usually depicted as mysterious and esoteric (and by all accounts, most sorcerers prefer to keep it that way; Gaius says outright that even in the days of the Old Religion, necromancy was viewed with the utmost suspicion). As such, there's every possibility that Gaius wouldn't be able to find any information about whether it's possible to survive an encounter with the veil, which would leave that line of questioning a dead end as well.

It helps that Gaius's knowledge of the veil was sketchy even in 4x01. He was able to tell Arthur that he would have to travel to the Isle of the Blessed and repair it, but when asked exactly how one was supposed to do that, he made it clear that he wasn't sure but, based on what knowledge he did have, a sacrifice would be their best bet. For me, at least, Gaius's lack of certainty about the veil and how it worked in that episode has always lent some credence to the idea that Lancelot may have been able to survive (in the sense that Arthur and co. don't look like total idiots for considering that it might be possible).

I also think it's important to note that Shade Lancelot was only in Camelot for two or three days at most, and at the time everyone was so happy to have him back alive and well (and so distracted by the upcoming wedding) that they didn't really care if he seemed a little out of sorts or whether his survival could be proven. Had he been around for a longer stretch of time, though, I do think that they would have started paying more attention to the oddities in his behavior, and that they would have asked more questions once the novelty had worn off.