Talk:Royal Round Table/@comment-96.242.179.217-20130819055430/@comment-5102537-20130820131540

ReganX wrote: "

The Round Table makes sense as something used by the ancient kings - plural.

''At a meeting like Uther's with the other rulers of the Five Kingdoms, having a table where they could sit as equals rather than having somebody at the head of the table and somebody at the foot would be a potentially useful diplomatic tool. Did the ancient kings of Camelot use the Round Table for meetings with their nobles/Council/subjects, or was it reserved for occasions when they met with other kings, who were their equals?''"

Ah, good idea, I haven't thought of this. Of course, plural. Yes, that would make sense, all the kings sitting at the Round Table. Nevertheless, I suppose it was at a time when either the kings were at peace and maybe uniting forces against the magic users who shattered the land, or their alliance fell apart and they themselves went to war with each other at some point of time, given that Uther ended the ongoing wars when he took the throne. He united the Five Kingdoms in season two, so there must have happened something before his time which made it necessary for him to end the wars and battles, both with the magic users and among the kingdoms. I also wonder how Arthur knew about the history of the Round Table in the first place. Did Uther tell him or was it rumours?

"I don't think that he deserves any credit for marrying Guinevere. He pleased himself, nothing more. He didn't marry her as some kind of gesture to show his subjects how much he valued a common woman and the show dropped the ball in terms of showing how the kingdom was better off because Arthur married Guinevere instead of a princess."

That's why I didn't mention the marriage in my previous post. On the other hand, would Uther have married Igraine if she had been a serving girl or a commoner? Not sure about this. When regarding how much he loved her which even held him back from finding a new love after her death until he died, it's possible that he would have broken with the tradition too. Would have been interesting to know.

However, Arthur was indeed much more open on this subject that Uther ever was, and he made the first step to some kind of democracy, even if only in a very, very early stage of development. But aside from making Gwen his queen, there was no equality. Even Gwen was then in a position to give Merlin orders, naturally as queen, so there wasn't even the slightest bit of equality between Gwen and Merlin anymore. They could have dealt with something like human rights which ensure the basics of everyone's right aside from their jobs and status in order to show a difference. But I actually didn't see any difference in the way Arthur treated his court and men in comparison to Uther. I can't remember seeing Uther treating his knights or court members badly.