Lake of Avalon

Lake of Avalon
Type:	Lake
Appearances:	The Gates of Avalon Excalibur The Lady of the Lake The Changeling The Coming of Arthur: Part Two Lancelot du Lac The Dark Tower (episode) The Diamond of the Day: Part Two
Mentions:	The Eye of the Pheonix

“The land of eternal youth. Mortals are only supposed to glimpse it the moment before death.”

— Gaius to Merlin about Avalon

The Lake of Avalon was a gateway to the world of Avalon, the home of the immortal Sidhe. It was only accessible to those with powerful magic, possibly beyond the abilities of most human sorcerers. The lake was the only known gateway to the fallen outside of the Pool of Nemhain, and was the final resting place of Freya, Lancelot, Elyan, and Arthur Pendragon.

History

Aulfric summons the Sidhe elder.

When a Sidhe named Aulfric killed another Sidhe under unspecified circumstances, the Sidhe elder punished him by stripping him and his daughter of their immortality and exiling them from Avalon.

Though Aulfric had no hope of changing his fate, the elders were willing to reopen the gateway to Avalon for Sophia if they were offered the soul of a mortal prince. For this reason Aulfric and Sophia journeyed to Camelot and enchanted Prince Arthur. They took him to the Lake of Avalon and attempted to sacrifice him, but their plan was thwarted by Merlin, who seized Sophia's staff and used it to kill both her and her father before the ritual was complete (The Gates of Avalon).

Merlin takes Excalibur to the lake.

When the Great Dragon learned that Uther had wielded the magical sword Excalibur, he ordered Merlin to take it far away from Camelot, to a place where no mortal man would ever find it. Following these instructions, Merlin retrieved the sword from the armoury and cast it into the Lake of Avalon, where it remained for the next three years (Excalibur).

When Merlin's lover, Freya, was dying, Merlin carried her to the Lake of Avalon, which he knew would remind her of her childhood home. The setting comforted Freya, who was pleased that he'd remembered, and her final moments were spent on its shores. Though he hadn't been able to heal her, Freya assured Merlin that he'd already saved her, that he'd made her feel loved, and with her last last breath promised him that one day she would repay his kindness. She died seconds later in Merlin's arms.

Merlin mourns Freya at the lake.

Heartbroken, Merlin placed her body in a boat lined with ferns and used his magic to set it adrift on the lake. When the boat was some distance away, he used his magic to set it aflame, thereby giving Freya a Viking funeral. He watched the boat burn for a moment, and then returned to Camelot (The Lady of the Lake).

Twenty years after the Sidhe elder implanted a Sidhe into the infant Princess Elena, transforming her into a changeling, Elena traveled to Camelot with her father, Lord Godwyn, to arrange a marriage between her and Prince Arthur. Though it was soon apparent that neither Arthur nor Elena had any interest in one another, Uther and Godwyn remained determined to unite their kingdoms through the match, prompting Elena's nursemaid, Grunhilda, (a pixie in disguise), to meet with the Sidhe elder at the Lake of Avalon.

Grunhilda informed the elder that the marriage between Arthur and Elena would proceed as planned, revealing that the Sidhe had anticipated the match and turned Elena into a changeling in preparation for it. Once Elena was married to Arthur, the fairy inside her would emerge and take her over completely, thereby allowing a Sidhe to become Queen of Camelot. Fortunately, their plan was thwarted by Merlin and Gaius, and Arthur and Elena ultimately chose to call the wedding off when they admitted that neither of them had feelings for the other (The Changeling).

The Avalon Vial.

When Merlin accompanied Arthur on his quest to recover the Fisher King's trident, the Fisher King gave him a glass vial containing water from the Lake of Avalon. He warned him that Albion's time of need was near and that Merlin alone could save her, but that he would need help, and the water would provide that help (The Eye of the Phoenix).

When Morgause and Morgana conquered Camelot with their immortal army, Merlin took the vial with him when he, Arthur, and their allies went into hiding. He experimented with the water using his magic and various spells, but whatever help it could provide remained a mystery until he accidentally broke it. The water took on an ethereal glow and formed a small puddle in a crevice of rock, through which he was able to contact his deceased lover Freya.

Freya returns Excalibur to Merlin.

Freya explained that the Cup of Life had not only made Morgana's army immortal but transformed them into the living dead, and there was only one thing that could slay that which was already dead: the sword Excalibur, which Merlin had hidden at the bottom of the Lake of Avalon. The next day, Merlin asked the Great Dragon to take him to the lake, where Freya retrieved the sword from its resting place and returned it to him, thus providing him with the help he and Arthur needed to retake Camelot (The Coming of Arthur).

After Morgana directed the Shade Lancelot to commit suicide, Arthur ordered that the former knight be given a proper burial. Merlin took Lancelot's body to the Lake of Avalon, where he placed it in a boat lined with twigs and flowers. He then used his magic to free Lancelot's soul from Morgana's control. The spell he used restored Lancelot to his true self and unexpectedly revived him for a brief moment, which the former knight used to thank Merlin before he quietly passed on. Merlin then set the boat adrift and used his magic to set it aflame (Lancelot du Lac).

Sir Elyan was given a similar funeral roughly three years later, after he died rescuing his sister Guinevere from the Dark Tower. With the entire court of Camelot in attendance, the boat containing Elyan's body was set adrift on the lake. A knight then fired a flaming arrow into the boat, setting it alight (The Dark Tower).

Merlin sends Arthur to Avalon.

When Arthur was fatally wounded in the Battle of Camlann, Merlin took him the Lake of Avalon to be healed by the Sidhe. They were confronted along the way by Morgana, and though Merlin killed her before she could do Arthur any more harm, the delay she caused in their journey was a costly one, and Arthur ultimately died before they could reach their destination. Heartbroken, Merlin cast Excalibur back into the lake, where Freya caught it in her hand and drew it back under the water. He then placed Arthur's body in a boat and set it adrift on the lake (The Diamond of the Day).

Name

• Avalon is derived from the Latin Insula Avallonis (cognate with the Welsh Ynys Afallon) which literally means "the isle of fruit [or apple] trees".

Appearances

Series 1

The Gates of Avalon

Excalibur

Series 2

The Lady of the Lake

Series 3

The Changeling

The Eye of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)

The Coming of Arthur, Part 2

Series 4

Lancelot du Lac

Series 5

The Dark Tower

The Diamond of the Day, Part 2

In The Legend

Avalon (also known as the Isle of the Blessed) was an island in Arthurian Legend. First appearing in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudo-historical account Historia Regum Britanniae, it was the place where Arthur's sword Excalibur was forged and where Arthur was taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann.

Even in its earliest appearances, Avalon was strongly associated with mystical practices and figures. Morgan le Fay, for example, was portrayed in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1150 work Vita Merlini as the chief of nine magical sisters who dwelt on the island, all of them skilled in healing.

Historicity

Avalon is traditionally identified as the former island of Glastonbury Tor, which was once called Ynys yr Afalon ("The Isle of Avalon") by the Britons. In 1191, the monks at Glastonbury Abbey supposedly discovered King Arthur and Queen Guinevere's neatly labeled coffins in the Tor, though this was later proven to be a hoax.

The Templar Code for Dummies by Christopher L. Hodapp also names Glastonbury Tor as one of the possible locations of the Holy Grail, likely because of its proximity to the monastery that housed the Nanteos Cup.

Gallery

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External links

Lake of Avalon at wikipedia