The Battle of Camelot ended the rule of King Arthur despite the fact that his army was the victor in the battle.
The battle was a strange one because it was basically an entire war compacted into one confrentaion. The bases of the battle began years before the accual fight took place. Morgan LeFay who was obsessed with destroying her half brother Arthur, began from the moment of his borth to train her son Mordred to become king. According to different legends Mordred was either Arthur's nephew or son (Morgan LeFay may have tricked Arthur into having her son so that he would succeed Arthur if he had no son to Quinevere). Mordred kept his hatred of Arthur strictly to himself, because of his excellent warrior skills he was knighted into the Round Table. Arthur considered Mordred to be one of his most loyal abd strongest knights.
Years after his knighthood Sir Mordred began to recruit other knights to his cause. When Arthur left Camelot to lay seige on Sir Lancelot's castle where Queen Quinevere was, Morgan saw his chance to take Camelot. By the time Arthur returned (with Sir Lancelot who had vowed to aid Arthur) Sir Mordred had gathered a small army of former knights and revolutionary warriors. King Arthur would not have been worried, but he had lost many of his greatest warriors such as Sir Galahad and Sir Pellinore that he was not sure if the few remaining loyal Knights Of The Round Table could defeat the strong enemy.
The battle accually took place in a large field instead of at Camelot, it was near the lake of the Lady Of The Lake. It is said to have been one of the fiercest encounters ever. Near the end of the battle King Arthur met Sir Mordred in the field where they engaged in a fierce fight. Arthur killed Sir Mordred but not before Mordred delivered a fatal blow to him, Arthur would only have a short time to live after that. Other than Arthur the only knights who survived the battle were Sir Bedivere and Sir Lucan, all of Sir Mordred's army had been destroyed.
Before his death Arthur ordered Sir Bedivere to return Excaliber to the Lady Of The Lake. Nobody is sure what happend to Camelot after the battle but King Arthur and Sir Lucas died after it, Sir Bedivere and Sir Lancelot became hermits, and Quinevere became a nun. |
