67 pages • 2 hours read
The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur
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Part 1, Chapters 1-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “A War of Wonders”
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Azure, Three Scepters, a Chevron or”
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, rape, and child abuse.
Seventeen-year-old Collum of Mull is on his way to Camelot when a knight appears out of nowhere to challenge him to a duel. Like Collum, the stranger bears the vergescu, the blank white shield that is the sign of an untested knight. The two fight, with Collum gaining on the knight. Collum asks the knight to yield, but he refuses and tries to attack him again. Collum kills the knight.
In shock that he has actually taken a man’s life, Collum examines the dead man. He can see that the knight was much older than him and that his shield is not actually a vergescu: Under its hastily applied coat of white paint, the shield bears the coat of arms of Azure, Three Scepters, and a Chevron, indicating that the mysterious knight was experienced.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Roman Roads”
Collum buries the knight respectfully, taking only the curious medal around his neck as a token. The medal bears a small wooden stick under the usual circle. Collum resumes his march to Camelot on the broad road built by the Romans. Collum marvels at the magnificent ruins of the Roman empire around him since he is from Mull, a lonely island in the northernmost British lands where the Romans never set foot. The Romans ruled the southlands of Britain for 350 years, introducing Christianity and bringing Britain’s warring tribes under one civilization. After they left, Britain reverted to its old ways until King Arthur ushered in a new era of peace.
Stopping at an inn, Collum encounters a woman with short, red hair. Although Collum had vowed to himself to never reveal his murder of Sir Three Scepters to anyone, he finds himself spilling his secrets to the woman (later revealed to be Morgan le Fay, the queen of fairies). When Collum tells the woman that he is on his way to Camelot to join King Arthur’s Round Table, she says that his mission is futile, as “the sword’s in the sea” (20).
Collum follows the woman out of the inn, but she disappears. Instead, Collum runs into a large, drunk man with a missing left hand. When Collum tells the man that he is on his way to Camelot to find Sir Bleoberys, the man tells Collum that Bleoberys is long gone—Collum should go home instead.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “A Yong Knight”
The next morning, Collum heads to Camelot, sure that the woman and the large, one-handed man were fairies. Camelot is important for Collum because King Arthur’s table is the rare one that is potentially open to a nobody like him. In theory, anyone can be knighted by Arthur, provided they are skilled enough. However, Collum is aware that, in practice, all the knights of the Round Table eventually turn out to be of noble birth. Thankfully, he may have a slim connection to nobility, as he has heard that the Arthurian knight Sir Bleoberys is his distant relative.
Collum had a rough childhood, born to an unwed mother and a father who was supposedly lost at sea before Collum was born. Collum’s mother married Peadar, a sheep trader in Mull, but died soon after. Peadar sent Collum off to Dubh Hall, the house of Alasdair, the Lord of Mull, so that Collum could be educated as a knight. However, cruel Alasdair made the child a servant, beating him mercilessly at the smallest mistake. Collum’s refuge was the smithy, where the blacksmith told him stories of King Arthur and his perfect Christian kingdom that welcomed all, irrespective of their background. Collum fell in love with the ideas of Christianity and knighthood, vowing to seek his fortune at Camelot.
The other reprieve that Collum received was catching the attention of the marshal who taught sword fighting to Alasdair’s son. Impressed with Collum’s skill with a wooden sword, Aucassin began to train Collum whenever the boy found time from his backbreaking chores. Aucassin’s lessons focused on a hardscrabble, brutal fighting style. When Collum was 17, Alasdair threw Collum out. Collum stole armor and a horse and headed straight to Camelot.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “Camelot”
As Collum rides into Camelot, he notes that the town is quiet and empty. When he gets to the great hall, he sees only four dejected-looking men at the great Round Table: Sir Palomides, the Saracen (Muslim) knight known for his legendary chase of the Questing Beast; Sir Constantine of Cornwall, golden haired and magnificent looking; Sir Dinadan, with a most unusual sword of matte-blue metal; and Sir Villiers.
Collum presents himself to the knights, asking to be admitted to the Round Table through a show of skill. An annoyed Sir Villiers attacks Collum, but Collum is saved by the large, drunk man from the night before. This is Sir Bedivere, Arthur’s most loyal companion. A grim Bedivere informs Collum that Arthur is dead.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary: “The Tale of Sir Bedivere”
The narrative flashes back to Bedivere’s past. Though people assume that he lost his hand in battle, the truth is that Bedivere, son of King Reithior of Dryfed, is born without the hand. Bedivere, who is attracted to men, grows up to be strong, wielding a war hammer with his right arm. When Bedivere is in his early twenties, King Uther Pendragon of Camelot, who united the warring kingdoms after Rome’s departure, dies without an heir. A great stone appears in the yard of St. Paul’s cathedral in Londinium, with a sword stuck in an anvil on top of the rock. An inscription on the stone says that whoever pulls out the blade will be the rightful king of all Britain.
Princes and lords converge in Londinium to try their hand at the anvil. Bedivere goes too, though the real purpose of his visit is to see Londinium and possibly have sex. In Londinium, an unknown teenage squire—the future King Arthur—effortlessly pulls the sword out of the stone. The gathered princes are outraged at the prospect of a nobody becoming king and turn on the boy. Bedivere’s eyes meet those of the boy, and sensing his innocence, Bedivere kneels before him, accepting him as king. Since that day, Bedivere has remained at Arthur’s side, falling deeply in love with him along the way.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary: “The Tale of Sir Bedivere, Part II”
Merlin, King Uther’s chief advisor and last of the druids, reveals that Arthur is actually the secret son of King Uther and thus also worthy of the throne by blood. Arthur was raised in Little Dunoak in the house of his foster father, Sir Ector. Despite Merlin’s seal of approval, an army of rebel kings rises against Arthur. Merlin helps Arthur defeat the rebels. When Arthur’s sword breaks in a battle, Merlin leads him to the fenlands, where the Lady of the Lake presents Arthur with Excalibur.
Arthur also pushes back the Saxon (Germanic and Nordic) tribes pouring into Britain. Arthur is so brutal with the Saxons they give him the moniker of “Blaec Artair or Black Arthur” (73). Soon, Arthur marries Guinevere. The Round Table arrives as part of Guinevere’s dowry, and Arthur begins to cultivate an inner circle: trustworthy knights seated at the enormous table.
With Arthur’s rule, God’s grace arrives in Camelot, in the form of marvels and adventures. God often sends the knights quests, such as a “damsel” asking to be rescued, as if to test their heroism. Arthur is always ready for a quest, perhaps because he is never at peace. The reason for Arthur’s restlessness reveals itself to Bedivere one night when the two men are drinking together. Arthur tells Bedivere that he never forgets the fact that his mother, Igraine of Cornwall, was raped by King Uther. Bedivere understands then that Arthur searches for adventures to heal the wound of his violent conception.
Part 1, Chapters 1-6 Analysis
The novel begins with Collum going to Camelot to seek his fortune as one of King Arthur’s knights. However, the news of Arthur’s death quenches his dreams, creating an anticlimax—a reversal that is a recurrent feature of the narrative. Author Lev Grossman often uses such anticlimactic and post-climactic scenarios to explore how a story goes on after its high points have been achieved. Unlike in a fairy tale, life does not end with the end of a dream or a rule. Grossman thus focuses on the lives of the knights after Arthur’s supposed death, introducing the key theme of The Reconstruction of Identity and Purpose in the Absence of Leadership.
Apart from anticlimaxes, the author also focuses on minor characters of the Arthurian story to explore his subject of sidelined narratives. By the time Collum arrives in Camelot, all the great knights of the Round Table—Sir Galahad, Sir Gawain, Sir Percival, and Sir Lancelot—are either dead or in hiding. What he encounters is the side cast, the “dregs.” Collum himself is called Collum of the Out Isles, cementing his position as an outsider. Through making these so-called outsiders and “dregs” of the Round Table the leads of this Arthurian tale, the text introduces the theme of unlikely heroes.
Another theme introduced in this section is The Conflict Between Magic and Religion, or Paganism and Christianity. Characters such as Collum are devoutly Christian and consider Rome—which introduced Christianity into Britannia—the civilizing force of their lives. However, the narrative suggests that the conflict between magic and religion is artificial. For instance, in Chapter 6, Bedivere notes the contradiction that Arthur, who always speaks Latin, the Christian language, whispers to Bedivere in British in an unguarded moment, telling him that he was once called “[l]ittle bear” (85). This shows that the Christian king still has pagan ties: History has not yet fully crystallized into a binary, us-versus-them narrative.
The text contains several metafictional references, with characters aware that they are in a story and playing a certain part. When Collum describes his journey to Camelot, he notes that adventures may be exciting for those hearing about them, “but when you [a]re inside one, they happen[] very, very slowly” (12). These references draw attention to the fact that what is being told is a story so old and familiar that even its characters know the tale. At the same time, every telling changes the story, as the novel is now attempting.
Storytelling as a subject is also central to the novel because one of its key themes is The Role of Stories in Building and Dismantling Power. As an example, the dominant narrative of King Uther’s pursuit of Igraine is that he fell so deeply in love with the beautiful queen that he disguised himself as her husband, Gorlois, to sleep with her. The real Gorlois died in battle around the same time. However, as Arthur notes to Bedivere, this narrative does not focus enough on the fact that the king raped Igraine. Most people want to gloss over the unsavory aspects of the story because King Uther Pendragon must appear noble and faultless.
The narrative uses description and imagery to make the early medieval milieu of its world come alive for the reader. In Chapter 2, it describes how Collum takes off his armor at the inn, “all thirty-seven pieces, one by one, each with its own hinges and pins and buckles and fastenings” (16), and then polishes each with mineral oil. Through attention to detail, the text evokes the real, painstaking work that goes into the seemingly mythical world of swordfights. The action sequences are also described in dynamic detail, including references to heraldry, swordplay, and weaponry. Collum recalls how Marshall Aucassin trained him relentlessly in hundreds of strikes, such as “the squinting cut, the scalp cut, the battle cut” (36), and so on.
The plot moves from adventure to adventure in an episodic structure. The narrative includes several flashbacks, fleshing out the backstories of the characters. These stories are titled “The Tale of Sir Bedivere” and so on, an homage to medieval narratives such as Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th-century The Canterbury Tales, which is structured as the individual tales of the pilgrims to Canterbury. The time hopping between the present timeline and flashbacks builds up the novel’s large canvass and also introduces tension and suspense into the text through devices such as foreshadowing. As an example, when Arthur tells Bedivere that he was once called “little bear,” this foreshadows a much later reveal about the king.
The text is peppered with humor and irony, with many of the jokes featuring a contemporary idiom. For instance, when Collum sees Morgan at the inn, someone remarks, “[W]atch out for her, she’s a live one” (16). These profanities and jokes coexist with era-appropriate expressions such as “God’s nails” (8). The juxtaposition of the medieval and the contemporary lends a timeless feel to the narrative, while the humor attempts to make the characters more accessible to a modern audience.
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