Fate & Fabled

Knights of the Round Table were expected to adhere to a strict moral standard of piety, honor, bravery, and courtesy called chivalry.

But considering that they often spent their days killing and rampaging at the behest of their Lord, that must have required some next level compartmentalization.

This duality is reflected in the various versions of a key figure who appears in Arthurian legends throughout history.

Sir Gawain.

In some stories, Gawain is the embodiment of chivalric excellence.

He rescues maidens, masterminds quests, and takes out pirates.

In others, Gawain is very much the anti-hero, even inciting the fall of King Arthur.

This vacillation of Gawain's character is most clearly on display in what is perhaps the most well-known Arthurian legend, the 14th century chivalric poem, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight".

The story is a generally favorable account of Gawain's character, but it also lays bare the ambiguities of his position.

Is Gawain's conflicted depiction in "The Green Knight," a criticism of chivalry and heroism as it was known at the time?

Perhaps it is a commentary on the human condition at large.

[soft suspenseful music] Written anonymously and rediscovered centuries later, "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is set at Christmas time and involves an intruder, and that's where the similarities to "Home Alone" end.

While Arthur and his knights are feasting, they're interrupted by a giant Green Knight in green garments riding a green horse right into the hall.

The Green Knight claims he seeks no violence, only a game.

He invites someone to strike him with his own ax, and in return, the volunteer must consent to the Green Knight striking him in one year and one day's time.

So who's it gonna be?

Arthur is about to rise to the challenge to save face until the loyal Gawain steps in.

For some reason, Gawain decides to go big or go home.

He rolls a natural 20 and chops the Green Knight's head clean off.

Game over, right?

Well, imagine his surprise when the Green Knight calmly scoops up his laughing head and order's Gawain to find him at the Green Chapel next year where he will repay the blow.

It may not sound like something that would catch on, but this game actually has a name.

Popularized in Celtic and medieval mythology, the beheading game, yes, really, usually involves a young warrior being invited to behead and submit to a beheading, kind of like an ultra stakes Power Slap league.

In a famous Irish myth, evil Lord Bricriu invites three of Ireland's best heroes to dinner and pits them against each other.

For their final challenge, a mysterious warrior orders them to chop off his head and come back the next night for him to return the blow.

So, you want us to chop your head off?

Yes, please.

But why?

I guess you could say, I want to stay ahead of the game.

[upbeat rock music] Only one of the heroes, Cu Chulainn, shout out to our Cu Chulainn episode, shows up, cementing his status as the winner.

Guess that makes me... "head" of the class.

-[upbeat rock music] -[group laughs] In another legend, Arthur's knight Caradoc is obliged to behead a hooded stranger and submit to a beheading.

The beheading game is like the ultimate test of honor.

Will you keep your word to play the game even if it means your death?

Meanwhile, the people on my trivia team have always some kind of excuse for not showing up, even though I made it very clear that pub trivia is a commitment.

After a very anxious year, Gawain must either stick to the terms of the game or lose his honor.

So, he rides out to meet his fate.

After encountering a variety of enemies and marvels that are not described, but trust us, they were amazing.

He arrives at the grand castle of Lord and Lady Bertilak.

The Bertilaks tell him that he's close to the Green Chapel, but offer to let him rest up with them for a few days.

Gawain's in no rush to get his head chopped off, so he happily accepts, not knowing that he's just walked into yet another bizarre game.

Lord Bertilak declares that he will go hunting every day and share his spoils with Gawain.

But in return, Gawain must give the Lord whatever he's received during his day at the castle.

On the first day, Lady Bertilak sneaks into Gawain's chambers and attempts to seduce him.

He rebuffs her politely with a chased kiss.

When the Lord returns from the hunt, he shares a deer with Gawain and gives him a single kiss.

On the second day, Gawain permits two kisses from the lady, which he passes on to the Lord in exchange for a bore.

On the third day, the lady lavishes Gawain with three kisses and something extra.

I know you think where you know this is going, but I promise you, it's not.

A magical green and gold girdle, which she promises will protect him from the Green Knight.

When the Lord returns, Gawain has a dilemma.

Keeping the girdle secret would break his promise, but might save his life and avoid a very awkward conversation.

Like many mythical heroes, Gawain is constantly trying to prove his worth, but gets confused by games with arbitrary rules and unclear expectations.

In medieval times, there was a fine line between games and violence.

Okay, still kind of true.

Dueling and hunting were recreational, but they were also part of a knight's violent duties.

By participating in both the beheading game and a hunting game, Gawain is simultaneously navigating the world's of violence and sport and apparently sex.

And by accepting the spoils of the hunt while keeping the girdle, he sacrifices his honor.

Finally, Gawain arrives at the Green Chapel, an uncanny grassy cave and confronts the Green Knight.

Despite his fear, he kneels at the giant's feet and offers his neck as promised.

The Green Knight lifts his ax above his head, swings it down at Gawain's neck, but only nicks him, drawing a few drops of blood.

Gawain is in shock, but the Green Knight burst out laughing, and commends Gawain for upholding the bargain.

He reveals himself to being none other than Lord Bertilak, disguised by the magic of the old sorceress Morgan le Fay to test Arthur's knights.

It was all a prank, I guess?

This mirrors the ending of other beheading games.

In "Bricriu's Feast," Cu Chulainn is spared on account of his bravery, while Caradoc's story ends with his enemy striking him with a blunt sword and praising him for his courage.

On the one hand, these stories make light of the hero's struggle by turning a serious bargain into a courtly jest.

On the other, they can be read as a critique of heroism and its hollow violent nature.

The story of "Gawain and the Green Knight" shares this dual meaning.

It pokes fun at lofty chivalric standards, but it also interrogates the impossibility of these standards.

While Gawain should be proud of mostly passing the test, he feels like a coward for breaking his word about the girdle and arrives back at court an emotional wreck.

But luckily, he's got his Round Table bros to lift him back up.

As far as they're concerned, he survived a terrifying ordeal with his reputation more or less intact.

They even all start wearing green and gold girdles to celebrate him.

Gawain's our hero!

Thanks.

Does my epic beard help?

Absolutely, yes.

Green and gold girdle crew represent.

-[pair laughing] -[gentle music] [pair laughing] Lord and Lady Bertilak have a really messed up relationship.

Yeah.

Gawain's hero status is a Christmas miracle.

The Christmas setting is no accident.

It highlights another tension that poor Gawain has to navigate, that between Christian and Pagan worlds.

A Christian holiday is literally interrupted by an explicitly Pagan figure.

With his green skin, wild beard, and bare chest, the Green Knight clearly represents nature and resembles the mythical green man, a face encased in leaves that appears in ancient artwork.

From India to the British Isles.

Green was also the color of witchcraft and the devil.

And there's something definitely supernatural about a giant who can pick up his own severed head.

Magic in the form of the girdle is also what punctures Gawain's otherwise watertight honor.

And yet, the test of Gawain's honor is only possible because of sorcery, which enables the transformation of Lord Bertilak into a green giant.

These chaotic circumstances reveal the entanglement of Paganism and Christianity, which shaped the medieval worldview.

No wonder Gawain's confused.

Gawain's inconsistency can be attributed to his character or lack thereof.

The lack of a significant trait leaves him open to our projections, but it's also what makes him the most human of Arthur's knights.

In the end, it's hard not to feel a little sorry for Gawain.

By just trying to do the right thing, he got tricked into volunteering for a beheading, made a treacherous journey towards his own certain death, got sucked into an eccentric couple's weird sex games, all to get laughed at by the Green Knight.

Still, Gawain arguably manages to stay honorable along the way except for the girdle.

But come on, who wouldn't want to keep the girdle?

Later depictions of Gawain have shared the sympathy.

The "Once and Future King" fantasy novels concoct a traumatic childhood for Gawain.

While the recent film adaptation "The Green Knight" portrays him as a very human hero trying to make the best of baffling circumstances.

In the comic "Once and Future", Arthurian legend is retold in a modern day exploration of the power of storytelling with Gawain's mantle taken up by Rose, one of the female protagonists.

While these expansions to Gawain lore and modern day mythmaking more explicitly comment on changing attitudes towards gender and heroism, the internal conflicts at the core of the narrative continue to reflect the complexity of humanity and our brutal world.

We might not play the beheading game at parties anymore, but the tension between entertainment and violence is still very much a part of culture.

The legends of Gawain are a testament that even a Knight of the Round Table can be susceptible to pitfalls, mistakes, and human error.

Not to mention the hypocrisies of chivalry, which the original anonymous author seemed to recognize.

Ultimately, Gawain is a hero who is thoroughly shaped by the world around him.

His challenge lies in upholding cultural norms, but his power lies in exposing the cracks and contradictions that underlie those norms.

So if you've been following along for this season of "Fate & Fabled," we're doing our favorite Pantheon picks.

So for my pick for this episode, I'm going with the Morrigan.

Ooh.

-Nice choice.

-Thank you.

The Morrigan I just think is really interesting perspective-wise, 'cause she's one and many.

She can also shapeshift into a crow.

And you know how much I love birds.

-Yeah, yeah.

-The Morrigan's my pick.

Yeah, that was great.

(Emily) Stay tuned for our next episode and you'll get to hear our next Pantheon pick.

(Crew) Whoa.

Do I then fall over?

(Crew) Hold on.

Yeah, there you go.

Gween and golden girdle crew.