Honor and faith in Excalibur

When most people hear the word “chivalry,” they think of men doing favors for women.  When I hear the word, I think of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC_TFoGhqUU

Arthur is trying to get the other knights to accept him as king.  Some of them, such as Uryens, refused to have a bastard for a king and chose instead to make war on Arthur’s ally, Leondegrance (played by Patrick Stewart in the movie clip).  Arthur rides to Leondegrance’s castle to aid in its defense.  This is his first act of feudal loyalty; he’s just one boy with a sword and not much in the way of armor, but he has a moral duty to come to the aid of his besieged supporter, so that’s what he does.  He kills some of the enemy, then leaps from the parapet and tackles Uryens in the moat.

Arthur has already drawn Excalibur from the stone, but that’s not enough.  There are customs that must be followed, powerful social norms that keep some semblance of order in a time when degenerating into random violence and barbarism would be all too easy.  A knight like Uryens won’t swear faith to a squire, and no one blames him for that, not even Arthur.  So Arthur takes a leap of faith.  In spite of the circumstances, he believes Uryens is an honorable guy, and he puts his life in the hands of that honor.  He hands Uryens Excalibur and tells him that by knighting him he’ll have carried out his mercy.

Uryens is tempted, of course, to keep the sword and kill Arthur on the spot.  After all, there can be no honor without temptation, because the whole point of behaving honorably is to do the right thing in spite of all the reasons for not doing it.  It’s supposed to be a difficult decision.  That’s why honor is lauded.  If it was easy, it wouldn’t mean much, and no one would care.

But Arthur judged the man’s character accurately.  Uryens is indeed an honorable fellow, and he decides Arthur’s courage is proof enough of his parentage.  He then chooses to do the right thing, regardless of the personal cost.  He knights Arthur and swears faith to him, the battle is suddenly over, and all the knights unite behind their new king.  They then set out to quell the land.  And they succeed, because they’re all of a single purpose now.  Peace and prosperity rule for years.  And it’s all because Arthur put his faith in another man’s honor–and his life in that man’s hands–and that man turned out to be just as honorable as Arthur suspected.

This is part of the power of the King Arthur story, particularly as told in the movie Excalibur.  It’s not meant to be historically accurate–yeah, yeah, plate armor, etc.–and that’s something the critics never seem to understand.  It’s meant to be a romantic ideal.  It’s meant to inspire ordinary men into becoming more like Arthur and Uryens.  I’ve heard it said that Excalibur is the only “good” King Arthur movie, and I’m inclined to agree.  It’s the only movie that really understands what the story is supposed to be all about.

This guest post was written by Jeff Tanyard and originally appeared here. He writes science fiction. He loves space battles, genetic engineering, alien life, and all the other things that make science fiction fun. He blogs here: https://jefftanyard.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html. His books can be found on Amazon.