Lady Guinevere
471 - Guinevere, a foundling fae child, is placed in the home of King Leodegrance, becoming his daughter.
474 - 3-year-old Guinevere is annointed by the fae to one day become queen.
475 - 4-year-old Guinevere's father King Leodegrance becomes one of young King Arthur Pendragon's bannermen.
482 - 11-year-old Guinevere is stolen by Dark Fae and trapped in their realm. She is saved by young Lancelot Du Lac, who pledges his life to her service as they are bonded through fae magic.
488 - 17-year-old Guinevere begins attending to men on the battlefield, and befriends Arthur Pendragon.
500 - 29-year-old Gwinevere marries Arthur Pendragon, and becomes the queen.
501 - 30-year-old Guinevere meets Lancelot Du Lac as he joins the Round Table, immediately recognizing him as the boy who once saved her and was bonded to her through fae magic.
508 - 37-year-old Guinevere & Lancelot Du Lac are accused of adultery by Sir Kay. Arthur Pendragon is furious that he cannot defend the Queen's honor. The duel is a draw, oweing to their innocence but for the lust in their hearts. Lancelot no longer attends court, performing greats acts of bravery and chivalry all over England.
514 - 43-year-old Guinevere is saved by Lancelot Du Lac from Mordred's forces by fleeing into farie. They confess their love for each other and are married by fae law.
517 - 46-year-old Guinevere's affair with Lancelot Du Lac is revealed to Arthur Pendragon. Lost in despair, he is unable to repell the forces of Mordred. Camelot falls, but Mordred & Morgaine Le Fay are stopped when Merlin forges the 2nd Shadowpact. While escaping, Guinevere & Lancelot find an injured & dying Arthur, who forgives them before being borne to Avalon by the Lady of the Lake. They retreat to Lancelot's home in France together.
538 - 67-year-old Guinevere dies of consumption in her home in France, held by Lancelot Du Lac.
The character of Guinevere is one of the most complex figures in western fiction. Just as a tiny glimpse into the density of content here, her name alone can be traced back to Gwenhwyfar in Welsh, or to Findabar in Irish. There is probably an actual person this character is based on from somewhere in the 5th century, but her depiction in these unbelivably prolific tales depict her as everything from virtuous, fatally flawed, or even downright villainous. In much the same way Lois Lane has born the brunt of depictions of women in comics for almost a century... Guinevere has done so for almost the full history of the English language.
Guinevere will need to be a part of our spin on the DC universe, but we actually have the privledge to have a little fun with it here.
Guinevere will need to be a part of our spin on the DC universe, but we actually have the privledge to have a little fun with it here.
Lady Guinevere's StoryMost of the Camelot characters that have made a lot of appearances in DC have done so thanks to their interaction with Merlin or Morgaine Le Fay. Guinevere has made a few smaller, almost background appearances in series like the classic Wonder Woman or in Swamp Thing. One of the only appearances where she even played much of a role in the story happens in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen, when Guinevere actually helps a time-displaced Jimmy free himself from the dungeons (and happens to look exactly like Lucy Lane for some reason.)
Like a lot of our Camelot characters, one of the most prolific DC series that you really have to reference is Mike W Barr & Brian Bollands Camelot 3000. In this non-canon series all the classic characters are reincarnated in the bodies of other people, and Guinevere is Commander Joan Acton, so she gets to actually join the rest of the heroes in their adventures. The more sci-fi elements of this series make it hard to actually recommend as a a literal one-to-one reference for our classic characters, but it's really hard to not at least consider some of the visual cues from this great series. Our version of the relationship between Guenivere and Lancelot is very specifically a reference to the novel Lancelot Du Lethe by J Robert King. This is why their magical connection is acutally expanded into a fey marriage, and why Guinevere is not religated to a convent in the end of her life, but is instead allowed to live out her days with Lancelot. |