History Literature / HereLiesArthur

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Cei (Kay) is usually depicted as a {{Jerkass}} or BigBrotherBully, but in the book is shown to be a loving husband and father, brave warrior, loyal brother and NumberTwo to Arthur and arguably a much better leader. This is akin to his more positive portrayal in the earlier medieval Welsh material, before his characterisation shifted in later literature. It's explained InUniverse that Myrddin makes Cei a jerk in his stories because he's worried, with justification, that people would like Cei better if they knew what kind of men he and Arthur really were.

** When Arthur kills [[spoiler:Bedwyr]] for sleeping with Gwenhwyfar, nobody has a problem with him murdering his wife's lover, they just object to the manner in which he did it.

* FailureHero: Arthur doesn't even come close to uniting the Britons or driving off the Saxons.

* LadyLooksLikeADude: Gwyna is able to pass as a boy until puberty, and even as a young woman can pass herself off as a man pretty well because she has fairly masculine features and very little in the way of curves.
* LawOfInverseFertility: After some years of marriage Arthur resents Gwenhwyfar for not giving him children and assumes she is barren. He ignores that he has not had any children with his first wife either, while Gwenhwyfar has had a baby from an earlier marriage who died in infancy, so it may be that he is the infertile one.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: When Myrddin finds out that Gwyna [[spoiler:tagged along with Cei's warband who he knowingly sent into an ambush]], he has stroke at the thought he may be responsible for [[spoiler:her death]].

** Myrddin plans to have Arthur build a round hall with a round central room where he and his men can meet and feast as equals, but doesn't mention a table. Though one can infer the table would also have to be round.

* PoorCommunicationKills: This is Myrddin's FatalFlaw. He never explains himself or tells anyone anything unless it's absolutely vital to his plans that they know. This ends up wrecking his relationships with his OnlyFriend and surrogate daughter.

* RobbingTheDead: Looting the dead after a battle is standard practice. Gwyna [[spoiler:steals Arthur's jewelry and boots after he is killed]].

* SweetPollyOliver: Gwyna spends most of her childhood after Myrddin finds her living as a boy. She spends her teens years as a girl, but decides to live as a man again once she strikes out on her own. When she's recognized by people who know one or the other persona, she just claims to be their sibling.
* SympatheticAdulterer: ZigZagged. Gwenhwyfar's marriage to Arthur is a loveless and sexless political match, and follows her previous, similarly loveless ArrangedMarriage to Valerius. They don't live together and Arthur doesn't even pretend to be faithful. This would all normally add up to her affair with [[spoiler:Bedwyr]] being depicted sympathetically but Gwyna believes she is selfish, partially because she herself has a crush on Gwenhwyfar's much younger lover herself; and also because Gwenhwyfar made sure she knew about their relationship, meaning Arthur would kill Gwyna too if he even found out, and is holding the fact that she knows Gwyna was Gwyn and the "Lake Lady" over her head to ensure her silence. Gwyna even marvels that Gwenhwyfar didn't didn't seem to consider what would happen when Arthur inevitably found out.

** The Britons vs. Saxons angle that early Arthurian pseudohistory takes is very downplayed here, as they did fight a war a generation ago but now the Saxons are generally content to stay put in their territories, and Arthur fights mainly other British petty lords. The Saxons are generally just invoked as a looming threat and motivator for Myrddin's plans for Arthur. There was a big, significant Battle of Badon Hill, but a generation ago, and Arthur later fights a smaller and less significant battle in the same area that later gets merged with the earlier battle in folk memory, and Myrddin suggested the battle site so this exact thing could happen and so Arthur is glorified further.

* LawOfInverseFertility: After some years of marriage Arthur resents Gwenhwyfar for not giving him children and assumes she is barren. He ignores that he has not had any children with his mistress either, while Guinevere has had a baby from an earlier marriage who died in infancy, so it may be that he is the infertile one.

* SympatheticAdulterer: ZigZagged. Gwenhwyfar's marriage to Arthur is a loveless and sexless political match, and follows her previous, similarly loveless ArrangedMarriage. They don't live together and Arthur doesn't even pretend to be faithful. This would all normally add up to her affair with [[spoiler:Bedwyr]] being depicted sympathetically but Gwyna believes she is selfish, partially because she has a crush on Gwenhwyfar's much younger lover herself; and also because Gwenhwyfar made sure she knew about it, meaning Arthur would kill her too if he even found out, and is holding the fact that she knows Gwyna was Gwyn and the "Lake Lady" over her head to ensure her silence.

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:Medrawt]] is the only character who dies in the legends but whose death is unconfirmed [[spoiler:after the last battle at Camlann]], in contrast to all others who die onscreen, as witnessed by Gwyna. But she later spins the tale to include said character's death anyway. [[spoiler:In the aftermath of Camlann, she only finds Arthur mortally wounded. Later she muses that Medrawt's men must either be dead or attacking Aquae Sulis to finish off Arthur's, but it's not clarified if Medrawt himself is alive or dead, and she's past caring and only wants to get away.]]
* UndyingLoyalty: Cei is absolutely loyal to Arthur, even after some of the warband start to see him as an alternative to his brother. When one man suggests, purely hypothetically you understand, that if Cei were to challenge Arthur a lot of them would support him; Cei punches him out and loudly declares that they are Arthur's sworn warriors and he will not listen to any talk of treachery. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, it's not enough to save him]].

** Arthur and his men fight at Badon Hill alongside Valerius, the lord of Aquae Sulis and Gwenhwyfar's husband. They win the battle but Valerius is killed by getting hit InTheBack. Since this leaves Arthur to marry Gwenhwyfar and put Aquae Sulis under his control, she suspects Valerius was murdered, but can't do anything.

** Sir Percival is one of Arthur's greatest knights in most versions of the story, but here he is an incompetent fighter whose real talent is music;

* RuleOfSymbolism: When Myrddin realises Gwyna is getting close to puberty and won't be able to pass for a boy for much longer, he takes her out on a long journey to give her time to readjust to living as a girl and let everyone back home forget what "Gwyn" looked like. When he returns he finds that a great feast-hall he planned to show Arthur's greatness has been built, but it is shoddily constructed and doesn't match his vision at all, indicating that Arthur has strayed from the plan while he was gone and isn't becoming the king Myrddin wanted him to be. Just in case we didn't get it, the hall then collapses over the winter.

* ForWantOfANail: When he kills [[spoiler:Bedwyr]], Arthur also dispatches some men to kill [[spoiler:Medrawt]] before he can come back for revenge. As they are heading to the target's house, their leader, the only guy who knew what they were supposed to be doing, is injured or killed in a random accident. This gives Gwyna enough time to warn him (through Peredur) and let him get away, then return with an army to kill Arthur.

* AllForNothing: Arthur doesn't even come close to uniting the Britons or driving off the Saxons.

* HeroicLineage: Arthur is supposedly descended from a legendary Roman general called [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Artorius_Castus Artorius]]. Although Myrddin admits to Gwyna that it's almost certainly not true, he plays it up anyway to portray Arthur as a link to the glory of Rome. Also invoked when he wants Arthur to marry Gwenhwyfar, as she's an (actual) distant relative of Ambrosius, who smashed the Saxons a generation ago, the idea being to link two great bloodlines to create a powerful dynasty.

* ForWantOfANail: When he kills [[spoiler:Bedwyr]], Arthur also dispatches some men to kill [[spoiler:Medrawt]] before he can come back for revenge. As they are heading to the target's house, their leader, the only guy who knew what they were supposed to be doing, is injured or killed in a random accident. This gives Gwyna enough time to warn him and let him get away, then return with an army to kill Arthur.

* OffIntoTheDistanceEnding: The story ends with [[spoiler:Gwyna and Peredur, the last survivors of Arthur's band, setting sail for France]].

* SupportingProtagonist: Gwyna is the protagonist of the book, but the story revolves around Arthur.

* DeadPersonImpersonation: [[spoiler:When Gwyna walks into the battlefield in the aftermath of the showdown between Arthur and Medrawt, she wears the recently deceased Myrddin's robe with the hood up, so when she finds Arthur dying he believes she's Myrddin back from the grave]].

* HeroicLineage: Arthur is supposedly descended from a legendary Roman general called [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Artorius_Castus Artorius]], although Myrddin admits to Gwyna that it's almost certainly not true he plays it up to portray Arthur as a link to the glory of Rome. Also invoked when he wants Arthur to marry Gwenhwyfar, as she's an (actual) distant relative of Ambrosius, who smashed the Saxons a generation ago, the idea being to link two great bloodlines to create a powerful dynasty.

* RobeAndWizardHat: Myrddin wears black robes and is festooned with various charms and trinkets to look appropriately wizardy. No hat, but he does have face-obscuring hood which is a close second for looking mysterious and mystical.

* MenstrualMenace: When Myrddin realises that "Gwyn" is approaching puberty, he takes her out of Aquae Sulis and drops her off with one of Arthur's distant vassals to relearn how to be a girl. She gets her first period during this time and is terrified, believing that she is dying, because she had no idea it was going to happen. She realises that is why Myrddin took her away from home, because if that happened to her while she was sleeping in a dorm with all the other boys, her cover would be blown.

* TheMedic: Myrddin is the warband's field medic in addition to their storyteller, using almost lost knowledge of medicinal herbs and basic surgery from the Roman times that he picked up over the years. His survival rate isn't great by modern standards, and he can't do much for serious wounds besides sew them up, give them something for the pain and hope they make it through the night; but he's still a pretty good medic for the time, which only enhances his reputation as a wizard among the band.

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:Medrawt]] is the only character who dies in the legends but whose death is unconfirmed after the last battle, in contrast to all others who die onscreen, as witnessed by Gwyna. But Gwyna later spins the tale to include said character's death in the battle.

** Arthur and his men fight at Badon Hill alongside Valerie's, the lord of Aquae Sulis and Gwenhwyfar's husband. They win the battle but Valerius is killed by getting hit InTheBack. Since this leaves Arthur to marry Gwenhwyfar and put Aquae Sulis under his control, she suspects Valerius was murdered, but can't do anything.

** Arthur and his men fight at Badon Hill alongside Valerius, the lord of Aquae Sulis and Gwenhwyfar's husband. They win the battle but Valerius is killed by getting hit InTheBack. Since this leaves Arthur to marry Gwenhwyfar and put Aquae Sulis under his control, she suspects Valerius was murdered, but can't do anything.

** Peredur/Peri is raised to believe he is a girl with few adult males around and none of the same age to contradict this, until Gwyna (as Gwyn) sees him naked and points out he's unusual. Even after puberty hits, his mother treats him as female, until she dies and he's expelled from his own home. Then he accepts that he is a man and tries to live as one, after Gwyna starts living as Gwyn again full-time and they run away together, its ambiguous if he also starts living as a woman again. The book is largely narrated in the first person by Gwyna so we don't see much inside his head. When Gwyna believes him to be a girl at first, she uses "she/her", but after the reveal she uses "he/him". But after they run away together at the end, she refers to him as her "pretty companion" and Peri, which until then was his childhood nickname as a girl.

** Myrddin also tells stories of Arthur hunting the giant magical boar Twrch Trwyth, later weaving it into the tale of ''Literature/CulwchAndOlwen'' but Culwch is unnamed (in Gwyna's narration).

* PrettyBoy: Peredur. Before puberty his features look girlish enough as long as you don't look too closely and his long hair helps. He grows up tall and thin so that he can pass for a slim girl at a pinch, though he cuts his hair shorter.

* ForWantOfANail: When he kills [[spoiler:Bedwyr]], Arthur also dispatches some men to kill [[spoiler:Medrawt]] before he can come back for revenge. As they are head to the target's house, their leader, the only guy who know what they were supposed to be doing, is injured or killed in a random accident. This gives Gwyna enough time to warn him and let him get away, then return with an army to kill Arthur.

** Peredur/Peri is raised to believe he is a girl with few adult males around and none of the same age to contradict this, until Gwyna (as Gwyn) sees him naked and points out he's unusual. Even after puberty hits, his mother treats him as female, until she dies and he's expelled from his own home. Then he accepts that he is a man and tries to live as one, after Gwyna starts living as Gwyn again full-time and they run away together, its ambiguous if he also starts living as a woman again. The book is largely narrated in the first person by Gwyna so we don't see much inside his head. When Gwyna believes him to be a girl at first, she uses "she/her", but after the reveal she uses "he/him". But after they run away together at the end, she refers to him as Peri, which until then was his childhood nickname as a girl.

* ManipulativeBastard: Myrddin. Unfortunately for him, people often don't act exactly the way he wants them to unless he's there to micromanage, and he can;t be everywhere at once.

* RuleOfSymbolism: When Myrddin realises Gwyna is getting close to puberty and won't be able to pass for a boy for much longer, he takes her out on a long journey to give her time to readjust to living as a girl and let everyone back home forget what "Gwyn" looked like. When he returns he finds that a great feast-hall he planned to hold the Round Table has been built, but it is shoddily constructed and doesn't match his vision at all, indicating that Arthur has strayed from the plan while he was gone and isn't becoming the king Myrddin wanted him to be. Just in case we didn't get it, the hall then collapses over the winter.

* TheFundamentalist: "Saint" Porroc starts out as essentially a pre-industrial version of a GreedyTelevangelist who takes Peredur's mother for everything she has. He tries to keep Arthur and his men away after they pay her a visit due to judging them as worldly men of the sword trespassing on holy ground (his). Arthur just laughs and knocks him down. After Gwyna has Peredur pose as an angel and appear him in order to to spook and chastise him, he has a revival of faith and becomes an ascetic fire and brimstone preacher. Later, when he discovers that the now-teenage Peredur is a male who wears women's clothing, he drives him out of his own home for that.

** Myrddin plans to have Arthur build a round hall with a round central room where he and his men can meet and feast as equals, but doesn't mention a table.

* PlaceboEffect: Gwyna makes Peredur drink what he believes must be healing water from the magic cup of the Lady of the Lake who presents it to him herself, so he can regain the will to live. It's just plain water from a regular cup, and Gwyna gets away with pretending to be the Lady (naked, in poor light, hiding her face and whispering) due to him being delerious and not knowing "Gwyn" is a girl yet.

** Gawain doesn't feature in the story as Arthur's favored nephew, but otherwise his nephew Medrawt is similarly high in the pecking order among Arthur's men due to both blood ties and personal qualities, a status the more villainous Mordred does not usually enjoy. [[spoiler:Much the same for Bedwyr.]]

* MythologyGag: One of Myrddin's stories is an early version of ''Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight''. As knights don't exist yet the Green Knight is a giant, and Arthur is the one who makes the head-chopping deal as the whole point of Myrddin's stories is to make Arthur look good.

* AuthorityInNameOnly: Arthur styles himself Dux Bellorum ("Leader of Battles" in Latin), inheritor of Rome and King of the Britons. In reality he's just a slightly better equipped and more successful than average warlord. He's not even the only one who calls himself the Dux Bellorum.

** Gwyna's first job for Myrddin is to swim underwater into the middle of a lake and hold Caliburn above the water for Arthur to grab, becoming the basis for the legend of Myth/TheLadyOfTheLake and the hand that holds out Excalibur. A couple of times she considers telling people the truth, but realises that nobody would believe her. Later in the story she also does some of the deeds attributed to Merlin's apprentice Nimue, albeit not quite in the way the stories tell.

* FreudianExcuse: Myrddin fanatically hates Saxons. It's eventually revealed that when he was a boy the Saxons destroyed his home, killed his family and enslaved him for years.
* TheFundamentalist: "Saint" Porroc starts out as essentially a pre-industrial version of a GreedyTelevangelist who takes Peredur's mother for everything she has. After Gwyna has Peredur pose as an angel and appear to him, he has a revival of faith and becomes an ascetic fire and brimstone preacher.

* KarmaHoudini: The Irishman is the only villainous character to not only never face any consequences for his actions, but actually ends up better off than he started.

* SweetPollyOliver: Gwyna spends most of her childhood after Myrddin finds her living as a boy. She spends her teens years as a girl, but decides to live as a man again once she strikes out on her own.

* UriahGambit: Arthur and Myrddin send [[spoiler:Cei and the men loyal to him]] into an ambush to get killed because they worry he might try to overthrow Arthur.