Line #89 Myth/TheLadyOfTheLake


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_oj4idmgrve1rnrss4o1_500.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[-''by Diana Van Damme''-]]]
3	->'''Arthur:''' But I thought you were a fairy.\
4	'''Lady of the Lake:''' Oh no, that's [[AdaptationalSexuality Lancelot]].
5	-->-- ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}''
6
7	'''Nimue/Vivienne/The Lady of the Lake''', FairyCompanion ''du jour''
8
9	A sorceress of ancient Britain, she is best known for several different pivotal things, with the one character being put to use in so many different stories that the identity became separated. Also, despite how similar her name can be to Evian, the fertile spring in that French town was not discovered until many centuries later, so those etymology rumors are false. She is also not to be mistaken with the character Evaine, who she stole children from. However, sometimes she is also Morgan le Fay.
10
11	One of the earliest mentions of the Lady of the Lake is how she spirited away Lancelot from his family as a water fairy, raising him in the Lake in the Land of Maidens, which has parallels with [[Franchise/WonderWoman Themyscira]] of Myth/ClassicalMythology, and not the only connection. She is stated to have her beguiling powers over Merlin granted from the goddess Diana. The island is also similar to {{Avalon}}, too, though.
12
13	Later stories expand on this, telling how when Lancelot was an infant his parents' kingdom of Benwick was being pillaged and he was left on the ground whilst his mother Elaine (who is not one of the Elaines he sleeps with) was healing his father, and the Lady of the Lake swooped in to carry him away. Additionally, Evaine's children were kidnapped by a knight doing the pillaging and then spirited them (Lionel and one of the Bors') to this mystical land, too. For a few years, Elaine is miserable and has joined a nunnery with her sister Evaine, but they are given a vision of their children's happy childhoods. It is assumed that the Lady of the Lake was on the side of those doing the pillaging, or may have initiated it with a desire for children. This is also why Lancelot's surname is "du Lac", and it is the Lady who sends him to Camelot.
14
15	In some French ChivalricRomance poetry, the Lady of the Lake (here Viviane) is like a godmother to Lancelot and also has a backstory of her deceit of Merlin. She plays Merlin and says she'll trade love for his secrets, though he foresees that when she's got what she wants she will trap him in either tree or stone; he has to do it, though, and does end up trapped. Another French cycle has a similar story of Ninianne, but also adds the part about her giving {{Excalibur}} to Arthur. These are clearly the same person but transliterated in ''Literature/LeMorteDArthur'' as the Lady of the Lake and Nimue, separate characters, with it being the first one who gives Arthur the sword, instead. This Lady is also beheaded by Sir Balin. Both are expanded upon in folders below.
16
17	Other stories of the Lady of the Lake include the Music/FranzSchubert pieces in the style of an early ConceptAlbum, of which "Ellen's gesang III" is best known now as the "Ave Maria". It is based on [[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3011/3011-h/3011-h.htm a poem]] by Creator/WalterScott that sets the romance in Scotland. Creator/AlfredLordTennyson also adopted a version, splitting the character again into the evil Viviane and virtuous Lady of the Lake. This is the style often repeated in stories borrowing the characters, several of which are listed on this page.
18
19	See also the tropes EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity, which used to be known as The Lady of the Lake and still has the alt title EmpoweringLakeLady, {{Excalibur}}, and MerlinAndNimue.
20	----
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22	!!Specific mythology cycles and tropes:
23
24	[[folder:Chrétien]]
25	The Lady of the Lake has an EarlyBirdCameo in ''Literature/LancelotTheKnightOfTheCart'' by Creator/ChretienDeTroyes. It's mentioned in passing that Lancelot has a ring that was given to him by a lady -- "a fairy, who had given it to him, and who had cared for him in his infancy." That single line is it; its not extrapolated upon. This implies that being raised by her was already part of the oral Lancelot lore of the period. Since the original audience was already familiar with his backstory, they didn't need it re-hashed.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:The Vulgate/Nimue]]
29	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beguiling_of_merlin_pinso.jpg]]
30	[[caption-width-right:350:[-''by Edward Burne-Jones''-]]]
31	a.k.a. the French Lady of the Lake, based off early Viviane in the Lancelot-Grail cycle but called Nimue by [[Literature/LeMorteDArthur Thomas Malory]].
32
33	The Nimue incarnation of the Lady of the Lake is possibly the most interesting, with many more works featuring her and much more academia written on her. Her first appearance in ''L'Morte d'Arthur'' is at Arthur's wedding and at the time when the Chivalric code is being changed, which is blatant symbolism that she's going to bring change in the status quo, and one to do with love. She's kind of a bonus background character for a while in various stories until she gets her own, several times she does provide aid for Arthur and the knights on their various adventures before popping back out. It's interpreted that Malory also uses her popping-in-and-out appearances to make it clear that the character is rejecting the fame that her role could have (due to the stories exceeding in popularity), something parodied magnificently in ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}''.
34
35	Regarding taking Lancelot as a child, this is sometimes justified in that she knew the pillaging soldiers wouldn't be very kind to him and she could, but also made worse because in this cycle she is often Queen of Sicily who controls the court, so it would have been her decision to sack Benwick in the first place. Obviously, because of the whole husband thing in these cycles she takes them back to court rather than the Land of Maidens, but still has the lake so it all works out. However, she is best known for the story of MerlinAndNimue.
36
37	In this, after saving their asses several times she gets to become student under the great wizard Merlin, and is an eager student. However, she is enchanting in the beautiful and interesting sense (sometimes deliberately, sometimes not) and Merlin comes to love her. In some versions, Nimue does return this affection but still manipulates Merlin to "steal" all his knowledge; in others, she does not return the affection and either coldly uses it against him or just wants the old creep to leave her alone. Merlin foresees an event in which she traps him in a stone/tree/cave after she has had him tell her everything, and resigns himself to this as a combination of knowing that what he sees must happen and being too enamored to even come up with a way to set it up so that while the vision will happen he can still escape or trick Nimue into thinking she's had him reveal all before he has. Sometimes he dies, sometimes he [[NatureSpirit becomes part of nature]].
38
39	She then takes Merlin's place as the magical person at King Arthur's court and lives happily ever after with Pelleas (at least for a short while). In most of these stories, she is among the queens who deliver Arthur to Avalon after he is mortally wounded. She then reclaims Excalibur when Bedivere throws it into the Lake, sometimes being depicted as returning to her place as before she had given Arthur Excalibur, waiting like him until it can be wielded once more.
40
41	She has various other character traits, which are all positive. She is also often a divine emergency sensor because whenever Arthur is in trouble, she'll get to him with the help he needs. Like [[WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer Dora's backpack]], but a water fairy goddess queen.
42	----
43	* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In one source, ''Suite du Merlin'', the Lady of the Lake traps Merlin in tomb so that he will rot and die just ForTheEvulz -- in this cycle, her reasoning is that he won't leave her alone. Malory is the most sympathetic, with other versions still giving her more than a little want to harm him. In general, Malory seems to have taken all of the nicest aspects of the character and put them together.
44	* BadPowersBadPeople: Some earlier versions of the story have Nimue/Viviane/the Lady as explicitly evil.
45	* TheChooserOfTheOne: She picks Arthur.
46	* DependingOnTheAuthor: According to the Vulgate, ''she's'' the one who locked Merlin away.
47	* DivineAssistance:
48	** ''For her'', Vivian's allure over Merlin is powered by Diana's enchantment.
49	** ''By her'', Nimue often steps in to protect Arthur, either physically, sending a maid, or with magic.
50	* EnergyAbsorption: Where part of the spell, either real or just of love, is that whatever Merlin teaches her she "steals" -- him giving her the knowledge is literally giving, not duplicating, so he loses it. Often the caveat is that he must be willing, so it's more like EnergyDonation.
51	* ExtranormalPrison: Whatever thing that Nimue traps Merlin in.
52	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Malory goes hard on this; her introduction is at a wedding and a time of change. So her story will be about love and change.
53	* GodGuise: Her subjects see her as one, because she is a fairy and Queen of Sicily.
54	* IdenticallyPoweredTeam: The aim with Merlin and Nimue, though obviously backfires when they are no longer a team, and most of the time not identically powered by that point, either -- though both have identical power ''potential'', why they were paired up.
55	* TheKindnapper: Takes Lancelot from Elaine of Benwick and raises him as her own.
56	* LatinLover: Sometimes is explicitly Sicilian.
57	* TheManBehindTheMan: Not in a villainous way, she just manages to secretly manipulate her husband and other members of his court so that all the decisions are to her liking.
58	* MerlinAndNimue: She's one of the Trope Namers and the subject of the original story. She was Merlin's student in magic before betraying him and they were often lovers as well. Depending on which version you read, Nimuewas either a FemmeFatale who deliberately seduced Merlin to lower his guard, or he was an unwanted admirer, which makes her actions against him more sympathetic.
59	* PowerCopying: What the final enchantment on Merlin is.
60	* ShipperOnDeck: For Lancelot and Guinevere.
61	* UndyingLoyalty: She is married to Pelleas (not [[Franchise/TheWitcher The]] [[Myth/KingArthurAndTheHolyGrail Fisher]] [[FisherKing King]]), and her loyalty to him is sometimes shown as one reason why Merlin needs to learn to back off.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Post-Vulgate/Sir Balin, the Knight with the Two Swords Legend]]
65	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vua_arthur_2.jpg]]
66	[[caption-width-right:350:[-''by N.C. Wyeth''-]]]
67	a.k.a. the English Lady of the Lake, based off Ninianne in the Post-Vulgate cycle but known only as the Lady of the Lake by [[Literature/LeMorteDArthur Thomas Malory]].
68
69	This Post-Vulgate Lady of the Lake started the image of holding Excalibur above her head out of the water, and she makes Arthur owe her a favour if he takes it. When she comes to collect it, she asks Arthur to behead Balin because he killed her brother. Arthur says no, he'll do something else, and she asks for him to behead a certain maiden, sometimes cited as Guinevere but typically a girl from Avalon who accidentally provides Balin with a cursed sword, because the maiden caused her father's death. Balin hears this and reconciles this story with one from a woman who had his own mother put to court, swinging the cursed sword and beheading the Lady. He tries to justify this, but Arthur doesn't really care for the story, and it's especially feeble since some of her more damning acts had already been transplanted to the girl from Avalon.
70
71	Balin becomes banished (again) but is reinstated when Merlin explains that the girl from Avalon is actually a French princess who enlisted the help of Lily of Avalon to enact a cosmic revenge (which ultimately becomes getting Balin to kill Balan, not that she cares for the details). Though this doesn't seem to justify killing a completely unrelated woman, Merlin and Arthur agree that since the sword is cursed then Balin couldn't help it. There may also be some reasoning related to Excalibur that doesn't seem to have been passed down very well, but the sword is also cause for dispute between the Lady and Balin.
72	----
73	* CanonDiscontinuity: The part where she killed her husband to be with another guy (sometimes his brother), and then that guy killed her for being a murderer was given to a different lady in a different lake in France after a while, though the bones of that story are still in the Sir Balin story.
74	* EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity: Gave Arthur Excalibur, and remains a mystery beyond that.
75	* EvilAllAlong: If Sir Balin is to be believed. At the very least, she specifically gave Arthur Excalibur so he'd kill a couple of people for her.
76	* FeudingFamilies: Her's and Balin's.
77	* OffWithHisHead: Wanted Sir Balin's head (and/or that of a certain maiden at court), lost her own instead.
78	%%* SupernaturalAid: The Lady of the Lake giving Arthur Excalibur. In versions of the mythos where this actually happens, anyway.
79	* TilMurderDoUsPart: Killed her lover or had her lover killed because she wanted to be with someone else. This story may have been ret-conned out, though, and given to the maiden described above.
80	* YouOweMe: Gave Arthur Excalibur in exchange for a favor. As it turned out, that favor was to kill Sir Balin, (whom she blamed for the death of her brother), or a certain damsel, (whom she blamed for the death of her father). Sir Balin [[OffWithHisHead expressed his firm disagreement]], and claimed afterward that the Lady had caused his mother to burn to death and ruined many good men's lives.
81	[[/folder]]
82	----
83	!!Appearances in other media:
84	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
85	* ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'': Vivian is a minor antagonist who is obsessed with an evil Holy Knight and so works with the BigBad to help his cause, but is prevented by her former mentor, a female Merlin, who later enchants her so that she will not return to the Holy Knights.
86	[[/folder]]
87
88	[[folder:Comic Books]]
89	* Creator/DCComics has the characters as the sisters Vivienne [[Characters/AquamanSupportingCast the Lady]] [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} of the Lake]] and Nimue ComicBook/MadameXanadu (and Morgaine le Fey).
90	* In ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' Nimue is the greatest of Britain's witches and naturally a HumanoidAbomination who wants Hellboy to turn evil.
91	* ''ComicBook/OnceAndFuture'': [[spoiler:Mary]] takes on the role of Nimue, delivering Excalibur to King Arthur.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Fan Works]]
95	* In ''Fanfic/QueensOfMewni'' the Lady of the Lake was actually Sideria the Fortunate, who had gotten so drunk she lost her clothes in the Dimension of Ants that Eat Clothes, fell into a lake in Ireland, and lost the sword she had won in a bet.
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
99	* ''Film/{{Excalibur}}'': When Arthur becomes angry and prideful and uses these emotions and Excalibur to lash out, he breaks the sword. The Lady of the Lake is in benevolent goddess role, though, and fixes it for him.
100	* ''Film/KingArthurLegendOfTheSword'': The Lady of the Lake (Jacqui Ainsley) is shown to have bound Excalibur to Arthur's bloodline after Merlin used it to destroy Mage Tower. When Arthur throws the sword into the Lake she catches it and then pulls him in to show him the BadFuture he's creating by not accepting it and makes him take it to defeat Vortigern.
101	* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': The Python take on the Excalibur story by Creator/MichaelPalin's Dennis ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m15MNLtpYUE here]]), though she doesn't appear ([[Theatre/{{Spamalot}} yet]]):
102	-->"Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony! [...] You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you! [...] If I went 'round sayin' I was an Emperor, just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!"
103	* ''Film/Hellboy2019'''s Nimue doesn't deviate much from the comic counterpart as detailed above.
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:Literature]]
107	* In ''Literature/AvalonHigh,'' where Arthurian characters have been reincarnated in the modern day, [[spoiler:protagonist Ellie turns out to be the Lady of the Lake, not the Lady of Shalott as she previously believed]].
108	* ''Literature/ColdCereal'': Nimue has the epithet The Lady of the Lake, and serves as the book's BigBad.
109	* ''Literature/LadyOfAvalon'': Most of the characters can be the Lady of the Lake in this one, but it's also implied to be the same character reincarnating as [[TheNthDoctor the Nth Lady of Avalon]] (standing in for the Lake). First we have Caillean, who misted Avalon so isn't much like the Lady of the Lake just yet; second is Dierna, who is enchanting and takes on the evil Nimue role as a politician; last is Viviane, who [[Myth/KingArthurAndTheHolyGrail instead becomes the first of the Grail Kings]]. So it's trying to squish in all the mythos.
110	* ''Literature/LadyOfTheLake'' is the final book in ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' series by Andrzej Sapkowski. Nimue herself makes several appearances in the book, where she is mostly mentoring sorceress Condwiramurs.
111	* ''Literature/TheLastEnchantment'': The story of Merlin and in this version Niniane, where she comes to him as an apprentice [[SweetPollyOliver disguised as a boy]]. Like in other romances of this ilk, they form a close bond and when her gender is revealed they let themselves fall in love with the other despite many years' age difference, and continues to teach her his skills and doesn't mind when he seems to be losing them himself, nor is she aware it's happening until his body physically deteriorates and he falls into a coma. She thinks he's dead and puts him in a tomb, where he wakes up and escapes, tells Arthur he's alive but to pit Niniane in his job and help her find a better love, retiring to the cave.
112	* In ''Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin,'' Nimue appears as a villain. "The Lady of the Lake" shows up in ''Literature/TheGreatTreeOfAvalon'' SequelSeries, but it's a different character, [[spoiler:Merlin's sister Rhia]].
113	* ''Literature/TheMistsOfAvalon'' treats the role of the Lady of the Lake like a TheNthDoctor kind of deal, where it's a passed-on mantle but nobody seems to get chosen for it. Vivian, Niniane, Morgan, and Nimue, among others, are all the Lady at different points but it is Nimue who has been tasked with luring the druid known as Merlin (a similar title) to his death, but falls for him and drowns herself.
114	* ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'', where she is a water nymph that Merlin falls in love with.
115	* ''Literature/TheRealmOfAlbion'': The character [[spoiler:Cordelia]] ends up being made Lady of the Lake, and it is revealed that a long time ago Excalibur was handed off to the ancestors of the current Lady of the Lake and it gets handed down.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
119	* ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'': In [[Recap/CharmedS6E8SwordAndTheCity one episode]], the Lady of the Lake manages to call the sisters through a clogged sink; they arrive just in time to see her killed by a demon. Piper is able to pull ExcaliburFromTheStone, making her believe that she is TheChosenOne; in actuality it's her son, [[GooGooGodlike Wyatt]], and Piper is supposed to guard the sword for him as the new Lady of the Lake.
120	* ''Series/Cursed2020'' is a reimagining of the legend that places Nimue as the main protagonist and wielder of Excalibur (played by Creator/KatherineLangford). She's the fae daughter of a High Priestess who is initially branded a witch because of her uncontrollable magic, but becomes the queen of the fey as she leads a resistance against the Red Paladins, a group of religious fanatics who are committing genocide against the Fey. In this version Nimue has a [[PromotedToLoveInterest romance with Arthur]], while Merlin [[spoiler:is revealed to be [[RelatedInTheAdaptation her father]]]]. He does still teach her how to use her powers properly, though.
121	* ''{{Series/Kaamelott}}'': The Lady of the Lake sends Arthur out on quests and to find the Grail. Unfortunately, her help can veer into UnwantedAssistance, she's never able to give a good description of what the Grail actually is, let alone looks like, and even the gods she works for aren't of any use. After Arthur [[spoiler:sleeps with the wife of one of his knights]], she's the one who gets banished and has to live as a mortal, which causes even more problems.
122	-->I don't know how to drink, or eat, or get dressed, or wash myself, or anything! ... Do you think I'm going to be a burden for you?
123	* ''Series/Merlin1998'': The Lady of the Lake (Miranda Richardson) is the sister of Queen Mab and a fey, with Nimue (Isabella Rossellini) being a regular princess/duchess that Merlin tries to ask out.
124	* ''Series/Merlin2008'': Nimueh (Michelle Ryan) is a shapeshifter and evil sorceress who is trying to kill Arthur by many means, while posing as several damsels. Conversely, the Lady of the Lake role is better applied to a good sorceress called Freya (Laura Donnelly). She dies after expressing kindness to Merlin, and he makes a death promise to her. She returns as a water spirit and later gives Excalibur to Merlin when he needs to provide Arthur with a superior weapon. At the end of the show, she is there to take back the sword.
125	* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' features Nimue (Caroline Ford) in a few merged mythology plot points. Initially, she is running away from Vortigern's rule when she meets and falls in love with Merlin. As he is immortal, she drinks from the [[Myth/KingArthurAndTheHolyGrail Holy Grail]] to be able to be with him. Then she manages to kill Vortigern, but this turns her good magic dark and she becomes evil, breaking Excalibur -- Merlin uses some of the old magic within it to save her. Two other versions of the Lady of the Lake are mentioned, Lancelot's mother (only briefly), and also Prince Charming's mother Ruth (Gabrielle Rose), who is featured in the episode titled "The Lady of the Lake" and suggested to be another form of the Lady of the Lake (her lake being Lake Nostros), or perhaps the Siren that was in the lake who had been previously killed and who is revealed in this episode to be necessary to maintain the lake.
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
129	* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': The Lady of the Lake is a ''major'' character in ''Characters/WarhammerBretonnia'' (see her on that page), where she is worshipped as a god in a religion implied to be designed by Wood Elves. She is a literal goddess, too.
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Theatre]]
133	* ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}'': The Lady of the Lake (OBC: Creator/SaraRamirez; OWEC: Creator/HannahWaddingham) is a LargeHam who helps the knights on their quest, [[NoFourthWall wants more stage time]], and can sing like she's... the Lady of the Lake on Broadway! This character is an intelligent and loving parody to the Vulgate one but more original-flavour and without Merlin getting in the way. She's also [[spoiler:Guinevere]]. She also has her own cheerleaders.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Video Games]]
137	* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' reveals in the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' that the Lady of the Lake Vivian/Nimue are one of the split personalities of Morgan, Altria's older sister, which includes Morgan le Fay. Which would also mean that Lancelot is sort of Altria's nephew by adoption. Thus making Galahad, Lancelot's child, Altria's great-nephew.
138	* Nimue appears in ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheBlackKnight'' as a [[AdaptationalHeroism heroic]] ExpositionFairy. She appears as a human in a backstory page, but in the present she takes the form of Sonic's SelfProclaimedLoveInterest Amy Rose, in keeping with the ''VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries''' UniversalAdaptorCast.
139	[[/folder]]
140
141	[[folder:Web Animation]]
142	* ''WebAnimation/DoraleousAndAssociates'', in which the Lady of the Lake is just a massive {{troll}}.
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Webcomics]]
146	* The baseline arc of ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' hews closely to Mallory, with Vivian as the Lady who [[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0527.htm raised Lancelot]] and [[http://arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0346.htm gave Arthur Excalibur]], being replaced by Nimue after [[https://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0485.htm Sir Balin kills her]]. The strip uses the version of Balin's story where the Lady comes across as the villain of the piece, with Merlin agreeing with Balin that she was "[[https://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0488.htm an evil witch]]" and saying the next Lady will be "[[https://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0489.htm a much better one]]". In the space arc, Vivian of the Lake takes the role of Marla [=McGivers=] in a WholePlotReference to "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSeed Space Seed]]", opposite Brân the Blessed as Khan Noonien Singh. In both cases, the idea is that Vivian doesn't quite fit into the idealistic world of Arthurian chivalry, hewing to an older and perhaps crueller definition of heroism.
147	* ''Webcomic/HeroineChic'' includes the minor character Avalon, a modern superhero who just so happens to be the legendary Lady of the Lake. She's over two thousand years old (at least according to the hero Paragon II) and has turned to the hero-ing business to make good use of her super strength and ability to wield {{Excalibur}} (due to a loophole in the OnlyTheChosenMayWield clause that was required for her to be able to hand Arthur the sword in the first place).
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Web Videos]]
151	* ''WebVideo/ArthurVsTheDruidsVsTheGrail'': A parody, in which Lancelot defeats Mordred, but Arthur is mortally wounded by the Druid King and dies, requesting Lancelot to cast Excalibur into the Lady of the Lake's pool. Lancelot makes it to the pool, but the Lady of the Lake had gone to a Magic People's convention. Consumed by power, Lancelot realizes that without the Lady of the Lake he can become king with Excalibur, but he clumsily falls into the pool and drowns, leaving Excalibur on the land.
152	[[/folder]]
153
154	[[folder:Western Animation]]
155	* ''WesternAnimation/BlazingDragons'': The Lady of the Lake is a human-looking nymph, which is odd in hindsight when it's later revealed that one of the dragons is her son. However, he could easily have been adopted.
156	* ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne'': The episode [[Recap/EvilConCarneS2E4BHectorKingOfTheBritons "Hector, King of the Britons"]] has the Lady of the Lake appear to give Hector three tests when he tries to take Excalibur from her.
157	* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero:'' One episode involves Cobra swordsman Storm Shadow finding Excalibur and causing havoc with it; when the sword is finally dropped back into the water, the Lady's hand reaches out to reclaim it.
158	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': A member of [[TheFairFolk the Third Race]], she moved Excalibur to New York for unknown reasons, and came out of the artificial lake in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens when King Arthur came looking for it. WordOfGod says that Nimue also exists in this universe, [[DecompositeCharacter but as a separate character]].
159	[[/folder]]
160	----
161	!!The Lady of the Lake provides examples of:
162	* AmbiguouslyHuman: Originally seemed to be some sort of fairy, then a human sorceress. Modern adaptations can go either way.
163	* CelebrityResemblance: At least [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Lady_of_the_Lake_by_Speed_Lancelot.jpg one depiction]] has her looking ''eerily'' like Creator/KatieMcGrath, which may be unfortunate news for anyone who's watched ''Series/{{Merlin\|2008}}''. [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/pdsh/images/a/a5/Lady-of-the-lake1.jpg Or maybe two]], and others that aren't so clear.
164	* CompositeCharacter: In ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}'', she is also [[spoiler:Guinevere]].
165	* DecompositeCharacter: Almost certainly started out as one character, but so many different stories developed about her, some of which are hard to reconcile, that she's often presented as multiple Ladies of the Lake.
166	* EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity: As the Lady of the Lake.
167	* FairyGodmother: To Lancelot in some stories.
168	* HotWitch: She got Merlin's blood going, anyway.
169	* KickTheDog: Fell in love with Sir Pelleas, who himself was [[SelfProclaimedLoveInterest deeply]], [[AllLoveIsUnrequited deeply]], ''[[StalkerWithACrush creepily]]'' in love with the thoroughly uninterested maiden Ettard. Nimue got around this by casting a spell that [[UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo turned all Pelleas' love for Ettard into hatred, and all Ettard's hatred for Pelleas into love]]. Then she snatched Pelleas up and poor [[ButtMonkey Ettard]] died of despair.
170	* MerlinAndNimue: Merlin's affair with his student Nimue is the TropeNamer, obviously.
171	* OneGenderRace: Often may be some kind of nymph or fairy instead of a human woman.
172	* OurFairiesAreDifferent: Is more or less a normal woman, who lives in a lake.
173	* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: As above, beyond the magic and lake thing, your average fair lady of the time.
174	* RedBaron: The Lady of the Lake No, not the one who gave Arthur Excalibur, but she was one of her maidservants and later became Arthur's chief advisor.
175	* ShipperOnDeck: Was apparently one for Lancelot/Guinevere.
176	* StayInTheKitchen: GenderFlipped. Rarely let Pelleas out to adventure, and apparently saved his life by keeping him out of the final battle.
177	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Nyneve, Nimue, Niniane, Vivian. It's suggested the multiple spellings were in part due to later copyists and authors misreading medieval handwriting.
178	* TheTrickster: Some versions have her take on a role like [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ursula]], making use of her multiple names/identities to have, say, Vivian appear at court one day with an evil motive.
179	* WaterIsWomanly: She is traditionally portrayed as a wise and beautiful water fairy. Some stories have her rule an underwater "Land of Maidens," and/or belong to some larger order or legacy of Ladies of the Lake.

Context Myth / TheLadyOfTheLake