I'm confused

[dhampyresa]

Apparently it's news to a lot of you that Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, raised Lancelot. Why did you think his name was Lancelot du Lac?

(This is a serious question, btw; if La Dame du Lac didn't raise him, why is his name Lancelot of the Lake?)

Comments

[yuuago]

I... don't remember the subject ever coming up! But then again I don't remember the Lady of the Lake having a name in any of the stories I read, either.

[/big confused shrugging!]

[dhampyresa]

But! But! Okay, I officially have no idea wtf is going on with the English version of Arthuriana.

[yuuago]

And I have no idea wtf French Arthuriana is doing! We can boggle together. xD

While reading your post about Viviane I was so confused because I wasn't familiar with that name... but she seems to be closest to the character I know as Nyneve, who is A lady of a Lake, sort of, but not the same as The lady of the Lake. Um. xD

[dhampyresa]

Nope, because I'm right and you're wrong. :P

Yeah, as far as I know Viviane/Nimue are the same person. There are several Lakes? Tell me more!

[melannen]

I knew that Lancelot was raised by the Lady of the Lake, but in most of the versions I know, Viviane was not the Lady of the Lake.

...or, at least, not the Lady of that lake.

[dhampyresa]

Ooh, can you tell me about the versions that have Viviane and the Lady of the Lake as separate?

[yhlee]

I was reading Arthurians (or versions of Arthurians, anyway) before I had any French, so even if I'd realized Viviane was La Dame du Lac, the connection wouldn't have occurred to me...*embarrassed*

[dhampyresa]

Well, it does help to be French to make that connection so there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

[ashen_key]

- whyyyy did I delete my Mordred icon. Sigh. Anyway!

I knew Lady of the Lake raised him, hence du Lac, buuuuut I've only sometimes seen Viviane as the Lady of the Lake. Sometimes it's Nimue, sometimes it's yet a third and unnamed, etc. And a loooot of the time, it's not mentioned at all.

Joys of Arthuriana!

I am fond of Arthuriana, over a thousand years of fanon becoming canon, but it DOES make it really hard to say 'this is definitely always the case'.

Which makes it fun, imo.

[dhampyresa]

I've always taken Nimue as being her real name, while Viviane was her "human" name, personally.

(You might like this post, if you like Arthuriana, btw.)

[the_rck]

I never saw Lancelot with the 'du Lac' attached until I was in college, and I'm not sure most of what I saw ever mentioned the Lady of the Lake beyond a sentence or two. I doubt anything ever gave her a name.

[dhampyresa]

Wow, this is (obviously) completely different from my experience and fascinating because of it.

[alasse_irena]

This is a very good question. Why did I think that? I don't believe I ever questioned it. XD

[dhampyresa]

That's a valid answer!

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I thought he was raised on the banks of a lake. There is no "correct" translation of King Arthur so there are lots of different versions especially pre and post Christianity becoming popular.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I knwo there are lots of different versions, this post was sparked because this very question came up a lot in the comments to this post (both versions).

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, you know, it never even occurred to me to wonder!

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Same here. Knights just get weird fancy descriptions like "the red" or "the chaste" all the time. Plus there are so many versions of Arthurian legend I can't keep it straight in my head who is related to who, and who has multiple names they go by, etc.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

In the legend I know, Lancelot is the only one with a particule (a "de" whatever*) so that makes him stand out, even among the knights.

*De/du are the same.

Also, your icon is beautiful!

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Possibly my Arthuriana has become contaminated by Monty Python, then.

And thanks,fassy made it!

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

There are worse things it could be contaminated by.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

Makes sense.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

I don't think I ever thought about it (the stuff I read tends to omit Lancelot and switch in Bedwyr for his role re: Guinevere) but I'd probably just assume it meant another lake.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

Wpuldn't that make rather a lot of Significant Lakes? Then again, myths and legends.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

Not really...I come from Canada which is a) gigantic and therefore b) filled with lakes. Even if we just count Really Big Lakes there's the five major lakes in the south, the Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake, etc etc.

LOTSALAKES?

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that'd do it.

Sir Lotsalakes is not appearing in this legend.