Mists of Avalon – A Mystical tale

Mists of Avalon marks my initiation on the Arthurian Legends. King Arthur’s existence has not been proved; but a large body of work exists in relation to King Arthur and his companions.

Marion Bradley Zimmer took a different approach to retelling the story of Arthur – she approached it from the perspective of women around Arthur and managed to write an epic and complex story.  The book is written in rich detail and complexity of woman’s thoughts are laid bare – it does not have the simplicity that sometimes drives men’s actions but becomes an epic story of love, passion, conflicting loyalties and a fight to protect one’s own religious beliefs against someone else’s.

The people of Avalon believe in the Goddess and the priestess of Avalon works tirelessly to prevent the complete domination of Christianity with its belief in one god (Christ) and the subjugation of women. The main protaganist is Morgaine, Arthur’s sister and priestess of Avalon. She is up against Gwenhwyfer, Arthur’s wife who has unwavering faith in Christianity as preached by the priests. The story is about the politics behind this as both ladies try to influence Arthur to their needs. Within this overarching plot line, are deeply complex relationships of love that Gwenhyfer has for Lancelet, Arthur’s love for Lancelet and Morgaine’s relationships with various men.

It is a story as only a woman can tell. It does not have lot of action or battle scenes as one would expect from an Arthurian story; but it is a story so well told that you end up enjoying and savoring every page of this 800 page tome.

The author thru Morgaine puts up a lots of arguments against Christianity and its beliefs as were followed during the medieval times. The duplicity in Morgaine’s thinking however is that to prevent Christianity’s influence, she works politically and ruthlessly at times to increase Avalon’s influence on Britain’s throne. Spirituality is an intensely personal thing and sometimes these so-called well-meaning leaders of religious beliefs want to make it into a mass movement to have more people believe in their religion. Why cant they leave everyone alone and let each person delve within himself and live with answers that he hears.

Anyway, I am digressing here. If you havent read this book, go and grab a copy.

Rating: 4