King Arthur vs. Excalibur - European Arthurian Legend - Extra Mythology

Excalibur, sword of King Arthur, a weapon of immense mysterious power. With it by his side, Arthur had slain Saxons, repelled Romans, and brought Britain together under his rule. But eventually, through trickery, deceit, and let's be honest, more than a little carelessness, the sword, which had served every need imaginable for Arthur, would be turned toward a new obscene purpose. Killing the king himself. This campfire story is brought to you by Nebula, where you can watch this and all our other episodes without ads like this one for Nebula. One morning, Arthur, King of all Britain, rode to duel a minor knight of his court. Upon entering the field, Arthur was approached by a servant of his half-sister, the enchantress Morgan Le Fay, and this damsel presented the king with his legendary sword Excalibur, which had been in Morgan's care. Across the way stood Arthur's opponent, Sir Achelon of Gaul, and though nobody could see his face behind his helmet, you can imagine that in that moment, he was feeling pretty smug. For there were two things that he knew that Arthur didn't. The first being that Achelon was having an affair with Morgan. Ooh. And the second, that Arthur was not holding the legendary sword Excalibur. He was. You see, Morgan had begun a plot whereby Achelon would slay Arthur and then take the throne for himself. And Excalibur was key to this, because she figured that any man wielding Excalibur could do just about anything. And without it, Arthur was, well, just a man. And, you know, from the outside, you can kind of see where she's coming from. I mean, how else had Arthur held on to the throne in a kingdom besieged by rebels and rivals? A job, to be clear, that had chewed up and spat out many a man before him. What made him so special? Well, she put her money on that sweet magic slashy stick, Excalibur. A blade so extraordinary, it could have only been forged by magic. Back in the day, Arthur's mystical advisor, Merlin, had hooked him up with the sword's location. Turned out, in Arthur's lands, there was a broad lake. And inside it was a rock. And inside that was as glorious and magnificent a palace as has ever existed. And from that place came the sword Excalibur, carried to Arthur through the water by a damsel in white silk. She was the Lady of the Lake, and this was her sword, to be given to Arthur in exchange for a favor when she needed one. Now, why did Arthur deserve this gift? I mean, why not any of the previous kings of Britain, whom Merlin had also served, by the way? Well, perhaps, in their foreseeing mysticism, Merlin and the Lady of the Lake knew that, if Excalibur were in Arthur's hand, that a certain future that they wished would come to pass. One where Arthur's kingdom would one day be united, where Napoleon would be defeated at Waterloo, where a family would eventually pick up Paddington Bear from the train station. Yeah, that was the timeline these otherworldly forces desired to make real. In Arthur's first war, against an alliance of rebel kings, his horse was slain from underneath him, and he himself was felled by another blow. But then, he whipped Excalibur from its scabbard, and the blade shone with the light of thirty torches. The unbreakable sword then cut a wide and blazing swath through the field that day. In another battle, against the Saxons, Arthur, with bright Excalibur drawn, rushed headfirst into the throng, crying the name of God with each killing blow. Four hundred and seventy men he killed that day. And, mind you, this was not the whole of Excalibur's power. For while Arthur carried the sword's scabbard, he was protected from all wounds. So, yeah, Arthur was basically playing on God mode. The powerful sword was a symbol of his divine right and divine might. This king would break every rebellion, every army, and yoke all of the people of Britain to his throne. With Excalibur, Arthur was not just invincible, he was... inevitable. But hold on, who's doing the real work here? The man, or the sword? Well, Morgan Le Fay figured on the latter. So, if she could take the sword from Arthur, the throne would definitely come with it. And how would she steal Excalibur, you ask? Well, it turns out, she didn't have to! Yeah, Arthur gave it to her. Sometimes, it's just that easy, you know? See, although the mighty Excalibur transformed Britain, it never quite transformed Arthur. He was always just a man, after all. Stubborn, fallible, and not exactly over-rod by his destiny. With great power came great responsibility, yes. But also the great self-confidence to kind of do whatever he wanted. When Merlin warned it would be doomed to marry Guinevere, Arthur did it anyway. When the Lady of the Lake asked Arthur to grant the favor he owed her for giving him Excalibur, he weaseled out. When Merlin counseled him to keep Excalibur close, he let his friend Gwaine use it. And when Merlin, in his clairvoyance, foresaw that Excalibur's scabbard would be stolen by the woman Arthur trusted most, Arthur gave the scabbard for safekeeping along with the sword to the woman he trusted most in the world. You guessed it! His sister, Morgan. So not the most challenging of coups for Morgan, you'd say? Who, deep down, despised Arthur. For his flaws, sure. But also because his father had conceived him with her mother through magical deception. Long story for another time. Not to mention, Arthur had married Morgan off to some rival king. But, it was the fair knight, Acalon, who currently had her heart. It would be him and her that would dispatch Arthur and rule Britain. And so, through convoluted twists and turns, too complex and honestly silly to get into here, Morgan arranged for an honorable duel between Arthur and Acalon, with both men acting on behalf of other parties. It would be a duel unlike any Arthur had ever fought, with Arthur wielding a forgery sword planted by Morgan, and the Trueblade Excalibur and its scabbard in Acalon's hands. When the duel commenced, Arthur immediately noticed that his blade wasn't glowing like it usually does, nor did it cut that great. But, every blazing stroke from Acalon drew great rivers of blood from the king, with wounds so awful, the crowd couldn't believe he remained standing. Yeah, Arthur realized pretty quick who had the True Excalibur here, and that, maybe, the switcheroo might have come from his lending out the blade like he ran a magic sword library. Hopelessly outmatched, Arthur charged nonetheless, whacking Acalon about the head with his blunt blade. Then Excalibur's furious bite sent Arthur to the ground in a bloody shower. Yet, the king got up once more and continued the fight. Shocked at the sheer tenacity, Acalon went for the final blow. But somehow, Arthur deflected it with his toy sword, which, granted, shattered completely, and still did not yield. With broken pommel in one hand, and well-worn shield in the other, he pressed on. No man, the crowd marveled, had ever fought so well! And on those sidelines, a mythical presence nodded in assent. A powerful sorceress, Nimue, you know, the one that Merlin was obsessed with, looked on and thought, the Lady of the Lake clearly gave the sword to that guy for a reason. So, by enchantment, she whisked Excalibur back to the hand of Arthur, who, with a swift slash, ended the fight. From this brief, humbling lesson, Arthur learned... not much, actually. Sure, he never gave Excalibur to his sister again, but he also didn't really take great care of it either. Heck, one night, as he slept, Morgan just snuck into his chambers and stole the scabbard, even though Merlin had warned him that exact thing would happen, and then she tossed it in a lake. Without the scabbard's holy protection, Arthur would soon die in battle. But, he'd die with his sword by his side. He'd die in shining glory, with all of Britain knowing that the sword hadn't made the man. It was but a mirror of him, reflecting his own uncommon strength and spirit. See, Morgan was wrong. In anyone else's hands, Arthur's sword was just a pretty sweet sword. But only in the hands of Arthur was it Excalibur. And, did you know that streaming services actually follow a very similar value proposition? Yeah, because they're only as good as the creators that make videos for them. Which is why I'm personally comfortable calling Nebula the Excalibur of places to watch amazing stuff ad-free on the internet. Except you don't get this one from some woman in a pond. And actually, with the help of a bunch of our creator friends over on Nebula, we've ramped up an awesome feature called Nebula First. Basically, it works like this. Thanks to their support, we can produce and release our Extra History Series episodes on Nebula, at least a full week before they're posted to YouTube. However, this time around, I am very, very excited to announce that you can actually go watch the first episode of our brand new series on Henry Ford two whole weeks early, right now, over on Nebula. Unable to wait for the seed carriage he ordered to come, Ford decides to take his first drive on the quadricycle at three in the morning, when these streets will be empty. He begins to push it out of the shed, but then suddenly stops. Oh, no. There's a variable he never accounted for, despite two years of testing. It's too big to fit through the door. Not to worry. Ford hacks through the doorframe with an axe, then once freed from the prison shed, Henry Ford is driving his first vehicle. And that is just the beginning, because you also get access to a ton of other great Nebula First content from creators like TierZoo, Chubby Emu, Tail Foundry, and way more, all posting their videos earlier than you'd get to see them on YouTube. Not to mention the ever-growing library of Nebula Originals that you can't see anywhere else. Case in point, I just can't get enough of Real Life Lore's Modern Conflict series, and I just finished the episode on the fall of ISIS, which is a topic I actually thought I knew a bunch about, but I learned that I had barely scratched the surface, thanks to Joseph and his team. Man, what a wonderful series that is. Plus, that's on top of the exclusive shows we've done and the Nebula classes that both Jeff and I have made and are super proud of. I really do hope you check those out. Now, Nebula is normally priced at a pretty dang reasonable $50 a year, but if you sign up using our link below, we're gonna knock 20 bucks right off that price, because you are my favorite. Meaning you'll get Nebula for only $2.50 a month when you sign up for an annual plan. Hey, look at you doing math. Actually, hold the phone for a moment. Hi, IRL Matt here, breaking into animated ad space, to let you know I just heard that Nebula is opening up the lifetime subscription option as well for just 300 bucks for a limited time in September. Meaning, basically, if you're enjoying what we and all of the other creators are doing over on Nebula and you're planning on sticking around for a while, this is a really awesome way to support creators just taking big swings right away, which I thought was so important that I had to interrupt Animated Matt's ad read for. Hey, you're not a cartoon. He found me. I gotta go. 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