Mordred
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Mordred is a character in the Arthurian legend, known as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his half-sister Morgause. In earlier literature, he was considered the legitimate son of Morgause, also known as Anna, with her husband King Lot of Orkney. His brothers or half-brothers are Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth.
Some modern Arthurian works such as Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon have Morgause's sister Morgan le Fay as Mordred's mother. Mordred remains a major villain in many modern takes on the legend, including John Boorman's film Excalibur, T.H. White's novel The Once and Future King (where Mordred plays the role of a bitter but successful populist and faux-Bolshevik) and Hal Foster's popular comic strip Prince Valiant.
