Lady of the Lake

For other uses, see Lady of the Lake (disambiguation).

The Lady of the Lake taking the infant Lancelot. From Tennyson's Idylls of the King.

The Lady of the Lake is the name of several related characters who play parts in Arthurian legend. Depending on the variant, characters' roles include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father. Various writers and copyists conflated her with, or named her as Nimue, Viviane, Viviana, Vivienne, Elaine, Ninianne, Nivian, Nyneve, Nimueh and other variations. Other versions of the legends make Nimue, Viviane, etc., into separate characters.

In medieval literature

The Lady of the Lake and Sir Bedivere.

The Lancelot-Grail Cycle provides a backstory for the Lady of the Lake, "Viviane", in the prose Merlin section, which takes place before the Lancelot Proper, though it was written later. There, Viviane learns her magic from Merlin, who becomes enamored of her. She refuses to give him her love until he has taught her all his secrets, after which she uses her power to trap him either in the trunk of a tree or beneath a stone, depending on the story and author. Regardless of the specific version, Merlin is unable to counteract Viviane because of his foresight; because of such an ability and the "truth" it holds, he decides to do nothing for his situation other than to continue to teach her his secrets until she takes the opportunity to entrap and entomb him in a tree, a stone or a cave.

The Post-Vulgate Cycle's second Lady of the Lake is called "Ninianne", and her story is nearly identical to the one in the Lancelot-Grail, though it adds her bestowal of Excalibur to Arthur. Sir Thomas Malory also uses both Ladies of the Lake in his Le Morte d'Arthur; he leaves the first one unnamed and calls the second one Nimue. Malory's original Lady is presented as an early benefactor of King Arthur who grants him Excalibur when his original sword is damaged. She is later beheaded by Sir Balin as a result of a kin feud between them (she blames him for the death of her brother and he blames her for the death of his mother) and a dispute over an enchanted sword.

Both characters appear in many other episodes of Malory's work. Each time the Lady reappears, it is always at a pivotal moment of the episode, establishing the importance of her character within Arthurian literature, especially Le Morte d'Arthur. In that work, she transcends any notoriety attached to her character by aiding Arthur and other knights to succeed in their endeavors. After enchanting Merlin, Malory's Nimue replaces him as Arthur's adviser. She becomes the lover and eventual wife of Sir Pelleas and mother to his son Guivret. After the Battle of Camlann, she reclaims Excalibur when it is thrown into the lake by Sir Bedivere. Nimue is one of the four queens who bear the wounded Arthur away to Avalon, a setting tied to the Lady of the Lake in some literary traditions.

Later uses

The Walter Scott poem and its musical settings

Walter Scott wrote an influential poem, The Lady of the Lake, in 1810, drawing on the romance of the legend, but with an entirely different story set around Loch Katrine in the Trossachs of Scotland. Scott's material furnished subject matter for La Donna del Lago, an opera by Gioachino Rossini which debuted in Naples in 1819. It was the first of a fashion for operas with Scottish settings and based on Scott's works, of which Gaetano Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor is the most familiar.
The three "Ellen songs" from Scott's poem were set to music by Franz Schubert (D. 837 - D. 839 – "Ellens Gesang I", "Ellens Gesang II", and "Ellens Gesang III"), although Schubert's music to Ellen's Third Song has become far more famous in its later adaptation, known as "Ave Maria".

Other appearances and popular references

The Lady of the Lake offering Arthur the sword Excalibur.

• Alfred Tennyson adapted several stories of the Lady of the Lake for his poetic cycle Idylls of the King. He splits her into two characters; Viviane is a deceitful villain who ensnares Merlin, while the Lady of the Lake is a benevolent figure who raises Lancelot and gives Arthur his sword.
• Nimue appears in T. H. White's The Once and Future King as Merlin's love interest. True to the legend she traps Merlin in a cave, but Merlin does not convey it as negative, and even refers to it as a holiday. This interpreation is followed by Lerner and Loewe in the musical "Camelot"; Nimue lures Merlin away with the song "Follow me".
• Mystery novelist Raymond Chandler wrote The Lady in the Lake in 1943, which revolves around a set of mysterious deaths in the San Bernardino Mountains. Here, the symbolic Arthur, questing for the Grail of truth and adhering to his own chivalric code, is Chandler's hero Philip Marlowe. As in the original tales, Marlowe's lady in the lake is not what she first seems, and has a devastating effect on her lover.
• In Robert Graves's 1949 novel Seven Days in New Crete, also known as Watch the North Wind Rise, depicting a future world where the present monotheistic religions are discarded and the Triple Goddess once again rules supreme, "Nimue" is the name of the Goddess's "Maiden" manifestation.
• The character plays a major role in The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. In Bradley's works, both the Lady of the Lake and the Merlin are offices. The Lady of the Lake is the title of the ruling priestess of Avalon, and the Merlin is a Druid who has pledged his life to the protection of Britain. In The Mists of Avalon, Viviane is the Lady of the Lake as the story opens, and is later succeeded by the priestess Niniane. Niniane is in turn succeeded by Morgan le Fay (called "Morgaine" in this version), while Merlin is seduced by Nimue. In this version, Nimue is a sympathetic and tragic young priestess who falls in love with Merlin but is duty bound to seduce and lure him to his death, and who then commits suicide herself.

• The murder victim Margaret Hogg, whose body was found in a lake in England's Wasdale Valley in 1984, became known as "the Wasdale Lady in the Lake". Similarly, an unidentified murder victim thought to have been killed by the Cleveland Torso Murderer in the 1930s is referred to as the "Lady of the Lake."

• In Bernard Cornwell's Warlord trilogy, Nimue is Merlin's lover and apprentice, who shares his obsession with bringing the old gods of Britain back, but, unlike him, does not balk at some of the bloody deeds necessary to accomplish this. Acting as an advisor and ally towards Merlin, Arthur, and the narrator, Derfel Cadarn, she eventually turns on them all and tries to steal Excalibur from Arthur.

• The Lady appears in Stephen R. Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle, as Charis, a princess from the lost land of Atlantis. When she arrives in Britain after the devastation of her homeland, she marries Taliesin, Chief Bard of Britain, and is mother of Merlin.

• T. A. Barron's Lost Years of Merlin series and The Great Tree of Avalon series feature the evil Nimue and the good Lady of the Lake as two separate characters.

• Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski introduced Nimue to his Witcher saga in The Swallow's Tower (1997), and focused on her in Lady of the Lake (1999).

• The 1998 television miniseries Merlin features a character named Nimue, played by Isabella Rossellini, who meets and falls in love with the young Merlin. This character is distinct from the Lady of the Lake, played by Miranda Richardson.

• In the Age of Wonders universe, Nimue is a vain (female) wizard with control over the element of water. In the Age of Wonders II campaign, Merlin (the player) fights her and her human forces.

• The Lady is the patron deity of the nation of the Arthurian-based Bretonnia in the Warhammer Fantasy universe.

• Under the name Elaine (Ellie) Harrison, the Lady is the protagonist and narrator of Meg Cabot's Avalon High young adult novel.

• In Spamalot, a musical theatre adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Lady of the Lake takes the role of the female lead. She is a stereotypical diva, as evidenced by her solo in act two, "Diva's Lament (Whatever Happened to My Part?)". She also is very eager to get Arthur to marry her, going so far as to have a dress that converts into a wedding gown in a single motion. This Lady of the Lake's real name was revealed to be Guinevere at the end of the show.

• Nimue is the true identity of the DC Comics character Madame Xanadu. In her self-titled series, she seduces Merlin and is a sister of both Vivienne and Morgaine le Fey. A separate Lady of the Lake (possibly Vivienne) appears in the Aquaman series.

• Nimueh has also appeared in several episodes of the 2008 BBC television series Merlin, where she is reimagined as a powerful, evil sorceress who has tried to kill both the young Arthur and Merlin. She was portrayed by a former star of Bionic Woman Michelle Ryan. The second series episode The Lady of the Lake features an unrelated character named Freya. She returns in the series three finale to give Excalibur to Merlin.

• Nimue appeared as a major antagonist in Hellboy: The Wild Hunt as the "Queen of Blood," raised from the dead by the malformed Gruagach in order to lead an army of forgotten mythological creatures against mankind.

• The popular band Rainbow released a song called "Lady of the Lake" on their 1978 album, Long Live Rock and Roll.

• In Sonic and the Black Knight, Nimue gives Sonic the sword Caliburn, and is portrayed by Amy Rose.

• In the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, one of the most powerful Aes Sedai is named Nynaeve.

Claimed locations of the Lake

A number of locations in Great Britain are traditionally associated with the Lady of the Lake's abode. They include Dozmary Pool, Llyn Llydaw, Llyn Ogwen, The Loe, Pomparles Bridge, Loch Arthur, and Aleines. In France, she is associated with the forest of Brocéliande.

See Also

Myddfai, the Welsh site of an alternative "Lady of the Lake" legend.

External links

• Britannia.com: analysis of the "Lady of the Lake" figure and her origins in Celtic legend
• Viviane of Avalon: A musical work for soprano and orchestra by Ezequiel Viñao and Caleb Carr
• Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, online text