The Lady of the Lake

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The Lady of the Lake is a title by which several female characters in Arthurian Legend are known, including Vivian and Nimue.

The oldest Arthurian iteration of a Lady of the Lake, first found in the poems of Chretien de Troyes and Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, is Lancelot du Lac's unnamed foster-mother. After King Ban dies and Elaine of Benoic is distracted by grief, the Lady abducts the infant Lancelot to her realm beneath a lake. In Lanzelet, the Lady has a biological son named Mabuz ho grows up on land, but she generally lacks biological children. In the Vulgate cycle, the lake is merely an illusion hiding her realm, and she also raises Lancelot's cousins Sir Lionel and Sir Bors. When Lancelot leaves to be a knight, she continues to give him gifts and aid and encourages his and Guinevere's relationship.

The Vulgate also features a Lady of the Lake named Vivian who may or may not be the same character. Merlin wishes to seduce her, but she refuses to sleep with him until he teaches her all his magical secrets. Once he does, she uses magic to trap him. Various texts give different accounts of what she trapped him in (a tomb, tower, tree, etc.) and what her motives were: they may be fear of him, ambition, malice, or some combination.

The Post-Vulgate features Vivian and introduces another Lady of the Lake, who gives King Arthur the sword Excalibur. Because the Post-Vulgate was a major source for Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, the best-known Arthurian text, the changes introduced in it have had a major impact on following literature and what people think of as Arthuriana.

Le Morte D'Arthur features the unnamed sword giving Lady, who is killed by Sir Balin le Savage. Malory substitutes Vivian with Nimue. Similarly to Vivian, Nimue is a pupil of Merlin who fends off his advances by trapping him under a rock. She then marries Sir Pelleas and becomes a major source of magical aid to King Arthur.

In La Tavola Ritonda, the Lady of the Lake is the daughter of Uther Pendragon and therefore one of Arthur's sisters.