The Once And Future Jedi

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Title:	The Once And Future Jedi
Creator:	Karen Winter
Date(s):	early to mid 1980s?
Medium:	online
Fandom:	Star Wars
Topic:
External Links:	The Once And Future Jedi, Archived version
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The Once And Future Jedi is a Star Wars essay by Karen Winter.

The focus is Star Wars and how it relates to Arthurian Legend.

Its creation date is unknown, but it may be 1981, as that is the date of Osman's essay, The Politics of STAR WARS.

Excerpts

In this article I would like to explore some of the parallels between Star Wars and various works of the Arthurian cycle. Obviously, this is not to say that Star Wars "is" Arthurian romance retold. Its symbolism is much too rich and complex to be limited, to any one source, and a number of its major motifs, such as the cave and the magic tree, are not central to the Arthurian cycle. Elements like the sword, the quest, the wizard, and so on, are basic archetypes of folklore which could well have been adopted independently by both. In addition, the Star Wars series is still incomplete. Episode V both enriched and confused the meaning of Episode IV, and undoubtedly each following film will continue this development. However, it may prove interesting to note some similarities which have suggested themselves so far.

It is also interesting that Arthur had an illegitimate son, also conceived through magic, who led a rebellion against his rule and eventually wounded him in battle. Reversing the good-evil symbolism, this might refer to Vader, although the plot as a whole suggests identification with Luke. Assuming the former, however, the circular conference table on the Death Star might refer to the Arthurian Round Table, symbol of a political unity broken by Modred's rebellion and the quest for the Grail. This quest was a spiritual search (equivalent to the search for the power of the Force) in opposition to the medieval equivalent of Tarkin's “technological terror” - the military power of Arthur's order of knights. The parallel here, however, is vague and probably not significant.

A far more elaborate parallel is the story of Percival, most familiar from the writing of Chretien de Troyes, but found in many medieval versions. In Chretien, Percival is a fatherless boy, brought up by his mother in complete ignorance of the great world. He becomes an expert hunter (of womp rats perhaps?) as a youth. When he accidentally meets a group of knights, he questions them about their weapons and sets off to learn about knighthood. His mother dies as a result of his actions. He enters a tent on his journey and finds a damsel. He then goes to a castle where he fights a knight with red arms, an enemy of Arthur's, but he leaves before being knighted. He later dallies with the lady Blanchfleur, whose castle he has delivered from a besieging army. Loomis traces this tale hack to an Irish original in the boyhood of Finn, whose father was killed in a feud, and who was raised secretly in a far-off forest where he learned to be a skillful hunter. Finn took service, unrecognised, with the king and avenged his father's death. Although this motive does not appear in Chretien, the avenging of the father's death is found in the Percival stories in Sir Percyvell of Galles (where he kills a red knight), the Prose Tristan, Perlesvaus, and Peredur. The direct identification with Finn, while interesting, seems unnecessary, since the motif of the king's son raised in ignorance is found in folktales from Oedipus onward. The parallels with Luke are again clear.

Since Leia is our only available "damsel" in Star Wars, she tends to be identified with any of the numerous ladies the Arthurian heroes meet in their adventures. However, there is a parallel of sorts to Gueneviere, who was abducted by Melwas to a castle surrounded by a deep moat which could only be reached by crossing a dangerous knife-bridge. This, like the Castle of Darkness inhabited by the Black Knight, may refer to the Death Star, Leia's capture, and Obi-Wan's dangerous trip across the "bridge" to the tractor beam station to rescue her. Like Gueneviere, who turned from Arthur, the spiritual king, to Lancelot, paragon of worldly prowess, Leia in Empire turns from Luke to Han, who represents material excellence divorced from the Force in Star Wars.

Galahad was a very late addition to the Grail legend, representing a heavily Christianized version only distantly related to Chretien. Again, however, we have an illegitimate son, conceived by Lancelot on King Pelles's daughter through the use of a magic philtre. Galahad is raised as a virgin in a nunnery, ignorant of his parentage, and is unknowingly knighted by his father. The young Galahad is brought to court by an old man; he removes the sword from the stone, achieves the Siege Perilous, and is hailed as "the one sent by God to deliver the land from great wonders and strange adventures." He achieves the Grail, here identified with God's grace. The relationship between Lancelot and Galahad in this late version is suggestive. Lancelot is presented as supreme in earthly glory and skill at arms, yet unable to gain the Grail due to his worldly pride, while Galahad is successful because he is pure and properly motivated. There is certainly a resemblance to Vader and Luke in their relationship to the Force. How consciously Lucas intended the symbolic imagery described above, and how closely he modeled his quest after the Arthurian version, are questions only he can answer. We are all aware, however, that there is considerable evidence to suggest the parallels are intentional. From the moment "Long Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away" appears on the screen, Star Wars is a modern retelling of folkloric themes. Since the saga has been accepted as a meaningful drama, those who create it have become much more open in describing the research and serious purpose underlying its high adventure. Lucas's masterful use of color symbolism, for example, is also clear from THX-1138, and there seems to be no question he is veil aware of this aspect of Star Wars as well. We can safely conclude that Lucas knows exactly what he is doing, to which he would no doubt reply, "Of course; I could have told you that."