Mikaela Martinez Dettinger: Arthurian Legends and Tolkien

 "There is one proviso: if there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must not be made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away. Of this seriousness the medieval Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an admirable example"

                                    - Tolkien "On Fairy Stories"

On rereading Tolkien's On Fairy Stories I came across this excerpt which struck me because I am currently taking a class on Arthurian Legends. In the way that Philosophy seems to work, it presented itself, once again, somewhere where I hadn't expected it to be. I understand Tolkien's reference as I have read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and it is true that much is made fun of in that story, but the magic isn't. Upon reflection, I've found that in all of the Arthurian texts I have read the magic is never made fun of. This is an exciting thought to me because some of the texts I've read date all the way back to the 10th century. These texts have magic throughout and never once did the authors satirize magic nor did they try to explain it. 

    For example, one particular story, How Cullwch won Olwen, was written in the 10th century and tells the story of a kinsmen of the King Arthur who must do impossible tasks to win the hand of a Giant's daughter. This story features magical beings and adventures such as obtaining a basket from the sunken land, Gwyddneu Garanhir, and hunting a magical boar. The purpose of these magical aspects is always to fit a theme. For example, the magical boar fits the theme of the Boar-hunt which symbolizes decision-making because Cullwch is forced to make decisions quickly while a boar is taunting him and attacking him. The magic that represents themes often does it in a satirical way that questions common problems of the day. In the case of the boar hunt it was satirizing the poor decision making skills of the leaders of the day. The objects of the magic are part of the satirizing, but the fact that magic exists is just as inherent and accepted in these ancient stories as it is in The Chronicles of Narnia. 

         This is fascinating because it shows that magic as a mode of satirizing or relaying a message has been around for as long as storytelling has been around (How Cullwch won Olwen was passed down orally and was only formally written down in the 10th century). Further, it shows that the nuances of using magic as a form of communicating in these ways have also remained the same. Some 10th century bard was following the same rules articulated by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1939. This once again brings me back to Walter Fisher's idea of the homo-narrans. Seeing the same patterns of storytelling which Tolkien described being used in ancient Arthurian Legends really showed me the truth behind Tolkien's ideas on Fairy Stories. 

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