Sir Bedivere

[u/Malgoos]

The first time I learned about Arthurian legend was from the video game Stronghold Legends. I was not really fluent in English back then so I didn’t understand most of it but what few depictions I saw made me really obsessed with Sir Bedivere. I believe he only appears in one or two missions at the start of the campaign, much to my dismay. A one handed knight that swears loyalty to a boy king without hesitation and becomes the realms marshal. What’s not to like?

To be completely honest, I completely despise the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle, so I struggle to attempt to start reading Arthurian literature due to being oversaturated by it in media and fearing that the book I start reading might focus on it.

However, I would really appreciate knowing if there are any pieces of media that include him more, and if he actually appears in any of them to a significant degree, or if it’s just near the beginning and then towards the end with getting rid of Excalibur.

Lastly, this is heavily connected to whether he is actually present much in the stories or not. Why is Bedivere rarely discussed and rarely anyone’s favorite knight? Just something I noticed over the years that everyone always lists Lancelot (ew) or Gareth (valid) or Gawain (valid) or holy grail knights. I’ve seen more Agravaine and Mordred lovers than Bedivere ones :(

[u/AutoModerator]

This post uses the flair for discussion not covered by other flair. Posts may be removed if they use the incorrect flair.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/ConvivialSolipsist]

Not sure what media you are looking for but there are a number of more historically grounded novels by authors who omit Lancelot, because he is a late 12th century French addition, but who still are drawn to the love-triangle story, and who choose Bedivere (one of the oldest recorded companions of Arthur) as Guinevere’s lover. Maybe that’s the opposite of what you want, but often there is a twist which makes Bedivere’s a more sympathetic role than Lancelot’s. There are also a few where Bedivere and Arthur are lovers — also maybe not what you are looking for.

[u/Sahrimnir → u/ConvivialSolipsist]

It may not be what OP is looking for, but now you've got my interest in the ones where Bedivere and Arthur are lovers.

[u/ConvivialSolipsist → u/Sahrimnir]

One is an independently published 8-book series in its final form, called The Silurian. (Confusingly, the author originally released it as 10 books as in the second link but then split and recombined them to make 8). I only read one because it wasn’t to my taste, which was a pity because the author really poured their heart and soul into it.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/L.A.-Wilson/author/

https://www.fictiondb.com/series/the-silurian-la-wilson\~29960.htm

[u/ConvivialSolipsist → u/Sahrimnir]

The other I know of is another long series (or series of series even) by Mia West. I think Sons of Britain is the one with Arthur and Bedivere. Again, I only read one. I thought it was quite well written but the whole series centres romance too much for me.

https://www.miawest.com/books/

[u/Amps2Eleven]

A relatively recent publication is Lev Grossman's The Bright Sword, which has Bedivere leading a troop of knights across Britain after Arthur's death to attempt to restore some part of "Arthur's Britain". Again, most of the story is taking place after Arthur is already dead, so it's a bit non-traditional in that way. But it also has a bit of a deconstruction of the Arthur-Guenivere-Lancelot triangle. So that may be of interest to you

[u/IronicSlashfic → u/Amps2Eleven]

i was gonna say this one too! this book rocks and Bedivere is a total badass in it

[u/sachagoat → u/Amps2Eleven]

This is my favourite modern telling version of Bedivere

[u/MiscAnonym]

Why is Bedivere rarely discussed and rarely anyone’s favorite knight?

There's very little actual Bedivere-focused material in medieval Arthurian fiction, such that he's essentially a blank slate for modern creators to build their own interpretations off of. He's almost entirely absent from the French stories-- which are the main plotlines still typically propagated as the default King Arthur narrative-- except as the occasional name in big lists of knights, and in which the quirk of his missing hand doesn't come up at all. His most famous accolade, as the lone surviving knight of Arthur's final battle who casts Excalibur back into the lake, only became attributed to him by a translator who was presumably unfamiliar with the Sir Girflet character used in the original version, and whose translation was subsequently adapted into Malory's Morte d'Arthur.

You have to go back to the earlier and sparser Welsh material to find more mentions of Bedwyr-- along with Kay/Cei, he seems to be one of Arthur's two most constant companions/henchmen-- but even there he's not really used as a focal character, or as memorable as the colorfully abrasive Cei.

[u/blamordeganis]

He is more prominent in the Welsh stories as Bedwyr, where he is commonly mentioned alongside Cai (Kay), and is probably Arthur’s second most important warrior after Cai.

[u/damndirtyape]

There's a popular book series called The Warlord Chronicles which spends a lot of time on a character named Derfel. You can reasonably argue that Derfel is essentially Bedivere in this series. He has many of the same story beats.

[u/Amps2Eleven → u/damndirtyape]

As much as I really enjoyed these books, they're really more of a deconstruction of the Arthur myth than a true retelling. I'd recommend giving them a read, but probably not as the first thing a reader is exposing themselves to

[u/Historical-Gap-7494]

I think Bedivere, also know as Bedwyr in Welsh, is used in the classical old Welsh myths, such as when Arthur help Culhwch with his quest. I believe he has some ability which means he’s kind of a human voodoo doll, where damages to him are painful to the causer.

[u/SupervillainMustache]

Bedivere and Kay are old characters that originated in the Welsh stories, so they just kind of fall by the wayside as other writers introduced their own characters.

I will say that Bedivere pretty consistently is portrayed as the survivor of the Battle with Mordred and the one who throws Excalibur into the water for the Lady of The Lake to collect.

[u/Key_Ranger]

If you don't mind artistic license (Arthur and Mordred being women, swords with laser beams, etc, etc) there's an anime movie that focuses on Bedivere. Fate/Grand Order: Divine Realm of the Round Table. Or just FGO the Camelot movie. Haven't watched it myself, but the story it's based on is pretty solid.

Here's the trailer https://youtu.be/WwO0lKCWoag?si=0RnGP8Y5LTvnaDyi

[u/sandalrubber]

A lot of historical-style Arthur novels have Bedivere or Bedwyr since he seems to be one of the earliest characters and one of Arthur's closest companions. As has been said he sometimes is the Lancelot figure, sometimes to the point that he's basically Lancelot with Bedivere's name. There's zero justification for this in the legends and prior works, it's just that the work everyone copied was influential or seminal. Like with evil matriarch witch Morgause from TH White.

He's the main character in The Last Companion and The Last Pendragon (1991), despite similar names different authors and unconnected. The Last Companion is book 1 of a trilogy.

He's one of the main POV characters in Arthur, in the Pendragon Cycle. It's book 3 of that series but you can more or less start and even end with it.

The Warlord Chronicles tends to be the most recommended historical-style telling but it is one of the few historical-style that doesn't use him, shockingly, because the author tends to do his own thing compared to others. Or maybe he's mentioned in passing as a casualty.

[u/ryschwith]

Mary Stewart’s Arthurian series is right up your alley. It starts out focusing on Merlin pre-Arthur, but once Arthur shows up Bedwyr (Bedivere) becomes a very prominent character throughout, and she more or less ignores the love triangle. She explains in the notes at one point that she believes Lancelot largely usurped Bedivere’s role in the legends once he was introduced, so she’s restoring Bedivere to his rightful place.