~Storyteller Knight
 | Title: The Wicked Day Author: Mary Stewart Publisher: William Morrow and Co Pages: 447 Synopsis: (from the publisher) The Wicked Day is the gripping story of Mordred, bastard son of King Arthur by incest with his half-sister Morgause, witch-queen of Lothian and Orkney. Morgause sent the child to the Orkney islands to be reared there in secret, in the hope that one day he would become, as Merlin the Enchanter had prophecied, the doom of her hated half-brother.
When Mordred is taken from
his rude life as a fisherboy in the islands and suddenly thrust into the full
panoply of the High King Arthur’s court, he learns of his true parentage and
rises to a position of trust in his father’s kingdom. But, as the plots and
counterplots of the last part of Arthur’s reign unfold, Mordred is drawn into a
tangled web of tragedy that is the climactic drama of Arthurian legend.
The Wicked Day
breathtakingly displays Mary Stewart’s extraordinary gift for bringing the
obscure past to life. Her characters are unforgettable: the young Mordred,
whose close bond with his father arouses dire jealousies in the High Court at
Camelot; his malevolent mother; her four unruly sons by King Lot; King Arthur
himself, his Queen, Guinevere, his trusted friend Bedwyr; and the warring
factions that seek to bring down the bastions of Arthur’s new confederation of
Britain.
As she did in her earlier
Arthurian novels, Mary Stewart challenges the accepted legends in this stirring
and danger-ridden tale. Was Mordred in truth a traitor—or the victim of
implacable fate? Mary Stewart’s view brings tremendous emotions impact to the
drama, as Merlin’s prophecy hangs broodingly over each moment and the action
plays itself out inexorably to the final, wicked day…
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I recently joined goodreads.com and on a whim looked up Mary Stewart's Arthurian books. The number of resoundingly positive reviews is astounding. People seem to think these books are the greatest thing since sliced bread; a lot of them called them their favorite books ever. I do not understand this attitudes. This book was the best of the four so far by far, but that doesn't make them great. They summarize far too much and the characters are barely sympathetic at best. They're certainly not very lively. I feel sorry for anyone reading fantasy in the 70s and 80s if this was the best there was to offer.
Warning for Spoilers
The Twist
The story of Arthur’s reign, as told (in third person) from Mordred’s point of
view. He is a sympathetic character and never betrays Arthur; the end of
Camelot happens through a series of misunderstandings rather than Mordred
traitorously joining the Saxons as in most versions.
The Plot
The first 270 pages or so are a repeat of the events of The Last Enchantment, except focused on Mordred. We see him rescued
from the sea by a peasant couple, being found by Morgause at ten after he saves
Gawain’s life, and raised for a few years as “Lot’s bastard” with his
half-brothers in Orkney castle. Finally, we see Morgause’s arrest and Mordred
and his siblings spending the rest of their growing-up years at Arthur’s side. Last Enchantment ended here. The rest of
the book is the slow downward spiral towards the end of Camelot, all caused by
the recklessness of the Orkney brothers (not counting Mordred, who keeps a cool
head always and becomes Arthur’s right hand after Bedwyr). Gaheris catches
Morgause with a lover and kills her. A lot of time is spent trying to smooth
this over as her lover has powerful diplomatic ties and if he is honor-killed
by the Orkney brothers it will present all kinds of political problems, which
of course in their simplistic worldview of “Fight! Kill!” they don’t understand.
Eventually Gaheris and Agrivain do kill him but careful diplomatic maneuvering
by Arthur and Mordred prevents major problems. Then they all (except Gawain)
participate in a plot to kill Bedwyr by catching him with Guinevere and in the
process Gaheris, Agrivain, and Gareth die, which causes even more rifts and
strife. Finally Gawain is sent on a diplomatic mission and ends up causing the
war that divides Arthur and Mordred through a series of mixups. Mordred gets a
note that Arthur is dead and takes over the kingdom to prevent it all from falling
apart and to protect Guinevere, only to have Arthur become convinced by a dying
Gawain that Mordred was a traitor all along. Father and son nearly reconcile on
the advice of Nimuë, but both their armies are too primed for battle and the
scene that happened when Bedwyr killed Gareth and Agrivain is repeated on a
grand scale where no one can tell friend from foe in the total chaos. Arthur
and Mordred, as we’ve known, well, forever, end up killing each other. Well,
you know, Arthur isn’t “dead”, per se, but he might as well be. The book ends
with him being carried to Avalon to be nursed.
Sidenote: you can tell
this book was written later than the other three. There is actually
non-consensual sex. A very minor character is raped, and actually dies from how
rough her attacker was during the act. But this is big step for Mary Stewart
who until this point has stalwartly had all rapes in the legend be at least
partially consensual in her versions.
The Characters
Mordred: A way better main
character than Merlin. Has some of Merlin’s sociopathic tendencies (seems to run
in the Pendragon line but missed Arthur, thank goodness). Unlike Merlin Mordred
truly cares for his adoptive peasant parents, Arthur and Guinevere once he
meets them, and to some extent Gawain and Gareth. This ability to care makes it
easier to relate to him. He tends to be emotionless, but because he hides his
emotions rather than not really having them the way it is with Merlin. Cool and
calculating, he rarely loses his head and always acts with rational thought
even as a young child. He refuses to be used by anyone and resents that he is
prophesied to destroy Arthur, which is a refreshing change from everyone else
in this series that accepts their destiny so passively. Eventually he makes his
peace with the prophecy but is still always mindful of it. He also never falls
for Morgause’s ploys after he is duped by her once, which was also refreshing
from the Orkney brothers’ total blindness to her manipulation of them. The only
gross thing about him is his crush on Guinevere which grows into a quiet but intense
obsession. However, being ever in control of himself Mordred never acts on
these desires. Um, yuck because she’s much older and his father’s wife. He’s
also pretty callous towards the women he takes as sexual partners, dismissing
any emotional connection they might have sought with him as sentimental female
nonsense. Other than that, he’s a guy you want to root for because he really
doesn’t want to do the awful thing looming over his whole life. He wants to do
the right thing but ends up getting tangled in his half-brothers’ misguided
plots and schemes and often pays the price for their stupidity. In the end he
pays the ultimate price for the distrust they create.
Arthur: Here we see
Arthur’s goodness backfiring on him a little. Not in trusting Mordred, who
turns out never to be a traitor, but in being too nice to Morgause. His
willingness to give her one last chance to see her sons in an act of pity
allows her to get her hooks back into them and divide their loyalties. Other
than that, it’s nice to see more of him in this book. He allows himself to be
momentarily confused by Gawain’s dying accusations of Mordred as a traitor
because, like Mordred, the prophecy has always hung over him, but in the end
allows his good sense to prevail. Unfortunately, it is not to be and in the end
he seems to get lost in bloodlust a moment too long. He doesn’t even hesitate
when he cuts Mordred down.
Morgause: Even creepier
than the last few books. She manipulates everyone to her own ends in order to
bring down Arthur. She murders Mordred’s foster parents, never tells him who
his real parents are and lets him think he’s a bastard of Lot rather than her
son and Arthur’s. She even tries seducing Mordred. Not only is this gross
because he’s thirteen to her nearly forty but she’s his mother. She knows it, he doesn’t. Ugh. Lucky for him,
Mordred figures out something’s not right and backs off. I love Arthur’s
reaction when he finds out from Mordred: “My God, you too?” Why Mary Stewart
has to prove to us once again that Morgause is pure evil without motive I don’t
know. There are few sexual sins this woman doesn’t commit, and worse, none of
it is out of lust. It’s just for control over people.
Guinevere: We don’t see a
lot of her, but when we do she proves to be strong and capable. She lives in
fear of Arthur’s death because she has a line of suitors who will try to use
her for power, each more terrifying than the last. She stands by Mordred when
they get news of Arthur’s “death” and supports him as regent but doesn’t
suspect he wants to marry her himself. She is fond of Mordred since she is
unable to bear children and seems to look on him as a son.
Bedwyr: He and Guinevere
are in love but they never do anything to consummate their relationship. When
Gaheris, Agrivain and their crowd go to catch them in some sort of romantic
tryst, it is immediately obvious that nothing happened. He remains loyal to
Arthur to the end. He and Mordred have a little bonding adventure together
rescuing the kidnapped princess who dies being raped. He is wounded fighting in
the battle against the invading Romans and we don’t hear his fate at the end of
the story.
Gawain: Usually my
favorite character, it makes me sad when an author falls for the Malory trap of
making him bad. He has some good points and bad points. Like all of Lot and
Morgause’s sons, he’s an idiot and a hothead. He threatens a lot but unlike his
middle brothers allows his temper to cool most of the time until the very end.
He and Mordred coexist but since they are rivals to an extent—Gawain is
legitimate but Mordred is older—they never quite trust each other. It is
Gawain’s final words that seals the end as he randomly calls Mordred a traitor
and Arthur chooses to believe Gawain has some knowledge of Mordred Arthur
doesn’t possess. Who knows what Gawain actually meant by his deathbed
ramblings. He and Gareth were very close and something broke in him when Gareth
died; maybe secretly he blames Mordred for not stopping it.
Gaheris: A complete idiot
and Oedipally in love with Morgause. He kills her out of insane jealousy when
he finds her having sex with Lamorak. He then has to hide for awhile so no one
will kill him and he can search for Lamorak. He eventually kills Lamorak in a
crazed rage and nearly causes all kinds of diplomatic problems for Arthur were
it not for the goodwill of Arthur and Lamorak’s relatives. He is part of the
group that hates Bedwyr and tries to catch him in infidelity with Guinevere. He
tries to kill Guinevere and is knocked out by Mordred before he can do any harm.
He dies of the wounds from that night.
Agrivain: Gaheris’s twin
and shadow in everything, except for the Oedipal stuff. He is killed in the
assault on Guinevere’s room.
Gareth: The baby of the
Orkney brothers and in this version the nicest of them. He is indulged by
Morgause but manages not to be corrupted by her. He has the least to do with
his brothers’ antics and is on his way to leading a normal, happy life with his
fiancée when he is killed by accident in the assault on Guinevere’s room. He
and Gawain always paired up against the twins, leaving Mordred the odd one out.
Nimuë: Functions solely as
Merlin’s successor. She persuades Mordred that he can’t escape being Arthur’s
doom even if he kills himself. The only personal thing we see is her waking up with
her husband after a vision of Arthur and Mordred’s final battle. They share a
sweet moment that I liked very much.
Morgan: The most we see of
her in any of the books. Like Morgause, she is also inexplicably evil and is
hostile to both Arthur and Morgause. How she got so bitter I have no idea
because she really doesn’t have a reason. She was raised by a loving mother and
even though her husband was old he doesn’t seem to have mistreated her. She is
also rumored to be a more powerful witch than Morgause but we get no evidence. We
never hear what happens to her in the end.
Overall
I
liked it most of the Mary Stewart Arthurian saga I’ve read so far. I liked
Mordred way more than Merlin and I actually came to care about the outcome even
though I knew how it had to end. I kept waiting for Mordred to slide to the
dark side but in the end it turned out to all be a misunderstanding, so Stewart
kept me guessing up until the last few pages. It didn’t blow me away as the
greatest book ever but it was more of a page-turner than the other books. 4
stars.
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