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8/10/05
In Le Morte d'Arthur Cador of Cornwall is named Arthur's heir at the
beginning of his reign. No mention is made of any relation between Cador of
Cornwall, Gorlois of Cornwall Uther's nemesis, or Mark of Cornwall Tristram's
nemesis*. No mention is made of any relation of Cador to Arthur for that
matter, but there is his mother's connection to Cornwall. Now, Gorlois and
Mark are both rulers of Cornwall, and in that order. If Mark is Gorlois'
heir, and therefore is Arthur's eldest male relative through Ygraine's
marriage to Gorlois, why does Arthur name Cador his heir - or if Cador is
older why isn't he made duke of Cornwall? Well, partly, I'm sure, because
Arthur's and Tristram's were seperate story cycles until the fourteenth
century or so; but mostly because Mark's a bounder. (Also, at least in
AKOTAS, Merlin's already
established that Mark's too old to legally be made a king.) Cador must be
younger than Mark (but older than Gawaine, Arthur's eldest legitimate
nephew), yet still as closely (or nearly as closely) related to Arthur as
Mark, so Occam suggests he's Mark's younger brother.
Cador never comes into the story again, not even when Camelot falls. After
Arthur and Mordred are both dead, Cador's son Constantine** ascends to the
High Kingship. During the span of Arthur's reign Cador has either got too old
or died.
* Of course there's also an Idres of Cornwall whom Le Morte d'Arthur
lists as one of Lot's allies, who seems to come between Gorlois and Mark at
the time of Lot's wars, but whom Le Morte d'Arthur never mentions
before or again so as I recall now. In AKOTAS when the late Lot's allies finally swore fealty to Arthur,
and in the text underneath, I presumed "Idres" was really Mark, since in
AKOTAS Tristram's story is so in medias res, making Mark the
current ruler of Cornwall. But even if Idres were a seperate person from
Mark, having been one of Lot's allies he's about as likely as Mark to be
named Arthur's heir. Same with Gawaine and Tristram, for political reasons
even though Arthur likes and trusts them.
** Constantine is also the name of Uther's father in some sources. Cf.
the thread titled Constans (spoiler) on the forum.
Webcomics I read mornings:
The Daily Grind Iron Man Challenge,
Peanuts,
General Protection Fault,
Todd and Penguin,
Achewood,
Scary Go Round,
Tux & Bunny,
College Roommates from Hell!!!,
Kevin & Kell,
Real Life
Webcomics I read middays:
Calvin & Hobbes,
Least I Could Do,
User Friendly,
Questionable Content,
Starshift Crisis,
Dandy and Company,
Queen of Wands,
Narbonic
Webcomics I read evenings:
LuAnn,
Pearls Before Swine,
Count Your Sheep,
Loserz,
Help Desk,
Schlock Mercenary,
Sinfest,
Irregular Comic,
Little Dee
Webcomics I read bedtimes:
B.C.,
Something Positive,
Bruno,
Dinosaur Comics,
Wapsi Square,
Medium Large,
Alice!,
Sluggy Freelance,
PvP
Webcomics I read M-W-F mornings:
El Goonish Shive,
Syntax Errors,
Checkerboard Nightmare,
Gossamer Commons
Webcomics I read M-W-F evenings:
Reasoned Cognition,
Goats,
Theater Hopper,
Tweep,
Shortpacked,
Girl Genius,
Megatokyo
Webcomics I read Tu-Th-Sa mornings:
Digger,
Crap I Drew On My Lunch Break,
AppleGeeks,
Orneryboy,
Striptease,
Penny
Arcade
Webcomics I read Tu-Th-Sa evenings:
No Stereotypes,
Ctrl+Alt+Del,
Extra Life,
The Noob,
Get Out of My Head,
Order of the Stick
Webcomics I read Sundays:
The Whovian Observer,
Journey Into History,
Butternut Squash,
Goobs,
Stuff Sucks,
Lucas & Odessa,
Pibgorn,
Boxjam's Doodle
See also
Talk About Comics,
The Belfry Comics Index,
The Webcomic List,
Nth Degree,
100% Originality Theatre,
Comixpedia,
The Living Comic and
Websnark.
Arthuriana sources I use or recommend:
Arthurian
Legend
Arthuriana - the
Journal of Arthurian Studies; the website of the quarterly journal of the
North American Branch of the International Arthurian Society.
The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester.
Camelot In Four
Colors: A Survey of the Arthurian Legend in Comics
Mystical-WWW -
The Arthurian A2Z knowledge Bank which has encyclopedically-arranged
entries on the characters of the Arthurian legends.
Le Morte Darthur: Sir Thomas Malory's Book of King Arthur and of his Noble
Knights of the Round Table,
Volume 1 and
Volume
2.
