King Arthur (later called the Green Knight) was one of the primary antagonists in the Tales of Arcadia franchise, serving as the central antagonist of Wizards and a background antagonist in the 3Below episode, "Race to Trollmarket".
He was the king of Camelot, until he was corrupted by his own prejudice that was strengthened by the loss of his beloved Queen Guinevere. He later became an entity of great darkness, courtesy of the Arcane Order. He was formerly guided by his former court wizard/advisor, Merlin, former wielder of the mighty sword, Excalibur, and the brother of Morgana.
History
Backstory
Arthur was born to become the next king of Camelot, presumably before his sister, Morgana. During his childhood, he was betrothed to Gwen, and the three of them were close and often played together in the Wild Wood outside Camelot, to where they would go to escape their troubles.
However, Arthur feared the magical creatures of the Woods and saw them as demons and monsters, as he once pointed a knife at Nari who'd only been saying hello to Morgana and Gwen.
Despite their difference of opinions, Arthur and Gwen grew up together, fell in love, and married, becoming the King and Queen of Camelot while Morgana developed an affinity for magic and became the apprentice of Merlin. Secretly, Arthur was disturbed by his sister's magical abilities but kept his silence due to her being family and mentored by Merlin.
Throughout his reign, Arthur spread his influence with peace and prosperity, ruling from the kingdom of Camelot, with Merlin his most trusted advisor. He later founded the famous court, the Knights of the Round Table, consisting of most of his bravest and noblest knights, such as Lancelot and Galahad.
Alas, the good days came to a tragic end when Gwen, after coaxing Morgana into the Wild Woods, lost her life after stumbling into the nest of a stalkling. The loss of his beloved queen and the love of his life devastated Arthur and caused him to begin a ruthless campaign against magical creatures, especially Trolls because of Gunmar and his Gumm-Gumm Army.
Arthur led many raids against troll villages, forcing them to leave their homes and punishing those who were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, one such troll being Callista, whom he had imprisoned in his dungeons.
Morgana often argued with Arthur regarding his paranoia and unjust treatment of innocent trolls and magical creatures, but he would not listen.
3Below (Part Two)
As the Green Knight, King Arthur was shown to be the mysterious for who was confronting Jim Lake Jr. (in his half-troll form) and Blinky Galadrigal in Trollmarket with Aja and Krel Tarron, as well as Toby Domzalski, watching from a television after the latter dialed Jim's phone number. After seeing a quick shot at him, Toby says that he looked scary. Aja and Krel try to introduce themselves, but Jim and Blinky are too busy facing him off. However, after hearing from them that King Fialkov and Queen Coranda gave Gaylen's Core to Kanjigar the Courageous and another troll named Vendel, Blinky suggests that they go to the Soothscryer before the television screen turns to static.
Wizards (Part One)
Late 12th century
Battle of Killahead Bridge
Become the Green Knight
Castle Attack
Troll Jim & Morgana's Return
Shadow Realm
The Arcane Order searches for the Seals. Morgana appeals to Arthur. She believes he brought her back to free him from the Order's control (to his clear denial). Wanting to know if the brother she knew still exists, Morgana decides to search the shadows for Arthur's soul.
She manages to find King Arthur's spirit trapped in his pain for Guinevere's death, manifested in a vision of the Wild Wood where she was killed by a Stalkling. She tries to reason with her brother's soul to come back to her, but she learns that the Arthur she knew is long gone and is truly replaced by the ruthless Green Knight who sought to end the entire world and begin anew through the Arcane Order's vision.
While Claire helped Morgana escape the Shadow Realm, Arthur followed his sister to Hex Tech, where they ambush the Guardians of Arcadia and took them hostage in the fortress (minus Krel).
Brother vs Sister
Physical Description
King Arthur appears to be a largely built, middle-aged man. He has fair skin, blue eyes, blonde hair, and has a beard.
His armor is a white suit of knight's armor, complete with a breastplate (the chest area), pauldrons (the shoulder areas), vambraces (the forearm areas), white gloves, cuisses (the thigh areas), poleyns (the knee areas), greaves (the leg areas), and sabatons (the feet areas) with gold engravings. Underneath the armor is a gray inner layer, possibly chainmail. He also wears a golden crown with a fairly small, blue diamond near the bottom of it which stands as his monarchy of Camelot.
After his resurrection, Arthur' skin turned turned dark grey and developed several cracks. His irises glowed a brilliant yellow and his sclerae turned black. He took to wearing olive-green armor and a headdress of the same color and used a bewitched Excalibur as his primary weapon.
The color of Arthur's anti-magic as the Green Knight is greenish-yellow.
Personality
Once, Arthur Pendragon was wise and just and sought peace and prosperity for his kingdom and his people. However, the death of his wife, Gwen, at the claws of a stalkling forever embittered Arthur to the magical, seeing creatures of magic as demons and abominations that had to be eradicated regardless of whether they were good or evil.
Although it seemed he tried to be fair at first, by banishing trolls and magical creatures to their forests, he decreed any that dared trespass in his lands (whether they meant to or not) would be imprisoned or even executed. The troll Callista even claimed that Arthur and his knights invaded her people's lands to take them and then claim the trolls were trespassing, which would make Arthur a hypocrite with a "sick sense of humor".
Arthur's paranoia and distrust of the magical was present even when he was a child, as he pointed a knife at Nari and called her a demon when Nari had only been saying hello to Arthur's sister Morgana and his betrothed, Gwen, and clearly meant no harm. He even displayed distrust and bigotry towards his sister Morgana and was constantly at odds with her.
When finally Arthur and Morgana turned against each other, Arthur was overcome with guilt and self-loathing when he cut off his sister's hand and caused her to fall to her death. Realizing what his hatred and fear had wrought, and later the restoration of Excalibur and the encouraging words of Douxie, Arthur sought to make amends to the trolls he'd wronged and propose an alliance. When it didn't turn out as he'd hoped, he woefully led the remainder of his knights and soldiers to face Gunmar and his Gumm-Gumms in a last stand, and was stunned to see that Morgana was alive and had returned, now a dark witch bent on destroying humanity to rid the world of prejudice against magical creatures like herself. On the battlefield, Arthur apologized to his sister just before he was struck down (by the Arcane Order), but died content that Camelot had been saved, Gunmar defeated, and that the humans and trolls had found common grounds.
Alas, when Arthur was resurrected by the Arcane Order to serve as their Green Knight, all the negative, sinful feelings Arthur had felt were brought to the surface and he lost all remaining good in him as he became determined to "redeem" the world by destroying it and remake it anew, which he believed he had been. His spirit did not rest in peace with Merlin and Morgana as it should have, as he was killed as the Green Knight, not as King Arthur.
Powers & Abilities
Powers
- Above Average Physiology: Originally, Arthur had no magical powers, but fought against Gunmar, Gumm-Gumms, and other trolls with his enchanted blade, Excalibur. Despite having no magical powers of his own whatsoever, he is still considerably stronger than an average human.
- Enhanced Strength: Both as Arthur and the Green Knight, he showed considerable levels of enhanced strength.
- Enhanced Durability: King Arthur was far more durable than a normal human. As the Green Knight, he could leap from hundreds of feet and land without any signs of injuries, and by then, the only thing capable of killing him at last was Camelot's rubble crushing him to his death.
- Anti-Magic: When Arthur was resurrected as the Green Knight and imbued with dark magic, he was able to corrupt Excalibur and use it to neglect any kinds of magic, including a powerful wizard's. In fact, Merlin described the Green Knight's dark un-sorcery as a bad omen of horrible things to come.
- Onyx Shard Conjuration: These shards come flying out of his sword as an attack. One of these shards landed in Jim's amulet, and severely injured him and made its way into his heart. He was eventually corrupted and turned into a monstrous troll, devoid of humanity and completely under the Green Knight's control. The shard's work was undone when the Green Knight was killed, and Jim returned to his human form. One of these shards also slowly killed Morgana in their final battle.
- Corruption: Whomever his Onyx Shards hit, they will turn them into mindless trolls under Arthur's control, corrupting anyone and anything with his dark magic, including Jim (an exceptionally strong-willed individual) and Excalibur. He enforces this control by causing his victims pain with the shards crawling into their hearts in a painful process.
- Anti-Magic Blasts: Arthur was able to use his corrupted Excalibur to fire energy blasts of dark magic on his enemies.
- Telekinesis: Arthur appeared to be capable of moving things with his thoughts, as he moved the imprisoned Nari without touching her frozen form, which was engulfed with a greenish-yellow aura matching Arthur's evil magic.
- Teleportation: Arthur was able to teleport across dimensions when Morgana tries to speak with his own soul.
- Summoning: As shown in "Spellbound", Arthur was able to summon dark magical creatures to attack the Guardians of Arcadia.
- Magic Immunity: As a dark being resurrected into an entity of anti-magic, Arthur is highly resistant and immune to any forms of magic, including Merlin and Morgana's.
- Immortality: After his resurrection, Arthur was able to live for hundreds of years without aging. However, he can still fall in battle as he perished after being squashed by a piece of Camelot.
- Onyx Shard Conjuration: These shards come flying out of his sword as an attack. One of these shards landed in Jim's amulet, and severely injured him and made its way into his heart. He was eventually corrupted and turned into a monstrous troll, devoid of humanity and completely under the Green Knight's control. The shard's work was undone when the Green Knight was killed, and Jim returned to his human form. One of these shards also slowly killed Morgana in their final battle.
Abilities
- Master Warrior: Though he was using Excalibur at the time, Arthur was an extremely capable warrior, able to hold his own against Gunmar, a troll who spend centuries killing multiple Trollhunters, and even Merlin, a powerful wizard who battled evil long before he met Arthur. His fighting skills even rival that of his sister, Morgana's.
- Skilled Leader: Despite his paranoia, Arthur was truly an exceptionally skilled leader, from being able to make decisions for his country and rallying his troops against Gunmar he is a prodigy among kings and is considered one of the greatest beings of his time.
Weaknesses
- Mortality (formerly): As a human, Arthur possessed a mortal body, so was therefore highly vulnerable to any forms of injuries, sicknesses, and death. After his resurrection, however, he gained immortality and couldn't be killed by any forms of magic or weapons (only being squashed by a large debris of Camelot was enough to vanquish him).
- Arrogance & Paranoia: Even from childhood, Arthur disliked magic and magical creatures, considering all of them evil and offers great rewards for those who kill them, innocent or not. He has shown to be merciless in their case and will stop at nothing to destroy them.
Equipment
- Excalibur (formerly): As a sword of great power, Excalibur is Arthur's most powerful and cherished weapon in his possession. When he is resurrected as the Green Knight, he corrupted the magic within Excalibur, making it an instrument of dark magic. In his last clash with Morgana, she stripped him of his right to wield it after realizing that his worth to possess it was long gone.
- Onyx Shards: With his anti-magic, Arthur can conjure shards of evil magic capable of corrupting a victim's heart and/or fatally wounding them.
- Armor (formerly): Arthur wears a suit of armor that protects him from lethal damage.
- Green Knight Armor: Arthur received this armor after he was resurrected by the Arcane Order. It was a fearsome suit of knightly armor that made him resistant or even immune to most magical attacks, including Merlin and Morgana's.
Relationships
- Main article: King Arthur/Relationships
Quotes
- Main article: King Arthur/Quotes
Episode Appearances
3Below
| 3Below Part 2 | ||
| "Moving Day" Absent |
"Moonlight Run" Absent | |
| "Dogfight Days of Summer" Absent |
"Mother's Day" Absent | |
| "Ill Gotten Gains" Absent |
"There's Something About Gwen (of Gorbon)" Absent | |
| "Asteroid Rage" Absent |
"Luug's Day Out" Absent | |
| "The Fall of House Tarron" Absent |
"The Big Sleep" Absent | |
| "Race to Trollmarket" Cameo |
"A Glorious End, Part One" Absent | |
| "A Glorious End, Part Two" Absent | ||
Wizards
| Wizards | ||
| "Spellbound" Appears |
"History in the Making" Appears | |
| "Witch Hunt" Appears |
"Lady of the Lake" Appears | |
| "Battle Royale" Appears |
"Killahead, Part One" Appears | |
| "Killahead, Part Two" Appears |
"Wizard Underground" Appears | |
| "Dragon's Den" Appears |
"Our Final Act" Appears | |
Trivia
- He is based on the protagonist of the same name from the Arthurian folklore. Additionally, his Green Knight identity is also based the same antagonist of the same name from the Arthurian tale of Sir Gwain. This is the first incarnation to portray both characters as one.
- Interestingly, both King Arthur's background of grief and subsequent loathing of magic and his stern will to protect his kingdom are inspired by the character of Uther Pendragon from the 2008 series, Merlin.
- He is also the second DreamWorks character to be based off of this character, the first being Artie from Shrek the Third.
- Interestingly enough, even before his reveal at the end of "Wizard Underground", there were a few foreshadowings that King Arthur and the Green Knight were one and the same:
- Both King Arthur and the Green Knight called Douxie a "boy" and they also called Jim a "beast".
- The Green Knight bears the emblem of Camelot, which Merlin mentions in the episode "Spellbound". So, it implies that the Green Knight was affiliated with Camelot in some way.
- Merlin even goes on to express his curiosity about the connection between the Green Knight and Morgana. It is later discovered that they're, in fact, brother and sister.
- The metal antler-like horns on top of the Green Knight's helmet look similar to a traditional crown.
- The design of the Green Knight's bewitched sword is somewhat similar to Excalibur's.
- After her second resurrection, Morgana was visibly horrified when the Green Knight unmasks himself (off-screen) in front of her and tells her that they must now finish what they began together. Earlier, in the Battle of Killahead Bridge, he tells Morgana that they could end the carnage and deaths together in the battle as their act of redemption, which was after she accused of being trickery (to his denial).
- Unlike Morgana's resurrection by the entire Arcane Order, Arthur was raised by Bellroc and Skrael and appears undead compared to Morgana, who appeared fully alive. It is possible the difference is because Nari participated in raising Morgana back from the dead and not Arthur.
- Merlin refers to Arthur as "Hullgar," which could be a reference to Holger Danske, legendary Danish knight with a "sleeping hero" motif, alluding to Arthur's death and resurrection.
- King Arthur serves as a foil to Jim Lake Jr.: both were chosen to wield magical weapons (Excalibur and Daylight respectively) and destined for greatness. However, unlike Jim (who continued to care for the magical beings around him, sacrificed himself to protect his friends from Morgana when she was still evil, never gave into the beliefs of evil beings, and moved on from his losses), King Arthur came to the conclusion that trollkind should all be wiped out, innocent or not, sliced off Morgana's hand which would lead her to fall to her first death, gave into Skrael and Bellroc's belief that the world must be wiped out and made anew, and never moved on from his loss of Guinevere. Ultimately, King Arthur is an example of who Jim could've become if he let his emotions control him instead of the other way around.
