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Morgan LeFay is King Arthur's half sister, the daughter of Arthur's mother Igraine and her first husband, the Duke of Cornwall. Igraine's second husband, by whom she bore Arthur, was Uther Pendragon. For many years the jealousy and hatred that she felt for Arthur festered. She hated him for the death of her father (Link to the Story of Uther Pendragon), which she believed he caused, and for his power as king. She also held enmity for Guinevere because of her great love for Arthur and for events, told of in "The Vulgate Lancelot", where Morgan is having an affair with Guiomar, Guinevere's cousin, and Guinevere puts an end to it. Well-educated and beautiful, Morgan spent her life planning revenge. She was well-versed in dark and destructive magic. She enjoyed bending men through enchantment and her great beauty. Blind to Morgan's hate, Arthur loved and trusted her above all women, except Guinevere. He arranged her marriage to Sir Uryens, to whom she was cruelly unfaithful. She plotted to gain the crown, making her husband a puppet, while she wielded the true power of the throne.
In many ways, Morgan had reason for her somewhat belligerent attitude towards the court. She was one of nine maidens charged with guarding a faery cauldron in Avalon, (the mystical isle of which Morgan is Queen), that Arthur steals in one of his early exploits. She was also cast out of Arthur's court, at one time, by Guinevere, who, either in jealousy or an ironic pious rage, takes a dislike to the number of suitors the married Morgan attracts.
One day a young knight, Sir Accolon, fell deeply in love with her. Morgan devised a scheme to use the love of this knight in her revenge. She ordered Arthur's capture and secretly held him in the dungeon. Accolon was sent to look for him and was met by a dwarf with a message from Morgan LeFay. In her message, she reminded him of their love and told him of reigning soon as his queen. Morgan's plot was to set Arthur in combat with Sir Accolon, although both men's identities were hidden. Accolon was given Arthur's own sword, Excalibur, (Arthur's sword received from Morgan's "good" twin, the Lady of the Lake), which she had stolen as Arthur slept in the dungeon, to insure Accolon's success. Arthur was then released from the dungeon when he agreed to joust with "another knight". As Arthur headed for the field of battle, a maid brought an exact replica of the sword Excalibur with a message from Morgan LeFay, sending her love. Arthur was completely deceived. Arthur was wounded during the battle, and when he began to bleed, he realized that the sword he carried was not Excalibur. His opponent's sword matched his exactly, but his wounds did not bleed. Arthur managed to retrieve his own sword and prepared to kill his adversary. At the last moment, when Accolon spoke, Arthur recognized him and Arthur revealed his own identity to the knight. Accolon begged forgiveness and told Arthur about Morgan LeFay's plan to gain the throne. Arthur swore the most terrible vengeance to his half-sister. Accolon died four days later of the wounds inflicted in the joust and Arthur had his body delivered to Morgan as a symbol of her plan's failure.
Undaunted, Morgan sought the Queen's permission to take some important news to Arthur. As she was unaware of the plot, Guinevere granted her request. Morgan rode all night and all day to the abbey where Arthur was recovering from his wounds. There she commanded that no one but herself be admitted to his room. While Arthur slept, Morgan concealedExcalibur and its scabbard in her robes and quickly left the abbey. When Arthur awoke, he was enraged to find that once again he had been tricked by his evil half-sister. He set off in pursuit. When Morgan discovered that she was being followed, she threw the sword and scabbard into the lake with all her might. It sank immediately. After searching unsuccessfully for either Morgan or the sword, Arthur returned to the abbey. Morgan escaped to the country of Gore where she set up her defenses against the possibility of retaliation from her half-brother.
The morning after Arthur arrived at Camelot, a woman came to court with a mantle covered with precious stones. Arthur was entrancedand the woman begged him to accept it as a gift for all the trouble that was caused. Before Arthur could respond, Merlin cautioned him softly to beware of such a gift. He suggested that the woman who brought the cape should wear it and no one else should even touch it. Heeding the advice, Arthur commanded the woman to put it on. She assured him that it was too rich for anyone other than the king to wear it but Arthur insisted. When the mantle touched her shoulders, the woman instantly burst into flames. Only ashes remained. Arthur flew into a rage and suspected that Mordred*, contrived the plot with his mother. Arthur banished Morgan's son* from court. Sir Gawain, his cousin, who was insulted at the treatment, left court with Mordred. Arthur was heartbroken that his sister helped destroy the brotherhood of the Round Table.
*Some stories place Morgan LeFay as the mother of Arthur's son, Mordred. It is told that she enchanted Arthur and conceived a child as evil as herself who was destined to cause Arthur's downfall. Other stories credit Margawse, Arthur's aunt, with bearing Mordred. In these stories, Arthur did not know that his mother's sister gave him this child.
Despite Morgan's enmity towards Arthur and Guinevere, she is one of the women who takes Arthur in a barge to Avalon to be healed. It was in Avalon that Morgan, when named as a faery, was Queen. When Morgan was claimed to be human, she was still said to have learned her sorcery in Avalon. In flight from Arthur after one of her exploits, she reveals the extent of her magical power by turning herself and her knights into stone, then restoring them after Arthur has gone.
The view of Morgan as healer has its roots in the earliest accounts of her and perhaps to her origin in Celtic mythology. In the Vita Merlini (c. 1150) Morgan is said to be the first of nine sisters who rule The Fortunate Isle or the Isle of Apples and is presented as a healer as well as a shape-changer. It is to this island that Arthur is brought (though Morgan awaits him and heals him rather than actually fetching him herself). Morgan proclaims that she can heal Arthur if he stays with her for a long time. Morgan is also said to be the wife of King Uriens and the mother of Yvain or Ywain. In some accounts, after a life devoted to evil, she decides to become a nun because of her belief that "corruption were sooner brought amongst humankind by the forces of virtue." In many instances, Morgan actually does become a defender of good.
Morgan LeFay has also been known as Morgan the Fate, a Goddess of Sovereignty remembered into early Christian times. This side of her is the most visible in the tale of Gawain and the Green Knight. In this aspect, she is a tester of virtue; but unlike the hostile motives she gains in other tales, she is more than willing to bestow her blessing on those who pass the test.
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight she is presented as the instigator of the Green Knight's visit to Arthur's court, partly motivated by her desire to frighten Guinevere. In this famous tale, the Green Knight appears amid a host of faery signs in Arthur's court and challenges any comers to a game of mutual beheading. Only young Gawain takes the challenge. He chops off the Green Knight's head, but amazingly, he only picks it up, replaces it, and tells Gawain that next year he will be returning the favor. A year later, Gawain, honor bound, rides out to meet his death. He is taken in during what he thinks to be his last days by a young lord who befriends him, but makes him promise to return to him anything given by his lovely wife. When the lovely wife makes a pass at Gawain, the young knight must honor his vow by kissing the lord. On the third day of his visit, however, he accepts a green scarf from the lady without giving it to her lord. Now the Green Knight appears to deal his blow, but it glances off of Gawain's neck leaving only a scratch. The Green Knight explains that Gawain would have been spared even that if he had given up the scarf--for the young lord and his lady were in truth the Green Knight and the lady he serves, Morgan LeFay. But Gawain has done well enough, and rides home with the blessings of the faery court, and the green scarf to serve as their token ever after.
In other Arthurian tales, the idea of the test of the Goddess as a necessary part of a hero's development seems to be lost, and Morgan's character becomes more maligned. But still, hints of her sovereignty are visible here and there. One of her chief "evil" deeds, for example, was to steal the magical scabbard of Excalibur, Arthur's sword received from Morgan's "good" twin, the Lady of the Lake. But the healing scabbard is a feminine symbol, and one that in fact would need to belong to a feminine power. Many of her other "evil" tales involve more tests of Arthur's knights, and the end she brings to the careers of those who fail.
Finally, Morgan LeFay is a powerful sorceress, a dispenser of justice and an heiress to aspects of bitterness and revenge, but she has also retained her ties to exceeding beauty, love, and sex. These may be seen as halves of the same Goddess, the Great Queen as young seductress and as fearsome adversary. Modern cultures demonize one side and blind themselves to the other, but by bringing the two together and reexamining them, we can catch a glimpse of what her true character may be.
"All men dream, but unequally.
Those that dream at night in the dusty recesses of their minds
awake the next day to find that their dreams were just vanity.
But those who dream during the day with their eyes wide open are dangerous men,
they act out their dreams to make them reality"
- T.E. Lawrence
The Symbols and Icons of Morgan LeFay
Her most obvious symbols are the cauldron, which she guarded in Avalon, the scabbard,
feminine healing counterpart to the sword, and the pentacle, the sign she awarded to
Gawain when he earned her blessing. The pentacle in this context is actually derived
from the apple, another of her symbols and a link to Avalon, for when this fruit of
healing and the Otherworld is cut in half, it reveals a five-rayed star. Her links to
faery, healing, "the isle of apples," and the sea (the Welsh morgans) may reveal a
kinship to the Irish Manannan MacLir.
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