In the days of chivalry and knighthood, of legend and fact, of chaos and feudalism, the world was bare and hard. Life was defined by survival. Those lonely times are now referred to as the dark ages, for in those ages, there was survival, with little or no room for art.

Yet just as a small dandelion may dare to lift it's petals to the sun amidst a sea of concrete, toiling against the danger of sneakers against the pavement for just a glimpse of the brilliant sun, so did the Arthurian legends spring up from the dark and turbulent middle ages.

The stories seem to encompass all of the good which was contained in the time period. All of the love, art, culture and morality that a society had strived to attain is contained in the tales of King Arthur and his brave knights.

Sir Thomas Mallory, was perhaps the first to put down in words the stories of dark ages. As feudalism began die, Malory, a knight who refused to set down the old ways, wrote his novel, Morte de Arthur, as a last stand against the death of a way of life.

Malory insured that the light that shone throughout the dark ages never had a chance to dim. Even after the death of that lonely knight, even after armor was made useless by gunpowder, Malory's tales of King Arthur would remain, a haven for all those who dare seek it.

Since his time, society has been remodeled. Now there are equal rights for men and women, machines that fly, and advanced sewage systems. But though the middle ages are long since passed, King Arthur and his knights still continue to thrive.

The tales of the Round Table are world renound, and continue to be retold. With each new telling, the words are changed, and the characters are as well. But King Arthur and his court still remain a gateway into a world long since dead.

King Arthur, the personification of morality and nobility, is the center around which the story is told. In the middle ages, men were the ones who wielded the power, it often seemed that women were only pawns in their game.

But if one dares look closer, it is evident that women held as much power as the men. Throughout the legends, many women help to shape the story, most unassuming of their influence. But there is one women whose effect is all too broad. This one woman used her power carelessly, and it could not but end in tragedy.

But we all know that tragedies are the stories which carry the most powerful messages of all. And tragedies, as unpleasant as they may be in the telling, hold a power all their own.

So, now it is the time for me to tell you a story; a tragedy. But this tragedy must be told. Power can be used in many ways, for ill or good. Sometimes the unassuming needle can pierce more fatally than the heaviest of swords. This is the story of the woman who shaped the Arthurian legends; this is the story of the woman who was destined to bring misery to those around her; this is the story of Guinevere.