PENDRAGON
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DUX BELLORUM
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PENDRAGON: (Pen-Dragon) Taken from the Cymric pen meaning 'Head' and Draig meaning 'Dragon'. It began with the arrival of three brothers; Constans Augustus, Ambrosius Aurelianus and Romulus Auxilius who was renamed Uther ('Ouxselos' in Old Celtic), to the island of Albion with plans on avenging their father. Though their brother Constans would perish in this quest, with the help of the native Celts and the warlock Merlin, Vortigern met his justice, the Saxons were driven out and once Vortigern's White Dragon was defeated, Ambrosius become High-King of Albion. Uther would be given the epithet of Pendragon for having slain the beast.
In ancient times, the old kings of Albion would take on a warrior from among them to hold the epithet of the 'head-dragon' to protect their country. In that old and forgotten tongue it meant 'Battlemaster' or DUX BELLORUM.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Although I do not believe the Arthurian Legends are beyond the reach of copyright claims by this point, it does appear to be very slippery slope, with tropes and cliches more or less sprouting out from those tales, and more than sixteen-hundred years worth of historical 'FanFiction' seen as hard medieval literature. I do not claim to be a scholar of Arthurian Canon, besides…what exactly is Arthurian Canon? The legends and myths that make up the story of King Arthur and his Knights have undergone centuries of evolution and if you follow the threads back, Arthur ceases to resemble the noble king we recognise, in fact it appears the further back you go, the lease there is to know about him.
From Nennius to Chretien de Troyes, Sir Thomas Malory to Bernard Cornwell with his Warlord Chronicles, everyone seeks to add to the legends of Camelot or to put their own spin on the tales; like Cornwell's more realistic, gritty and grounded take on Arthur as told through the eyes of fan-favourite character Derfel, or T.H White's more fantasy-based stories. Not to mention the various depictions in film and television.
We all have our favourite King Arthur movie and show, whether animated or in live-action. My own favourites are the 1998 Merlin miniseries starring Sam Neill and 2004's King Arthur directed by Antoine Fuqua. Heck, I'm even a great fan of Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and who could forget Colin Morgan's adventures in mystical Albion. I more or less want to celebrate as much of them as I can here, for they have all had an influence on me and how I see the world, what makes a good hero, a good king, a good man.
This is a work-in-progress and I do hope to do Arthur justice, might even put this on Wattpad at some point. Thus I am torn between calling 5th century Britain, Prydain as the Welsh do or Albion as some of the early Romans attested, trying to retain some of that mystical element so I am rather hesitant to use Britannia for some reason.
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