I mean...
I think the title sums it up nicely.
I was all prepped to wax poetic about Ireland again (and believe me, there are stories that I'll never get tired of telling) and then I kind of wondered if it really had the same effect if you guys couldn't see me gesturing with my hands and trying to stay on my seat as I rushed through a story about Darkey Kelly or Alice Kyteler (seriously, look them up, their stories are really interesting!), or why it was staircases in Viking towers were SO COOL you guys, designed (partially) for murder!
Well, okay, defence, but I mean... if someone's rushing up your staircase with a sword and a bunch of folk behind them wanting to do you harm and you come running DOWN the staircase and you kill them...
.....also, usually on the 2nd floor, above the entryway, there was a grate and a hole in the floor which signs affectionately pointed out as "Murder Holes", so I think I have a pretty good case for saying the stairs were designed for murder.
So, why don't I go on about my trip? I figure you guys will hear stories every once in a while - when folk tore down Darkey Kelly's place they found bodies in the wall, and Alice was quite possibly the first person accused and "found" to be a witch - but mostly, it's almost Canada Day and I have another script I've started work on.
Which is still sort of (very, very loosely) on the same theme as stories and fascinating women, because for a long, long time, I've really wanted to get in to who, precisely, Morgana Le Faye was. King Arthur's story has been told time and time again, and Morgana is pretty suck in her role as Bad Guy, even if they through Mordred into the story as well.
I think it's really interesting how one particular character can become something from what amounted to, essentially, a footnote in the "original" stories of King Arthur. She started off as a healer in Avalon, and now, well... she's still interesting, but it's rare to find her as a character doing anything other than scheming and trying to take Arthur's throne from him. She's usually got magic, rivalling Merlin himself. Sometimes she has an affair with Merlin, sometimes she doesn't.
So, why the changes? Aside from, you know, politics and symbolism and a love of romance and bards wanting to keep their jobs, so they'd write what people wanted to hear..
While it's true there's no "right" way to tell (or re-tell) a story, especially one that utilizes something like King Arthur's court, I always thought it was sort of neat how some of the characters got combined, separated, their bloodlines or roles got switched, and they basically became what the story needed at the time. I mean, for a slightly more extreme example, take a look at BBC's Merlin. Seriously, check it out, it's a tad campy in places but oh MAN do I find it enjoyable, if too short. When you're watching a show and your roommate comes into the room, looks at the screen, and then gently (bless her) tells you, "you know, watching it a fifth time doesn't change the ending" because maybe you're crying (again) in the last season, you've maybe watched it too often.
Or not often enough.
But I digress. The point is, if there is a point to this post, that it's sort of neat to see how some characters can change without anyone really batting an eye. Guinevere can be blonde, brunette, not even really a queen but a badass with a bow (I see you, Keira Knightley), or avoid an affair that destroys her and Arthur's marriage, but you take Guinevere from being someone of high standing an make her a servant? Heresy to some. Even if she's one of the coolest characters (hi again, Merlin! And I don't even want to get into the fact that some idiots were pissed off because she wasn't Caucasian....).
Hell, way back when, it was Mordred that Guinevere took up with, not Lancelot, and Arthur was Not A Fan. Morgana was Morgan, and names changed all over the place.
So, totally not a complicated story at all. Definitely not one that sends you down a spiralling rabbit hole of finding what's "true" about the legends of King Arthur and what "isn't" until you realize it's 2:00am, you've had way too much coffee, and unless you want to dedicate yourself to some kind of History or English degree in order to really get to the bottom of things, for the sake of your sanity you're going to keep researching but also start making a story outline and try to figure out why these characters would do the things they do along the way.
Especially since it's often said, in many of the surviving stories, that Arthur's supposed to wake up one day and save Albion/England/possibly the world, when it's most in need of saving.
But very few people talk about Morgan Le Faye/Morgana/etc and even fewer give her much agency. Unless it's a romance novel or it's Mists of Avalon - and, please, if you've read other stories with her in it please PLEASE tell me because I can't get enough of them - and I'm sort of wondering what things were like from her perspective. There's so much potential, so much story and conflict and character there with her, I really can't wait to begin to unpack my own version of her character.
So, long story short, that's why I haven't written about Ireland much - Wikipedia spirals, reading novels, watching series (it's totally for research!), and filling notebooks with story ideas.
But, seriously, check out Darkey Kelly and Alice. Cool stuff, my friends!
Until next time, and happy Canada day!!