Tenth Triskele [Video]

[childofthewickedday]

My father once told me a story of a knight who was skilled in hunting.  Who was loved by his people for winning in... [a pause to remember the word for it is not a druid culture] ...tournaments. Games.

Father said one day this knight went into the forest to hunt and killed all the animals he found. As he slaughtered them, he killed a doe of silver, and then her fawn of gold who he found hiding in fear in the brush. The last creature was a large stag of all white, with horns like branches of a great oak tree. As the knight and the stag faced one another, the stag cursed the knight for killing his kin and swore as long as the knight should live he would know only suffering each time he knew love. Then the knight slew him as he had the others. 

[He stops there, since the story itself is not really what he is getting at]

If the knight knew that slaying the stag would bring a curse upon him....why then would he still do it? In our stories, knights do such strange things... 

 

Comments

[necrowmantic]

Maybe he just really liked curses? Or killing things!

video;

[dyingisnotdead]

He probably didn't believe the stag had the ability.

[raffinato]

People do odd things for the sake of glory, I suppose. Perhaps he did not believe the creature had such an ability. Perhaps he thought killing it would stop the curse.

[childofthewickedday]

[A frown]

I've not met anyone who seeks curses.

Re: video;

[childofthewickedday]

....Would you have acted this way, Sir Loras?

[childofthewickedday]

Perhaps...[That was a fair point. To kill the one cursing you could have either the effect of undoing the curse or possibly killing the only one who may undo the curse]

But do you not think he had killed enough as it was? Why would the knight not have been content with the many animals he had killed before the stag...?

[necrowmantic]

I do! Especially back home, curses were great! Better to inflict, but also pretty fun to get hit with.

[empowers]

It sounds like he was wasteful. [ Katniss hates it when people treat hunting like some fun game, for trophy, not for necessity. ] Murderous and wasteful. He probably didn't even care, because he fed his ego.

[Video]

[dragonspeak]

Sounds like the knight didn't believe in curses, or thought the stag was just trying to bluff his way out of danger. You'd think he would be a bit more cautious when the stag started talking to him, but some knights just like to rush into things like the great pr--pr, predictable [he looks oddly triumphant when he finally settles on a word after the initial stuttering] brutes they are.

[Yeah he definitely has someone in mind, that's not obvious at all.]

[childofthewickedday]

How so?

[childofthewickedday]

Yes. That was my thought when father told this story.

Re: [Video]

[childofthewickedday]

[Mordred's face turns in a mirthful smirk when Merlin points out the fact that the knight overlooked the miracle of a talking stag. But it fades after a moment]

Arthur's knights are not this way, are they Merlin?

[necrowmantic]

Weeell... there's a lot of things curses can do! Make someone's eyes explode, turn their skin inside-out, make their blood boil~ You can also reverse time, change your body with someone else's... really, you're just limited by your own creativity!

[advocacy]

[Well, that sounds painfully familiar to someone she knows. It's a good question why people like that insist on destroying everything around them, including themselves, when they know better and could still be better if they really tried.]

Maybe the knight never knew love and so figured even if the curse was real, it wouldn't matter.

video.

[livedtwice]

I personally don't think much glory can be found in killing. Not ultimately. It's those who can give mercy, isn't it?

But that isn't what you asked. I think it would stay his hand, but would it matter, truly? Would it make him a better person because it did?

[Video]

[pratentious]

Or perhaps he was doing it for the love of his people, and did not heed the stag's warning out of blindness.

[ He will murder you so fucking hard, Merlin. ]

[childofthewickedday]

Curses are meant to punish.

Re: [Video]

[childofthewickedday]

How was the act for the love of his people?

[childofthewickedday]

Perhaps... but... do people truly think in such a way?

Re: video.

[childofthewickedday]

Yes. But perhaps the knight did not see animals as worthy of his mercy.

[A pause]

What do you mean?

[pratentious]

It's as you said. The knight was beloved for his triumph in combat, and so it would be another to triumph over the creatures of the forest. A foolish cause, by all accounts, because one cannot conquer nature. Your story is meant to be a fable to teach the virtue of respect and humility.

[childofthewickedday]

....

[Mordred takes a long moment to think about that]

Perhaps it is meant to teach us that knights do not like creatures that live in the forest.

[pratentious]

[ ... Mordred, baby, no. ]

Well, Gwaine is certainly no friend to bees or creatures with a strong sense of smell. But I do not think that is the story's intention, no.

[childofthewickedday]

I did not mean the animals, Arthur.

[advocacy]

I think some people do. I don't know for sure why, but I think...

I think sometimes it's just easier not to love or to be loved. You have to work pretty hard when you care about other people and when they care about you. Some people just figure none of that's worth the effort, so they don't try.