Excalibur
Also called Caliburnus.
Excalibur is Arthur's legendary sword, drawn to prove his kingship in one strand of the tradition and granted by the Lady of the Lake in another, finally returned to the water at his death.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Welsh folkloreBritish folklore
- Region
- Britain (place of origin)
- Trait family
- The Water-Beckoners
- Symbols
- Sword
Near this figure
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Sword is The sword denotes authority, protection, justice, solar heroism, and decisive intellect, while its two edges join creation with destruction and life with death.
why
Excalibur is Arthur's legendary sword, drawn to prove his kingship …
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Bound to specific body of water
why
The lake-sword episode gives the weapon a more active otherworldly guardian: an arm rises from the water holding the sword, and the Lady of the Lake permits Arthur to take it in exchange for an unspecified future favor, with a scabbard granted alongside it that is said to prevent its wearer from losing blood — later stolen by Morgan le Fay, removing that protection.
Utility powers
- National symbolism
why
Fuller medieval versions, notably Malory's, treat two well-known sword episodes as belonging to two different weapons rather than one: an earlier sword drawn from a stone or anvil in a churchyard, which proves Arthur's right to the throne and is later broken in combat, and a second sword given afterward by the Lady of the Lake, which is properly the one called Excalibur and which comes with a protective scabbard.
- Healing
why
The lake-sword episode gives the weapon a more active otherworldly guardian: an arm rises from the water holding the sword, and the Lady of the Lake permits Arthur to take it in exchange for an unspecified future favor, with a scabbard granted alongside it that is said to prevent its wearer from losing blood — later stolen by Morgan le Fay, removing that protection.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.