Literature / The Warlord Chronicles

"Once upon a time, in a land that was called Britain, these things happened."

"These are the tales of Arthur, the Warlord, the King that Never Was, the Enemy of God and, may the living Christ and Bishop Sansum forgive me, the best man I ever knew. How I have wept for Arthur."

The Warlord Chronicles (also known as the Warlord Trilogy, the Excalibur Trilogy, etc.) are a series of books by Bernard Cornwell that retell the Arthurian Legend in a fashion that is much closer to being historically accurate than the traditional legends, although many of the additions that were added to the original Celtic legends (such as Merlin and Lancelot) are still present and used in interesting ways. The series deals with war, religion and politics in post-Roman Britain in an unflinching way.

The books are:

• The Winter King (1995)
• Enemy of God (1996)
• Excalibur (1997)

The story begins in a remote monastery, many years after the fall of Arthur. Queen Igraine comes to the old monk Derfel, who was once one of Arthur's lieutenants, to get him to tell her the story of Arthur, so that it will not be forgotten. Reluctantly at first, Derfel begins telling the story of Arthur as he experienced it, as he rose from a simple spearman to one of the most trusted warriors and leaders under Arthur's command. Here is how his story begins:

Britain, 480AD. Two generations have passed since the Romans left, and things look bleak for the native (Celtic) Britons. The Saxons are on an inevitable drive of conquest from the east, while Irish raiders attack from the west to steal, plunder, or carve out their own kingdoms. The many kingdoms of the Britons spend much of their time feuding and fighting with each other over territory and the ambitions of their kings and princes. Inside these kingdoms, the opposing religions of Christianity and the old British gods as worshipped by the Druids (almost wiped out by the Romans, but seemingly making a comeback under the influence of Merlin) jostle with each other and vie for the hearts and minds of kings, warriors and the ordinary people.

For the Britons, the only bright spot is the fragile alliance against the Saxons, held together by the High King Uther of Dumnonia. Alas, even that seems like a lost hope because Uther, once a fearsome warrior, is a dying old man. With no legitimate adult heir (his son having recently died in battle), Uther has refused the advice of nearly everyone by insisting on naming his newborn grandson Mordred as his heir rather than his bastard son Arthur (whom he blames for his son's death), despite the fact that Arthur is already gaining fame as a warrior from his exploits. Instead, Uther declares a number of other major figures to be guardians, stewards and regents for Mordred until he comes of age. He dies soon afterwards, and the ambitious lords and priests are soon scheming and competing to gain a greater share of power for themselves. Returning from Brittany, Arthur tries to sort out the mess out and build an alliance to keep the Saxons from conquering all of Britain. He nearly undoes his own efforts, though, when he breaks off a politically powerful arranged marriage in order to marry Guinevere, throwing the British kingdoms into chaos.

Even after Arthur clears these early hurdles, many dangers still await. Friends and lovers have a way of turning into enemies, religious differences continually threaten to rip Britain apart, and there are very troubling signs around young Mordred as he grows older...

A TV series adaptation of the first book, also called The Winter King, was announced in 2020 for MGM+, just before the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. The production eventually moved to ITV, filming having begun in 2022. The series eventually premiered on MGM+ in August 2023 in the US only. A UK release is due to follow on ITVX later in the year.

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This work contains examples of:

A-G

• Achey Scars: Derfel has one on his left hand, evidence of his blood oath with Nimue. The fact that he does not have his left hand in old age gives a big clue as to how that ends.
• Action Girl: Guinevere joins in the battle of Mynydd Baddon in Excalibur.
• Activist-Fundamentalist Antics: Sansum, leader of Britain's Christians and Derfel's superior in old age, often engages in this.
• Adaptational Villainy: Because this was inspired by certain Welsh hagiographies depicting Arthur as an antagonist, many Welsh saints and Romantic figures that were favored by the clergy get this treatment:
  • Gundleus, based on King Gwynllyw from the Vita Cadoci, is transformed from a rash but good-natured prince who runs off with his true love and defends her from the lustful Arthur (before befriending Arthur and fighting alongside him) into a rapist who murders his lawful wife out of amusement. Said true love is herself transformed from Saint Gwladys, a pious and kind princess, into Ladwys, a lowborn woman who enjoys abusing Gundleus's servants and is as bloodthirsty as he is.
  • Cadoc himself, also from the Vita Cadoci, serves as a minor antagonist in Enemy of God. While the reason he and Arthur meet is the same (Ligessac, a figure who betrayed the king, having sought sanctuary with Cadoc), Cadoc is depicted not as the Good Shepherd he traditionally is, but as an ass who flat out calls Arthur the grandson of Satan and, rather than granting Arthur cattle in compensation for Ligessac's deeds, orders his followers to attack Arthur's forces.
  • Lancelot is probably the biggest victim of this. While Derfel admits that he may be clouded by bias, he is still turned from The Paragon into a Dirty Coward who boosts his ego and reputation with propaganda.
• Adipose Rex: High King Uther has become this by the time the series begins. King Mark of Kernow is this also.
• Aerith and Bob: The naming schemes are an odd mix of Romance names of various origins (Arthur, Guenevere, Lancelot, Mark), modern Welsh names (Iorwerth, Dafydd), medieval Welsh names with modern spellings (Culhwch, Derfel, Olwen), medieval Welsh names with latin spellings (Gundleus, Cuneglas), and names that sound Welsh but don't translate to anything (Gorfyddyd). And then you add the Irish and Anglo-Saxon characters to the mix, leading to a situation where we see Merlin, Nimue, and Lavaine interact with Derfel and Cerdic.
• Affably Evil: Aelle. Happens to be really quite nice once you get past the blunt and psychotic exterior. In particular, he adores his granddaughters in a strange, Saxon sort of way.
  • Lancelot, if you aren't Derfel.
• The Alcoholic: Gorfydydd becomes this after losing a war and an arm to Arthur. After Arthur breaks off the marriage agreement with Ceinwyn, Gorfydydd kicks his alcoholism and restarts the war.
• All Part of the Show: Cunningly used by the Saxons. If your enemies have a whole series of signal fires to warn of an invasion, then what better time to attack than during Beltain, a religious holiday when massive bonfires are being lit everywhere?
• Alpha Bitch:
  • Guinevere starts off as something like this. She gets better.
  • Igraine, the queen who commissions Derfel's autobiography, has some shades of this, though to a much lesser extent.
• Amazonian Beauty: Whenever Sagramor's Saxon bride is mentioned, Derfel makes note of her shapely and powerful thighs.
• Ambition Is Evil: Although in one or two cases, a lack of ambition causes an awful lot of trouble too.
• Amicable Exes: Derfel and Nimue, until she gets a bad case of Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
• Anachronism Stew: The names, at least, are not all consistent with the Dark Age setting.
  • While Arthurian characters usually have more than one spelling of their names, influenced by different languages over time, the trilogy uses a mix of older, more period-appropriate spellings and later spellings which may be more familiar. For instance, the later form "Mordred" - as found in the 15th century Le Morte D Arthur - appears instead of "Medraut" - as found in the 10th century Annales Cambriae - or other earlier variants.
  • This extends to the names of characters with no real equivalent in later works. Arthur's sons are called "Amhar" and Loholt" - "Amhar" is a 12th century form of the Welsh name "Amr" who appears in the 9th century Historia Brittonum, while "Loholt" comes from 12th and 13th century French works like Érec et Énide and Perlesvaus. "Culhwch", Arthur's kinsman from the older Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen collected in the Mabinogion, rubs shoulders with people like "Lancelot", "Galahad" and "Sagramor," whose names come from much later French works. Cornwell admits in the author's notes that he deliberately kept the more anachronistic names like Mordred, Guinevere, and Lancelot because they were simply too iconic to replace in his mind.
  • The Thirteen Treasures have their traditional names despite many of those names referring to figures who post-date both the narrative and the framing device, such as the Chariot of Morgan Mwynfawr, who was the grandson of Meurig ap Tewdrig.
• Anglo-Saxons: The primary antagonists, at least when the Britons aren't too busy fighting each other.
• Antagonistic Offspring: Derfel to Merlin, his foster father - though not all that often, and with great reluctance.
  • And Derfel to Aelle, a more textbook example, though he still doesn't like doing it.
  • Amhar and Loholt to Arthur.
• Antagonist Title: The Winter King, kind of. The title is a reference to Mordred, who is only an infant in the first book, but who eventually becomes the Final Boss of the series.
• Anti-Villain:
  • The Anglo-Saxons and Nimue, for very different reasons. The Anglo-Saxons as a whole are fleeing westwards from the aggressively expanding Franks, while Nimue is trying to bring the old Celtic gods back to Britain (though her methods become increasingly immoral as she experiences a Sanity Slippage.)
  • Cuneglas, Gorfyddyd's son, starts out as this. After his father's defeat and death, he drops the "villain" part and allies himself with Arthur.
• Anyone Can Die: And by the time of Arthur's final battle, most characters with a name will be dead.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: The Saxon champion Liofa comes off this way. He fights with unparalleled skill and technique (rather than the brute force favoured by most of his comrades), and takes great pride in the fact that he's never lost a duel or received a single scar. He gets humbled when Derfel breaks his sword and gives him a scar to remember him by. He later kills Cuneglas at Mynydd Baddon after goading him into single combat.
• Artistic License – History: Despite billing itself as a "historical" spin on the Arthurian mythos, this is still in effect, thanks in part to how much conjecture there is on the subject:
  • The lineups for the ruling families of the British kingdoms don't necessarily follow the medieval Welsh genealogies for such kingdoms. Notably Gorfyddyd, the King of Powys in The Winter King, is entirely an invention of the author with no precedence in folklore or records (although his patronymic implies he's a son of the traditional Powysian king Cadell)
  • The series doesn't mention Ambrosius Aurelianus and Vortigern, the immediate predecessors to Uther and Arthur as British kings/rulers according to Arthurian lore - Cunedda, the founder of Gwynedd, is named as Uther's predecessor in books in their place. Likewise, no mention is made of Saint Germanus, whose visits to Britain would have been in living memory for the older characters, and Pelagius and his followers are only given a off-hand mention in Excalibur, despite the Pelagian-Chalcedonian rivalry being given great importance by contemporary writers (Paganism, by contrast, is barely mentioned by those same writers).
  • Aelle is revealed in Excalibur to not be a Saxon at all, but ruler of the closely related Angles. Traditionally, Aelle is indeed a Saxon, ruler of the South Saxons and thus traditional founder of Sussex - interestingly, Cerdic's base of power seems to be the region Aelle is traditionally associated with instead of Wessex. Also, the list of sons he's given in that same book (even discounting Derfel) don't match up with his traditional sons of Cymen, Wlencig, and Cissa.
  • In the series, the heir of the British kings is called the Edling. But this is a later Welsh loanword from the Old English Æþeling (Aetheling) and wouldn't have been used yet.
  • In one book, Culhwch mocks another character using the Latin phrase "cassus belli" (reason/cause for war) by saying "cow's belly". He and Derfel reminisce about this many years later in the next book. But this only works in English, not the Old Briton they would have been speaking, and for that matter it wouldn't have worked in the Old English Derfel is supposed to be writing in.
  • Arthur and later Derfel's conflicts with the Franks centers around the fictional kingdom of Ynys Trebes, ruled by King Ban and involves Derfel meeting Ban's sons Lancelot and Galahad - Trebes, Ban, Lancelot, and Galahad are all inventions of the Romances, and no mention is made whatsoever of Syagrius, the Roman ruler of Gaul who Clovis actually fought during this time.
  • The Saxons are depicted as little more than berserkers who use human wave tactics and war dogs. Perhaps this was to play up the contrast between the factions, as scholarly opinion and archaeological evidence shows the Saxons used shieldwall tactics similar to what the Britons are depicted using against them and each other in the books, complete with cavalry support - and there is no evidence of war dogs having ever been a thing. Plus there are a few mentions of them wearing horned helmets which is clearly Dated History. The later series The Saxon Stories by the same author do heavily emphasize them using shieldwalls in warfare.
  • In general, the books are less a truly "historically accurate" or "possible/plausible truth behind the legend" version of Arthur in the vein of Sword at Sunset or Here Lies Arthur and more a Deconstruction of the Romances using the Dark Ages as a backdrop. Arthur is still mentored by Merlin, receives Excalibur from a mystical figure in the presence of a stone, and defeats antagonistic British kings at a great battle (Bedegraine in the Romances, Lugg Vale in the The Winter King), Lancelot shows up, there is a quest for a sacred container involving Galahad, a round table is set up at the equivalent of Camelot, and Guinevere commits adultery with Lancelot - all of which were elements invented in the Romances and not present even in Geoffrey of Monmouth's version of events. The big exceptions are Badon (which most historians agree happened, even if they disagree if Arthur was involved) and Camlann (which has traditions dating back to the 11th Century in writing), but both are in the final book, and none of Arthur's eleven other traditional battles are given so much of a nod.
  • At one point Merlin remarks to Derfel how much of Christianity is taken from earlier pagan religions (specifically Mithraism), but it's mostly based on Dated History that was pushed in the 18th century onward, the kind repeated in pop culture like Zeitgeist and The Da Vinci Code that secular historians today generally have moved past.
• Ascended Extra: The series is notable for focusing on lesser known characters, such as Derfel and Sagramor, instead of more famous characters such as Gawain, Kay and Bedivere. In fact, most of the individual Knights of the Round Table are barely mentioned at all while Derfel, Sagramor, and Culhwch effectively act as Arthur's Trio.
• Attack Animal: The Saxons often loose vicious attack dogs to soften up enemy shield walls. Merlin counters this with a pack of bitches in heat.
• Author Filibuster: Some of Arthur's grievances with organized religion in general seem to reflect Bernard Cornwell's own views. Somewhat justified in-universe due to Sansum's behaviour, as well as Arthur legitimately believed that Guinevere was using the worship of Isis to betray him.
• Ax-Crazy: Mordred when he grows up, and possibly Nimue in Excalibur. There are other examples as well, ranging from some inhabitants on the Isle of the Dead to minor but but completely nasty characters like Diwrnach, whose soldiers cover their shields with the blood and skin of slain victims. Diwrnach has a preference for using dead virgins for this...
  • And as a certain other character mentions, the only certain virgins are children...
• The Bad Guy Wins: One of the bad guys, anyway. See Cerdic's Karma Houdini entry below.
• Badass on Paper: Lancelot - though, as Derfel notes, he can actually fight when he has no choice. He's just usually too much of a coward.
• Badass Teacher: Hywel, Merlin's steward - a one-legged ex-warrior who teaches the young Derfel (and before him, Arthur) how to fight. It’s Hywel who passes on the invaluable lesson that on the battlefield, a sober man who knows the nine strokes of the sword will always beat a drunken brute with an axe. He also teaches that the privelidged should never take advantage of their inferiors - a lesson both men take to heart. When Hywel is killed, Derfel takes his sword, names it Hywelbane and always carries it into battle.
• Barbarian Hero: While the Britons tend to be more civilized than the Saxons and Irish, Culhwch still has most of these qualities.
• Bastard Bastard: Amhar and Loholt, both of whom are Antagonistic Offspring to Arthur.
• Believing Their Own Lies: Sansum is a toxic combination of a corrupt, Machiavellian schemer and a genuine religious fanatic. He does many things that are blatantly against the principles of his Christian faith, but Derfel comes to realize that he is the sort of man who could commit any act and inwardly justify it to himself.
  He went on justifying himself, and it gradually dawned on me that he believed every word he said. Sansum could betray people, he could scheme to have them killed as he had tried to kill Arthur and me when we had gone to arrest Ligessac, and he could bleed the Treasury dry, yet all the time he somehow persuaded himself that his actions were justified.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Arthur, Derfel, and Galahad are all genuinely kind people, but God help anyone who winds up on the opposite side of them in battle.
• Big Bad: Gundleus is set up as this in The Winter King, and he remains so to Derfel and Nimue personally until its end, but he's eclipsed as a threat to Arthur's cause long before then. Lancelot serves as the final villain of Enemy of God, but gets taken out a ways into Excalibur. The final novel begins with a Big Bad Duumvirate of Aelle and Cerdic, and ends with a looser one between Mordred and Nimue.
• Big Badass Battle Sequence: Several throughout the series, most notably Lugg Vale in the first book, as well as Mynydd Baddon and Camlann in the third.
• Big Good: Arthur, though he takes a much more active role than most, and his position is often disputed by his fellow Britons.
• Blatant Lies: Sansum claims that his church is too poor to contribute to the war effort, on account of giving away all their wealth to the poor. He says this while wearing a golden cross with a heavy golden chain, as well as a golden torque. Arthur sees right through him, and swiftly uncovers the hoard of treasure that he's been withholding.
• Blood Knight: Quite a few, and even those who aren't like this can act like it in a fight. Derfel is astonished the first time he sees Arthur fight a duel because he expects to Arthur to use his head, instead Arthur fights like a man possessed and sheepishly admits that he enjoyed it afterward.
• Body Horror: Usually as a result of Cold-Blooded Torture, which in turn is usually as a result of Nimue getting mad at someone.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Arthur's cousin Culhwch, (who seems to take the part Gawain traditionally holds) is a great example. There are numerous others, ranging from Irish king Oengus Mac Airem to Derfel's first captain, Owain.
• Born in the Wrong Century: Arthur can come off this way due to his lack of superstition, as well as his vision of a just society.
• Broken Bird: Nimue, during her time on the Isle of the Dead, and arguably later on, when she goes Ax-Crazy.
  • Olwen, after an unspecified time in Nimue's care following the failed ritual at Mai Dun, with Derfel noting that she's quite clearly mad, albeit in a harmless sort of way.
• Brutal Honesty: A cultural trait of the Saxons. Derfel mentions that, while Britons like to speak in circles around a sensitive topic, Saxons tend to get to the point and say exactly what's on their mind. According to Arthur, Derfel has that same straightforward nature, though not as much as his Saxon kin.
• Buy Them Off: The Britons of Dumnonia successfully do this to Aelle's Saxons. They only have so much gold, though...
• Cain and Abel: Lancelot is the Cain to Galahad's Abel.
• Celibate Hero: Galahad was supposedly in love with a harpist in his father's castle, but she dies shortly after they escape to Britain and after that he never marries, takes a lover or even shows interest in anyone else. It's unclear if he's an example of Single-Target Sexuality, or asexual/gay and she was The Beard.
• Character Development: At least a few initially unlikable, Scrappy-esque characters turn out to have understandable, sympathetic motives and grow on both the characters and readers. Guinevere is perhaps the crowning example - while, remarkably, still remaining fundamentally the same person.
• Chastity Couple: In the third book Morgan marries Sansum. They apparently never consummate their marriage, likely because Sansum is almost certainly a pedophile and even if he wasn't Morgan is grotesquely deformed. However, when Derfel sees them together he is surprised to see that their relationship is not just an alliance, they genuinely do care for each other. Morgan is happy to just have anyone, loves Sanusm and is fiercely loyal to him, to the point of renouncing magic and becoming Christian; meanwhile Sansum respects and trusts Morgan more than anyone else and is genuinely fond of her, if only platonicaly.
• Chess Master: Merlin. Big time. Also Arthur, but his otherwise successful attempts at uniting Britain are hamstrung first by falling for Guinevere, then by Merlin via Derfel and Ceinwyn.
  • Guinevere tries. She fails.
  • On the Saxon side, there is Cerdic. He starts off as the weaker partner of a duumvirate with Aelle, by the end of the series he's pretty much the most powerful ruler still standing.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Derfel and Nimue, on and off, though eventually it settles into more of a platonic admiration. Then Nimue goes mad.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Gundleus in The Winter King. Also, Lancelot.
• Cincinnatus: King Tewdric of Gwent retires to become a monk, but agrees to resume the throne in Excalibur to fight the Saxons, before resuming his monastic life. Also, this is what Arthur wants to be, despite everyone else hoping that he becomes Regent for Life.
• Circle of Standing Stones: Stonehenge, the most famous Real Life example, is referred to as "The Stones". Arthur and Derfel go there to meet with Aelle, and Arthur tells Derfel that that's where Merlin gave him Excalibur.
• Co-Dragons: Amhar and Loholt become this to Mordred, after serving Lancelot as co-brutes. Lancelot has an acclaimed dragon in his cousin, Bors, but Dinas and Lavaine do much of the king's dirty work.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Happens to a few notable characters, with the recipients usually being tortured to death. Nimue is especially good at it.
  • Nimue tortures Gundleus to death at the end of The Winter King as revenge for raping her and taking her eye out.
  • In Enemy of God, Derfel and Nimue very brutally torture Dinas and Lavaine to death for murdering Derfel's daughter, Dian.
• Composite Character:
  • Galahad being Lancelot's illegitimate half-brother makes him one for Ector de Maris and, oddly enough, Lancelot himself (Lancelot's baptismal name in the Vulgate was "Galahad, son of Ban").
  • Lancelot is one with Geoffrey of Monmouth's depiction of Mordred, Arthur's regent who seduces Guinevere and allies with the Saxons.
  • Derfel is one for Kay, being Arthur's close confidant (he's even a Saxon like the version of Kay from Arthur of the Britons) and the killer of one of Arthur's sons as in Perlesvaus, and, ironically, Lancelot (specifically, the version depicted in Lanzelet). Also, as his first lover is Lunete (Lynette), he can be viewed as a stand-in for Sir Gareth, while his relationship with Nimue brings to mind Sir Pelleas. He ultimately becomes one with both Percivale, the good friend of Galahad and hero of a mystic quest, and Bedivere, the one-armed final survivor of Camlann who returns Excalibur to the water.
  • Culhwch takes on a lot of the traits traditionally given to Gawain, being a Boisterous Bruiser who is friendly with everyone (except Lancelot). Ironically, Gawain takes on Culhwch's role of being Olwen's love interest, albeit not in a way either man would have enjoyed.
  • Mardoc, being the son of Mordred, is one with Melehan. Mordred himself is one with Eliwlod, being Arthur's paternal nephew, and by extension his eponymous father is one with Madoc ap Uther.
  • Ceinwyn is a composite of Amide (Percivale's sister and the Grail Maiden) and one of the three Gwenhwyfars of the Welsh Triads, being Arthur's first betrothed. She also becomes a stand-in for Percivale's lady love Blancheflour like Derfel does for Percivale himself.
  • Argante takes the name of a faerie queen from Layamon's Brut, but as Arthur's third wife she stands in for one of the three Gwenhwyfars of the Welsh Triads (even being barren like later depictions of Guinevere) and given that he sets Guinevere aside to marry her and then sets her aside to take Guinevere back, this makes her the "False" Guinevere. As Mordred's wife she combines his two traditional wives Gwenhwyfach and Saint Cywyllog.
  • Guinevere, Ceinwyn, and Morwenna ultimately become the three ladies who help Morgan take Arthur to Avalon.
• Cool Horse: Arthur and his knights use large warhorses to intimidate their enemies, rather that the smaller horses normally used by the Britons for scouting and skirmishing. Arthur himself rides a majestic mare named Llamrei.
• Cool Old Guy:
  • Merlin is awesome with a side of awesome.
  • Bishop Emrys, one of the very few Christians in an authority position who is entirely reasonable, as was his predecessor Bishop Bedwin.
  • Derfel grows into a version of this, with an extremely dry sense of humour.
• Cool Sword: Excalibur, also known as Caledfwlch, the Sword of Rhydderch. It's one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain.
• Corrupt Church: A common stable of Bernard Cornwell's work. The Christian church overall comes off this way, though individual Christians, even ones in authority, can fall anywhere on the spectrum (mostly negative).
• Courtly Love: Probably the best description for Derfel and Nimue's relationship for most of their lives (i.e. until she went off the deep end), with Derfel's Undying Loyalty to her meaning that he has to/is willing to do just about anything for her, going to the Isle of the Dead to retrieve her (imagine the Dark Ages equivalent of Arkham Asylum, then make it worse, and you're not far off), spending the last of his money to have a new gold eye made for her, funding her buying of oddities of cult significance, and generally putting up with a lot.
• Creepy Catholicism: The Christian church, or at least the faction of it that is led by Sansum, has heavy shades of this. Some of the more fanatical Christians are shown going into ecstatic frenzies of self-flagellation during worship services (Truth in Television for some of the odder early Christian sects), and when the Christian-backed Lancelot "marries" Norwenna, Sansum has her decayed corpse dug up in order to perform the grotesque ceremony.
• Cultured Badass: Galahad, due to being raised in Ynys Trebes.
• Dark Messiah: When Lancelot attempts to usurp the throne of Dumnonia, he portrays himself as the harbinger of Christ's imminent return in order to rally support from the Christians.
• Deadpan Snarker: Derfel has his moments, particularly as an old man, by which point he has developed a very dry sense of humour.
  The gruel was too hot this morning and scolded St Tudwal's tongue. Tudwal is a child in our monastery, the Bishop's close companion in Christ, and last year the Bishop declared Tudwal to be a saint. The devil sets many snares in the path of true faith.
• Death of the Old Gods: A major theme of the series. British (ie. Celtic) paganism greatly declined when the Romans invaded and killed most of the Druids. Roman rule also brought Christianity and other deities to Britain, which are becoming increasingly influential. Then there's the Anglo-Saxons, who worship the Germanic-Norse pantheon. Merlin and Nimue are dedicated to bringing back the influence of the old British gods and destroying all foreign religion in Britain.
• Deceptive Disciple: Nimue to Merlin, although it comes about in a different way from most takes on the story.
• Decomposite Character: Merlin and Bishop Emrys are implied to both be sources for the medieval conception of Merlin. Aside from the names (Emrys is the modern Welsh version of Ambrosius, which is often given to Merlin as a surname), both men are cool old guys who serve as mentors and advisors to the protagonists. And in the end, both are killed by Nimue.
• Deconstruction: The whole series is a massive deconstruction of the Arthurian mythos. There's no anachronistic chivalry, jousting, plate armour, and the setting is full of ignorance, superstition and brutality.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: All over the place, as appropriate for these post-Roman times.
  • Killing women and children in raids is a normal practice, as are rape and slavery.
  • The pagans occasionally perform human sacrifices. Merlin and Nimue take it up to eleven in Excalibur by trying to sacrifice Arthur's son, much to the latter's anger.
  • Teenage girls are commonly given in political marriages, and can be burned at the stake for running off with other men.
• Demoted to Extra: Ironically, the figures from the Welsh stories get this in favor of later Romance figures. Gawain, Kay, and Bedivere barely appear and are killed off quickly. Rather unusual for "historical" Arthurian retellings, since in the earliest version of the legends the last two formed a team of three with Arthur, while Gawain was Arthur's best warrior before Lancelot was introduced. Derfel and Culhwch (who are, admittedly, also from the Welsh tales) and Sagramor (who is an invention of the Romances) take on their usual roles somewhat, and at the end Derfel is the only surviving warrior of Arthur who throws Excalibur into the sea after the last battle.
• Demythification: For the Arthurian legend.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Not a textbook example, but pretty much everybody has this reaction when Cerdic publicly humiliates Merlin. Until this point, the Druid had commanded a religious awe from everyone he came into contact with, even Christians and Saxons. When he had a disagreement with Cerdic, however, the Saxon King simply grabbed him and cut off part of his beard, leaving everyone in the room in shock.
  • Merlin tries to hand-wave his humiliation by claiming that the Saxon gods have more power in their territory.
• Dirty Coward: Sansum is a first class weasel. Also, Lancelot.
• Dirty Old Man: Merlin, Merlin, Merlin.
  • Oh, and did we mention Merlin? It bears repeating. It is also worth noting that Derfel's immediate thought/dread when, after he and Ceinwyn pull a Runaway Fiancé moment and she hesitates from consummating their relationship, she says she's promised her virginity to Merlin. As it turns out, technically speaking she did, but it was a matter of Virgin Power that Merlin was after. Later, towards the end of Excalibur, when Olwen - who had once played the part of a spirit for Merlin and has since gone cheerfully mad - casually mentioned that she'd slept with Merlin (by now very elderly) many times, Derfel is less than surprised, remarking inwardly that "he [Merlin] was a goat".
  • Also King Mark, but he completely lacks any of Merlin's redeeming features. Or, indeed, any redeeming features whatsoever.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Gundleus, Tanaburs, and Gorfyddyd in the The Winter King, all of whom are killed in or immediately after the climatic battle of Lugg Vale.
• Doing In the Wizard: An in-text example. Derfel tells things as they happened, between being privy to aspects of the story that didn't make it into the popular narrative and just by having been present at the events. As a result, he repeatedly disproves Queen Igraine's stories about Arthur, which mostly came from minstrels. For example, Igraine heard from a song that the Warriors of the Cauldron were surrounded on a remote hill and magically flew to safety. Derfel informs her that in fact they walked off through the fog. Igraine accuses him of having "old man's memory", and it is repeatedly hinted that Igraine is having his manuscript rewritten at the palace in order to accommodate her own ideas (and, given that this version of events obviously didn't survive to our era, that was probably the case).
  • The scribe who's translating the text from Saxon into British/Welsh says Igraine won't let him change a word, but he wouldn't tell him if he was, so it's still up in the air.
• Doing in the Scientist: Most of the series is about debunking mystical explanations for things (or at least keeping it very ambiguous), but the final book's climax has a number of elements that could not be plausibly explained as anything other than magic.
• Doomed Protagonist: When we first meet Derfel at the beginning of the series, he is a sad, defeated, and maimed old man. It's a Foregone Conclusion that his autobiography isn't going to end well.
• Downer Ending: Not much of a spoiler if you're familiar with the historical context and/or Arthurian lore, but... Arthur is seriously (perhaps fatally) wounded at the battle of Camlann and departs from Britain permanently, a weakling assumes the throne of Dumnonia, the Saxons will eventually push the Britons back into the western mountains, and Derfel will live out the rest of his days as a miserable monk under the thumb of Sansum before eventually dying to buy Sansum time to escape — although Derfel does seem to consider that last bit to be a happy ending, as it means he will die a warrior's death.
• The Dragon: Tanaburs to Gundleus, more so even Nasiens, his actual champion, while Gundleus himself becomes this for Gorfyddyd. Also Bors (the Noble Top Enforcer and eventual Heel–Face Turn variant) to Lancelot, Cyllan to King Mark, and Olwen the Silver to Nimue, in a much more unorthodox way.
• The Dreaded: The Irish king Diwrnach's savage treatment of his defeated foes has earned him this reputation, to the point where many Britons would sooner take on the Saxons than go up against him.
  • On the heroes' side there is Sagramor. Derfel says at one point the Saxons are more afraid of him than they are of Arthur.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him:
  • Agricola's death at the battle of Mynydd Baddon literally merits all of five words. While not a main character, he was still a major supporting player in the story thus far, so it really feels like he got the short end of the stick there.
  • Diwrnach's death in Excalibur is only mentioned, despite his having been a major antagonist in Enemy of God.
• Duel to the Death: Done several times, although it's also subverted at least once where Derfel leaves his foe alive. Later, he comes to regret that.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In Enemy of God, Aelle makes an off-hand mention of Thor. Later, in Excalibur — which features a more in-depth exploration of the Saxon side (including the fact that Aelle in, in fact, not a Saxon at all, but an Angle) — Thunor is used instead, which is more accurate to the Anglo-Saxons, while "Thor" is primarily the Norse name for the same god.
• Easy Evangelism: Justified with Lancelot and Mordred - it's made clear that they convert to Christianity for purely pragmatic reasons. Lancelot becomes a Christian in order to avoid the humiliation of being rejected for membership of the warrior cult of Mithras. Mordred even reverts to paganism after establishing his power in Dumnonia.
• Eccentric Mentor: Oh, just guess.
• End of an Age: Roman civilization is still very much alive in some areas of Britain and Brittany, but it is steadily and rapidly giving way to a new and different society.
• Enemy Mine: With this much political scrambling and ambition, it happens constantly.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Mordred never knew his mother, but he's still irritated that no one ever thought to give her a more distinguished resting place than a grassy mound, and later demands that Arthur and Derfel bring to justice Ligessac, whose actions resulted in her death. As a result, Arthur and Derfel don't question if Mordred had ulterior motives in getting them out of Dumnonia, or if Lancelot and Sansum had been manipulating this part of him.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Derfel thinks Morgan and Sansum's love is genuine, and seeing them embrace is the one time he's sympathetic to the man.
• Evil Old Folks: Tanaburs.
• The Evil Prince: Massively inverted. Arthur refuses to be either this or Regent for Life. That's basically the cause of most of the problems in the story, particularly in the last book.
• Expecting Someone Taller: A villainous example with Cerdic. Derfel is surprised to note that, despite his fearsome reputation, the man himself is short, slightly-built, with an almost clerkish appearance. He's still highly cunning and formidable, however. It runs in the family.
• Expy: Gorfyddyd and Gundleus for the Rebel Kings of the original stories (Lot, Uriens, Rience and some others).
• Expy Coexistence: Derfel, as mentioned above, takes elements from Kay, Percivale and Bedivere, but their Welsh prototypes also appear in the narrative in minor roles.
• Eye Patch Of Power: Nimue, from time to time.
• Eye Scream: Gundleus not only rapes Nimue, but tears out one of her eyes as well.
  • Derfel first runs across Amhar and Loholt, sons of Arthur, when they're prying out the eye of a puppy. He gives them a very well deserved beating.
  • As a child, Mordred demonstrates his incipient evil by trying to poke out the eye of Morwenna (Derfel and Ceinwyn's oldest daughter). Her mother intervenes, after having tried very hard to be kind to him, and smacks him extremely hard.
  • Dinas and Lavaine are both on the receiving end of this - among many, many other things. It is very well deserved.
• Face Death with Dignity: Merlin is actually smiling when he dies, having long since accepted his fate.
• Face–Heel Turn: Nimue is an interesting example — her goals and methods never really change (though the latter arguably get more extreme); it's just that all the other heroic characters learn to compromise and she never does, to the point where she's little more than a mad witch by the end of Excalibur.
• Fake Ultimate Hero:
  • Lancelot's reputation stems entirely from the fact that he pays bards to sing his praises. He's actually a Dirty Coward.
  • Poor Gawain thoroughly believed that he was chosen by the Gods to finally drive out the Saxons. This was just a lie that Merlin convinced him of because he needed him as a Human Sacrifice.
  • Owain, the Champion of Dumnonia, is a partial example. He's set up to be an important supporting character to the protagonists after he heroically helps rescue Derfel's band of refugees from Gundleus, and afterword becomes the first warlord whom Derfel serves under. However, he's later revealed to be a complete bastard who embezzles tax funds, rapes prisoners, and slaughters an entire mining village (whose inhabitants were sworn to an allied kingdom) as part of an under-the-table deal. That last one ends up costing him his life. While he certainly doesn't lack for courage or battle-prowess, he's hardly the champion he's introduced as.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Arthur's would probably be his Honor Before Reason tendencies, or else his tendency to let idealism blind him.
  • Uther's is his inability to see past his resentment of Arthur, leading to his disastrous decision to appoint Mordred as his heir.
  • Derfel is arguably too complicit with Merlin and Nimue's machinations (which is understandable, given that he grew up with them), and it eventually comes back to haunt him in Excalibur.
• Fat Bastard: King Mark and Bishop Cadoc.
• Faux Affably Evil: Diwrnach tends to come off as amiable and reasonable in conversation, even as he's describing all the ways he's brutally murdered people and committed horrifying atrocities.
  • Malldyn appears to be Affably Evil, right up until when he tries to kill and eat Derfel.
• Fighting Irish:
  • King Diwrnach takes this stereotype to dark and disturbing new levels.
  • Nimue also has quite a fiery temper.
  • Oengus Mac Airem and the Blackshields are a fairly amoral but mostly likable Boisterous Bruiser version.
• Final Boss: Mordred ends up being this.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: The twin Druids Dinas and Lavaine have a tendency to do this.
• Foregone Conclusion: England exists, so things ultimately won't end well for our protagonists.
• Four-Star Badass: Arthur, Sagramor, Aelle and, later on, Derfel.
• Friendly Enemy: Oengus Mac Airem is perpetually raiding the western borders of the British kingdoms, but he and Arthur still get along well and hold no personal animosity toward each other.
• Friendly Rivalry: Arthur and Owain start out with this sort of relationship, though it isn't long before they drop the "friendly" part.
• Friend to All Children: Galahad.
• The Fundamentalist: Since the religious conflict of the era is one of the major themes of the series, there are several of these on both the Christian and pagan sides. Primary examples are Sansum, Cadoc, and eventually Morgan for the Christians, and Nimue and, to a lesser extent, Merlin, for the Pagans.
  • Somewhat subverted in the cases of Sansum and Morgan. It's made very clear that Sansum is primarily driven by his own greedy ambition and Morgan reluctantly uses her pagan magic to remove Nimue's curse on Ceinwyn.
  • Nimue is completely uncompromising in her devotion to the old gods, and becomes increasingly fanatical about it, resulting in a dramatic Face–Heel Turn in Excalibur.
• Genius Ditz:
  • While King Ban is an accomplished poet who has collected and read a vast amount of Greek and Roman literature, he also comes off as a bit flaky and out of touch.
  • Derfel notes that Prince Meurig seems to have inherited all of his father's intelligence, but none of his wisdom. See Know-Nothing Know-It-All below.
• The Ghost: Clovis, the famous High King of the Franks, indirectly aids the Saxons and opposes Arthur, but never actually makes an appearance. Likewise, Budic of Broceliande is brother-in-law to Arthur, father of Gawain and one of Mark's wives, his conflicts with the Franks make up a major part of first Arthur's and then Mordred's military experience - but he never shows up in person and so we know nothing of his character or even how he reacted to Gawain's death.
• Gold Digger:
  • This initially seems to be Guinevere's motivation for pursuing Arthur. In the early days of their marriage, her father siphons money from the royal treasury to fund his lifestyle (though how much she was involved in it is not stated), and she begins demanding that the usually modest Arthur be referred to as a prince. However, she does genuinely love Arthur, even if it takes a very long time for them to finally meet in the middle about their aspirations (Arthur dreams of the Call to Agriculture, Guinevere wants to be The High Queen).
  • Lunete, Derfel's first lover, only shacks up with him because of the potential wealth that an up and coming young warrior can bring. Nimue catches on to this immediately, and tells him as much.
• The Good Chancellor: Bishop Bedwin and Bishop Emrys are this for Dumnonia, in stark contrast to Bishop Sansum's role as Treacherous Advisor.
• The Good King: King Cuneglas of Powys and King Tewdric of Gwent are both nearly ideal monarchs. The Christian Tewdric is eventually made a saint, and is remarked as one of the few men made such who actually deserved it.
• Good Shepherd: Bishop Emrys. Bishop Bedwin is implied to have been this before him, but he doesn't live long enough in the story for it to really come across.
• Gory Discretion Shot: While the battle scenes are as graphic as they are in any Cornwell work, instances of Cold-Blooded Torture tend to be alluded to rather than shown.
• Grumpy Old Man: Merlin. And completely awesome and hilarious at the same time.

H-M

• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Derfel, Galahad, and Ceinwyn.
• Handicapped Badass:
  • The one-armed Gorfyddyd gathers the largest army ever seen in Britain since the Romans left, and would have crushed Arthur in battle had it not been for Oengus Mac Airem's Irish warriors changing sides.
  • The one-eyed Nimue is able to intimidate whole groups of warriors by her presence alone.
  • Mordred eventually proves to be a more than competent warrior, despite his club foot.
  • Derfel himself ends up losing a hand. It doesn't really slow him down much.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: Prince (later King) Meurig of Gwent, at least once per book.
• Heel–Face Turn: Bors in Excalibur. First he secretly warns Derfel about Liofa's favourite trick before his duel with him, which likely saves Derfel's life, then he openly switches sides before the battle of Mynydd Baddon, reckoning that if he's going to die he might as well go down fighting for his own people.
• Heroic Bastard: Arthur, Derfel and Galahad (although the latter is Lancelot's illegitimate half-brother in this work rather than his illegitimate son).
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Nimue goes into one during her time on the Island of the Dead.
  • Arthur does a minor one and goes Darker and Edgier after finding out about Guinevere and Lancelot. And also when he realizes that his code of ethics won't allow him to help Tristan and Iseult.
  • Galahad also has a brief one after the fall of Ynys Trebes.
• Hero-Worshipper: Derfel to Arthur, early on. Arguably, it never really goes away.
• Hero of Another Story: Peredur, Lancelot's son, is mentioned by Derfel to have become a figure of legend in his own right by the "present."
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Derfel and Galahad share "everything except women". Galahad even becomes the lone Christian on the quest for a pagan artefact simply because he wants to help his friend.
• Hidden Depths: Aelle is much, much smarter than he appears to be.
  • Derfel is also indicated to not come off as especially smart, but proves to be a much sharper political operator than anyone really gives him credit for being.
• Hijacked by Jesus: Merlin makes the old "Jesus was copied from Mithras" claim.
• Historical Domain Character: Derfel is based on an obscure British saint of the same name who, if tradition is to be believed, really was a warrior before becoming a monk (and in Welsh tradition was a survivor of Camlann).
  • Tewdric, Meurig, Aelle, Cerdic, Clovis and possibly Cuneglas (there is a historical king named Cuneglas, but he was from Rhos, not Powys, and his father was Owain Ddantgwyn and not Gorfyddyd, who is fictional) are all figures from either historical records or Welsh tradition, although Tewdric and Meurig's timeframe has been difficult to pin down, with scholarly consensus generally putting them a century after the events of the book.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: Sansum is loosely - very loosely - based on Saint Samson of Dol, who is traditionally portrayed as a monastic reformer and one of the Seven Founding Saints of Brittany. Here he is The Fundamentalist, a Hypocrite, implied to be a pederast, and generally the most antagonistic figure in the entire narrative.
• Honorable Warrior's Death: In the third book, a mortally wounded Aelle challenges Derfel to a duel, knowing that he couldn't win, but hoping to die in a fight so he can earn a spot in Valhalla.
• Honor Before Reason: Arthur has a bad case of this, and Britain bleeds because of it.
• Horny Vikings: Not Vikings per se, but at this period in time the Saxons and the Franks still fit this archetype pretty well. Some of them even wear horned helmets.
• Hourglass Plot: Merlin starts out as sinister, enigmatic and overwhelmingly dominant over his much younger student and semi-consensual lover Nimue. Over the course of the first two books as Merlin is absent for long periods, Nimue does manage to take some agency for herself, but Merlin is clearly still in ultimate control over her and the course of her life. Midway through the third book, they try to perform a ritual which would bring back the Gods of Britain which involves sacrificing Arthur's son. Merlin is ultimately unable to go through with it and secretly glad when Arthur stops them, but Nimue has become a complete fanatic and is enraged when they're foiled. When they're next seen, Merlin is Nimue's blind, mad and powerless prisoner, who she sacrifices to summon a magic storm.
• Hufflepuff House: All of the British kingdoms apart from Dumnonia and Powys certainly qualify. This includes Gwent; despite being one of the larger kingdoms and having the largest army (trained on Roman lines and said to number over a thousand spears at various points, whereas other kingdoms usually struggle to raise half as many), its role in the novels is mostly reactive. It doesn't supply a single main character and frequently sits out crucial wars entirely. When Tewdric finally decides to aid Arthur at Mynydd Baddon, however, their disciplined infantry proves to be a crucial factor in the Britons' victory.
• Human Sacrifice: Done several times. In fact, it's part of the acclamation ritual when Dumnonia has a new king. In The Winter King, this victim is a captured Saxon. Merlin and Nimue go to Cadair Idris to do this in Enemy of God (when Derfel asks who the victim was, they just reply "no-one you knew"). It's later both done again and attempted unsuccessfully in Excalibur.
• Hypocrite: Sansum, in so many ways.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Arthur's fondest wish. Probably the reason why he gives in to Lawful Stupidity (see below).
• Identical Grandson: Cerdic is slight, even frail in build. He looks like a clerk, and would be very few people's idea of a warrior, let alone a warlord and one of the most powerful men in Britain. His phenomenal intelligence and cunning, however, have allowed him to elevate himself to the position of King of the Saxons (Aelle being King of the Angles), and just about everyone in Britain is cautious of Cerdic if not outright scared of him. His descendant, Alfred the Great, is given almost precisely the same treatment in The Saxon Stories.
• Ignored Epiphany: Not really a textbook example, but in The Winter King, after being rescued by Derfel from the Isle of the Dead, Nimue briefly considers throwing magic and the gods aside to live a normal life somewhere and maybe marry Derfel. Imagine how differently things might have gone...
• Impoverished Patrician: Guinevere's father Leodegan was once a king in his own right, but was driven into exile by the conquering Irish. He has trouble finding a suitor for his younger daughter on account of his family's loss of status, lands, and money.
• Interfaith Smoothie:
  • Derfel is a devotee of the old British Gods, particularly Bel and Manawydan, as well as being a member of the warrior cult of Mithras (something of which the staunchly traditional Merlin disapproves). He later becomes a decidedly half-hearted Christian, but never really abandons his old pagan ways.
  • Despite being one of Britain's Christian leaders, Bishop Bedwin - a former warrior - remains an active member of the cult of Mithras. When he dies, evidence is found that he "played both sides of the throwboard" by secretly worshipping the old British gods as well.
  • The twin Druids Dinas and Lavaine have no problem with incorporating elements of the newer religions into their magic.
  • While ostensibly a Christian, Mordred makes use of Druids when it suits him (and he ultimately apostates).
    Mordred was never a good Christian, though that, I suspect, was the very least of his sins.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Nimue.
• Karma Houdini: Sansum. He always bounces back from his temporary defeats, is eventually made a saint, and it's implied that he ends the series fleeing for safety, with Derfel covering his retreat.
  You could bind Sansum in iron and hold a sword to his throat, and still he would slither free.
  • Also Cerdic. While his defeat at Mynydd Baddon prevents him from conquering the Britons entirely, he is still the single most powerful Saxon ruler by the time of Arthur's last battle and subsequent departure from Britain, with a great deal of formerly British territory under his rule. He's an Historical Domain Character, though, so there really wasn't much that could be done about that.
• Karmic Death: Numerous.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Mostly subverted or deconstructed, but there are still a few straight examples.
• Knight Templar: Nimue, who becomes more fanatical in her devotion to the gods and willing to go further than Merlin ever did.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Prince Meurig of Gwent is stated to have a vast knowledge of law, history, and theology, but none of that translates into even semi-effective leadership. Any time he gives political or military advice, it's always totally inept.
• Lady and Knight: Nimue and Derfel are a rather strange Dark Ages variation on this trope, being at first the Bright Lady and White Knight version, with Nimue eventually twisting into the Dark Lady version, while Derfel remains the White Knight, leading to their bond being broken.
  • Later, Ceinwyn is the Bright Lady to Derfel's White Knight.
• Lady Macbeth: Guinevere comes awfully close to playing this role in the first two books, and is frustrated as hell that Arthur won't play along. The third book impressively rehabilitates her. While keeping her personality basically the same, amazingly enough.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Gundleus rapes Nimue and tears out one of her eyes while attempting to claim the Dumnonian throne for himself. At the end of the first book, after having backstabbed his way through every second chance he got, he falls into Nimue's hands, and she is very intent on paying evil unto evil. Cue Cold-Blooded Torture. It isn't outright stated what she did to him, but the next book starts shortly after, with Derfel noting that "all of Britain" must have heard Gundleus' screams.
• Lawful Extremely Stupid/Too Dumb to Live: Arthur allowing Mordred to become King, despite all the warning signs about Mordred, just to keep an oath. He eventually realises what a bad idea this was, and very reluctantly, takes over direct rule of Dumnonia.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Mordred has dozens of bastard Children By Rape, but is totally unable to impregnate his queen.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Happens fairly often, as single combat was seen as a legitimate way to settle legal disputes or gain renown on the battlefield.
• Light Is Not Good: After going completely bonkers, Nimue dons the white robes of a Druid and starts riding a white horse into battle. By this point, she has allied herself to Mordred and is entirely willing to torture and murder her former friends in order to achieve her genocidal ends.
• Lovable Rogue: Oengus Mac Airen and his Blackshields are noted for being cheerful and friendly, and everyone likes them save Cuneglas the king of Powys (whch is the main target of their raids), but nobody in their right mind trusts them any further than they could throw them.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Arthur, again. After falling for Guinevere and reneging on a vital marriage agreement that would have finally united the Britons, he assumes that he'll be Easily Forgiven and that the whole thing will just blow over. He is wrong.
• Low Fantasy: This is easily the closest thing that Cornwell has ever done to a fantasy series, due to the rampant Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane and the necessary Artistic License – History.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Derfel and Aelle. Done unusually tactfully.
• The Magic Goes Away: Merlin feels this is happening to the world, and that the gods are abandoning it as well.
• Magic Knight: The twin druids Dinas and Lavaine present themselves as this. Unlike most druids they carry swords and claim to have fought in the shield wall during a major battle, and to be sure they are big, brawny and impressive looking. However, their actual abilities as fighters are never demonstrated, and according to Merlin at least, they're not real druids either.
• Mama's Boy: Despite her resentment of him, Arthur clearly held his mother in high regard, and only says good things about her.
• Manipulative Bastard: Merlin. He plays Derfel (and everyone else apart from Cerdic) like a violin. As his point on the Chessmaster page shows, he could quite conceivably have ruled Britain from behind the scenes if he so chose.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Because lets face it, the existence and reliability of magic is all over the place in this series. Intentionally so, going by the author's track record.
• Merlin and Nimue: Provides a well thought-out and explored version of this relationship.
• Mushroom Samba: The initiation rites into the cult of Mithras involve this.
• My Greatest Failure: Derfel views his participation in the massacre of a mining village as this. While he himself didn't actually murder any women or children, he kept silent about it when Tristan directly implicated Owain, and it still haunts him years later.
• Mystery Cult:
  • The men-only cult of Mithras is accurately portrayed as a very secretive religion. Initiates must go through trials and ordeals in order to become full-fledged members, and adherents are not allowed to divulge any details about the cult to non-members. This doesn't stop Merlin from knowing all about it, of course.
  • Guinevere's women-only cult of Isis also has shades of this trope.

N-T

• Nay-Theist: While Arthur doesn't dispute the existence of higher powers, he believes that men are far better off taking fate into their own hands than relying on the gods. He is deliberately vague about his beliefs in public, so that both Christians and pagans can assume that he might be one of them. However, he eventually manages to piss off both factions.
• Nice Guy: Somewhat strangely for a Cornwell protagonist, Derfel is this. He generally respects authority, is fiercely devoted to his people, and is an all around friendly guy if you don't go out of your way to antagonise him, even trying to be polite to Lancelot when they first meet and shrugging off his insults. Aside from his love of battle (which was entirely acceptable for the time period), he lacks any roguish or renegade qualities.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Oh, Arthur.
• No Party Like a Donner Party: The inhabitants of the Isle of the Dead are prone to cannibalism.
• Nude Nature Dance: Olwen the Silver does this. She's mad, but cheerfully so.
• Odd Friendship: Nimue and Ceinwyn, the oddness of which is noted by Derfel - who knows and loves both women dearly (though in Nimue's case, it's more a platonic admiration). According to Ceinwyn, though, she admires Nimue's fire and drive.
  • Derfel and Guinevere, in Excalibur. In the previous books, neither especially liked each other. It didn't help that Derfel had a tendency to be the Spanner in the Works for Guinevere's political plans and according to Derfel himself, she saw him as little more than one of her husband's dull, lumpish warriors, while Derfel deeply disliked her friendship (which became more) with Lancelot. However, after Guinevere Took a Level in Kindness after undergoing a significant case of Break the Haughty, and they get to know each other better, they get on surprisingly well.
  • Even odder is the friendship that develops between Sansum and Morgan - he's a fundamentalist Christian and she's a pagan prophetess - although from the former's point of view being friends with Arthur's sister has obvious advantages. This friendship is arguably what saves Sansum's life when the Christian plots against Arthur are revealed in the aftermath of his unexpected victory at Lugg Vale. Sansum and Morgan eventually get married, though Merlin doubts that they ever consummate their relationship, as "Sansum doesn't know how to rut. At least, not with women."
• Offing the Offspring: King Mark is just as much of a bastard here as in most other Arthurian stories. Poor Tristan. Poor Iseult.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Derfel's battle exploits that earn him the moniker "Cadarn" (meaning "The Mighty") occur during the Time Skip between his entry into Arthur's service and his mission to Armorica.
• Old Soldier: About half of the cast eventually becomes this.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, with two Mordreds who are father and son, two Igraines (Arthur's mother and Derfel's patron) and also two seperate characters named Gawain (one a member of Arthur's warband, the other a more plot relevant character in Excalibur who seems to have no relation to the prior).
• The Ophelia: Deconstructed through Nimue.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Derfel has three sons, all of whom die shortly after birth, while one of his daughters, Seren, dies in childbirth later on. Most importantly, his youngest daughter Dian is killed in the second half of Enemy of God.
• Papa Wolf: Derfel, big time after Dian is killed.
• Parental Favouritism: Of all his sons, Aelle seems to like Derfel the best, even though he's fighting against him.
• Pedophile Priest: Probably Sansum. It's very heavily implied on several occasions.
• Personal Dictionary: Sansum repeatedly refers to himself (and a handful of other characters he likes) as a living saint - an oxymoron even in the 6th century, as a saint by nature needs to Heaven (in other words, dead). Derfel adopts this habit when referring to figures like Cadoc and Carannog, likely because Sansum was his main source on the nature of saints.
• Pet the Dog: Merlin's adoptions of orphans, freaks, and those touched by the gods, as well as cats. Also, the cat that Arthur and Derfel get for the little girl who testifies against Owain.
• Photographic Memory: Sansum is almost completely illiterate, he can recognise his own name written down and that's about it, he gives all his speeches from memory and has the entire Bible memorised from having it read to him once by an acolyte.
• Pretty Boy: Lancelot, who is more interested in buying mirrors than providing his soldiers with food.
• Proud Warrior Race: The Saxons. And the Irish, and the Franks, and some of the less Romanized British tribes. A people group basically had to be this on some level in order to secure their long-term survival in this tumultuous era.
• Public Domain Artifact: The Thirteen Treasures of Britain provide the focal point of Merlin and Nimue's plans. The Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddyn is a composite of the Halter of Clyddno Eiddyn, the Cauldron of Dwrnach the Giant (who is reimagined as a mundane if bloodthirsty Irishman named Diwrnach) and the Holy Grail, and Dwrnwyn the sword is composited with Excalibur.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Several of Arthur's victories are like this toward the end of the series. The battle of Mynydd Baddon is the most notable example, as Arthur crushes the Saxon forces and kills some of their main leaders, but throws the religious balance of power towards Christianity, loses his most valuable ally, and effectively dooms Merlin to Nimue's wrath.
• The Quest: The first part of Enemy of God revolves Merlin and Nimue's efforts to recover the Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddyn. His demand for warriors to accompany him on the quest annoys Arthur, who believes it to be a wild goose chase.
• Rape as Drama: Gundleus does this to Nimue, ripping out an eye in the process. Strangely enough, though, she seems more happy that she's received two of her three "Wounds of Wisdom" than anything else, though she was in shock at the time. She consequently spent the years up to Lugg Vale angling for revenge against Gundleus. She gets it. As Derfel flatly remarks to Arthur at the start of Enemy of God, all of Britain probably heard him screaming.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Largely averted. This being the Crapsack World it is, most characters have a rather casual attitude toward wartime rape, regardless of what side they're on. Even Derfel, though he deeply disapproves of it, regretfully observes in the narration about his and Arthur having to compensate the families of girls and women that Mordred raped, that "it was a rare and lucky kingdom" where it was not necessary. There are a few exceptions, however.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: The fate of pretty much any town or city that falls to an enemy army. The sack of Ynys Trebes by the Franks was so brutal and thorough that, years later when Derfel is an old man, legends persist that the screams of women and children can be heard at night near the ruined city.
• Real Men Love Jesus: The cult of Mithras is portrayed as a soldiers' religion, with no women being allowed to join. Only warriors who are highly respected are allowed into its ranks. It's not quite as secretive as Derfel thinks, though, as Merlin can recite the opening initiation.
• Redemption Equals Death: Bors doesn't outlive his Heel–Face Turn very long.
• Refuge in Audacity: Much of Merlin's humour - and, in fact, just about everything he does - falls under this category. At one point, he strolls into the middle of a battlefield and starts talking about something completely different, the quest for the Cauldron.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • Mardoc, an Italian interpretation of Meleagaunt, is made Mordred's son.
  • Peredur (Percivale) is the son of Lancelot and Ade (a minor love interest of Lancelot's from the Prose Lancelot).
  • Derfel Cadarn is the son of Aelle.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation:
  • Mordred here is Arthur's paternal nephew, not his maternal one (let alone his incestous son).
  • Morgan and Arthur are full siblings, rather than half-siblings. Extending this, Igraine was Uther's mistress rather than his wife, and Cunedda's daughter instead of granddaughter.
  • Lancelot and Galahad are half-brothers rather than father and son.
  • Budic is Uther's son-in-law rather than cousin, and by extent is the father of Gawain here instead of Lot.
  • Gwydre is the legitimate son of Arthur and Guenivere rather than being one of Arthur's bastards.
  • Tristan is the son of Mark instead of his nephew.
• Religion is Magic: Played with, and readers tend to be left guessing how much magic is real and how much is simple trickery.
• Religious Bruiser: Derfel is definitely one of Cornwell's more devout protagonists.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Uther became known as "the Pendragon" because of his many victories in battle.
  • Arthur fits this trope to a tee, though in this particular version he isn't technically recognised as royalty. Same goes for Morgan, his sister, who is Merlin's prophetess and one of Arthur's most trusted advisers.
  • Among the other Britons: Gorfyddyd and Cuneglas of Powys, Tristan of Kernow and (sometimes) Tewdric of Gwent.
  • On the Saxon side, Aelle and Cerdic, though how much Cerdic gets involved in combat is uncertain.
  • Derfel, as he's Aelle's son.
  • Mordred, though he is unquestionably vile, makes a reputation as a Handicapped Badass and serious warrior in Armorica.
  • Ceinwyn is a rare female example, for she plays a crucial role in Merlin and Nimue's quest for the Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddyn.
• Runaway Fiancé: Happens twice, and each time both parts of the couple are supposed to marry someone else. In Arthur and Guinevere's case, it starts a war. In Derfel and Ceinwyn's case, it wrecks Arthur's carefully-lain plans for presenting a united front against the Saxons - for a time, at least. Despite these results, both couples end things reasonably happy.
• Running Gag: What, exactly, is a camel?
• Sanity Slippage: Nimue was never completely sane (at least, not after being raped by Gundleus), but she really starts suffering this as she becomes more desperate and single-minded in her quest to bring the Old Gods back.
• Scary Black Man: Sagramor, though he's much more approachable once you get to know him. The fact that the Saxons fear him so much is the main reason why Arthur makes him the Lord of the Stones - the man responsible for defending Dumnonia's eastern border.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Merlin. Big Time. Also a case of Screw Politeness, I'm a Druid.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Near the end of the first book, Tewdric pulls this on Arthur. Weary of fighting a war that is basically Arthur's fault, Tewdric withdraws Gwent's forces from the upcoming battle, leaving the Dumnonians to face Gorfyddyd's vast horde by themselves.
• Second-Hand Storytelling: The whole series. this also means that we never really get to see all sorts of interesting things that Derfel wasn't around for. This means a lot of Noodle Incidents.
• Single-Minded Twins: Dinas and Lavaine.
• Sinister Minister: Sansum was always portrayed as slimy and opportunistic, but he really crosses into this territory when he begins to actively plot Arthur's death and Lancelot's takeover of Dumnonia.
• Sliding Scale of Beauty: Ceinwyn, as a Princess Classic, meets the Western archetype of beauty exactly, with pale skin, blonde hair and soft features. Guinevere on the other hand is also very good looking but unconventionally so, with vaguely masculine features and taller than was considered attractive for a woman at the time, and more striking than beautiful. When Queen Igraine is surprised at how Derfel describes Guinevere, as the stories she's heard describe Guinevere as the most beautiful woman in Britain, he tells her than many women would have gladly traded their beauty for Guinevere's looks and presence.
• Smarter Than You Look: Aelle's much, much sharper than he lets on, looking and acting like a womanising Boisterous Bruiser, but figures out that Derfel is his son the first time they meet. The only other person to have figured it out that fast is resident genius Merlin, who has the advantage of having known Derfel since he was a small boy.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Galahad doesn't die at the conclusion of the Grail Quest analog, and in fact survives Camlann. Likewise, Gwydre doesn't die in a boar hunt and also survives Camlann.
• The Starscream: Lancelot to Arthur, Sansum to Arthur and Mordred.
• Starter Villain: Gundleus, more for Derfel and Nimue; and Owain, more for Arthur.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Amhar and Loholt take very heavily after their father in appearance, if not personality.
  • Ceinwyn's daughters all closely resemble her.
  • Derfel heavily resembles Aelle, save for the blond hair. Merlin figured out that Derfel is Aelle's son long ago because of this - he remarks at one point, after Derfel had charged into battle, enraged, that all he needed was the trademark bear skin cloak to be Aelle.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Mostly with Aelle, who's generally noted as rather likeable.
• Tactful Translation: Several excellent examples from Derfel, who can speak Saxon as well as the British language. One of his best can be read here.
• Tattooed Crook: The unscrupulous Prince Cadwy and his warriors tattoo themselves in the manner of their pre-Roman ancestors.
• Token Minority: Sagramor. In the original stories he was a Hungarian prince, but this more historically-accurate setting being a few centuries too early for them, Cornwell has him a Nubian (making him a Composite Character with "African" or "Saracen" knights like Palamedes and Segwarides) who made his way to Gaul serving in the Roman army and wound up in Arthur's service. Due to his being unique and exotic, the Saxons (and Argante's druid) think he's a demon and he does nothing to discourage this impression.
• Token Enemy Minority: Given how most Christians are depicted in the stories, Galahad (and, to a lesser extent, Tewdric, Emrys, and Bedwin) could be said to function as one of these. And Derfel himself is a Saxon in Arthur's army.
• Token Evil Teammate: Sansum and Mordred occasionally play this role when circumstances temporarily force them to cooperate with Arthur.
• Token Good Teammate: Bors is this for Lancelot's faction, and eventually he ditches Lancelot altogether.
• Torture Technician: Nimue is a rare heroic example (for the most part). Then the Mai Dun ritual gets ruined and she becomes The Unfettered.
• Tragic Keepsake: Derfel keeps a lock of his youngest daughter's hair after she is brutally murdered. He eventually burns it, in keeping with the traditions of his people, but only after he has avenged her death.
• Tragic Villain: Nimue. She starts off as Derfel's childhood friend, morphs into a scared anti-hero, and ends up as a full-on antagonist with warped morals and shaky sanity.
• Treacherous Advisor: Sansum.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Mordred displays sociopathic tendencies even as a child.
• True Companions: Derfel and Galahad.

U-Z

• Übermensch: Merlin does operate on a set of principles, but they aren't principles that most other people would recognise or feel comfortable with. However, he's nowhere near as bad as Nimue.
• The Unfettered: Merlin comes off as this, but doesn't quite cross the line. Nimue, on the other hand, is a very different story.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Gundleus is spared by Arthur despite his murders and uprising early in the first book. He proceeds to backstab Arthur at every possible opportunity throughout the rest of the book.
  • Lancelot is, if anything, even more this trope.
• Unholy Matrimony: Gundleus and his lowborn lover, Ladwys, who rides and reaves with her man. His willingness to fight for her safety is about the best that can be said for Gundleus. Downplayed with Mordred and Argante, who are a fair match in attitude and temperament and do have a twisted kind of Love at First Sight romance, but they're often parted by his foreign wars and she (allegedly) screws half her spearmen in a desperate attempt to quicken her barren womb.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation:
  • There is both a Culhwch and an Olwen in the narrative, but they never meet or interact in any way, let alone become love interests.
  • Cadoc doesn't appear to be related to Gundleus in any way, beyond Derfel suspecting he might have once been a spearman in the Silurian warband - certainly, no indication is given that he is Gundleus's son.
  • Hywel is Derfel's initial mentor, not his father, and isn't related to Budic in any manner.
  • There is no indication that Bors is related to Lancelot.
  • In the Welsh Genealogies Cadwy is the son of Geraint, while here they belong to the same generation and are only connected by both being Dumnonian.
• Unreliable Narrator: Self-admitted.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Nimue, even after losing an eye, was capable of being sweet and kind, and part of her dreamed quite sincerely of getting married and having children with Derfel. She even brings this up to him after he rescues her from the Isle of the Dead, replaces her golden eye with the last of his money, and weaves her a Lughnasa bower, the two of them having a brief Rescue Romance. But what she feels is her duty to the gods eventually leads her to take a different path - and in the end, her devotion to it at all costs ends up twisting her and, ultimately, driving her insane.
• The Usurper: Many would like Arthur to be this. Lancelot attempts to become this.
• Vestigial Empire: Many Britons think back fondly to a time when the whole of their land was united under Roman rule. All that's left when the series begins is a patchwork of petty kingdoms scrambling to pick up the pieces.
• Villain Decay: Gundleus, sort of. He's the primary antagonist throughout the first third of The Winter King, but after his initial defeat, he plays nice for a while and then takes a subordinate role to Gorfyddyd. He never really becomes less of a threat, it's just that much bigger threats arise.
  • Also, Diwrnach. It's implied early on that he and Arthur will clash as Arthur makes a oath to Guinevere's father to take back his lost kingdom. He also serves as the Arc Villain for the first part of Enemy of God. His ultimate defeat and death by Arthur is then glossed over in Excalibur.
• Villainous Valor: Mordred, who fights with a "brute valor" and does not shy from battle. Notably, he does not allow his men to interfere in his Final Battle with Arthur.
  • Derfel also concedes this of Lancelot during the latter's own hopeless last battle.
• Virgin Power:
  • Merlin requires a virgin to help him find the the Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddin. Ceinwyn is persuaded to delay consummating her relationship with Derfel in order to help him find it.
  • Taliesin has the gift of prophecy so long as he remains a virgin. In order to ensure that he retains his power, he had himself castrated.
  • Gawain remains virginal due to Merlin's promise of him saving Britain from the Saxons and becoming a hero and marrying Olwen. However, it's a trick. Merlin sacrifices him at Mai Dunn to summon the Pagan Gods. Olwen does end up having sex with him, though — after his death.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • Galahad and Culhwch are prone to squabbling about their religious differences, but that isn't a barrier to them being close friends.
    "It's a woman's religion," Culhwch spat.
    "It is my religion, dear Culhwch," Galahad murmured. He and Culhwch had argued thus throughout the whole long war in Benoic and their argument, like their friendship, had no end.
  • Derfel and Galahad ar not above ribbing each other either, but to nowhere near the same extent.
• Weapons Breaking Weapons: At one point, Derfe is forced to fight Liofa, the personal champion of King Cerdic of the Saxons. Derfel is used to fighting on the battlefield rather than one-on-one, and while he's a very capable fighter he soon realizes he's at a major disadvantage against the much quicker Liofa, who specializes in duels. Realizing that he's going to lose, Derfel switches tactics to try to attack Liofa's weapon, as it's a much thinner blade than his own big broadsword. After a couple of hits, Liofa's blade does in fact snap.
• We ARE Struggling Together: The Britons sometimes seem to be their own worst enemy, with the rival kingdoms at each others throats as often as they're fighting their mutual Saxon and Irish enemies. Derfel realises that the Saxons also have this problem when a captured warrior tells him about the conflict between Cerdic and Aelle. Ultimately, it could be argued that the Britons were an even bigger threat to themselves than the Saxons were. Their almost perpetual state of political infighting means that they fail to put up a united front against the Saxons for any extended period of time. Any victory they win quickly gives way to vicious factionalism once again, and this will eventually allows the Saxons to take out the British kingdoms piecemeal.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Merlin eventually backs away from this without crossing the Moral Event Horizon. Nimue, on the other hand, goes Jumping Off the Slippery Slope. Technically Merlin does cross the Event Horizon, but only against strangers (and it's dubious whether it was a Moral Event Horizon by the standards of his time), hesitating when it comes to betraying his friends.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Nimue, right from the start.
• Wizard Duel: Every major battle begins with a supposed mage from each side walking out in front of the line and casting curses at the enemy and blessings on their own side, while trying to counter the other's efforts. The Britons and Saxons both do this: the Britons have druids and the Saxons have madmen who their religion views as holy. Nobody's throwing lightning bolts or fireballs, but almost every warrior, including the nominal Christians, very much believe that a magic conflict is taking place. When the Britons don't have a druid at Badon Hill, everyone's very scared because the Saxon wizards are going unchallenged.
• What a Senseless Waste of Human Life: Several notable cases, including Tristan and Iseult.
• What Could Have Been: In universe, just imagine how many lives could have been saved and how the future of Britain would have been changed had Arthur simply chosen to ignore Guinevere, or at least gone forward with his marriage to Ceinwyn. Or if Arthur had got rid of Mordred and claimed the Dumnonian throne for himself, as many wanted him to.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the council at Glevum early in The Winter King, a lot of hay is made about protecting King Meriadoc of Stronggore. Meriadoc is namedropped a couple more times before he and Stronggore are completely forgotten about.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Arthur, several times. He gets a particularly cold one from Derfel over the way he deals with the Mark/Iseult/Tristan triangle.
• Worthy Opponent: The Saxon warrior king Aelle. He regards Arthur and Derfel the same way.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Druid twins, acting on orders from Lancelot, murder Derfel and Ceinwyn's daughter Dian. The Roaring Rampage of Revenge is everything you'd expect it to be.
  • Merlin and Nimue sacrifice Gawain to the gods in their ritual at Mai Dun (and attempt to sacrifice Gwydre).
  • Nimue, by her own admission, is willing to sacrifices as many children as needed for the pagan gods, as she believes the Cauldron of Clyddno Eiddin will resurrect them. It doesn't.

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