Excalibur - Vader - Luke

I don't know if it belongs here but since I already made new friends at the 3SA forum and it deals with literature I'll post it here.

Yesterday I watched Excalibur on DVD (the 1981 movie) and I saw a lot of parallels between the movie and Star Wars.

- Merlin looks a lot like Obi-Wan
- Father and son battle with swords
- A praised knighthood dissolves
- A banned knight (because of a bad love
affair) returns to save the day
- One of the knights before the last battle wears a mask looking like a Gamorrean

The movie was filmed after ANH, but of course the story behind it is a little older and I guess it has been discussed as an influence for Star Wars a few times. What I would like to discuss:

Should ROTJ have ended with Vader and Luke dying?

IMHO it should have, so the balance in the force would be complete and it would mark a transition from one belief to another - remember Tarkin's comment about Vader's old fashioned religion.

By the way: Do we know of any religious or other holidays in the GFFA? It would be nice to include something like Myrkr Day (sp?)in the post NJO trilogy.

 

Yesterday I watched Excalibur on DVD (the 1981 movie) and I saw a lot of parallels between the movie and Star Wars.

- Merlin looks a lot like Obi-Wan

The older mentor is a common archetype in mythology, often combined with the use of some ancient wisdom and arts

- Father and son battle with swords

Again, a common theme in Western mythologies, with swords often also representing their manhood...


- A praised knighthood dissolves
quite a few cultures have a sense of living in a time past a golden age, where groups in power were seen as noble, and then corrupted or collapsed, leading to today..

- A banned knight (because of a bad love
affair) returns to save the day

the story of Lancelot is a relatively modern invention compared to the rest of Arthurian lore... i believe that Lancelot was introduced in a French rendition that was popularized during the era of courtly love... at any rate, here is where arthurian legend and star wars mythology differ... lancelot and anakin take much different career paths before returning to save the day...

- One of the knights before the last battle wears a mask looking like a Gamorrean

In european heraldry, boars were a symbol of strength and fierceness. umm... yeah...

as for vader and luke dying together... that kinda takes away from the sense of good conquering evil, if good dies too.

 

i believe that Lancelot was introduced in a French rendition that was popularized during the era of courtly love

Are you referring to the translations of Le Morte d'Arthur? Which are, I believe, the "common" interpretation of the Arthurian mythos these days...

 

jawajames, I can agree on most of your comments.

If you can rent it, watch the movie Excalibur. When I wrote Merlin looks a lot like Obi-Wan, it was meant as a visual reference. I got the feeling that some of the looks in the Excalibur movie where influenced by ANH, which seems to be influenced by the story of King Arthur.

Anyway, my point in Luke dying: By the end of ROTJ he was the only Jedi left (IMHO Leia ain't a Jedi by the end of ROTJ). The Jedi of the PT had become corrupt and were extinct. If GL had intended to stop the saga after ROTJ, either Luke should have died or he should have gotten the princess and lived happily ever after (that was not possible because she was his sister, an unnecessary script twist).

 

Check out the Star Wars theories section of my website. I've got a comparison of Star Wars and the Arthurian legend talking about who fits as who, when they fit as them, and even who or what fits as Excalibur.

 

If you guys really want an education about the connection between Star Wars and classicle mythology (including Aurthurian Legend), check out the book Star Wars: the Magic of Myth by Mary Henderson, Exhibition Curator at the Smithsonian Institute?s National Air and Space Museum. The book breaks down the classic ?hero?s journey? and how it relates to the Star Wars saga scene by scene. I highly recommend this book.

 

By the way: Do we know of any religious or other holidays in the GFFA? It would be nice to include something like Myrkr Day (sp?)in the post NJO trilogy.

The WEG second edition corebook mentions under the timekeeping section that there are at least three standard holidays, though it doesn't mention them by name. There is also events like the Ewok Light Festival and the Ithorian semiannual Celebration of the Great Meet that could be viewed as holidays. Certainly the Light Festival sounds more like a holiday because it is the Ewok celebration to focuses on the rejuvenation of the Tree of Light.

 

Galaxies brought us Unification Day...