Mordred makes himself King of England and incestuously claims Guinevere as his wife.

Guinevere escapes to the Tower

of London. The Bishop of Canterbury reproaches Mordred for his usurpation and would-be incest, and when Mordred
tries to kill him, he flees and becomes a hermit. Mordred wins many Englishmen to his side, then meets Arthur at Dover
but is forced to retreat from him.

In this battle Gawain is mortally wounded. As he dies he admits to Arthur that if it were not for his insane pride in
insisting on unjust revenge, Launcelot would be here now to save the kingdom; then he writes Launcelot, begging him to
come help Arthur and also to pray at his tomb. Then, bleeding from the wound he got originally from Launcelot with
the fated sword of Balyn Gawain dies.
Arthur meets Mordred again at the battle of Bareon Down and again puts him to flight. They meet next at Salisbury
Plain, and there, with all who loved Launcelot fighting on Mordred's side, they prepare for what is to be their last battle.
The night before the battle, Arthur dreams he is on the Wheel of Fortune, sitting on a throne and dressed in the richest
gold that can be made:
And the kynge thought there was undir hym, farre from hym, an hydeous depe blak watir, and therein was all maner of
serpentis and wormes and wylde bestis fowle and orryble. And suddeynly the kyrige thought that the whyle turned
upso-downe, and he felle anionge the serpentis, and every beste toke hym by it lynnue. And than the kynge cryed as he
lay in hys bed, "Helpe! Helpe!"
After the prophetic dream he has another. Gawain and a number of ladies come to him to warn him against fighting in
the morning for if Arthur fights, he will die; if he waits for a month, Launcelot will be here to help him. Then Gawain and
the ladies vanish.
Arthur asks a truce, and the two armies meet on the field to set terms. An adder appears, a knight unthinkingly draws his
sword to kill it, and the two armies are at war. At the end of the day, Mordred is the only man of his army left standing,
and Arthur has only two knights, Sir Lucan and Sir Bedivere. Against Sir Lucan's advice, Arthur fights Mordred and kills
him, but he gets his own death wound as he does it. Lucan and Bedivere bear him to a chapel. Robbers overrun the
battlefield stealing the gear of dead knights, killing any that have life left in them.
Arthur is dying and cannot be moved to safety. And so he sends Bedivere to throw Excalibur into the lake nearby, then
return and tell what he has seen. Bedivere hides the sword under a tree, thinking it too precious to throw away, then
returns and says he has obeyed. "What did you see?" Arthur asks. Bedivere says he saw only waves and winds. Arthur
sends him twice more, and the last time Bedivere does as he has been commanded. A hand catches the sword and
brandishes it three times.
Then at Arthur's command, Bedivere carries the king to the waterside, where a barge awaits him and some ladies in
black hoods. Bedivere puts Arthur in the barge and he is borne away to Avilon, perhaps to heal his wounds, perhaps to
die. Bedivere wanders through a forest until he comes to where a hermit is kneeling over a fresh grave. It is the grave of
a man brought to him at midnight by ladies in black. Whether or not the body is really that of Arthur, no one knows.
Some say Arthur still lives, and some say riot.

Who is Sir Modred?
King Arthur's evil son/nephew

Who is Morgan Le Fay?
King Arthur's sister who may have been one of the queens on the barge

What does it mean to be righteous?
morally right

What is the definition of prevailed?
gained the desired effect

What does it mean to dissuade?
advise against

What is the definition of brandishing?
shaking in a threatening way

What is the definition of piteous?
deserving of pity

What is a romance hero?
larger-than-life figure usually of mysterious origins, who performs extraordinary deeds with the
aid of magic

Who is the dead knight that visits King Arthur in a dream?
Sir Gawain

What laid concealed in the brush and ultimately caused the outbreak of war between King
Arthur and Sir Modred?
an adder

Who tried to dissuade King Arthur from fighting Sir Modred after the battle had broken out?
Sir Lucas

On what attempt did Sir Bedivere finally throw Excalibur into the lake?
On the 3rd try

Who wrote Le Morte d'Arthur (the work which contains "The Day of Destiny)?
Sir Thomas Malory
Who betrays King Arthur?
Sir Bedivere

Where is Arthur taken to be healed?
Avalon

What is inscribed on King Arthur's tomb?
Here lies Arthur, the once and future king.

How is King Arthur mortally wounded?
He is struck by Sir Modred's sword in the head.

What does Sir Gawain warn King Arthur against?
Not to go to battle with Sir Modred.

What happens when Sir Bedivere finally casts Excalibur into the lake?
A hand appears from below the surface and waves the sword three times before it disappears
again.

What does the phrase "The once and future king" imply?
That King Arthur will return one day and resume his reign