Who is king uther pendragon

Wherefore, I do beseech thee, Lord, that thou wilt permit Sir Ulfius and myself to presently convey the child away unto some place of safe refuge, where he may be hidden in secret until he groweth to manhood and is able to guard himself from such dangers as may threaten him.

But touching the matter of this young child, if thy prophecy be true, then his danger is very great, and it would be well that he should be conveyed hence to some place of safe harborage as thou dost advise. Wherefore, I pray thee to perform thy will in this affair, bearing in thy heart the consideration that the child is the most precious inheritance which I shall leave unto this land. And Merlin did as he had advised, and he and Sir Ulfius conveyed the child away by night, and no one but they wist whither the babe had been taken.

And shortly afterward Uther-Pendragon was seized with the sickness as Merlin had foretold, and he died exactly as Merlin had feared he would die; wherefore it was very well that the child had been taken to a place of safety. When Morgause took his crown from him, Morgana revealed that she was working with her half-sister to dethrone him so she could become Queen and told him that she hated him beyond understanding.

Morgana than proceeded to torture him by forcing him to witness her slaughter innocent people, saying she was merely mirroring his own actions and that she was going to execute him once she was done torturing him.

Uther was so devastated by Morgana's betrayal that when Arthur rescued him from the dungeons he didn't even attempt to defend himself from Morgause's army and only survived because Arthur and his allies were protecting him.

Morgana embraces Uther, despite having her loyalties switched. A year later, Morgana's betrayal had broken Uther to the point that he was weakened, mentally and physically, and still unable to rule Camelot. It was only until Arthur's birthday when he showed signs of recovering from her betrayal.

He later protected Arthur from an assassin, becoming mortally wounded in the process. When Morgana learnt that Uther was mortally wounded, she rejoiced and hoped that her face would haunt him in his final moments. She also willingly caused her father's death when she was informed that Arthur was using magic to save Uther. She enchanted a necklace that would reverse any healing spell and worsen the ailment tenfold.

Despite causing Uther's death, she was unsatisfied and said that there would only be a celebration when she seized control of Camelot. Despite her hatred for her father, she was clearly shaken when he died and commented that she had felt his pain and sensed his death.

Years before the Great Purge started, Morgause was smuggled out of Camelot by Gaius and given to the priestesses of the Old Religion due to an unknown reason. Uther was told that the girl had died and Gaius was sworn to secrecy. When Uther was told the truth after Morgause's reappearance, he was rightly afraid that the enchantress knew the truth about Arthur's birth.

Uther also guessed correctly that Morgause would attempt to turn Morgana against her brother Arthur. He hated Morgause for taking Morgana away and later blamed her for poisoning his beloved daughter against him. It is unknown why Morgause was smuggled out of Camelot after her birth and why Uther was led to believe that she had died.

It is also unknown who Morgause's parents were. While Gaius called her Morgana's half-sister before he knew about Uther being Morgana's real father, it was possible that they were related through Gorlois. Since Uther admitted that Morgana was his daughter and Morgause and Morgana kept calling each other "sister", chances are that they share the same mother, Vivienne. The identity of Morgause's father has never been revealed. Despite this, Uther still sentenced him to death when he was accused of using magic by the Witchfinder, Aredian.

Nevertheless Uther felt regret at the thought of killing his old friend and refused to believe that Gaius would use magic until Gaius told him so. Uther was too proud to admit that he was the one who had caused Gaius' suffering until Gaius told him so.

Gaius wasn't afraid to stand up to Uther and was one of the few people brave enough to argue with him when necessary. Despite the creases in their relationship Gaius still remained loyal to the king and Uther's trust in him strengthened after discovering he was innocent The Witchfinder. Uther trusted Gaius so much that he even suggested allowing Gaius to use magic to cure Morgana after she was seriously injured falling down a flight of stairs.

The relationship seemed to have changed later when Uther was broken and devastated by the betrayal of Morgana. Gaius did not seem to care much about Uther's mental state, nor about his death. It is unknown why Gaius acted differently after Uther became a shell of himself and was no danger to anyone anymore, being incapable of doing anything, let alone ruling the kingdom.

Uther loved his queen greatly and was devastated when she died giving birth to Arthur. Nimueh warned Uther that there would be grave consequences, but he ignored her, not knowing that Ygraine would die in the process. Then, he began persecuting the thing that he blamed for her death, magic. Twenty years after her death he still mourned her loss, saying to Nimueh that Ygraine was his heart and soul, which showed that he fully emotionally depended on her.

It is likely that Ygraine was also very much in love with him. Uther truly did love Ygraine but he had a brief relationship with Vivienne, the wife of Gorlois, while Gorlois was away fighting a battle. This one time adultery resulted in the birth of his daughter Morgana. It is possible that the relationship with Vivienne happened before Uther was married to Ygraine, since Morgana is older than Arthur. Interestingly, when Morgause summoned Ygraine's spirit to speak with Arthur, she vehemently claimed that Uther betrayed her by knowingly sacrificing her so Arthur could be born through magic.

It remains unknown whether Ygraine's spirit was real or just an illusion created by Morgause to turn Arthur against his father. Uther didn't know that Ygraine would die in exchange for Arthur's life, so it is very unlikely that Ygraine really thought that Uther sacrificed her.

However, in case it was really Ygraine's spirit and not just a trick or an illusion created by Morgause, she may have misinterpreted Uther's exact role in her death and overestimated his knowledge of the consequences his actions would have.

Moreover, Uther's hatred of magic would not make sense if he had seen her death coming and willingly sacrificed his beloved wife, on whom, obviously, his whole personality was based. Ygraine's death left Uther a broken man. Uther had a brief relationship with Vivienne , the wife of Gorlois , while Gorlois was fighting in a war, assumingly before his marriage with Ygraine.

He told Gaius that Vivienne grew lonely. This resulted in the birth of Morgana. Uther did not reveal Morgana's true heritage until many years later, probably to save the reputations of Vivienne, Gorlois and himself. This affair would prove to ultimately be Uther's undoing since Morgana, the product of his crime, destroyed him. Little is known about Vivienne, whether she is still alive, nor if she had magical powers from who perhaps Morgana and Morgause inherited their powers.

Uther claimed that Morgana's [step-]father, Gorlois , was the greatest man he'd ever known. Uther said that Gorlois was extremely dedicated to defending his kingdom, Camelot, and unafraid to question his judgement, a trait that he had passed on to his [step-]daughter Morgana.

When Gorlois died, Uther promised to take care of Morgana. However, he once threatened to break this promise.

Considering Morgana was actually his daughter and not Gorlois', he was almost certainly bluffing. Uther once secretly betrayed Gorlois: while Gorlois was away from Camelot, fighting during the war against Magic, his wife grew lonely and turned to Uther. This affair resulted in the birth of Morgana. Whether Gorlois ever discovered his wife's unfaithfulness and her relationship with Uther is unknown, however Morgana viewed him as her father until he died in battle when she was ten.

Before the Great Purge , Uther was friends with Nimueh and welcomed her into his kingdom. He asked her to use magic to allow his wife, Ygraine, to conceive a child resulting in the birth of Arthur. However, after Ygraine died, Uther thought that Nimueh had betrayed him, though Nimueh actually claimed that she hadn't intended for Ygraine to die and they had a heated dispute about this. Later, when Merlin fought and ultimately killed Nimueh, he doubted that it was the Old Religion that randomly chose a life in exchange for another but that it was Nimueh herself.

Also Gaius told Nimueh when he confronted her that this time the price should be a fair one, when referring to the death of Ygraine. Nimueh was furious with Uther for starting the Great Purge and outlawing magic, and thus became Uther's most dangerous enemy until her death at the hands of Merlin. However, it is implied that Nimueh did indeed chose Ygraine to die, since she was able to take Gaius' life in exchange for Merlin.

Despite this, Nimueh refused to take responsibility for the hunt on magic and blamed Uther for the loss of so many of her kind. It is unknown if she chose Ygraine to make everything happen exactly the way it did and to fulfill a greater plan since some members of the Old Religion could foresee the future.

The entire Nimueh-Uther situation is still open to debate and speculations. Uther had very little to do with Gwen while she was Morgana 's maid. It is known that Uther thought of Gwen as nothing special as she was a mere servant. He sentenced Gwen to death for using sorcery to heal her dying father when it was really Merlin 's doing.

Uther had no idea of Arthur 's secret relationship with Guinevere until Morgana meddled in Arthur and Gwen's secret relationship the year after she was taken from Camelot by her half-sister Morgause did the king find out about his son's secret love affair. He sentenced Gwen to death but she was later released when Merlin, disguised as Dragoon the Great 'confessed' to 'enchanting' Arthur. It is unknown what Uther thought of Gwen looking after him a year after Morgana's betrayal was revealed, since he was almost unresponsive in his broken mind.

Three years after his death when Arthur summoned his spirit from the dead, Uther criticised Arthur's decision to marry a servant and claimed that Gwen had no idea how to be Queen of Camelot.

He later attacked Gwen and tried to kill her by attempting to burn her alive. Before becoming a king, Uther was already a very powerful warrior, having great prowess in swordsmanship, having won the Camelot Decennial Tournament twice, which apparently was how he became King.

His time as king of Camelot, one of the Five Legendary Kingdoms, made him participate in many wars, honing his abilities in each battle and becoming even more skillful than ever. He had managed to slay Tristan de Bois both as a human and later as a wraith using the sword Excalibur. However, Arthur teased that Uther needed to improve on his footwork, saying that it had always been his weakness.

Uther also defended himself against the enraged Arthur despite Arthur being far more fit than him after Arthur had learned the true reasons of his mother's death long enough to be saved by Merlin.

Uther also fought during the siege of Camelot despite being weakened by a mandrake root placed by Morgana and managed to defeat some of his opponents and survive with only a single wound, albeit it was severe enough that he had to be treated. In the current Camelot's Decennial Tournament , Uther easily defeated all of his opponent and even fought his son reasonably well despite being overwhelmed before eventually securing victory when Arthur began holding back.

Although he was overwhelmed by Gilli 's use of magic, he still managed to fend him off without injury before Merlin countered Gilli's magic for Uther to defeat him with ease The Sorcerer's Shadow. However, after being broken by Morgana, Uther's combat abilities were lost, as shown when he was unable to defend himself from the immortal army before Arthur rescued him. However, just before his fatal wounding, upon seeing his son was in danger, Uther's determination to save his son allowed him to regain his lost swordplay skills, allowing him to take on and eventually defeat The Gleeman in sword combat, although his footwork weakness was once again displayed in this duel as he lost his balance a few times.

Just before he killed the Gleeman , he was fatally wounded by his knife. When he was a ghost, Uther was invisible unless a special potion was made in order to see him. He could go through walls and telekinetically lift objects, ironically being a magical creature himself when returning as a spirit, not having a choice when Arthur summoned his spirit with magical help.

However it should be noted that when Uther tried to kill Merlin he was physically holding a sword, presumably as a way of showing Merlin how much he hated magic.

Arthur sees his father for the last time. As magic was involved in Uther's death, Arthur began to hate magic more than ever, calling it pure evil and he vowed never to forget it The Wicked Day. Arthur also began to follow Uther's ways which was shown when he learned of a dragon egg which he chose to destroy to wipe magic out of the kingdom, only for Merlin to get there first and protect it Aithusa. However when Arthur learned from Gaius that " Dragoon the Great " did not actually kill Uther as he thought, his hatred towards magic decreased once more but showed no sign of wanting to return magic to Camelot The Secret Sharer.

However, when the ghost of a druid boy possessed Elyan and tried to kill Arthur, the young king confessed to be responsible for the boy's death and, out of pure remorse, swore to treat the druid people with the respect that they deserved, finally bringing the end of magic 's persecution A Herald of the New Age.

Arthur's prejudice against magic seemed to have changed up to a certain point, but when Morgana confronted Arthur, he surprisingly mentioned his father by saying, "you can't blame me for my father's sins" The Sword in the Stone , despite the fact that he himself still prohibited magic in Camelot. It remains unknown if he was referring to the ban of magic, which he indeed continued, or rather to the fact that Uther did not publicly acknowledge Morgana as his daughter.

Arthur also obviously ignored that Uther was the father of both Morgana and himself when he said "my father" instead of "our father". However, the true meaning of Arthur's retort may be that he was accusing Morgana of not being innocent in comparison to Uther's behavior, as she was as even more vindictive as their father, thus betraying Uther's honour and blaming him for Morgana's and Arthur's own actions.

Uther Pendragon was the youngest son of Constantine and a brother of Aurelianus. As a one of the two younger brothers of the murdered King Constans, Uther apparently fled at a young age to the Royal Court of his cousin, King Budic I of Brittany where he was raised.

As a young man, Uther returned to Britain with his elder brother, Ambrosius, and together they fought for their ancestral rights, eventually defeating the usurping Vortigern and placing Ambrosius on the throne. Throughout Ambrosius' reign, Uther was his brother's staunchest ally. He commanded the King's forces in Ireland when, with Merlin, he acquired the "Giant's Ring" as a memorial to the dead of the "Night of the Long Knives".

Uther took the crown under the title of "Uther Pendragon" after a dragon-shaped comet appeared in the sky at the time of his brother's death.

Most of his reign was taken up with campaigning against Saxon and Irish invaders in the North of Britain, where he held court at Pendragon Castle in Westmorland. He was, at first unsuccessful against the Angles of Bernicia. Osla, allied with the Jutish Octa, defeated Uther's armies at York.

However, he soon turned the tables at the ensuing Battle of Mount Damen. Uther later travelled even further north to help the Kings of Strathclyde pacify the Scots. It is at this point that the most famous episode in Uther's life is related. Returning to London, he met Igraine spelt "Ygraine" in Merlin , the beautiful wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and fell instantly in love with her.

Determined to see her again he invited the Duke to return to the Royal Court, but Gorlois could see what was going on and flatly refused. The two quarrelled and Gorlois and his wife fled to Cornwall.

Uther invaded the Duke's lands, but still impatient to be with his new love, he persuaded Merlin to use his powers to magic him into Igraine's bed. Thus, while Gorlois was being killed at nearby St.

Dennis, Uther was transformed into his likeness. He walked straight into the lion's den at Tintagel Catsle and seduced the lovely Duchess.

The price for this deception was that Uther's son, the future King Arthur who was conceived on that night, had to be given to Merlin to be brought up as he saw fit. In old age, the sick and aging Uther was drawn into a renewed war with the Northern Angles.

Albans to besiege the Anglian Princes himself. He won through, but the Germans poisoned the water supply and Uther, along with many of his men, died in the days that followed. Merlin Wiki Explore. Nimueh Emrys vs. Morgana Arthur vs. Lancelot Morgana vs. Explore Wikis Community Central.

Register Don't have an account? Uther Pendragon. History Talk 4. Do you like this video? Play Sound. The fate of Camelot rests in my hands.

It's my responsibility to protect the people of this land from its enemies. It threw the natural order into chaos. Uther made it his mission to destroy everything from back then, even the dragons. She's playing on your affections for your mother to lure you into a trap. I'm sorry. But know this one thing. I always loved you You mean more to me than anything I know, more than this entire kingdom, and certainly more than my own life.

I can only think that Morgause has enchanted you. You've always served me well. And I know there are things that I've asked you to do, which you found difficult.

I was not right to betray you. From now on I will remember that, in the fight against magic, you are the one person I can trust. There isn't a day passes that I don't wish that she were still alive. To prevent which, I will go out to meet him, and make my peace with him, for fear of a worse disaster.

With the deception now complete and his lust satiated, the magically transformed Uther took his leave of Igraine and left Tintagel with his friends.

Merlin then caused them to lose their disguise and they rejoined the army of the Britons at Dimilioc. Uther called his commanders to report to him and he was told of the ending of the siege of Dimilioc and how Gorlois had died.

Although he was genuinely sorry for the death of the duke he was happy that this meant he was now free to marry Igraine. Returning to Tintagel he then took Igraine as his wife and they lived happily and with great love between them.

They had a son named Arthur who became the King of the Britons and a daughter named Anna or Anne, who was later known as Morgause.

Sickness and disease have no more respect for kings and mighty warriors as they have for poor peasants, and Uther was taken by a crippling malaise. To compound his woes, the Saxon leaders, Octa and Eosa, escaped their prison in London and made their way back to Germany. Reports came that they had raised a massive army with the intent to return and conqueror Britain once and for all.

These reports were verified when a great fleet landed a great army of Saxons and their allies in the north of Britain. Immediately the invaders attacked the towns and cities and left the countryside in ruins. Uther, now all but incapacitated through illness, entrusted the defence of the north to one of his consuls, a valiant warrior named Lot of Londonesia, to whom he had given his daughter Anna in marriage. Finally, on hearing this, Uther sent for all of his commanders to appear before him and berated their foolishness.

In disgust, he swore he would lead the army himself despite his sickness and commanded a special horse-drawn carriage to be built that would carry him at the head of the army of the Britons into battle. In his carriage at the head of the army, Utter travelled to Verulam now known as St. Albans, to confront Octa and Eosa where they were laying waste the countryside. When these two Saxon chiefs heard the sick Uther Pendragon was leading the army of the Britons in a horse drawn carriage they mocked him and refused to fight.

In their pride and contempt of Uther, however, they left the gates open. As soon as Uther heard of this, he decided to attack straight away, and hope to profit from their foolishness. His Britons attacked the city, and when the Saxons saw the danger, they were forced to repulse them before it was too late. The battle raged all day, until nightfall brought rest to both sides. The Saxons, now seeing that they were disadvantaged in sitting out a siege, decided to try their luck in open battle, either to defeat the Britons or break through and escape.

At dawn, they marched out of the city and the ensuing battle was bloody and fierce, raging all day. At last Octa and Eosa fell, and leaderless, the Saxons ran away, leaving the Britons the victors.

Those Saxons who escaped headed north, raiding towns along their way. Uther wanted to lead the army of the Britons after them, but his commanders persuaded him not to on account of the severity of his illness and his worsening condition.

Seeing this motivated the Saxons to do greater harm, and they now attempted to conquer the entire kingdom of the Britons. They had always been skilled in the arts of treachery and deception and now they sought to bring about the death of Uther Pendragon by poison. They sent spies in disguise into the camp of the Britons and spied on the habits of the king.

On discovering he was apt to drink from the waters of a clear spring, they poisoned it, causing him sudden death. According to early chroniclers, the Saxons took great encouragement from the death of Uther Pendragon. With their numbers swelling daily with reinforcements from Germany they sought to take over the entire country and exterminate the Britons from the island of Britain. With the realm of the Britons in dire peril, the clergy and the nobles made Arthur, the son of Uther Pendragon and only fifteen years old, the King of the Britons.

Despite his youth and inexperience, he was to go on to free the Britons of the Saxons and build an empire across Europe, fulfilling his part in the prophecy of Merlin. Yet throughout his life, Arthur would be haunted by lust, treachery, deception and magic, the very elements that had brought him into the world. To read all the articles in this series, visit the British Legends Series page or select from the list below:.

Easter , Legends , Regional Folklore. By zteve t evans. May 17, The following two tabs change content below. Bio Latest Posts. Zteve enjoys researching deep into the folklore, myths and legends that run through society and are part of our everyday lives. He always finds it a source of fascination discovering and learning how our ancestors perceived the times they lived in and how they have influenced us today. Zteve believes that people have far more in common with each other than is often shown on the surface and this can often be seen in the folktales from other parts of the world.

Zteve has two websites dedicated to myths, legends and folklore from around the world. These are Under the influence! Latest posts by zteve t evans see all.

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