The Mists of Avalon

In Chapter 12, Gwenhwyfar loses her baby to a miscarriage. Though Gwenhwyfar has had several miscarriages in the past, this one hurts the most because she believed she would finally give Arthur an heir. She thinks of several reasons why this may have happened, some logical (like riding her horse) and some nonsensical (like looking at Kevin). She also wonders if her faith could have anything to do with it, asking a priest, “I was not strong enough to persuade Arthur to lay aside his pagan serpents and the Pendragon banner…Would God punish my child for that?” (391). The priest responds that she can atone by running a Christian kingdom. While the task of convincing Arthur gives her purpose and somewhere to focus her energy, it is a temporary balm for her sadness. However, this chapter marks a turning point in which Gwenhwyfar’s influence grows. She is able to leverage her pain as a means of pursuing her own Christian agenda. It is up to the reader to decide how calculatingly Gwenhwyfar is using her trauma to make Arthur follow her will. Either way, Gwenhwyfar resolves her sadness by persuading Arthur.

Chapter 13 provides exposition, describing where Morgaine was while missing. In the fairy world, Morgaine feels happiness and joy and is able to ignore many of her problems. However, she enters the realm out of hope and desperation and is only able to leave because of Raven’s prophecy, which comes to her as a “great cry” that she can hear “ringing through the worlds” (407). Morgaine was worried that her powers left her, but her ability to hear Raven’s prophecy signifies that she still has access to the Sight.

Chapter 14 solidifies the relationship between Morgaine and Kevin. When Morgaine runs into Kevin, she remembers the shame she felt at Lancelet rejecting her and making a “mockery of her womanhood” (397). As a native of the Holy Isle, female sexuality is very important to her, and she is hurt that Lancelet would deny this. Similarly, Kevin has experienced significant rejection because of his body, which repulses many women. After Morgaine sleeps next to him to survive the cold, Kevin says he wonders if she “consented to lie at [his] side because [she] thought this crooked body of [his] was not a man’s” (417). Morgaine tells him that women who rejected him at the Beltane fires were not doing the bidding of the Goddess, clearly able to sympathize with his feelings. When they have sex, she reflects, “This is the first time, really, that I have done this of my free will, and had the gift taken simply, as it was offered” (417). Because of their shared experiences and his respect for her, Morgaine and Kevin share a close bond and genuine trust.