Respect King Arthur (Arthurian Legend)

The son of Uther Pendragon, the sickly half dead king, King Arthur is the legendary king of Logres, the King of Adventures. Usually portrayed as a legendary warrior king, with all the legends surrounding his setting, even with many of them not even focusing on him as a main character, King Arthur has an impressive repertoire of abilities that most might not otherwise give him credit for.

“I sorely repent that so treacherous a bastard as you should die honourably in this way, like a knight.”

This is an update from the u/TerrWolf Arthur respect thread.

Sources include:

Le Morte D’arthur

History of Kings of Britain

Life of Saint Efflam

Mabinogion

Welsh Triads

Breta Sogur

The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature

Roman de Brut

Torec

Of Arthur and Merlin(I’m using a translation from Eleusinam, because I hate reading middle english)

Alliterative Morte D’arthur (same deal as of arthur and merlin)

Annals of Wales

Dream of Rhonabwy

Dryden’s King Arthur

Marvels of rigomer

History on Edge

Book of Arthur lost tales from round table

Faerie Queene

Knight of Parrot

Daniel von Blumenthal

Vidvilt

Vulgate Cycle

Post Vulgate

Irish Arthurian Literature by Connor P. Hartnett

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Itallics indicate that the feats are carried over from Terrwolf’s respect thread.

Please note that anything that has any mention of feats coming from the Vulgate Cycle’s Death of Arthur while would not have been included otherwise, has become hilariously impressive because Arthur is a 92 year old man there.

Strength

• A young Arthur, not yet in his full strength, manages to wrestle Pellinore to the ground before being pinned. Pellinore was stated to be a powerful man of might.
• A young Arthur matches blades with Pellinore, a "passing big man of might", but his sword breaks.
• The Post Vulgate cycle has him accomplish the same feat, and specifies that Arthur’s pre-Excalibur sword breaks specifically because Pellinore’s sword is of better quality.
• Hits a dragon with a strike that could "knock down walls" with a club.
• Wrestles with a giant that had killed 15 other kings.
• Hits Sir Accolon so hard, it breaks his sword.
• Sends Sir Accolon flying back three strides, A stride is 36.7 inches or 93 centimeters. Making the total distance about 9 feet or 2.79 meters.
• Overpowers Accolon and makes him bleed from the ears, nose and mouth with one blow.
• Breaks his sword on the walls of his enemies Cuts a man from scalp to teeth in one strike
• Crushes gold to dust barehanded
• Hits a man with a sword so hard, it cuts his helmet and shield and cuts into his horse
• Shoves a spear through Mordred more than a fathom. A fathom is 6 feet or 1.8288 meters
• Cuts a giant in half
• Strikes apart Rion’s helm, shield, and armor and knocks him off his horse with one blow. He would’ve killed Rion if not for Rion’s special snakeskin armor, whilst Rion is said to be the strongest man in the world, and is 17 feet tall. Rion scaling here, though do note that this thread is primarily based on his vulgate appearance rather than his Arthur and Merlin appearance, thus is more relevant for the Rion vulgate feats.
• Oneshots a 14 foot tall giant with his lance.
• Oneshots a 15 foot tall giant with his sword.
• Chops down a tree in 2 or three strikes.
• Carries Jesus’s cross for three days and three nights.
• Stabs a gigantic panther from its body to the liver. This is after Lancelot has speared it through the throat to its heart, though. Panther’s scaling here.
• A glancing blow from Arthur chops off a knight’s leg.
• Resists Rion trying to pull him off his horse by hugging his horse’s neck.
• One-shots the Roman Emperor in Vulgate Death of Arthur. As amusing as it would’ve been, this emperor is not Lucius Tiberius.
• One-shots a dragon/serpent with his lance, spearing it right to its heart.
• Knocks Mordred and his horse down in Vulgate Death of Arthur, though Mordred isn’t wounded.
• Fatally impales Mordred with a lance in Vulgate Death of Arthur. Even after getting part of his skull missing, virtue of Mordred with a while passing, he still has enough strength to accidentally hug one of his knights to death.
• Getting angry doubles his strength.

Speed

• Faster than Bedwyr/Bedivere, who can kill faster than three people
• Retrieves his sword and sheath before Sir Accolon can react
• Moves so quickly, a giant can not keep track of him
• Rushes Flollo before his army can attack the Gauls
• Attacks as quickly as a greyhound and kills eight giants in quick succession.
• Strikes so quickly that even when Rion foresees it and tries to dodge, Arthur strikes his helmet and kills Rion’s horse.
• Is faster than Pellinore despite, or rather, because of his youth.

Durability

Note: Feats take place without Excalibur's scabbard amping Arthur's durability.

• No sells a blow from a giant wielding an iron club
• A blow to the face from Emperor Lucius just pisses him off.
• Was able to talk and give orders despite being stabbed in the brain. He may or may not have died from that wound, depending on how seriously you take the sleeping in Avalon myths
• Survives his helmet getting struck through to the point that he has a deep head wound that the audience thinks is lethal. He then finishes off his opponent with the next blow.
• Tanks Michel Giant/Dinabuc hitting his buckler to the point that his buckler is shattered and it makes the mountain ring like an anvil without any injury. He later survives Dinabuc crushing him in his hands though he escapes quickly, though that isn’t the most impressive version considering we then haaaaave….
• Survives the Michel Giant/Innius crushing him with his bare hands until Innius tires out from blood loss with no major damage. For context, Innius was so strong that he shook a mountain with a single blow.
• Even when a strike goes through his shield and hauberk and gives him a large wound on the left side, Arthur doesn’t budge from his horse.
• Survives a dragon striking him with its tail, though he would’ve died from presumably second impact if he didn’t land in a lake.
• Survives a group of giants and saxons attacking him from all sides.
• In the Vulgate Death of Arthur, receives two blows from Hector of the Fens and survives.
• In Vulgate Death of Arthur, even having part of his skull cut off, he still survives for a pretty long while.

Skill

• Impresses people with his skill while battling Sir Accolon wielding Excalibur, and Arthur had a normal sword
• Defeats and kills a monster cat
• On the low end, Arthur kills twenty knights and wounds forty more.
• Drops a king and then stuns people with his skills.
• Kills 470 people in one battle
• Kills 940 men in one battle
• Hacks a path through a thousand men.
• Is so skilled in tournaments to the point that all the most renowned knights have been defeated by him, and that Gawain, Lancelot, and Perceval ask him to stop participating or else he’ll get all the glory.
• He and King Ban kill 10,000 enemy soldiers. Given that Ban is usually regarded as weaker than Arthur (certainly is the case in Arthour and Merlin, with Arthur being declared the best of all the participants), it can be assumed that Arthur probably has the higher number amongst the two of them here.
• He fights two-thirds of the afternoon against the demonic fish knight, and ends up cutting off the fish knight’s arm and keeps on lasting him until the fish knight bleeds out and dies. Worth noting that the fish knight rode on a horse as large as an elephant and has size proportional to it, though God also assists Arthur in not getting too injured.

Excalibur

• Also called Caliburn and Caledfwlch, this is King Arthur's main sword. Given to him by the Lady of The Lake to replace the sword he broke (he has a habit of doing that, if you did not notice). Excalibur has powerful magic.
• Excalibur is the finest sword in that time able to cut iron like wood
• However, in the vulgate cycle, it simply states that it can slice through steel and wood.
• Sword blinds people who look at it.
• Shines like 30 torches in your eyes. In Alliteratve Morte however, it instead shines like the sun.
• Cuts down a giant with ease
• Cuts Emperor Lucius from head to breastbone In alliterative morte, Arthur does the same thing, but instead of a prolonged battle like in Le Morte he just oneshots Lucius.
• Arthur can tell Accolon has the real Excalibur because it cuts into steel, wounds him bad with every stroke, and Accolon does not get tired.
• Scabbard makes Arthur unable to lose blood, and unable to be wounded in battle.
• The scabbard SPECIFICALLY does not prevent wounds and only prevents blood loss and mortal wounds, however, in Post Vulgate.
• ‘Throws fire’ in the Vulgate Cycle.
• His sword has two dragons upon it that breathe fire. While the sword isn’t explicitly named as Excalibur/Caldefwich, Welsh tales tend to have his sword as Caldefwich so I’m including it here.

Marymadose

Arthur Sword 2, but better.

• Slices through armour and flesh without making a single sound.
• In contrast to Excalibur’s 30 torches, it lights up an entire countryside.
• Arthur thinks that Excalibur isn’t worth anything to Marymadose. It’s telling that he hands off Excalibur to Gawain later in Vulgate.
• It was forged by Vulcan and passed down from Hercules to Tydeus to a bunch of other guys until it fell to Rion’s hands, then Arthur.
• While not having these powers attributed to it directly, Marymadose seems to be a direct reference to the sword that Tydeus has in the Romance of Thebes. That sword is forged by Wayland/Galant the smith, carved by Vulcan, with three goddesses to temper it and three faeries to carve it. It also will not bend nor rust, and deals unhealable wounds. It’s a bit of a wonky connection, but I wouldn’t blame anyone for matching it up together especially when Encyclopedia of Mythological Objects by Theresa Bane does it.

Mordurre

Arthur Sword 3, but also better. Unrelated to Mordred.

• Created by Merlin, it is mixed with medicinal herbs, wrought in the fires of Etna, quenched 7 times in river styx. It also can slice through any enchantment, steel and stone can’t defend against it, is unbreakable and unbendable, and cannot be used against Arthur.
• It is so powerful that even when it misses due to no-hurt Arthur enchantment, it still sends Arthur and his horse reeling. Worth noting that his horse, Spumador is a divine horse as listed below.

Other Equipment

• Wears a golden helmet with a dragon on it, a suit of armor befitting a king a shield with the Virgin Mary on it, Excalibur, and a spear named Ron
• In the Faerie Queene, his dragon helmet breathes fire that scares others.
• Has armour made for him made so well that it fits Lancelot incredibly well. Now you might be wondering what exact relevance something that glorifies Lancelot is doing in an Arthur section. I will fully admit that it’s simply here because I find it hilarious.
• Treasures are his ship, his mantle, his sword Excalibur, his spear, his dagger Carnwennan, his lance, and his wife
• Shield blocks a hit from a giant hard enough to echo across the shores
• Shield is cut down by Ritho, but the damage stops at the image of Mary with implied supernatural durability from the Mary image.
• He has another shield by Merlin in Faerie Queene made out of diamond and hewed out of Adamant. It also unleashes a flashbang that shines brighter than the sun and moon (Phoebus and Cynthia, so the divine forms too…), the shield itself can negate magic, can turn people into stone and stone to dust and dust to nothing. Also, given what Adamant is in Greco-Roman mythology (divine ore) and the fact that Achilles and Astraea are a thing here (just to dispel any argument of phoebus and cynthia being metaphorical)…well take that as you will.
• Carnwennan cuts a witch in two with a throw, and hit in the darkness of a cave.
• Cloak/mantle renders him invisible and allows him to ‘see everyone.’
• Has a sword that reveals to him all his defects and tells him how to mend them.
• Has a sword that increases his courage.
• Has a sword of light that never misses a blow.
• Has a divine horse called Spumador that’s comparable to the horses of Laomedon.
• He has a healing potion that can heal any wound, though he gifted it to the Redcrosse Knight who gave him in return, a…Bible. He still has more asides from the one that Redcrosse scammed him out of as shown in Book 4, and restores stamina too.
• Has chainmail forged by an elvish smith called Wygar.
• He has a hauberk that cannot be damaged, and is so light that a little boy could wear it all day long.
• Has a magic leaf that heals him from being paralyzed and almost killed by dragon poison in three days.
• Has a ship that can take him wherever he wishes.
• Has a shield that makes it so no wound can be inflicted on anyone who carries it. He also has treasures from the house of the dead, whatever that means.
• A bunch of other less important things, including a healing draught, rod of enchantment, a cup that is never empty, a self playing fiddle, and magic cards that always win.
• Has a magic throne that prevents anyone from getting within a distance of 15 feet unless one has committed no sin, is a pure lad, and a mighty man.
• Has a ring granted to him by Fortuna, the goddess of luck, that can grant him whatever he wants, such as riches and victory. Fortuna is not a metaphor here, she is an actual goddess that actually hands out stuff and is a presence in the story.
• Has poison nullifying jewels

Other

• Has married three different Gueniveres/Gwennhwyfars
• Is the fourth Red Ravager, the greatest of all. Where he has walked/battled, nothing will grow for seven years
• Constant presence in Welsh Triads, marking him as the most famous or infamous people of the time
• Horse can drag a sea Monster and leave hoofprints in solid stone.
• Once chased a divine boar across countries. For context, said boar is Twrch Twyth, who has destroyed a third of Ireland and destroyed another 5th.
• His bones are so huge that his shinbone reaches three fingers beyond a monk’s knee, and the space between his eyes and brows are the width of a full palm. tldr, he’s a giant. Also, while romance of Arthur isn’t where the original text comes from, I can’t find a fully translated version of that text (though I can find the original Latin).
• Is so frightening that his enemies declare him a devil and that they are all doomed to die.
• Glares so hard that his eyes burn like coals and scares roman messengers and a senator so much they cower and beg for mercy.
• Is the most fearsome warrior in the world.
• In the Vulgate Death of Arthur, Arthur’s leadership is so competent that he completely outdoes Mordred despite having a much smaller army. For context, Arthur is only seen having around hundred knights or so with him throughout the battle. Mordred on the other hand has far more allied forces with him, and there were more than a hundred thousand who participated in the battle, so it stands that Mordred probably had more than a hundred thousand men with him. However, by the time the battle has reached towards the end, only 300 are alive and only 4 are Arthur’s knights, and then the 4 Arthur-aligned knights decrease to two while the rest of Mordred’s forces are killed off, so part of this is due to Arthur’s knights being far more physically competent than your normal soldiers. However, the most major soldiers listed in there are also around Arthur’s age (most of them having participated in his first campaign), so they also would have to be around their 80s-90s.
• He with an army of less than 2000 beats Mordred’s army of 60,000, with 140 knights still remaining. This leadership feat is a lot less impressive than the above one given that Arthur is less old here and Mordred doesn’t overwhelm him by so much, but it’s still something.
• Is Emperor of Rome.. The empire of Rome in Le Morte includes many lands including Alexandria, Armenia, India, Portugal, etc.
• Conquered many countries including Norway, Germany, Austria, France, Ireland, etc.
• Nothing a sorceress can do to him can successfully seduce him.
• Is favoured by two of the three fates, and has Fortuna and Luna’s favour. TLDR he’s incredibly lucky.