The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

The knights in the novel are united by a single yearning: finding a leader who can unite them and bring peace and justice back to Camelot. Without a unifying leader, their lives appear meaningless and devoid of structure. The text underscores the despair that the characters feel at Arthur’s absence, such as when Palomides states that Britain is a wasteland without Arthur. Their solution is to look for another Arthur. However, the text suggests that the characters need to find an identity and purpose not in a leader but in their own selves.

The reason Arthur is so central to the identity of the characters is two-fold: First, Arthur is the perfect, noble king whose goodness seems infectious; second, the hope he offers is particularly relevant in a time beset with war, disease, and the mistreatment of children. For Collum, while growing up in Mull, the stories of the Round Table offer a way out of his unforgiving milieu. He imagines that the knights of the Round Table “live[] in a warm, safe world […] rich with strength and love and fellowship […] where God [i]s always watching” (30).