The Forever King

Last updated
The Forever King
The Forever King.jpg
Cover Art of The Forever King
AuthorMolly Cochran and Warren Murphy
IllustratorMel Green
Cover artistJoe DeVito, jacket design by Joe Curcio
LanguageEnglish
Genre Fantasy
PublishedJune 1992 Tor Books
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages402
ISBN 0-312-85227-4

The Forever King is a fantasy book written by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy, the authors of Grandmaster, which reached #3 on The New York Times bestseller list. The Forever King is the first in the Forever King Trilogy. The second title is The Broken Sword: King Arthur Returns while the third book is called The Third Magic. Robert Jordan, author of The Wheel of Time calls The Forever King "a fresh and exciting view of the Arthur legend.”

Contents

Set in modern and medieval times, the antagonist Saladin has lived through many of the world's ages by using the Holy Grail, until he loses it. The Cup finds its way into the hands of ten-year-old Arthur Blessing. Now Hal Woczniak must protect Arthur and the Grail from the madman Saladin, who kills anyone that ever stands in his way or between him and the Cup. The Forever King is 55 chapters divided into three sections titled, “Book One: The Boy,” “Book Two: The Cup,” and “Book Three: The King.”

Summary

From the front inside flap of The Forever King:

In a darkened house not far from the place where Camelot may once have stood, a madman schemes.

Once the cup that men call the Holy Grail was his. Soon it will be his again. The Grail's protectors are few and weak: an alcohol-soaked ex-FBI agent; a courtly old gentleman who once, long ago, held awesome power; and a ten-year-old boy.

Arthur Blessing is no ordinary boy. The Grail is his by chance, this time, but the power to keep it-is his by right.

Now he must stay alive long enough to use that power.

Arthur needs a defender, a man of great strength, skill, purity, and faith. Fate has given him Hal Woczniak, a broken-down drifter plagued by nightmare memories of a dead child. When Hal quit the FBI, he practically quit the human race as well.

Now, at the darkest time in his life, he is offered the chance to redeem himself.

One he failed to save a child. Once he failed to save a world.

He will not fail again.

Main characters

Secondary characters

Related Research Articles

<i>Idylls of the King</i> Cycle of twelve narrative poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Idylls of the King, published between 1859 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lancelot</span> Arthurian legend character

Lancelot du Lac, also written as Launcelot and other variants, is a character in some versions of Arthurian legend where he is typically depicted as King Arthur's close companion and one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table. In the French-inspired Arthurian chivalric romance tradition, Lancelot is an orphaned son of King Ban of the lost kingdom of Benoic, raised in a fairy realm by the Lady of the Lake. A hero of many battles, quests and tournaments, and famed as a nearly unrivalled swordsman and jouster, Lancelot becomes the lord of the castle Joyous Gard and personal champion of Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere, despite suffering from frequent and sometimes prolonged fits of madness. But when his adulterous affair with Guinevere is discovered, it causes a civil war that, once exploited by Mordred, brings an end to Arthur's kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mordred</span> Character in Arthurian legend

Mordred or Modred is a figure in the legend of King Arthur. The earliest known mention of a possibly historical Medraut is in the Welsh chronicle Annales Cambriae, wherein he and Arthur are ambiguously associated with the Battle of Camlann in a brief entry for the year 537. Medraut's figure seemed to have been regarded positively in the early Welsh tradition and may have been related to that of Arthur's son.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galahad</span> Character in Arthurian legend

Galahad, sometimes referred to as Galeas or Galath, among other versions of his name, is a knight of King Arthur's Round Table and one of the three achievers of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend. He is the illegitimate son of Sir Lancelot du Lac and Lady Elaine of Corbenic and is renowned for his gallantry and purity as the most perfect of all knights. Emerging quite late in the medieval Arthurian tradition, Sir Galahad first appears in the Lancelot–Grail cycle, and his story is taken up in later works, such as the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

<i>The Mists of Avalon</i> 1983 novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Mists of Avalon is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which the author relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters. The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine, a priestess fighting to save her Celtic religion in a country where Christianity threatens to destroy the pagan way of life. The epic is focused on the lives of Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Viviane, Morgause, Igraine and other women of the Arthurian legend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percival</span> One of King Arthurs legendary Knights of the Round Table

Percival, alternatively called Peredur, is a figure in the legend of King Arthur, often appearing as one of the Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale Perceval, the Story of the Grail, he is best known for being the original hero in the quest for the Grail, before being replaced in later literature by Galahad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gareth</span> Knight of the Round Table

Gareth is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is the youngest son of King Lot and Queen Morgause, King Arthur's half-sister, thus making him Arthur's nephew, as well as brother to Gawain, Agravain and Gaheris, and either a brother or half-brother of Mordred. Gareth is particularly notable in Le Morte d'Arthur, where one of its eight books is named after and largely dedicated to him, and in which he is also known by his nickname Beaumains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bors</span> Legendary Arthurian knight

Bors is the name of two knights in Arthurian legend, an elder and a younger. The two first appear in the 13th-century Lancelot-Grail romance prose cycle. Bors the Elder is the King of Gaunnes (Gannes/Gaunes/Ganis) during the early period of King Arthur's reign, and is the brother of King Ban of Benoic and the father of Bors the Younger and Lionel. His son Bors the Younger later becomes one of the best Knights of the Round Table and participates in the achievement of the Holy Grail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege Perilous</span> Mythical seat at King Arthurs Round Table

In Arthurian legend, the Siege Perilous is a vacant seat at the Round Table reserved by Merlin for the knight who would one day be successful in the quest for the Holy Grail.

<i>The Ill-Made Knight</i> Novel by T. H. White

The Ill-Made Knight is a fantasy novel by British writer T. H. White, the third book in the series The Once and Future King. It was first published in 1940, but is usually found today only in collected editions of all four books of the novel.

King Pellinore is the king of Listenoise or of "the Isles" in Arthurian legend. In the tradition from the Old French prose, he is associated with the Questing Beast and is the slayer of King Lot. His many children include the sons Aglovale, Lamorak, and Percival, and the daughter Dindrane.

<i>Merlin</i> (miniseries) 1998 British-American television miniseries

Merlin is a 1998 two-part television miniseries starring Sam Neill as Merlin, recounting the wizard's life in the mythic history of Britain. Loosely adapted from the legendary tales of Camelot, the plot adds the antagonistic Queen Mab and expands Merlin's backstory before the birth of King Arthur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaheris</span> Fictional character

Gaheris is a Knight of the Round Table in the chivalric romance tradition of Arthurian legend. A nephew of King Arthur, Gaheris is the third son of Arthur's sister or half-sister Morgause and her husband Lot, King of Orkney and Lothian. He is the younger brother of Gawain and Agravain, the older brother of Gareth, and half-brother of Mordred. His figure may have been originally derived from that of a brother of Gawain in the early Welsh tradition, and then later split into a separate character of another brother, today best known as Gareth. German poetry also described him as Gawain's cousin instead of brother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agravain</span> Legendary Arthurian knight

Agravain is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, whose first known appearance is in the works of Chrétien de Troyes. He is the second eldest son of King Lot of Orkney with one of King Arthur's sisters known as Anna or Morgause, thus nephew of King Arthur, and brother to Sir Gawain, Gaheris, and Gareth, as well as half-brother to Mordred. Agravain secretly makes attempts on the life of his hated brother Gaheris since the Vulgate Cycle, participates in the slayings of Lamorak and Palamedes in the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and murders Dinadan in the Prose Tristan. In the French prose cycle tradition included in Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, together with Mordred, he then plays a leading role by exposing his aunt Guinevere's affair with Lancelot, which leads to his death at Lancelot's hand.

<i>Camelot 3000</i> Limited series

Camelot 3000 is an American twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Mike W. Barr and penciled by Brian Bolland. It was published by DC Comics from 1982 to 1985 as one of its first direct market projects, and as its first maxi-series. It was also the first comic book series to be printed on Baxter paper instead of newsprint.

<i>Adventures of Sir Galahad</i> 1949 film by Spencer Gordon Bennet

Adventures of Sir Galahad is the 41st serial released in 1949 by Columbia Pictures. Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, it stars George Reeves, Nelson Leigh, William Fawcett, Hugh Prosser, and Lois Hall. It was based on Arthurian legend, one of the very few serials of the time with a period setting that was not a western.

<i>King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table</i> 1953 book by Roger Lancelyn Green

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table is a retelling of the Arthurian legends, principally Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, by Roger Lancelyn Green. It was intended for children. It was first published by Puffin Books in 1953 and has since been reprinted many times. In 2008, it was reissued in the Puffin Classics series with an introduction by David Almond, and the original illustrations by Lotte Reiniger.

<i>Unholy Grail</i> (comic) Comic book series

Unholy Grail is a horror comic book series written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Mirko Colak, published by American company AfterShock Comics. The colorist is Maria Santaolalla, and the letterer is Simon Bowland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Arthur in comics</span> The fictional British monarch in printed narrative art

King Arthur(Arthur Pendragon) is a legendary figure used commonly in comic books.

References