The Once and Future King: The Ill-Made Knight

In the third book of The Once and Future King, The Ill-Made Knight, the french boy Lancelot, son of the french king Ban, meets King Arthur. Arthur tells Lancelot of his attempts to end might being used without good cause, and asks Lancelot if he would help him when he is older. Lancelot agrees and spends his his time in France working to become a great knight, and becomes more and more dedicated to Arthur. Finally after training of years he comes to the court of Arthur.

In the beginning Lancelot hates Arthur's wife Guenever, because he feels like she is in his way of being close to Arthur, but as time goes on, Lancelot and Guenever begin to have an attraction to each other. When Arthur and Lancelot come back from wars with the Romans, they are even more tightly bonded, but seeing Guenever, Lancelot knows that she could get in the way. Tired of fighting his love affair with Guenever, Lancelot leaves on a quest. On his quest Lancelot has many adventures and fights against might being used in the wrong way. Every one he triumphs over he sends back to Guenever to repent. When he returns, it is even harder for him and Guenever to fight temptation in their affair. Through all this Arthur blinds himself to his best friend and wife's affair and instead focuses his attention on trying to find a way to divert his knights from their obsession with games and competing for greatness amongst each other.

Over whelmed with hatred for himself Lancelot leaves on another quest. On this quest he saves a beautiful girl named Elaine, who could only be saved by the best knight in the world. Elaine's father Pelles invites Lancelot to stay at his castle, but Lancelot is lonely there, missing Guenever. Elaine loves Lancelot but knows that he only loves Guenever and won't be with her so she tricks him. While he is drunk, Elaine has her butler tell him that Guenever is near and waiting for him. He flees to her and in the night he doesn't realize that it is really Elaine waiting for him, and by morning she is baring his child, who she says she will call Galahad. When Lancelot realizes, he is furious, believing that now that he has slept with a woman he can no longer preform miracles, so thinking that he has nothing left to lose, he goes back to Camelot and begins sleeping with Guenever.


When Guenever realizes the a woman named Elaine has Lancelot's child, she is crazed with anger. At this point Arthur has realized the affair going on but refuses to recognise it. Meanwhile Elaine comes to Camelot, and once again tricks Lancelot into sleeping with her. A raging Guenever confronts Lancelot and Elaine stands up for him saying she tricked him, but Guenever is still crazed. Lancelot goes mad and jumps out Guenever's window and runs away. After Lancelot runs off insane, various accounts of a strange wild man who may be Sir Lancelot float about.

Eventually Elaine finds Lancelot and has him taken care of until he comes out of his madness. Lancelot starts living with Elaine, and goes by the name Le Chevalier Mal Fet, french for "the ill made knight. At a tournament Lancelot defeats all opposers and meets with two knights from the round table who he reveals his real identity to. These knights convince him to come back to Camelot.

Much of England has been doing well and improving under Arthur's ideals, but there are still problems, so Arthur decides that maybe just ideals are not enough so sends his knights on a search for the holy grail, which is supposed to be the cup Christ drank from at the last supper. After searching many knights give up with no luck and come back to Camelot, but holy knights like Galahad and Bors keep searching. Galahad defeats his father Lancelot making him the greatest knight, and leaving Lancelot feeling distressed. He decides to make reparation for his sins and when he returns to Camelot he does not continue his affair with Guenever. Guenever is very upset by this and demands he leave on a quest instead of torturing her, so he goes.

Camelot is starting to fall apart and Mordred and Agravaine are trying to destroy it more and try to ruin Guenever. While Lancelot is gone, Guenever has a banquet an sets out apples because Gawaine loves them, but another knight poisons them and the blame is rested on Guenever. Sir Bors agrees to fight for her cause, but before the fight takes place Bors finds Lancelot and he fights for her instead, saving Guenever. Later her innocence is proven by Nimune.

Lancelot goes to visit Elaine, but soon leaves her and she realizes that Lancelot does not love her and never will so she commits suicide. Soon afterwards Guenever is captured by Sir Meliagrance, and Lancelot goes to save her, which, of course he succeeds in, but he also begins his affair with Guenever once again.

At the end of this book a man with unhealable wounds comes to Camelot to be healed by the greatest knight in the world, and no can heal him, until Lancelot lies his hands on the man. The man is cured, but Lancelot finds no joy in preforming this miracle, and instead cries in sorrow.

One of my favorite parts in this book is the confrontation between Guenever and Elaine. After Lancelot goes mad and jumps out the window Elaine seems suddenly less child like, and stands up to Guenever, speaking against Guenever's love affair, which I don't believe Guenever had ever heard before. Elaine seems suddenly Clam, stately, and only slightly cruel, while Guenever is beside herself. Elaine Questions Guenever on why she had to drive Lancelot mad. She had The greatest husband in all the world, but she could not leave Lancelot for someone else, not even a girl who loved him and bore him a son. When Elaine leaves, walks out with just the cutting, but true words, "Yes, he is mad. You have won him, and you have broken him. What will you do with him next?" The whole scene is tragedy, and yet I think it is Elaine's finest moment, and makes you think more about Guenever, and in different ways.


Arthur has been spending his whole life trying to better his kingdom. Making sacrifices and doing all he can to bring the world to higher ideals, and for periods of time it seems to be working and progressing well, but there is always something else to be fixed and worked on. Towards the end of the book we realize that Arthur's kingdom and ideals are on the decline, despite all that he tries to do, despite his best intentions and all he suffers, but he doesn't stop trying. The most depressing thing, is that we really realize now that it is going to be Arthur's family and and the ones he loves most that bring down his ideals and all he has fought for and suffered to accomplish.