Guest Post Series: Dennis Wilson Wise, "The New Poets of Rum-Ram-Ruf: Purists vs. Impressionists"

The sixth in the series of guest-posts from Dennis Wilson Wise, of which the most recent is here, lays out some of the critical underpinnings of the overall project. As before, editorial intrusion is minimal.

Check back for the next post in the series soon!

Too, please let us know if you've got ideas for guest-posts or series of your own; we'd love to hear from you!

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𝔒ne oddity about the Modern Revival is that, historically, critics don’t normally categorize literary movements according to poetic form alone. For instance, we don’t talk about the “Rhyming Octosyllabic Revolution” of Anglo-Norman England, or the “Blank Verse-ism” of the Elizabethan stage. This oddity has been one reason (out of several) some medievalists have challenged the notion of an “alliterative revival” in the mid-14^th century at all. After all, no medieval source ever mentions such a movement. The whole idea is a hypothesis put forth by modern scholars. Although my Brit Lit I survey course in college confidently taught the mid-14^th century revival as accepted fact, quite a few recent scholars have argued that just because various late medieval poems share a certain set of metrical similarities, they needn’t constitute an actual community of poets with similar attitudes or aims. The whole notion of metrical revivalism in the later Middle Ages is, therefore, a shot in the dark that misses – badly. Or so the argument goes.

It's a hot time...
Image provided by Wise

Luckily, with everyone’s favorite modern revival, we stand on surer ground. Even if William Langland, say, didn’t necessarily rub elbows with the Gawain-poet, many contemporary revivalists believe he did…and most have no trouble imagining their own revivalism in parallel terms with the alleged 14th-century movement.

That raises an interesting question, though. Despite the alliterative meter fading out of common usage by the 16^th century, alliteration itself has remained a tried-and-true device for English-language poets. What, then, separates a genuine revivalist poet from one who merely adds a little ornamental alliteration to their lines – i.e., an extra flourish of “rum ram ruf” for special effect?

Just my last two blog entries alone show how tricky this question can be. In “Dear Tolkien Estate,” Schaubert’s metrics would have made any Old English poet proud. No medieval poet, however, would recognize Majmudar’s “The Grail Quest” as a valid alliterative text. Yet it clearly is a 21^st-century revivalist poem. The problem isn’t only that the alliterative meter requires more than just alliteration (although some medievalists such Eric Weiskott, in fact, have argued against alliteration serving any real metrical function in the co-called “alliterative” meter). The problem is that individual revivalists can vary widely – and inconveniently, at least for critics who want to study this stuff – on exactly which features of the medieval alliterative meter they wish to revive.

One way to tackle this conundrum is by imagining an informal metrical scale that ranges 1 through 10, from arch-purists to extreme impressionists. Generally speaking, the latter group has little interest in faithfully reproducing the historical meter. For the purists, though, such fidelity does matter because they necessarily consider metrical fidelity a part of their overall literary goal. The key distinction lies in how many features from a particular tradition a poet chooses to replicate, and to what extent. The main traditions are Old English, Old Norse, or Middle English. Purist poets reproduce more features than not…and more strictly. Impressionist poets reproduce fewer features and less strictly. If a poem contains no recognizable metrical features from a particular tradition, though…well then, maybe it can file a membership claim for the Rhyming Octosyllabic Revolution or Blank Verse-ism, but the Modern Alliterative Revival will have to pass.

My qualifier about a metrical feature, though, is an important one. Poems that merely borrow content from medieval history or (more commonly) adopt phrasing or diction often associated with alliterative verse, such as kennings, don’t qualify as revivalist, at least for me, unless some concrete metrical feature is present. Features may include Sievers types, structural alliteration, a bipartite line structure, an accentual contour, or more. To my eye, most of Seamus Heaney’s medieval-flavored poetry falls into the non-revivalist category. Although he often uses Old English phrases such as “bone-house” (OE: bānhūs), it’s hard to see him applying medieval alliterative poetics in any consistent, discernible fashion.

Under my scale, then, I’d rank “Dear Tolkien Estate” as a purist-leaning poem, a 2 or a 3 (for reference, The Fall of Arthur by Tolkien would be 1.5), and “The Grail Quest” as 6 or 7. There’s nothing especially scientific about these numbers; they’re only meant to jumpstart the conversation. And poets can easily move along the scale at will, up or down. Going back to Poul Anderson, I’d rank “J.R.R.T” a two and “Route Song of the Winged Folk” a nine. Although this latter text clearly shares kinship with the ljoðaháttr form, it’s a long, long way from its Norse roots.

No matter where a poem falls on my revivalist-impressionist scale, though, let me stress that its ranking has nothing to do with literary merit. As mentioned before, “J.R.R.T” seems rather bland to me but “Route Song” quite impressive. About the only undeniably true thing we can say about purist-leaning texts is that their authors, one way or another, consider authenticity important. As Boromir might say, one does not simply walk into Mordor. The alliterative meter takes effort, hard effort, and simply understanding the metrics behind the historical meter takes research and pain-staking application. If a poet goes to all that effort, they darn well have a reason…and that reason often (but not always) involves subject.

For instance, Anderson normally prefers Old Norse meters, but “J.R.R.T” appears in Old English meter because he is honoring an author, Tolkien, who himself prefers the Old English tradition. Ironically, given what I said earlier about the importance of concrete metrical features, subject matter is often a better indicator than metrics of the alliterative tradition being revived. This obviously holds true for impressionists, who rarely care much about historical metrical exactness, but context clues can even help with purists. For instance, metrically, there isn’t much to distinguish Old English meter from Old Norse fornyrðislag, so without an extra-metrical hint such as subject matter, it’s incredibly difficult to make that important interpretative distinction.

So that’s my revivalist-impressionist scale. At this point, I can imagine one potentially loud objection, not against the scale itself, maybe, but against my claim that metrical fidelity has little to do with literary merit. Here goes: what if an impressionist is deviating from the historical metrics, not in deference to some special literary or linguistic reason, but because they don’t have the foggiest notion what the historical metrics are? Any poet, after all, can start off a poem with “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo,” but such nonsense does not an alliterative poem make.

...as opposed to the pizza.
Image provided by Wise

To which I respond…yeah. Sure. This could be true of an impressionist. Not every revivalist is a medievalist, and some revivalists know virtually nothing about the historical meters. No less an authority than W. H. Auden in The Age of Anxiety had to contend with accusations that he didn’t properly understand Old English prosody, and even though he in fact did, the Modern Revival contains scores of poets who don’t. For such folks, The Wanderer might as well be skaldic verse, and Piers Plowman is virtually identical with Peter Piper with his peck of pickled peppers.

Yet that doesn’t usually matter. For a fun experiment, I want to tackle three different alliterative poems that fall quite heavily on the impressionist side of the scale…and all by poets who, let us say, have a questionable grasp on their chosen alliterative tradition. To find out who I mean, though, tune in next week for the exciting reveal.

Playing with Medieval(ist?) Religion in Forum-Based Play-by-Post Roleplaying Games: A Case Study

What appears below is the text of a paper delivered in the Society's session at the 2023 International Congress on Medieval Studies. Minimal editing, other than that needed to suit online presentation and the insertion of illustrative images, has been applied to the text of the paper as given. Owing to some of the limitations of this webspace, notes in the paper are presented as unlinked endnotes, with apologies.

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𝔒ne of the means through which people begin to engage with the medieval most directly is roleplaying games. Described as collaborative extemporaneous rules-assisted storytelling,¹ the roleplaying game (RPG) can be viewed as a formalization of childhood games of pretend. The most popularly known such game is Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), which Lawrence Schick notes emerged in the mid-1970s from a combination of drunkenness, historical miniatures wargaming, and “rules for monsters and nonhuman races drawn mainly from Tolkien,”² so that it looks to interpretations of the medieval for its materials, just as other RPGs look to D&D. Given such origins, interpretations of the medieval can be expected to appear even in game-narrative genres that would normally be expected to foreclose such things. Many RPGs, however, overtly and explicitly engage in presenting the medieval--or visions and interpretations thereof. One such is Pendragon, which normally takes place within an amorphously Arthurian milieu, but which can be repurposed to treat more general ideas of what has often been called high medieval Europe.

An iteration of the Pendragon RPG which moved toward a more "historical" medieval appeared as a play-by-post forum-based (PBP) event hosted on the FallenAsh servers. A long-standing online gaming community, FallenAsh permits new and established players to participate in asynchronous collaborative rules-assisted storytelling in a variety of milieux and genres, primarily via PBPs. As of the beginning of February 2023, there were between 130 and 140 members of the community.³ An informal survey of the community conducted in January 2023⁴ noted that a majority of respondents were based in the United States, with some in Brazil, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom; community members have also noted living in Canada, as well as in Nordic and Eastern European countries, although they were not among respondents. English is the primary language of the games and their players, although speakers of many different languages and people of divergent backgrounds and positions in life are present and active in the community. Many have extensive experience playing RPGs in tabletop and online venues--decades of it, in no few cases--with some having been involved in developing and playtesting such games. They also tend to be among the more highly-educated. Their treatment of religion in the game can therefore be examined as a useful example of how gaming might understand and make use of religious ideas prevalent in the better-known parts of the European Middle Ages.

About the Pendragon RPG

As I had the privilege to note in previous work, from which the current project derives,⁵ the fifth edition of Greg Stafford’s Pendragon RPG was published in 2005 by Arthaus, a subsidiary of White Wolf Games⁶--a publisher most notable for Vampire: The Masquerade and the related World of Darkness games.⁷ While RPGs are generally neomedievalist (that is, looking back to post-medieval interpretations of the medieval), Pendragon is more avowedly directly medievalist, purporting to look back to “Facts (or at least what are widely considered facts) drawn from [chronicles such as Geoffrey of Monmouth’s]” and “parts from all literary versions” of Arthuriana⁸--or, at least English / Malorian, French, Welsh, and more modern and radical takes, notably eschewing German, Spenserian, and other visions of Arthur.

The cover of the
game-book

Even in that grounding, though, the game begins to run into commonplaces of treatments of the premodern: a focus on upper social strata and time-compression.⁹ The game flatly announces itself as focusing on knights, describing them as the chosen elite.¹⁰ While it makes some sense to do so--as I’ve noted elsewhere, “Peasant life is unattractive, particularly to those whom depictions of it might point up their own equivalent status,”¹¹ and many others have attested far more eloquently to the same--to set as of little importance the deeds and doings of a majority of people is no boon to understanding or getting things right. For a game that purports to encapsulate “brutal reality,”¹² it is hardly a commendation. Nor yet is the collapsing of the Middle Ages into a short span--“fifteen years of game time approximate a hundred years of real-world medieval history,” so that the noted game-span of 485-565 CE subsumes the late fifth through late fifteenth centuries,¹³ roughly Gildas to Malory.

Many or most of the sources upon which the game as a whole relies make much of religion, mostly Catholicism, as a prevailing backdrop against which the events of the narratives stand in sharp relief. Prevailing Arthuriana--exemplified in English by Malory--features the knights routinely hearing Mass, recoursing to hermits, and involving the Pope in their familial strifes, and the literary tradition of which Malory is the linchpin extends back to its beginnings through the writings of churchmen such as Geoffrey of Monmouth, Nennius, and Gildas.¹⁴ It follows, then, that Pendragon, for all its compressions and simplifications, would do the same--as is the case.

The game as a whole remarks at great length about religion in its primary setting; comments laying out the treatment of religion in the game take up almost as much of the text as explanations of the combats that typify both Pendragon and the RPG in general.¹⁵ Publication constraints suggest that space is only given to what is considered important for play. Many RPGs, including D&D, focus heavily on combat, in large part because the rules for combat occupy large parts, if not the majority, of the overall rules-sets. For Pendragon thus to accord religion nearly as much space to religion as to combat bespeaks the relative importance of religion to the game.

As might be expected and as is mentioned above, the focus of Pendragon’s religious discussion is on the shape of Catholic Christianity in Britain during the decades and centuries covered by the game, offering a gloss of history and chronicle, presenting some information on schisms, heterodoxies, and heresies at work, and providing what amount to character blurbs regarding historical religious figures such as the aforementioned Gildas. It must be noted, though, that the game treats a putative paganism still lingering from pre-Christian Britain in its rules. It must also be noted that the discussion of religion in the main game betrays some cynicism: “judgment is consistent--whatever most benefits the Church is upheld by its court.”¹⁶ And it further must be noted that, despite the attention given to religion in the main game rules--to the extent that “Knights who follow a strict religious way of life get an advantage in game”¹⁷--play-groups are advised against engaging overly much with religious conflict in the game.¹⁸

What becomes clear with Pendragon, generally, is that the game simultaneously acknowledges two things: the importance of religion to its venue and, at least obliquely, to the cultures in which its expected player-base exists; and the tensions that necessarily arise when treating such matters in what is an ostensibly fun activity.

About Lionheart

Lionheart is the title of a specific game of Pendragon played by post on the FallenAsh servers in September and October 2021.¹⁹ That is, the game was played asynchronously, with players posting in threads gathered into layered forums instead of in real time. Participants were encouraged to secure copies of the Pendragon rules for themselves, and the game, throughout, made ample use of the basic rules-set Stafford had laid out. Rather than taking the standard compressed Arthurian setting assumed by Pendragon, however, Lionheart focused on the coronation of Richard I of England, the eponymous Lionheart, and the short time thereafter that he remained in England before heading off to the Crusades--namely 3 through 12 September 1189.²⁰

The landing page of the game, in all its glory.

While the game swiftly departed from attested history, with players’ characters--PCs--emerging from the players’ imaginations to take up great offices of state, for example, the game made a point of grounding itself in reported events and people. For one example, an option for character creation was to take historical personages as characters; players could have as their characters Henry of Brunswick or Marie de France,²¹ for instance, and Margaret de Beaumont and William de Warenne were PCs.²² For other examples, discussions of expected conduct were digested from known sources such as the Urbanus Magnus,²³ and framing of relative social powers drew from such sources as the Domesday Book.²⁴ Further, much was done to offer broad socio-historical context to the players, with a number of threads laying out general histories from 1066 forward and concerns known to have been current to the coronation.²⁵ As such, Lionheart made a commendable, sustained effort to work within the confines of attested history.

I have to note that, while respondents from the FallenAsh community skew toward the highly educated and tend slightly towards humanistic and literary study, they are not, by and large, specialists in medieval European or medieval English history, broadly defined. Given that and the expected compression and elision of any simulation, any errors in interpretation and representation cannot be said to be made in bad faith. Rather the reverse is true; participants in the game worked to be as close as possible, given constraints of the gaming context, to the best possible understandings of the medieval available to them and to the most sensitive approaches to them circumstances would permit. None of what is noted in this paper should be taken as a condemnation; instead, the majority of participants in the game should be lauded for the effort to get things right.²⁶

What Lionheart Gets Right about Medieval Religion

Participants’ efforts did lead to a number of things coming off as accurate or authentic. For one thing, the relative centrality of organized religion is emphasized in the design of the game itself. As a PBP game, Lionheart required an informational setting in which to exist; for PBPs on FallenAsh, this is almost always in the form of location-based higher-level fora. That is, before play begins, the game’s administrator--the GM, Cearnacht--sets up overarching places for discussion. Some will be for out-of-character talk, but most will be locations in the game where PCs can act and interact. Lionheart featured four general areas--Westminster Abbey, Westminster Palace, Westminster, and London--divided into a total of 19 sub-locations. Westminster Abbey, the first of the general areas, had eight of them, as many as any two of the others. It is a minor thing, perhaps, something that might well be called paratext, but still one that accurately underscores the importance of religion in the life of medieval England.

As noted.

Further, Lionheart openly acknowledged and faced both the presence of Others--and the postcolonial capitalization is apt--in England and the poor treatment of the same by official structures. One of the earliest topics developed by the GM is, in fact, “A Word about Otherness in the Middle Ages,” and it does not shy away from acknowledging that minority populations--including religious minority populations--existed in the England of the time and that they were mistreated by the majority and those in power.²⁷ That alone marks the game off as distinct from many others, which often shy away from such topics by way of romanticizing them, if not flatly ignoring them.²⁸ That is, RPGs, both in their basic settings and in their specific iterations, will frequently gloss over the social problems found in their settings’ sources. Lionheart did not, but very nearly opened with a direct engagement with the known challenges presented by the selected setting.

Lionheart also gets right another key point in its discussion of religion, namely “the Church’s role in adjudicating the acceptability of marriages.”²⁹ Sandra Masters expounds upon that role and its development at some length,³⁰ as do Ryan Patrick Crisp³¹ and Richard J. Warren.³² It must be noted, too, that the ultimate undoing of Arthur’s kingship lies in his (admittedly unwitting, in Malory) incestuous union with his sister.³³ Clearly, incest is a problem, and consanguinity is a concern. Clearly, too, both are involved in concerns of religion in the “real” medieval, both its attested history and its “popular” culture. That the game makes note of such--especially given how infrequently other RPGs do the same--is a particular bit of accuracy.

Lionheart also makes explicit that religion is not a monolithic, all-or-nothing thing, adopting a nuanced view of the rules-set’s presentation of “good” and “bad” visions of the church. Preliminary materials for the game remark that “Most of the things described in the ‘good church’ section are true, or are at least aspired to by this very human institution. Many of the things described in the ‘bad church’ section are also true, at least of some church leaders.”³⁴ The binary view espoused by the rules-set is fairly typical of RPGs. One common plot is for a pious character to become disillusioned by the corruption of an organized religion, and another is for a similarly pious character to be led into that corruption from a belief in the infallibility of such an organization; both require that the church, whatever church it is, be one or the other. In adopting a more nuanced view, Lionheart accords more fully with attested regard for organized religion in medieval Europe, specifically in England; Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales offers perhaps the best-known English example thereof, but traces of the same can be found even in Malory, where the Archbishop of Canterbury is complicit in Merlin’s maneuverings.³⁵ More, it accords with the recognition by a number of scholars--Eleanor Janega³⁶ and Elijah King’ore³⁷ are accessible examples, but not the only ones--of the centralized church acting in ways both helpful and harmful. So Lionheart gets a fair bit about medieval religion right.

What Lionheart Gets Wrong about Medieval Religion

Participants’ efforts did not prevent all inaccuracies, however. Some of them are openly acknowledged. The GM noted, for instance, that the Commandments in the game are but one rendering among many,³⁸ and some historical events of no small significance are outright elided.³⁹

The Most Rev. and the Rt Hon.
the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, himself

Not all of the errors are as overtly addressed, however. For one, despite structural indications of the importance of religion in medieval England, only two of the seventeen major non-player characters are noted as clergy.⁴⁰ While one of them is the Archbishop of Canterbury--whose description does offer some of the kind of nuance noted favorably above--that the local priesthood (including the Abbot of Westminster) is not presented in detail seems at odds with that importance. So, too, is the lack of clerical PCs; only one PC is overtly in holy orders, while one other could be assumed to be so.⁴¹

Additionally, there are divergences in the services that are presented in the game. To be fair, the services, especially the depiction of Mass,⁴² hold true to current formal practice. The problem is that that practice, while centuries old, far postdates the times covered in the game. What the game shows is the Tridentine Mass, a standardization promulgated in direct response to the rise of Protestantism and revised repeatedly since, most notably in 1962.⁴³ The form of Mass depicted, therefore, was not current in the 1189 Lionheart purports to reflect. While it may well be the case that the differences to be found are minor, as some older sources hold,⁴⁴ it is also the case that those differences would have been regarded as of importance at the time, with the game itself remarking upon the problems occasioned by similar questions of doctrine.⁴⁵ For the game to have missed the more likely Sarum Rite, information about which is accessible,⁴⁶ seems an unfortunate oversight.

Why It Matters and What Can We Do

There is always, when discussing games, the opportunity for comment against looking too closely into things. A variation on Belisario’s Maxim⁴⁷--in this case, “It’s just a game”--is usually trotted out, and the case can be made easily that “doing homework” gets in the way of “having fun.” It is true that more information than was deployed in Lionheart is readily accessible, but parsing that information for good and useful material is time-consuming, and serving as a GM is not often compensated labor.

Too, it is to be expected that RPGs like Pendragon, as simulations, will necessarily reduce and compress their sources in the interests of treating them conveniently and in allowing players, most often not specialists in the source materials despite prevailingly high levels of formal education,⁴⁸ entry into the interactive narrative milieux in which RPGs operate. Making a game accessible, and therefore playable and more likely to be fun, usually means going with what players can find if they do decide to look. While there is substantial overlap between RPG players and people with institutional access (and the time to enjoy it!), the two groups are far from congruent. Many players, perhaps even most, cannot get into the deeper details of setting that breed more accuracy and richness. In effect, they have to take what they can get. What they can get, then, becomes all the more important to prevailing understandings, as such scholars as Sturtevant and Young assert.⁴⁹

Regarding religion specifically, there may be an additional factor playing into such inaccuracies as are present. RPGs generally have difficulty with real-world religion, owing to several factors, including borderline persecution by organized religious groups.⁵⁰ Pendragon directly speaks to additional concerns, noting that “Constant argument and bigotry [arising from theological disagreement] is almost sure to destroy a game, and players and Gamemasters alike are advised to use religious conflict in a campaign only with great care,”⁵¹ if they treat it at all. Concerns of access to the game may well prompt some elision of religious matters even in contexts where their presence is eminently sensible--such as a coronation of a sacral king in a major hub of worship in advance of that king’s pursuing holy war. Again, access to the game is cited explicitly in the framing of Otherness in Lionheart, with the GM noting explicitly that some deviation from attested history is in place while noting the fraught nature of making such a change and emphasizing that “We’re a community; let’s keep it a good one.”⁵²

Perhaps that is the most relevant thing. RPGs often tend towards the creation of communities, bringing people together for sometimes intensive, sometimes extended, and sometimes extended and intensive, periods of time to make something together. They are formative, and because they are so, it becomes important to ensure that the information from which they work is as accurate as it can be--while at the same time creating an atmosphere in which community can form. An unfortunate truth is that no few gaming communities form in such ways as permit and encourage hate and any number of execrable behaviors, both through emphasis of certain “facts” and elision of others; what FallenAsh shows, in Lionheart and elsewhere, is that the juxtaposition of getting things right and getting them wrong--unavoidably and with intent--can conduce to better community formation. In effect, Lionheart is an example of things being done right; FallenAsh is a series of examples of things being done right.

As the printer puts it, “al is wryton for our doctryne, and for to beware that we falle not to vyce ne synne, but t’exersyse and folowe vertu, by whyche we may come and atteyne to good fame and renommé in thys lyf.”⁵³ Let us read well, and deeply, and often.

Appendix: Survey and Results

The informal survey conducted of the FallenAsh community in January 2023 consisted of a Google Form posted to the #general discussion thread on the community’s Discord. Participants were asked to answer a series of short-answer questions, with the explicit and repeated notes that their participation would be voluntary, anonymous, and uncompensated (save with my kind and polite thanks, which were tendered publicly and generally in the discussion thread). The questions asked after assorted demographic data that had at various times been subjects of discussion in the thread and in other associated venues. They were

1. In what country do you live?
2. In what timezone do you live?
3. What is your primary language?
4. What is your age?
5. With what race and/or ethnicity do you identify?
6. With what gender do you identify?
7. How would you describe your sexual orientation?
8. How would you describe your religious outlook / background?
9. Which of the following best describes your socio-economic status?.
10. What is the highest level of formal education you have attained?
11. What was your major / primary field of study, or what is your trained trade?
12. For how many years have you played tabletop roleplaying games?
13. What tabletop roleplaying game do you most commonly play?

The survey received 19 responses, between 13.57% and 14.62% of the FallenAsh community. A larger sample size would, of course, be desirable, but for an informal survey, results should give some impression of the community as a whole. (I will note, however, that I am happy to be corrected in later work, if I am wrong in this.)

A large majority of respondents (13) reported living in the United States or one of its territories. Other respondents noted living in Brazil and Germany (2 each), as well as in Japan and in the United Kingdom (1 each).

Respondents were spread across time zones, with a plurality (5) living in US Pacific Time (UTC - 8). Several others live in each of US Central and US Eastern Time, as well as in UTC + 1 (3 each; UTC - 6, - 5, and +1, respectively). Two live in UTC - 4, and one each live in UTC - 9 and UTC + 9. Consequently, respondents live across 18 hours of the day--which does make for some challenges in coordinating player action in games where they all participate.

English is by far the most common primary language among respondents, with 14 of the 19 reporting it. Two respondents identify each of German and Portuguese as their primary language, and one Spanish; of interest, one German-primary respondent made a point of noting English proficiency, and one Portuguese-primary respondent noted working as a translator.

Ages of respondents ranged from 20 to 47. Mean and median age were both 37. Interestingly, no clear mode emerged; two respondents each reported being ages 36, 37, 40, and 46.

The question of race and ethnicity prompted interesting responses. Fifteen of the respondents replied with “White” or some variation thereof, with one reporting “Asian,” one reporting “African American,” and two others making reports not easily classified to someone perhaps overly accustomed to US Census Bureau rubrics. Two respondents identified as Hispanic, as well, with several others reporting national / regional identities not tracked by US Census data. One respondent offered an extended discussion (for a short-answer response) of ethnicity in their country.

The question of gender identification received a more unified response, with 15 respondents identifying as “male,” or a qualification or variation thereof (e.g., “trans,” “most of the time”). Two respondents reported identifying as female, and one as non-binary.

A large majority of respondents (12) identified as heterosexual or some variation thereof (e.g., “straight,” “for all intents and purposes”). Three identified as bisexual or a variation thereof (“bi-curious,” “homoflexible”), two as homosexual, one as asexual, and one as gynesexual.

A plurality of respondents explicitly identified as agnostic, with some addenda amid the responses (e.g., “appreciate many things in Buddhism”). Seven responded with some variation of Christian (three Catholic, two Protestant, and two without other description), and three explicitly identified as atheist. Three other responses were recorded, as well: “spiritual but not religious,” “Satanist,” and “nothing.”

In terms of socioeconomic status, reports from respondents were largely consistent. Sixteen of the 19 reported being among the middle class, with one in the upper and eight in the lower reaches of that group (one of whom noted precarity in that position); the remaining seven added no description. The other three respondents reported being in lower socioeconomic classes.

Respondents appear to be relatively highly educated; all but two reported having some higher education. Ten report having completed degrees, seven of them graduate degrees or the equivalent.

Respondents’ fields of study and training show some bias towards English and literary study, with four respondents indicating as much. Three also comment explicitly on work as teachers. No other clear curricular pattern emerges.

Reported length of experience playing tabletop roleplaying games among respondents ran high, ranging from five to 40 years. On average, respondents report having played for just over 21 years, with a median of 22 years and a mode of 25.

Regarding preferred games, respondents returned multiple answers; most gave more than one response. As might be expected from a long-standing gaming community, a majority of respondents (10) expressed a preference for playing Dungeons & Dragons. Owing to the origins of the community as an extension of a Legend of the Five Rings online game, it was similarly expected that a majority (10) expressed a preference for that game. Pathfinder, something of a spin-off of Dungeons & Dragons, was noted as a preferred game by four respondents, and a smattering of other gaming systems received mention.

As noted above, how representative the respondents are of the overall FallenAsh community is an open question. How representative they are of the overall gaming community is even more open. The responses, however, do seem to offer some indication of where at least a portion of the community falls, some idea what a gamer might actually look like, which is certain to be of some help.

Notes

1. Daniel Mackay, The Fantasy Role-playing Game: A New Performing Art (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2001), 4-5.
2. Lawrence Schick, Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-playing Games (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus, 1991), 18-19.
3. A quick check of the number of participants on the FallenAsh Discord returned 131 people, and a handful of members do not participate on Discord.
4. See Appendix: Survey and Results.
5. The work in question was originally a short talk given as part of a summative event at a National Endowment for the Humanities institute on law and culture in medieval England hosted by Western Michigan University in 2021. It was subsequently developed into the roundtable presentation “Laying Down the Law in the Pendragon RPG,” given at the 2022 International Congress on Medieval Studies. The present project both shifts and narrows focus from the earlier work, although it makes free use of the earlier materials without much comment.
6. “Arthaus Publishing, Inc.” White Wolf Wiki, accessed 15 July 2021, https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Arthaus_Publishing,_Inc.
7. “World of Darkness,” Paradox Interactive, accessed 15 July 2021, https://www.worldofdarkness.com/.
8. Greg Stafford, King Arthur Pendragon, 5th ed. (Arthaus, 2005), 6.
9. Geoffrey B. Elliott, “Some Notes about the Kerrville Renaissance Festival,” Travels in Genre and Medievalism, Tales after Tolkien Society, 4 February 2019, https://talesaftertolkien.blogspot.com/2019/02/some-notes-about-kerrville-renaissance.html.
10. Stafford 15.
11. Geoffrey B. Elliott, “About Oklahoma ScotFest,” Travels in Genre and Medievalism, Tales after Tolkien Society, 23 September 2015, https://talesaftertolkien.blogspot.com/2015/09/about-oklahoma-scotfest.html.
12. Stafford 4.
13. Stafford 5-6.
14. Geoffrey B. Elliott, “The Establishment of Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur as the Standard Text of English-Language Arthurian Legend” (doctoral dissertation, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2012), 1-6.
15. Chapter 6: Combat spans pages 112 to 131, 19 pages in total. Chapter 7: Ambition and Faith spans 132 to 155; explicit discussion of religion begins on page 138 and ends on page 153, taking up some 15 pages.
16. Stafford 149.
17. Stafford 69.
18. Stafford 138.
19. It is of interest that the game took place just after the aforementioned National Endowment for the Humanities institute. Character development occurred while that institute was in progress, a happy coincidence that influenced at least some aspects of play.
20. “Lionheart,” FallenAsh, accessed 6 April 2023, https://pendragon.fallenash.com; please note that following references to the site and its pages will be by URL rather than more formal citation.
21. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=83.
22. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=150.
23. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=122.
24. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=33.
25. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4, https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5, https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6, https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7, https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=8, https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16.
26. “Majority” because I was a participant in the game, and if others were not specialists and trained as medievalists, I (ostensibly) am; I worked to do better, but I am not certain I succeeded.
27. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2.
28. Helen Young, “Racist Discourses in Fantasy Fiction,” Diverse Fictions, 28 May 2013, http://diversefictions.blogspot.com/2013/05/racist-discourses-in-fantasy-fandom.html.
29. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3.
30. Sandra Masters, “Consanguinitas Et Ius Sanguinis: Kinship Calculation and Medieval Marriage” (master’s thesis, Western Michigan University, 1994), https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/3956.
31. Ryan Patrick Crisp, “Genealogy, Consanguinity, and the Counts of Anjou in the Eleventh Century” (master’s thesis, The Ohio State University, 1999), https://tinyurl.com/2p82jf3z.
32. Richard J. Warren, "Consanguinity Protocols, Kinship and Incest in Literature of the Anglo-Saxon through Early Renaissance Periods" (master’s thesis, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, 2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/9112206.
33. Thomas Malory, Malory: Complete Works, ed. Eugène Vinaver, 2nd ed. (Oxford UP, 1971), 27-28.
34. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3.
35. Malory 7-10.
36. Eleanor Janega, “JFC, Calm down about the Medieval Church,” Going Medieval, 7 August 2020, https://going-medieval.com/2019/11/05/jfc-calm-down-about-the-medieval-church/.
37. Elijah Nderitu King’ori, “Fight against Corruption: A Christian Medieval Historical Period Approach,” European Journal of Philosophy, Culture and Religion 5, no. 1 (2021): 38–57, https://doi.org/10.47672/ejpcr.800.
38. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=122.
39. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2.
40. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18.
41. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=150.
42. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=304.
43. Paul Halsall, “Medieval Sourcebook: Mass of the Roman Rite,” Fordham University, May 2023, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/latinmass.asp.
44. Adrian Fortescue, "Liturgy," The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton, 1910), vol. 9, accessed 10 May 2023, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09306a.htm.
45. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7.
46. Frederick Thomas Bergh, “Sarum Rite,” The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Robert Appleton, 1912), vol. 13, accessed 10 May 2023, https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13479a.htm; William Renwick, “About,” The Sarum Rite, accessed 10 May 2023, https://hmcwordpress.humanities.mcmaster.ca/renwick/about/.
47. “Bellisario’s Maxim,” TV Tropes, accessed 11 April 2023, https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BellisariosMaxim.
48. Note, however, that there are no few people who get into their areas of study in part because they started studying to be able to play their RPGs better.
49. Paul B. Sturtevant, The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination: Memory, Film, and Medievalism (IB Tauris, 2018); Helen Young, “Who Cares if Game of Thrones Is Authentically Medieval?” Travels in Genre and Medievalism, Tales after Tolkien Society, 12 June 2014, https://talesaftertolkien.blogspot.com/2014/06/who-cares-if-game-of-thrones-is_12.html; Helen Young, “Who Cares About Historical Authenticity? I Do,” Travels in Genre and Medievalism, Tales after Tolkien Society, 16 June 2014, https://talesaftertolkien.blogspot.com/2014/06/who-cares-about-historical-authenticity.html.
50. Geoffrey B. Elliott, “Unchurched: On the Relative Lack of Religion in Tolkienian-Tradition Fantasy Literature” (presentation, International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2014); Mackay 4.
51. Stafford 138.
52. https://pendragon.fallenash.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2.
53. William Caxton, preface to Malory: Complete Works, ed. Eugène Vinaver, 2nd ed. (Oxford UP, 1971), xv.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.22, "And Straight on 'til Morning"

Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series soon.

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2.22, "And Straight on 'til Morning"

Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Directed by Dean White

Synopsis

The final episode of the season opens with a focus on a tall ship sailing, one soon revealed to be Hook's Jolly Roger, aboard which Smee encourages Hook's revenge and reports that Baelfire sleeps but will be well. They confer about his origin, Smee voicing fears that Hook allays. Shortly after, the pair confer with Baelfire, who explains his arrival in Neverland and bristles at Hook before announcing his name--which Hook recognizes. The captain welcomes him to the crew.

Are you not entertained?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following the title card, the episode continues with Henry swinging under Granny's watchful eye. Gold approaches, plotting his grandson's death and working magically to that end. He is stopped in his machinations by the arrival of Mary Margaret, David, and Emma and their challenge of him. Emma moves to Henry, and Mary Margaret imparts news: Baelfire is gone, shot by Tamara and taken by a portal to an unknown place. Gold is staggered by the news, and he refuses to help David and Mary Margaret in his sorrow at his son's loss, staggering off.

Beneath Storybrooke, Hook accompanies Greg and Tamara as they proceed along their orders and retrieve one of the dwarves' pickaxes to use the artifact stolen from Regina, which will undo Storybrooke. Hook challenges them, and they activate the artifact, which begins to unmake the town, allowing the original forest to reclaim the area. Regina returns to herself in company with Emma, Mary Margaret, David, and Henry as the destruction begins. Hook arrives shortly after and is punched and threatened by David in short order; Regina offers to hinder the destruction as the rest prepare to effect evacuation from Storybrooke. Regina offers a sincere apology to Henry.

Near Neverland, the Jolly Roger receives a delegation, Smee encouraging Hook to surrender Baelfire thereto. Hook refuses, citing Baelfire's utility as the delegation boards. The delegation, consisting of Lost Boys, demands the surrender of the boy, searching the ship for him. They do not find him, and they leave with dire warnings for Hook and his crew. Baelfire takes the demonstration to heart.

Gold confronts the dwarves in his shop as they note having found a remedy for their brother's malady. Grumpy offers a dose of the remedy to Gold for Belle as he heads off. Other preparations for the evacuation continue, with David and Hook moving to confront Greg and Tamara.

What arrr you thinking?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Aboard the Jolly Roger, Hook works with Baelfire. He takes the opportunity to learn more about the boy and his circumstances. He relates a sad backstory and gets confirmation that Baelfire is the son of the Dark One in exchange--and learns of the dagger, to boot.

David and Hook confer as they proceed against Greg and Tamara. Melee and pursuit begin, with Hook securing a bean as Greg and Tamara flee. Meanwhile, Emma and Regina proceed to the active artifact. Regina purposes to remain behind as the rest of the town flees; Emma attempts to dissuade her from her self-sacrifice, unsuccessfully. Gold and Lacey face their own ends soddenly, and Gold doses her with the remedy Grumpy gave him; it restores Belle to herself, and the two reconcile tearfully.

Discussion of options ensues, with Mary Margaret suggesting removing the artifact and Emma rejecting the idea as overly risky. Emma is overruled, and she overrules Hook's attempt to escape, in turn. He challenges her about her motives, and she asserts a desire to save Henry from losing another family member, Baelfire already having fallen. The news of Baelfire's loss stuns Hook.

Smee challenges Hook regarding Baelfire. Baelfire challenges Hook regarding Milah and learns the truth of her death. Baelfire demands to be taken back to the Darlings; Hook notes the impossibility, and Baelfire turns away from him in teenage angst.

The attempt to send the artifact away is made, despite Regina's objections, and Emma finds that the bean upon which they had relied is absent, Hook having palmed the object and returned to the Jolly Roger to make good his escape. Near Neverland, Baelfire makes to depart the Jolly Roger, Hook attempting to dissuade him from going. He does not succeed, so he turns Balefire over to the Lost Boys, albeit with some regret--that afflicts him as he makes to leave Storybrooke.

Ooh. Pretty colors.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Regina's containment efforts begin to falter, and tearful goodbyes begin to be said. Regina apologizes again, and Emma realized she can assist, moving to do so. The combined efforts appear to succeed, with reforestation withdrawing--though Henry disappears, taken by Greg and Tamara, who note Henry's greater importance as they abscond with him. Chase is joined, and Greg and Tamara open a portal, taking Henry with them. Means to follow are discussed, and the return of the Jolly Roger betokens hope; combined efforts promise to be enough. Gold charges Belle with instructions as to how to protect the town in what he expects to be his terminal absence.

Baelfire finds himself on the shores of the Enchanted Forest. And Henry, as it happens, is in Neverland, where his father had been taken before--and Peter Pan awaits.

Discussion

As the final episode of the season, the present episode does not bring in much, if anything, new; it would hardly be narratively appropriate to do so. But I do note the interesting refusal of the series to allow a self-sacrifice by one of the major characters; Regina had a chance at redemption by remaining in place to ensure the rest could flee, a gesture that would resonate with modern viewership no less than with medieval readership regarding a similar thing, John 15:13 being a common point of reference. For the earlier, Christianity would be taken as a given (if not always accurately so, as others can attest more fully than I), and self-sacrifice is at the heart of Christian ideology; for Regina to act in such a way would be an eminently fitting gesture. And for the latter, self-sacrifice remains lauded, as lists of honors and awards, both civilian and military, attest.

Admittedly, production reasons--described by TV Tropes as "Status Quo is God"--suggest why the gesture would be refused; it's hard to keep a character in place who is dead, after all, and resurrecting a character after a sacrifice cheapens the sacrifice (comic books might learn such lessons usefully), while disposing of a popular character is likely to have adverse effects on ratings. Still, it's a strange thing to consider from not only a perspective of medievalist interpretation, but also from a perspective of "this is a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles" so often voiced about the United States (albeit not accurately and with a decidedly slanted interpretation of Christianity, as recent events amply demonstrate), whose population can be presumed to be the primary audience of the series.

But that's an argument for another place and time, one far more emphatic and immediate than my commentaries here can ever be.

As a reminder, there will be a break before I take up Season 3. Gotta make sure I'm ready for #Kzoo2022--and then I'll need a rest!

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.21, "Second Star to the Right"

Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

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2.21, "Second Star to the Right"

Written by Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg
Directed by Ralph Hemecker

Synopsis

At least the signage is good.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

After a recapitulation of series events, the episode follows the adolescent Baelfire after his separation from his father, a portal opened by a magic bean depositing him alone outside Kensington Gardens. The episode continues to follow Baelfire faring poorly in London six months later, sneaking into an open window to steal bread, where he is swiftly confronted by a girl and her dog; the girl offers him the bread and introduces herself as Wendy Darling.

Baelfire wakes in Storybrooke to find Tamara getting ready to train. She leaves him sleeping. Meanwhile, Gold and Lacey accost Whale until interdicted by Baelfire; Gold dismisses Lacey in favor of talking with his son. The exchange goes poorly for both of them, though worse for Gold. Seemingly at the same time, Emma and David enter Regina's office under arms in search of the magic beans, clearing the room and finding that it has been burgled. The search continues, Emma voicing her theory about Tamara and sending Mary Margaret and David to talk to Gold.

Tamara puts in at the town's docks, joining Greg as Hook restrains Regina. Tamara reports the magic beans, and the two exult in their success. After an exchange with Hook, Regina is subjected to torture by Greg.

In Victorian London, Baelfire is living in the walls of the Darling home, aided by Wendy until her parents confront her. Wendy's mother determines to take him in, despite her father's objection. In Storybrooke, Emma again searches Tamara's room, finding evidence that she has been lying to Baelfire. And back in Victorian London, Baelfire settles into the Darling household, where he is bidden watch for a strange shadow with the children--one possessed of magic. Baelfire warns the children against the magic, citing his experience, and they agree to remain apart from the shadow.

Are we suddenly in grad school?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

David and Mary Margaret call on Gold for assistance with Regina, David calling in an owed favor to compel the assistance. He completes a working that facilitates a connection between Mary Margaret and Regina, and he dismisses the pair. Lacey reenters, having overheard the conversation, and she challenges Gold over his abilities. Mary Margaret uses the tool Gold provided, linking her perception to Regina's amid the latter's torture.

They really pack these in...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Victorian London, Baelfire sees Wendy looking out at the shadow again, despite her promise. Baelfire warns Wendy again, and she refuses, taken up with the thrills offered by Neverland and departing thence. In Storybrooke, Emma and Baelfire search out Tamara and Regina, finding the former on the beach. Tense conversations ensue, and Emma's search continues. Tamara, however, repairs to where Greg is torturing Regina, and she and Greg note their intent to destroy magic in the world, noting their previous successes and their group's. Mary Margaret, having lost her link to Regina, reports what information she can--which is not much amid the pain. The smell of sardines she notes, however, gives away the location of Regina's confinement--which happens to be near where Emma is walking, coincidentally, and Emma summons aid to her location.

Baelfire wakes in Victorian London as Wendy returns to the Darling house. She reports her experiences in Neverland, noting her reasons for return: the shadow wants a boy, and will be taking one of Wendy's brothers. She admits the correctness of Baelfire's warning, and he purposes to protect her.

In Storybrooke, Gold prepares another working, demonstrating for Lacey. She grows greedy for what his power can provide, and he notes the possibility of his own undoing. She encourages him to eliminate the threat to him. Meanwhile, Emma and Baelfire move ahead of assistance to search for Regina, encountering David and Mary Margaret. The search continues, observed via camera by Tamara; she prompts exfiltration, which Greg refuses in favor of finding his father. Tamara departs, and Greg proceeds; Regina reports having killed Kurt long since.

Dark, man. Dark.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Victorian London, Baelfire arranges matters with the Darling children to hinder the advance of the shadow. They secure the room as best they can and wait for it to come--which wait is brief. The shadow comes, and Baelfire interposes himself between it and its target, sacrificing himself for the Darling family. The shadow takes him swiftly aloft above London and thence to Neverland.

In Storybrooke, Greg tortures Regina into unconsciousness. Greg flees, and David and Mary Margaret make to secure her, biding Emma interdict Greg. Tamara reveals herself then, entering via heavy pipe, and confronts Baelfire with the truth. She shoots him, and melee ensues. Tamara deploys one of the stolen magic beans, creating a portal and using the distraction of it to cover her escape. Emma and Baelfire admit their love for each other, and Baelfire sacrifices himself to preserve Emma.

Elsewhere, the fled Greg digs in the woods for his father's remains, finding evidence of his death. The Mother Superior heals Regina, and Emma returns to report events; her parents attempt to comfort her. In Neverland, Baelfire struggles against the shadow, falling from its grasp into the dark ocean and eluding its search--whereupon he is rescued by the crew of the Jolly Roger. And Tamara joins Greg in the woods, holding the crystal that Regina had meant to use to destroy Storybrooke--which they now intend to use for that purpose.

Discussion

As in the previous season, and as in previous series, the end of the season (the present episode is its penultimate episode) admits of less new medievalism, being focused on drawing a storyline to a close. Given the nature of serial television, of course, it is setting up for the next major story-arc (this is a rewatch, after all), but it is not introducing much new material even with that; it is clear that the series will be going into Peter Pan, but that was already an option with the initial appearance of Captain Hook, so that's hardly new.

A bit of a note: after wrapping up the season and addressing the coming International Congress on Medieval Studies, I'll be taking a bit of a break. Just so you know.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.20, "The Evil Queen"

Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

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2.20, "The Evil Queen"

Written by Jane Espenson and Christine Boylan
Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton

Synopsis

After a recapitulation of series events, the episode begins with a bound Hook being confronted by Greg and Tamara in the ruined clock tower in Storybrooke. He refuses, citing the death of Rumpelstiltskin--and he is shown that Rumpelstiltskin yet lives. The demonstration convinces him to aid in recovering Kurt in exchange for assistance in killing Rumpelstiltskin.

Where's Wat Tyler when you need him?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The episode pivots to a scene in the Enchanted Forest during which Regina leads a small party to investigate a cottage where Snow White had been hiding. The villagers are gathered and pressed for information, but none is forthcoming, prompting an execution order.

In Storybrooke, conversation about returning to the Enchanted Forest between David and Mary Margaret ensues. Regina, disguised, overhears the conversation and proceeds on her own path. In the Enchanted Forest of the past, she confers with Rumpelstiltskin about her failure to elicit cooperation from the peasantry regarding Snow White, and he makes Machiavellian comments regarding her reign that she contests with little success. She asks for further magical assistance from Rumpelstiltskin, plotting revenge; he agrees to assist her in exchange for cutting trade with George's kingdom. The deal is concluded, and Regina, disguised, proceeds upon her plan to find and kill Snow White.

In Storybrooke, Regina meets with Henry confusing him. She shows Henry the magic beans she has purloined. She works to suborn Henry to her against the plan to leave her behind when they return to the Enchanted Forest. She overplays her hand, however, and Henry balks at the idea, resisting until Regina ensorcels him to wipe his memory.

Things seem remarkably regular, uniform...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Disguised as a peasant, Regina stalks through a local market. Amid doing so, she overhears talk lambasting the queen and rails at it. She is taken prisoner by local authorities, forgetting the constraints of her disguise.

In Storybrooke, Hook meets Regina in her office. He asks her for sanctuary, noting Greg and Tamara's plans and trying to argue for another arrangement of his own. She notes the presence of magic beans and her own plan to abscond with Henry--which will also defeat Rumpelstiltskin.

Hell of a cheat sheet.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Emma runs into Tamara at Granny's, noting a strange list as she helps her pick up dropped goods. They confer briefly, awkwardly, and Emma realizes Tamara's deceit--and Tamara, Emma's understanding. She reports her suspicions to Mary Margaret, who tries to allay her concerns. Henry overhears and plots to assist in investigating Tamara. And Regina and Hook proceed into the caverns beneath Storybrooke's library.

In the Enchanted Forest, Regina faces summary execution and calls out to Rumpelstiltskin for aid. She is saved by an attack from Snow White and flees from town with her.

Regina and Hook proceed, Hook musing on revenge. As he does, he displays a token that Regina's mother had given him; she demands it back from him, and he obliges her. In the event, it mutes her magical abilities, perilous as they move to confront Maleficent and she uses Hook as bait for her as she reconstitutes herself from ash and dust. Melee ensues, going poorly for Hook. Regina, meanwhile, retrieves another bit of magical apparatus.

In the Enchanted Forest, Snow White attends the still-disguised Regina. Conversation alludes to other adventures on Snow White's part, and Snow White rehearses her story with Regina. In Storybrooke, Henry and Emma confer about how to proceed investigating Tamara. Henry talks about travel to the Enchanted Forest, longing for the life that might be available there. They snoop, Emma finding a loose floorboard before being warned off by Henry as Neal approaches. Neal realizes Emma is snooping about and he confronts her about Tamara. They investigate the floorboard, finding nothing, and Emma reluctantly withdraws.

Remarkably tidy deaths, these.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the Enchanted Forest, Regina rises to find Snow White preparing to evacuate against the approach of Regina's own patrols. She accompanies Snow White into the woods and presses her about her relationship with the queen, and Snow White opines on it. Regina is somewhat taken aback, and her ruse begins to falter. They come upon the massacred village, and Snow White's heart is soured against Regina; Regina's ruse is broken, and she flees.

In Storybrooke, Regina returns from her expedition to find Hook waiting for her, to her surprise. He confronts her with Tamara and Greg, and she finds her magic has been muted. Meanwhile, Emma and Henry confer about their hindering, and David takes Leroy and Mary Margaret to investigate the bean field. They find it burned and despoiled.

Regina confronts Rumpelstiltskin for the removal of the spell he placed upon her. She accepts his Machiavellian ideas, and he restores her to herself. And as the evil queen, she faces Greg and Tamara, who take her captive.

Discussion

One brief note of interest: There is an extra in the episode played by a man credited as Hrothgar Mathews. Þæt wæs god freólsman!

There is a common conception that medieval rulership was absolute and monolithic. As with many common conceptions, it is incorrect. Even a fairly broad overview of medieval theories of rulership indicates as much, noting that even in the highest and holiest instances of medieval rulership, there was an understanding that bad rulership could rightly be overthrown. While what counted as "bad" might very from place to place and time to time, the fact that such justifications were seen even in relation to the pinnacles of governance is...telling. And it is seen, indeed, even in such commonplace medieval/ist works as those treating Robin Hood and the wars of dynastic succession that constitute and inform so much; how many would rise up against a system they see as working well for them?

Consequently, the attention the present episode pays to the unrest against Regina's reign in the Enchanted Forest--surprisingly more so than against her governance of Storybrooke, which takes place in an explicitly election-driven dynamic--while seeming at first blush to run counter to "medieval" thought in favor of pandering to a predominantly American audience, accords more closely with reported medieval understandings than is typically supposed. That it is intentionally so is doubtful; there's enough the series gets wrong, as has been noted repeatedly, that makes clear "correctness" is not a major concern (with some justification, of course). But even an unintentional act has effects, and what we do without thinking about it says quite a bit about us as we approach the world.

Once upon a Time Rewatch 2.19, "Lacey"

Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

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2.19, "Lacey"

Written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz
Directed by Milan Cheylov

Synopsis

Not all it's cracked up to be, really...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following a recap of series events, the episode begins with a celebration of Henry's birthday, Gold offering him a gift of any single object from his shop. He selects a magic wand, the functions of which Gold demonstrates--by transforming the boy into ceramics and shattering him. It is revealed to be a dream, from which Gold starts awake.

After the title card, the episode shifts to Baelfire and Henry playing as Gold looks on. Regina joins him, and Gold notes to her that his son is Henry's father--making them family, a machination of fate. Regina prophecies his failure with his descendants.

Gold calls on the amnesiac Belle, and the two confer. She accepts that her past, unremembered self had a relationship with Gold, and she recalls having been healed. She also asks him for help in recalling herself to herself--which help he agrees to provide, as it will help him, as well.

The episode pivots to Belle's captivity with Rumpelstiltskin in the Enchanted Forest. Rumplestiltskin rebukes her for her weeping and its distractions from his work, and their conversation is interrupted by sounds of a break-in in progress. Rumplestiltskin proceeds to intercept the burglar. When the episode pivots back, Belle is making ready to leave the hospital where she has convalesced. Regina calls on her and presents Belle a matchbook that carries a spell with feigned memories.

Ooh! A map!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Meanwhile, Greg and Tamara continue to plot. He notes no success in finding his father, though he reaffirms his faith in his father's presence. She notes being ready to retrieve a package that evening.

David and Mary Margaret drive Emma to a hidden field, one cloaked and bearing a crop of nascent magic beans, tended by Anton. Emma intuits their purpose with the beans, railing at their intent to return to their native realm even as they invite her to return with them in the hopes of a happy ending.

Gold finds Belle has left her hospital room and stumbles upon the matchbook Regina had planted. He follows its clue to a disreputable establishment and finds Belle under the identity of Lacey--that with which Regina has enchanted her via the matchbook. The episode pivots to Rumpelstiltskin tormenting the thief that had breached his residence as Belle cleans. As he takes a break from his efforts, Belle calls on his victim, tending to him and releasing him to flee. The episode pivots back to Gold confronting Regina for her workings on Belle. She coldly dismisses him from her office.

Gold calls on David, asking for help with Belle. Reluctantly, he offers advice for reawakening her actual--not curse-borne--identity: "Show her the man she fell in love with." The episode pivots to the Enchanted Forest, where Rumpelstiltskin prepares to resume "work" and finds the prisoner escaped--with Belle's admitted assistance. She challenges him, and he notes that she had been gulled, vowing vengeance and compelling her to accompany him in its pursuit.

The episode moves to Gold's pursuit of Belle, showing his inept courtship. David encourages him in his efforts, which yield some success. Elsewhere, Regina confronts Emma as the latter reads, a tense exchange ensuing. And after, the arranged date between Gold and "Lacey" commences, awkwardly, and the episode pivots to Rumpelstiltskin's pursuit of the thief, during which he and Belle confer. A confrontation with local authority ensues, revealing that Rumpelstiltskin's quarry is Robin Hood. After a brief pivot back to the date, from which "Lacey" has fled for an assignation, pursuit continues, where Robin heals Marian of a malady with the wand stolen from Rumpelstiltskin. The revelation that Marian is pregnant stays Rumpelstiltskin's hand, about which Belle lauds him. And in Storybrooke, Gold finds that "Lacey" rejects him.

In the night, Regina follows the trail of David, Anton, and the dwarves back to their hidden field, finding the work on which they have been engaged and delighting in the possibilities thereof. Gold returns to his old ways, and "Lacey" happens upon him engaged in them, finding him all the more compelling therefore. Baelfire returns Henry to Emma, and she asks him about returning to the Enchanted Forest. And Tamara makes good on her promise of delivery--of Hook.

Discussion

While scenes from a dream are often regarded as variants on the deus ex machina, they are, as has been noted previously (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, if not also elsewhere) staples of medieval literature. Dream of the Rood is one example, of course, and Pearl another, with Arthurian literature offering any number of others. Dream vision is not original to medieval literatures, perhaps; JA Cuddon remarks that while it is "extremely popular in the Middle Ages," it has its precursors in Cicero and Macrobius's remarks on the same. Even so, it is pervasive in that time, so that it is ripe for taking up by a medievalist property such as the present series--which does, as repeatedly noted and observed, make use of the device, to greater and lesser degrees.

The episode also introduces the Robin Hood mythos into the series. There is no shortage of material discussing such, of course, with accessible entries here and here, among others. Some more reactionary types might well decry the presentation of people of color amid such stories, believing as they do in the myth of the monochrome Middle Ages and hoping that their presentations of such beliefs might somehow justify their execrable ideologies and their even more contemptible attempts to impose those ideologies on the world they inhabit. They are, of course, in error, severally, and should be decried and rebuked for those errors as often as can be done. And it is the case that, even among concerns of "accuracy," it muse be remembered that the medieval stories that have been transmitted--which transmission is itself a concern--are themselves products of change and refiguration. Arthurian literature shows it, among others; Arthur changes substantially from Gildas and Nennius to the Galfridian conception through the high chivalric to Malory. He is far from the only such. How the changes occur and what changes are retained--and imposed--shows much about those who do the changing and those for whom the changes are made; they are well worth the attention, for those and other reasons.