Do we like them?

Do we like King Arthur?

A character from Arthurian legend (the Matter of Britain) (c. 800s onward; Malo)

Our score: 8 out of 10. Mostly yes. He's a fair, brave king who unites a divided land and inspires loyalty. His blind spots about the people closest to him cost him dearly, but we'd still back him.

Arthur is the legendary king of ancient Britain. In the stories he is the son of Uther Pendragon and is raised away from court under the wizard Merlin's guidance. He proves his right to rule by drawing the sword Excalibur from a stone, which no one else can do. In some tellings the sword comes instead from the Lady of the Lake. He marries Guinevere and holds court at Camelot.

Arthur is brave, fair and a mighty warrior, and he wins people over by example. The Round Table is a seat of equality, built so that none of his barons can claim precedence. That says a lot about the ruler he wants to be. He extends his conquests and gives his knights a code to live by, and many versions of the legend remember him as a heroic, wise king.

He loses points for being too trusting and, in some versions, too rigid. The people closest to him (family, a beloved knight, his queen) are where his kingdom is weakest. Some tellings have him make hard, even harsh, judgements to uphold the law. Still, his ideals are what we remember, and they earn him a strong score.

The legend ends in tragedy. The traitorous knight Mordred rebels against him, and Arthur is badly wounded in the last battle at Camlann. He is then carried away, and tradition says he will return as the once and future king.