Today’s post will be one that I have been thinking about since I first saw Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty. It is my favorite ballet of all time, and I loved that he used the premise of faeries also being vampires in order to allow the prince and Aurora to fall in love before the curse!
Morgana as an archetypal dark faerie figure makes me feel that she is deeply connected to the idea of being both a faerie and a vampire. Morgana began as a potent healer, who over time became nothing more than an evil sorceress and antagonist! It is this part of her that I can see as a vampy faerie. She is out to obtain power for herself and to meet her goals! There is so much beauty in what she is in this way! We should not fear the darkness within!
Morgana as a vampy faerie can be best exemplified within the ballet as Carabosse, the evil fairy. I already had an entire blog post comparing Arthurian legends with Sleeping Beauty! In that I compared Morgana with Maleficent, and likewise here with Matthew Bourne’s ballet she can be seen as comparable to Carabosse! I have always loved Sleeping Beauty more than any other fairytale, and by extension that is my favorite of all ballets as well.
Vampires and faeries are both magical beings, and that means that there is a certain level of comparison between dark faeries and the undead. Morgana has a connection to death to begin with, making her an even greater example of a faerie that can also be a vampire. In the versions of the legends where she is an antagonist of Arthur and his court she uses her powers of necromancy to make trouble for her half-brother.
Necromancy is very connected to vampires, as vampires are living dead. Necromancers are magical workers that work with the dead. Morgana having studied the art of necromancy make her a good candidate for both vampire and faery status. Given that I have connected Morgana to Gwargedd Annwn, who are “wives of the Underworld” makes this possibility even more likely. I have written on multiple occasions that I believe that Morgana and the Lady of the Lake are descendants of the faery tradition of this Welsh lake maidens! Even her status as a healer that can possibly grant someone immortality makes a strong claim for vampiric status!
I know this has been a rambling post, and that it may seem strange to try and connect vampires, faeries, and Morgana Le Fay, but I see there is a possible link there. Given how invested I get in these ideas, I had to write a post exploring this. In any case, I hope all of my lovely readers have enjoyed reading this. Let me know your comments in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a Gothic looking Morgan Le Fay. I found the image on https://www.artstation.com/artwork/dOPRXX.
Further Reading/Watching
- Sleeping Beauty: A Gothic Romance (2013)
- Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
- Vita Merlini by Geoffrey of Monmouth
- Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes
White Rose of Avalon 