Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. This week’s Femme Fatale Friday post is an exploration of Morgan le Fay and her Val Sans Retour, or in English ‘Valley of No Return’ and her aspect of being a tester of lovers’ hearts. It is obvious that Morgan le Fay’s primary role in much of the Arthurian legends is that of the testing Faery Goddess.
Her magick is often used to glamour herself and others in order to alter appearances during periods when she tests Knights, most famously in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. However, one of her other most prominent testing of Knights is the testing of their hearts, seeing if they will be true to their lady love. That is where her Val Sans Retour comes into play, for this is where she is said to keep the Knights who were not faithful in love relationships! Of course, Morgana did not only test the Knight’s for being faithful, but also famously tested Queens and noblewomen, especially targeting Guinevere. In this tale, Morgana creates a cursed cup that was meant to be sent to Camelot. The cup would spill if any woman who was guilty of adultery attempted to drink from it. The cup was never sent to Camelot, instead ending up in the court of King Marc of Cornwall, implicating Iseult and many of the other noblewomen of the court!
Now, the Val Sans Retour itself is a secluded area of forest where Morgan le Fay kept the Knights who failed the test of the heart. This is most often connected to the French Arthurian Romances, with the actual location of the Val Sans Retour said to be located in the Paimpont Forest, better known as the Broceliande Forest where the French Romances were famously set! I think that Glastonbury’s Faery Forest, which in line with being a place of the Fae is sometimes questioned over whether or not it even exists, could be another plausible locale for Morgana’s Val Sans Retour.
I find the fact that Morgana works to test the hearts of lovers in so many of her tales shows an interesting aspect of her nature as a Faery Queen and Goddess. She is testing hearts in a desire to cause chaos often, however, I think it can also be viewed that her testing of hearts is because she values those who are true to those that they love. A show of her placing a high value on loyalty! Morgana is often shown to have had her heart broken on multiple occasions throughout various versions of the legends. Although she was married to King Uriens, she had affairs with both Guiomar and Accolon in early versions of the legends. The relationship with Guiomar is put to rest by Guinevere, who loathed that Morgana was committing adultery (even though her marriage was an arranged one, not a love match) and serves as an ironic touch given Guinevere’s later relationship with Lancelot. The story of Accolon is a sad one, where Morgana plotted to overthrow her brother so that she and her lover Accolon could take the throne by making a copy of Excalibur and giving the real sword to Accolon before he dueled Arthur. This ended with Arthur figuring out the treachery and regaining his sword, killing Accolon, and even having his head sent to Morgana as a message!
Suffice it to say, Morgana took delight in testing Knights and Queens in the bulk of the Arthurian legends, but I think there is much more nuance to her reasoning than is often discussed. This is especially true when she tested people’s hearts, as I believe that to test a person’s heart was to reveal their trustworthiness and their loyalty, which are valued things to Morgana as a Faery Queen Goddess! I hope you have enjoyed this exploration of Morgana as a heart tester. What is your favorite story of Morgana testing of lovers? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely image of a fog settling over the Val Sans Retour in Broceliande! I found the image on https://tourisme-broceliande.bzh/en/lieu/val-retour-larbre-dor/.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Reading
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
- The Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes
- Once and Future Queen by Nicole Evelina
- https://tourisme-broceliande.bzh/en/lieu/val-retour-larbre-dor/