Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings.   Today’s post is going to be about some of my favorite romantic love stories which feature a Faery!   In particular, this will be a brief overview of four of my favorite Arthurian Faery Love Stories.   I know that many other love stories from folklore and fairytales feature a Faery, but I wanted to keep this post consistent, so I simplified it to Arthurian tales alone.    There is no shortage of Arthurian Faery love stories, as basically all of the main women in the Arthuriad are Faery Women, and there are many hints of this Faery nature in their tales.   Without further ado, let’s look at the Faery love stories!       

LANCELOT & GUINEVERE

~The most iconic of all Faery love stories is that of Lancelot and Guinevere.   Guinevere is the ultimate Faery Queen associated with romance and sexuality.   Her love story with Lancelot is a forbidden one, but also one that signals the wrongs of her husband.   Arthur came to the point of not spending time with or giving attention to Guinevere!   Of course, Lancelot and Guinevere do not end up together, no matter what my hopeless romantic heart would prefer.   Lancelot and Guinevere’s romance has been a mainstay of the legends since Chretien de Troyes first introduced Lancelot.   But even in earlier legends, Guinevere always had a Knightly lover when Arthur’s interest in her waned.   I personally love Lancelot best, so I discuss him as her ultimate Knighly lover for that reason, but I wanted to acknowledge that Guinevere having a Knightly lover has been a mainstay since the beginning of the legends.   Lancelot and Guinevere’s affair is truly the best Arthurian love story, after all, their love impacted the entire history of a Kingdom, irreparably altering the end of Camelot and the death of Arthur!   

TRISTAN & ISEULT

~Almost as iconic as Guinvere’s tale with Lancelot is that of Tristan and Iseult.   Tristan and Iseult’s tale of love began before her marriage and continued well after she became the Queen through her marriage to King Marc of Cornwall.   My favorite versions of the tale have them falling in love naturally, but there are famously other versions where a love potion is to blame.  My favorite version of their ending is when they are buried next to one another with two trees planted above their graves.   That is because I adore the romance of the two trees’ limbs growing to become entwined together as a symbol of the undying love of Tristan and Iseult!   Of course, other endings are simply tragic, with Iseult having to remain married to Marc, and Tristan marrying another.    That version ends with Tristan succumbing to his wounds that Iseult had been sent to heal before she could get there.  Iseult is sent for because her nature as a healer is always acknowledged in the tale.       

YVAIN & LAUNDINE 

~Yvain is also known as Owain in the Welsh romances, with Yvain being his name in French romances.   Yvain ended up marrying Laudine after killing her husband in a Knightly quest.   This is certainly a strange circumstance for a romance to blossom, given that Yvain essentially fell in love with a grieving widow after killing her husband in battle.   However, Laudine understood that Yvain did not kill her previous husband in malice, and respected that he was simply doing his job as a Knight.   Laudine is a Faery Queen who brought Yvain into her Faery Realm, but he was tempted to leave on a quest with Gawain.   She made him promise when he was leaving on this quest that he would be back within a certain period of time.   When he forgot to come home on time, he needed to win back her love.   Laundine’s handmaiden Lunette was the one to help Yvain win back her love, which I adore because they had another Faery Woman rooting for their relationship to work.   Not to mention that the idea of Yvain working to win back her love is one of my favorite aspects of the tale!

GAWAIN & RAGNALL

~Ragnall begins the tale as the classic loathly lady archetype, presented as an old hag that gives Arthur a riddle as a challenge that he cannot solve.    Gawain agrees to marry her in order to help Arthur.   When they do marry Ragnall reveals that she was cursed into appearing as an ugly hag during the day and having her true visage of a lovely young woman at night.   She offered Gawain the choice of how she appeared when, but he gave her the choice, as it was her body.   That broke her curse, as he gave her the bodily autonomy she deserved!   In fact, he also solved the riddle, as the answer was that what women most desire is Sovereignty.

~I hope you have enjoyed this basic overview of some of my favorite romantic Faery Love Stories.   Which is your favorite of the four?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! 

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a lovely painting that gives major Arthurian love story vibes.   I found the image on https://discover.hubpages.com/literature/Archetypal-Chivalry-of-Arthurian-Tradition. 

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: https://patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

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

• Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes
• Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
• Once and Future Queen by Nicole Evelina
• The Faery Gates of Avalon by Gareth Knight