Welcome to day five of the Green Knight Week here at White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings!    Today’s post is about the relationship between Gawain and Morgan le Fay in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the archetypal testing of the Knight.   Now, this is a prime example, if not the prime example, of Morgan le Fay testing a Knight in the Arthurian legends.   She is often shown testing Knights to prove their worthiness, but her testing of Gawain is one of the best remembered!

In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, it was Morgan le Fay who set the plot into action.   As I discussed in yesterday’s post,  it was Morgan le Fay who used magick to turn Sir Bertilak into the Green Knight and sent him to Camelot to test the Court.   Since Gawain was the Knight who took up the challenge of the Green Knight to compete in the beheading game, Morgan le Fay chose to more thoroughly test Gawain the next year.   Gawain had the task of finding the Green Chapel without much other information a year and a day from his beheading of the Green Knight on New Year’s Eve at the beginning of the poem.

Other than finding the Green Chapel, Gawain was also tested on his honesty, his virtue, and his bravery to have the axe blow returned to him.   Morgan le Fay made sure that she could oversee this testing in person by putting a Faery Glamour upon herself so that she looked like an old woman.   This old woman was shown as well regarded by Sir Bertilak and his Lady but without context or an explanation as to why, until Sir Bertilak explained it all to Gawain after he had completed his Quest!   Gawain was able to prove himself worthy as a Knight and, more importantly, as a possible future successor to Arthur (as Gawain was his sister Morgause’s son).   

Gawain takes on another smaller challenge of playing a game with Sir Bertilak in the three days leading to his meeting at the Green Chapel.   Gawain and Bertilak must give one another what they had received that day.   To be more specific, Bertilak would give Gawain whatever he got on his hunting trip each day, and Gawain would give Bertilak whatever he got in Bertilak’s castle each day.   This leads to an exchange of venison (from the hunting Bertilak did) and one kiss (which Gawain had received from Bertilak’s wife) at the end of day one.   At the end of day two, Bertilak gave Gawain the bear from his hunting, and Gawain had to give Bertilak two kisses, which he had received from Bertilak’s wife.   On the final day, Bertilak gave Gawain the fox he had killed, and Gawain gave Bertilak three kisses that he had received from Bertilak’s wife.   However, on this final day, Gawain failed to give Bertilak the enchanted girdle that Lady Bertilak gave him.   She had made Gawain promise not to, and Gawain was willing to lie because he was fearful of losing his life.   

Because Gawain had not given the girdle to Bertilak, Gawain did receive a small knick on the back of his neck by the axe, which would not have happened had he been fully honest.   However, this did not mean he truly failed, only that he was imperfect.   He also learned that his assumption that he was the most expendable of the Knights of the Round Table was incorrect, as he had been the only one willing to take on the Green Knight in the first place!   After the events in the Green Chapel, Gawain refused to return to Bertilak’s castle to see Morgan le Fay when he had been invited to do so, instead choosing to go back to Camelot.   Needless to say, Gawain was forever changed after his testing by Morgan le Fay!

I hope you have enjoyed this analysis of Morgan le Fay’s testing of Gawain.   What is your favorite part of Morgan’s testing of Gawain?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the Gawain card from The Arthurian Tarot by John and Caitlin Matthews.   I found the image on https://ch.pinterest.com/pin/516154807273739944/.          

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I will be doing my first-ever Herbal Tea Blending Class on December 29, 2024!   This is a live event hosted at the shop Phoenix Lane.   Here is the link to the event on Facebook if you are interested in learning from me in person: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19hU6vdFm3/

Further Reading

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translated by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Sir Gawain: Knight of the Goddess by John Matthews