The Once and Future King

T.H. White retells the story of King Arthur in this classic novelization of the legendary Camelot and its court.

“The Once and Future King” is a book of all things as the title suggests that Arthur is eternal.

It is a coming-of-age story, a romance, an adventure, a comedy, a drama, a tragedy, etc. It is a book that is partly for children while other parts are very much for adults. Most books that aim for everything reach nothing successfully. White hits all of his marks.

The first of four sections, “The Sword in the Stone,” inspired the animated Disney movie of the same name. Though the Disney cartoon hardly uses any of White’s themes, other than the wizard Merlyn changing young Arthur, called Wart as a boy, into various animals. In the cartoon, Arthur becoming animals is farce atop of comedy; in the book, Arthur learns lessons that will help him as king as well as the connected skills that will prove him worthy of pulling the sword from the stone.

In “The Queen of Air and Darkness,” young King Arthur consolidates his kingdom and forms the infrastructure of Camelot, the Round Table, the code of chivalry, etc. He is also seduced into sin and the beginning of his tragic end.

In “The Ill-Made Knight,” Sir Lancelot becomes the greatest knight in the world because he is devoted to Arthur; falls in love with Guenever, Arthur’s queen; is betrayed by his love for Guenever; betrays Arthur by acting upon his love for Guenever; goes mad and unbalances the kingdom.

In “The Candle in the Wind,” the aged Arthur comes face to face with the personification of his past sin.

An older book, White sets the tone of “The Once and Future King” on the same epic scale of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” with the intrigue and human insight of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” (“Game of Thrones”).

He also uses Merlyn as an intriguing story-telling device that lends itself to the title of the book, “The Once and Future King.” 

As the title suggests, Arthur has been the king and will be king and is always king. Much of this future past is due to Merlyn. Here, Merlyn travels backward through time. As Arthur ages, Merlyn appears younger. But more importantly, Merlyn’s being backward in time allows White to interject 20th century events and ideas into the medieval tale of Arthur. White can easily contrast the reality of now with the mythic qualities of then, and vice versa.

White also penned a smaller sequel called “The Book of Merlyn,” for more on the wizard’s backward travels.

It’s been 40 years since I once read “The Once and Future King.” And now, in the future-present, the book has only grown richer in quality and magic.