Character Analysis
More Than a Woman
Old Gorlois' wife is definitely the surprise player of this book. When we first hear about her, she's being relentlessly and inappropriately courted by King Uther. Merlin gets this report about her response: "[…] I'm told she hardly lifts her eyes in public now, in case she meets the King staring at her over his cup, or leaning across the table to look down her dress" (V.3.71).
It seems—emphasis on seems—that the poor Duchess is having to put up with some Grade A sexual harassment from the leader of the land. Merlin goes on high alert: Uther could literally lose his kingdom over this flirtation.
But when it becomes clear to Merlin that Ygraine is part of the larger schemes of Fate, he promises to help Uther hook up with her. He visits with Ygraine, who has told her husband that she's ill and needs the wizard's help. When Merlin sees her for the first time, something freaky happens:
[…] as I stood in the airy scented room looking at the woman who lay with closed eyes against the grey silk pillows, it was no woman that I saw. Nor did I see the room or the people in it. I saw only the flashing and beating of the light as in a globed crystal. (V.5.5)
Okay, so Merlin's not seeing Ygraine as a kind of Star Trek-level light species or anything. He's seeing her as part of his vision of the future. He doesn't see a woman with needs or desires; he sees the future mother of King Arthur.
Yas, Queen
Prophecy or no, things have to be handled diplomatically. People could seriously die over an affair between Uther and Ygraine—not least of all the honorable Gorlois, without whose help Uther would have lost the kingdom. How to proceed?
Luckily for Merlin, he's not the only one thinking politically about the situation. It turns out that Ygraine isn't just a shy lady hoping not to be assaulted: she really, really wants Uther. But she only wants him under the right circumstances. Here's what she has to say to Merlin about it:
"I am no trashy Helen for men to fight over, die over, burn down kingdoms for. I don't wait on the walls as a prize for some brawny victor. I cannot so dishonour both Gorlois and the King in the eyes of men. And I cannot go to him secretly and dishonour myself in my own eyes. I am a lovesick woman, yes. But I am also Ygraine of Cornwall." (V.5.33)
Dang. That's a lady with pride.
Merlin can tell that Ygraine is unlike any woman he's ever met before, and he can also tell that she's not gonna settle for being Uther's weekend fling. She wants nothing less than to rule by his side. Merlin sees the pieces of his plan sliding together with Ygraine at the center of it all: "Yes, she would be a queen. She was on fire for Uther as much as he for her, but she could still think. She was cleverer than Uther, clear-headed, and, I thought, stronger too" (V.5.59).
Things don't go exactly as either of them plan on this fateful night, of course, but that doesn't mean that Ygraine isn't going to get what she's after in the end. Of course, we don't see the end of Ygraine's journey in this book—you'll have to pick up The Hollow Hills to see what happens next.
Ygraine's Timeline