Wart/Arthur Timeline and Summary

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• Wart gets a new tutor: Merlyn, an absent-minded, pointy-hatted, living-backwards-through-time wizard.
• For his first lesson, Merlyn turns Wart into a fish. The point of this lesson is to teach him about absolute tyranny. Kind of like absolute power is a bad thing for anyone to have.
• Bad Omen Time. While Wart and Kay are out playing an archery game, a gore-crow snatches Wart's arrow out of the air.
• Time for another lesson. By observing King Pellinore and Sir Grummore joust, Wart learns that knighthood can be super ridiculous.
• Next up: Merlyn turns Wart into a hawk and makes him hang out in the Mews overnight. He gets over on Cully, the slightly psychotic Colonel Hawk, and all the birds praise him for his cleverness and bravery.
• Kay's feeling left out, so Wart convinces Merlyn to let Kay have some time in the spotlight. The two go on an adventure with Robin Hood (only here he's known as Robin Wood) and rescue some of his men from the tricksy enchantress Morgan le Fay.
• Back to Wart's education. This time, he's an ant in a soulless, robotic ant community. Major Lesson Alert: He learns that too much community spirit can be a bad thing. Individualism and free thought are necessary.
• Oh, and that anyone can justify going to war fairly easily.
• The next lesson really sticks with Wart. He becomes a goose, and learns that war is completely unnatural to most species. Man is one exception.
• In fact, geese are just so above it all (literally) that they can't see those silly imaginary lines humans draw on the globe, divvying stuff up. So no need for war of any kind.
• Six years quickly go by, and it's now time for Kay to become a knight and Wart to become his squire.
• Wart has one last animal lesson: he becomes a badger and learns from a very wise fellow badger the story of how Man gained dominion over all the other animals.
• Uh oh. Kay forgets his sword at his first big tournament in London, and Wart grabs him one from a handy dandy war memorial. It's a sword stuck through an anvil sitting upon a stone.
• Turns out, this is a test for the true King of England, and it's Wart. Who is actually Arthur, Uther Pendragon's son. Merlyn fills him in on all the pertinent details.
• Wart is now King Arthur.
• Not everyone so quickly accepts Arthur as king, though. He has to basically defeat King Lot and his Gaelic Federation before they'll accept him as King.
• He does so through some kind of underhanded battle tactics, but in the long run it saves lives (especially those of the poor serfs, who aren't protected by armor), so it's worth it.
• Even though Arthur is now a young adult (and King to boot), Merlyn's still continuing his education. In particular, he's trying to get him to understand that he has to think for himself, because he won't always have someone around to tell him what to do.
• Since he's learning lots of lessons about Might making Right, Arthur decides to harness men's aggression and form a brotherhood of knights who will use their Might for only Right.
• They'll all sit at a round table, so everyone will be equal.
• Arthur learns that he'll soon be marrying Guenever, and she'll bring the Round Table with her as a wedding gift.
• Merlyn warns Arthur several times about... something having to do with Guenever and a guy named Lancelot.
• Also, Merlyn's worried he hasn't warned Arthur about something really important that's going to happen.
• Arthur meets Queen Morgause, and she seduces him (either by magic, or just because she's that hawt).
• That's what Merlyn forgot to warn Arthur about. Turns out Morgause is his half sister.
• Nine months later, Mordred is born, and that, folks, is why Malory called his big work the Death of Arthur. Because of this sin. Oh, it was accidental, you say? Well, it apparently doesn't matter.
• Arthur gets scared and is afraid people will find out that he's committed incest with his sister. Plus, Merlyn scares the bejeesus out of him and tells him that if Mordred lives, all sorts of horrible things will happen.
• So, Arthur makes a proclamation that all babies born around a certain date must be put on a barge and set adrift on the sea. To drown.
• Arthur marries Guenever and sets up his Round Table.
• He recruits Lancelot, and basically ignores the whole warning that his best friend and wife will get together at some point.
• To keep Lancelot away from Guenever for a while, he takes him off to the Roman War with him, where he whips the European guys into shape, and becomes Emperor.
• Meanwhile, he pretty much forgets the whole Lancelot-and-Guenever thing.
• Arthur heads off to France to help King Ban of Benwick (Lance's father) with a war he's having.
• The King seems to know something's up with his wife and best friend, but he's so generous and kind he refuses to go there. He does ask Lance what's wrong, giving him a chance to get things out into the open.
• Fifteen years go by, and Arthur's now older—almost an old man.
• Arthur learns that there's a big family feud between the Pellinores and the Orkneys. He discovers that the G-boys have murdered their mother and Sir Lamorak (Pellinore's son).
• It seems that his Round Table idea didn't work so well. Once they had taken care of the Might in England (all those barons who were wreaking havoc on innocent people), they now have nothing to do but to squabble violently with each other.
• So, Arthur decides his knights need a spiritual quest.
• And so the Holy Grail Quest begins.
• Arthur learns of the various quests of his knights as they return.
• When Lancelot returns, he tells Arthur that he's failed in his quest, because he is impure. Lance is just about to tell Arthur about him and Guen when Guen shuts him up.
• At some point, Arthur has had another illegitimate son, along with Mordred.
• Guenever is accused of trying to poison Sir Gawain, and Arthur must put her on trial. He asks her what her problem is that she can't keep Lancelot around to save her when these situations happen.
• Poor Arthur. He has to put Guenever on trial yet again when Sir Meliagrance accuses her of adultery.
• Arthur's next big project is to spread Law and Order throughout England with his new code of laws. Might isn't working in any way, shape, or form to maintain order, so he needs to come up with something new.
• Over the years, Arthur has been racked with guilt over what he tried to do to Mordred—and what he did do to all the other little babies when he tried to cover up his action.
• He confesses this to Guen and Lance, who forgive him.
• Arthur also tells them that he knows Mordred holds it against him and will one day get up to no good, but he can't just get rid of him. He must be bound by his own laws and ideals.
• He also mentions that, BTW, he has to be prepared to execute his own wife and best friend. Just in case they ever break the law. He's got to be fair, you know.
• Agravaine and Mordred reveal to Arthur that Guen and Lance are having an affair and have been for years.
• Arthur agrees to allow them to try to catch them in the act (since Arthur was going on a hunt anyway). He also promises not to warn them. Clearly, Arthur has lots of confidence in his wife and bestie's discretion.
• When the pair is caught, the King is once again in the position of having to put his wife on trial.
• Arthur accepts Guenever back when the Pope forces the two factions to make peace.
• The King is now pretty much a broken old man, and Gawain starts to speak for him more and more.
• In fact, Gawain is so enraged that Lancelot accidentally killed Gareth and Gaheris, that he finally badgers Arthur into going to war against him. The King caves, and heads off to France.
• Arthur lifts the siege against Lancelot when he learns that Mordred has taken over England, and has even tried to force Guenever into marrying him.
• On the eve of his final battle with Mordred, Arthur thinks about the nature of warfare, and realizes that humans just aren't in the place where they can forget about the imaginary lines (national boundaries) that cause so much trouble.
• He tells his entire story to a young page, who ends up being Thomas Malory.
• In the morning, he awakens to face his destiny.