Lady of the Lake
Who was that mysterious Lady who gave the Excalibur to King Arthur?
For some reason the most iconic depictions of Lady of the Lakes for me are those, in which she has never be seen, only her hand was. Who is she? Why she helps Arthur? Who knows! It's a mystery! :)
From the other hand, it really reduces her role in the legend, which was more important, to nothing more than MacGaffin's caretaker, and this is sad. Her story in the legend is also different depending on the source, because there are three Ladies of the Lakes, some of whom sometimes considered a one character or the same character as other well-known fairies from the legend. But if we consider Nimue the Lady of the Lake, then I still can't get over the fact that the version of the story I read first was told from Merlin's perspective and it was about the evil apprentice who betrayed him for power (excuse me, how exactly turning Merlin into a tree will make her more powerful?!), and not the actual version, in which she had to get rid of old pervert who "fell in love" with her (and how young she was, by the way?). So, Merlin was lying in the first story... she was never a villain! Damn, I had no idea, and I'm still angry that the first version I heard omitted such an important detail.
Anyway, back to the iconic Excalibur scene. I can't remember which depiction showed the magically glowing lake, but I liked the effect, so I wanted to recreate something like this. I was quite short on time because the "lake" wasn't very stable, so I didn't have time to search for parts to build a more realistically looking shore.
Lady of the Lake
Who was that mysterious Lady who gave the Excalibur to King Arthur?
For some reason the most iconic depictions of Lady of the Lakes for me are those, in which she has never be seen, only her hand was. Who is she? Why she helps Arthur? Who knows! It's a mystery! :)
From the other hand, it really reduces her role in the legend, which was more important, to nothing more than MacGaffin's caretaker, and this is sad. Her story in the legend is also different depending on the source, because there are three Ladies of the Lakes, some of whom sometimes considered a one character or the same character as other well-known fairies from the legend. But if we consider Nimue the Lady of the Lake, then I still can't get over the fact that the version of the story I read first was told from Merlin's perspective and it was about the evil apprentice who betrayed him for power (excuse me, how exactly turning Merlin into a tree will make her more powerful?!), and not the actual version, in which she had to get rid of old pervert who "fell in love" with her (and how young she was, by the way?). So, Merlin was lying in the first story... she was never a villain! Damn, I had no idea, and I'm still angry that the first version I heard omitted such an important detail.
Anyway, back to the iconic Excalibur scene. I can't remember which depiction showed the magically glowing lake, but I liked the effect, so I wanted to recreate something like this. I was quite short on time because the "lake" wasn't very stable, so I didn't have time to search for parts to build a more realistically looking shore.