# What DID happen to Excalibur?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 8, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312 "2003-04-08T14:24:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/21 "2003-04-09T03:56:14Z")
Well, see, the Sword in the Stone is his first sword. However, it eventually breaks-and then he goes to Lake Avalon and is given Excalibur.
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### Author:  [@Siegfried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siegfried)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/22 "2003-04-09T07:09:25Z")
This takes me back to high school. We spent six weeks in English studying the Arthurian legends. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Anyway, I have a minor question related to the Arthurian legends. I hope this isn’t too much of a hijack. Anyway, do any of the legends ever explain what happens to Kay and the rest of Arthur’s foster family after he becomes king? I know the movie _Excalibur_ shows him hanging around with Arthur close to the end (Kay summons Camelot’s warrior for the final battle with Mordred). But I don’t recall anything from the written works we studied.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/23 "2003-04-09T07:29:53Z")
I took an Arthurian Romance course in college (c. 1978), and I seem to recall that Sir Kay _was_ a knight of the Round Table.
But I don’t recall that he played a major role in any of the more prominent adventures.
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/24 "2003-04-09T07:57:13Z")
In addition to Excalibur and the sword from the stone, Arthur also has his … SPEAR AND MAGIC HEL-MET! NORTH WINDS BWOW! WEST WINDS BWOW! TYPHOONS! HUWWICANES!
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/25 "2003-04-09T11:38:40Z")
Isn’t “Excalibur” a derivation of the latin phrase “freed from stone” (Ex Cal Libre, perhaps?). How does that fit?
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/26 "2003-04-09T11:55:58Z")
I’ve got it!
I pinched it when Arthur was watching _Survivor_!
Whatcha think it’s worth?
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/27 "2003-04-09T14:10:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Isn’t “Excalibur” a derivation of the latin phrase “freed from stone” (Ex Cal Libre, perhaps?). How does that fit?
Geoffrey of Monmouth called it Caliburnus, from _chalybs_ (Latin for steel). On the other hand, it may be derived from a different Celtic word. Sometimes people just make stuff up.
An interesting feature of many versions is that the scabbard of Excalibur is actually more valuable than the sword itself, because it will guard the wearer from harm. But a scabbard isn’t romantic.
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### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/28 "2003-04-09T14:46:42Z")
Excalibur’s sheath keeps the bearer from bleeding, not from all harm.
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### Author:  [@TigoleBitties](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TigoleBitties)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/29 "2003-04-09T17:10:42Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \*
> \*\*Sir Bedeviere (sp) Threw Excalibur into the lake and an arm “clothed in white samite” rose from the water and brandished it three times. \*\*
Or in Pythonese
‘Some guy who didn’t believe you could wield supreme executive power with cutlery tossed a big sword to some watery tart.’
Dennis rules!😃
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### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/30 "2003-04-09T18:21:58Z")
Woo hoo, an Arthurian thread!
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by kaylasdad99 \*
> \*\*I took an Arthurian Romance course in college (c. 1978), and I seem to recall that Sir Kay _was_ a knight of the Round Table.
>
> But I don’t recall that he played a major role in any of the more prominent adventures. \*\*
Kay is a knight of the Round Table and, at least in Malory, Arthur’s seneschal – a sort of steward or household manager. In most of the legends, he’s also a fairly unpleasant guy who goes around insulting new knights until they prove themselves. Malory’s [Tale of Sir Gareth](http://icg.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/litsubs/romances/gareth.htm) is a typical example, as is the opening of Chretien de Troyes’ [Yvain](http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Yvain/part1.html).
As a side note, the nasty-talking warrior is a stock character in Celtic mythology; there’s an Irish character called Bricriu Poison-Tongue who plays the same sort of role, and Kay himself goes back to the earliest Welsh Arthurian tales.
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### Author:  [@Siegfried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siegfried)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/31 "2003-04-09T19:38:08Z")
Thanks for the info, **kaylasdad99** and **Fretful Porpentine**.
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### Author:  [@SnugTheJoiner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnugTheJoiner)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/32 "2003-04-10T03:35:32Z")
Hmm. . . . Boorman’s EXCALIBUR . . .
Isn’t that the movie where King Arthur is dying of a mortal wound in the light of A BLOOD-RED SUNSET and he sends his knight to the lake to throw the sword in, and when the knight gets to the lake it’s HIGH NOON, and he hides the sword and goes back to Arthur who’s STILL dying in the light of A BLOOD-RED SUNSET, and Arthur tells him to go back to the lake and REALLY throw the sword in this time, and so the knight goes back to the lake and it’s STILL HIGH NOON . . . ?
I know that the movie has many admirers, but I found it laughably awful.
Don’t get me started about the camera crew reflected in Merlin’s helmet.
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### Author:  [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/33 "2003-04-10T04:21:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Alessan \*
> \*\*Isn’t “Excalibur” a derivation of the latin phrase “freed from stone” (Ex Cal Libre, perhaps?). How does that fit? \*\*
Not sure if it was freed from stone , but the ex calibre , was the art of attaching the pomel and hilt of a sword to the blade.
The blade would be forged as normal , but at the time they had no way of attaching a hilt , which was really important for not having it slip when your hands got all sweaty and such.
That method , was introduced , so you took a mould , and bonded the hilt to the blade.
Declan
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-happen-to-excalibur/167312/34 "2003-04-10T12:12:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by SnugTheJoiner \*
> \*\* Arthur tells him to go back to the lake and REALLY throw the sword in this time,_\*
That part happens three times in the “real” legends. Mallory says nothing about the position of the sun. 🙂
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