A To Z Blogging Challenge 2020: N Is For... Nimue!

N is for Nimue... Nyneve...Niniane... Viviane - no, not for Viviane, but those who think of the Lady of the Lake often think all these are the same character. Given that there are so many poems and romances featuring a Lady of the Lake, I can’t see why they all have to be the same person, and given that she would have to be doing everything from raising Lancelot to handing Arthur his sword to locking up Merlin and then becoming court wizard. I suppose if she was an immortal fairy, she might be able to do that, but sometimes she is presented as human. 

Malory presents her as “one of the damsels of the Lake”, so, in his work, definitely one of a group of women who hold this title. Interestingly, Merlin is travelling with her when they arrive in Benwick, where Lancelot is still with his parents, and Merlin promises them that within twenty years he will be doing amazing things. (Maybe Malory read one of Lancelot’s propaganda sheets...)

In the Morte, it says that Merlin keeps pestering Nimue and won’t leave her alone. Today, it would be considered sexual harassment, but this was written in the 15th century, so instead of reporting him to the king, who would probably not go against his mentor anyway, she decides she might as well get something out of it - training in his craft - and makes him swear not to use magic on her if she does what he wants. She says nothing about using magic on him!  

Nimue enchanting Merlin. Public Domain.

Merlin goes away with her despite knowing what’s going to happen. Arthur argues that since he knows, he should use that knowledge to prevent it from happening, but Merlin say no, he just has to get on with it. 

As I recall, somewhere in T.H White’s novel, Merlin tells him the story of the “Appointment in Samarra”, to explain it. (That’s the one in which a merchant encounters Death in the marketplace in Baghdad. Death looks surprised. The man is terrified and gallops off to Samarra overnight. There, he meets Death again, and this time Death tells him it’s his time, explaining that he had been surprised to see the man in Baghdad because he knew he was due to meet him that day in Samarra). So, explains Merlin, he can’t avoid what will happen. When you think about it, this is how it works in a Greek tragedy. A man is told he will kill his father and marry his mother and tries to avoid it(no one has told him he is adopted). Then he kills an old man he meets on the road and marries his widow, who is old enough to be his mother...

In Malory’s version - and White’s, which is based on Malory - he is locked in the cave, having told Arthur almost everything he needs to know, except who his mother was...

The thing is, after this happens, Nimue turns up again as the new court wizard - and does a very good job, saving lives, including Arthur’s, and issuing warnings when needed. She is probably better at the job than Merlin, in my opinion. One does have to wonder what she told Arthur about what she did with his former wizard.

Nimue saving Mad Lancelot. Public Domain

She marries Sir Pelleas, one of Arthur’s knights, and presumably lives happily ever after, at least till Camelot is wiped out, and maybe after. 

Nimue gets a lot of written works, though usually as a secondary character. She appears in the Warlord Chronicles(Cornwell) as a major character, one of Merlin’s wards and his lover, somewhat crazy, but so is Merlin. 

She is there in Tennyson’s Idylls Of The King. I think this version may be what inspired some Pre-Raphaelite art. 

She is a positive character in Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy - see my post M Is For Merlin for details. 

In Bradley’s The Mists Of Avalon, she is the daughter of Lancelot and his wife Elaine. One of their children is, of course, Galahad, that most Christian knight, but their daughter goes off to Avalon to study to be a pagan priestess. From there, she is sent to be one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting and meets Kevin, the Merlin - a title, rather than a name - who has been travelling around, so has never met her and doesn’t know she is a trained priestess. She is under orders from Avalon to seduce him and take away his powers. If you want to know why, you’ll have to read the book for details. 

It ends in tragedy for both of them. 

I confess, I have used Nimue in my own fiction, including two published stories, “The Sword From The Lake”(Andromeda Spaceways 5) and “Decisions”(Andromeda Spaceways 12) and she plays a large role in my Green Knight novella, “A Matter Of Honour”, for which I am still looking for a market, but will send you in ebook on request, for free. Email me. 

In the first mentioned short story, she is a teenager studying with the Ladies of the Lake. When the Faerie who have been guarding Excalibur won’t give it up for Arthur, she steals it and swims away from their island, with Morgana chasing her, and hastily shoves it out of the water for Merlin to take. (Yes, she is the owner of the hand in white samite!)

In the second story, originally written to submit to an anthology about the death of Camelot, she is older, now married to Pelleas and trying to prevent Camelot from falling. Nothing works; each attempt ends up in a world which is even worse than the one she is in. Oh, and she didn’t lock up Merlin, he merely retired. 

The story of the Green Knight is seen largely from Nimue’s viewpoint in “A Matter Of Honour”.

I like this character! In my opinion, if she did lock up Merlin, he had it coming. 

What do you think?