The Lady of the Lake: Chapter 35 Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens on Avalon, where the company—Nimue, Morgan, Bedivere, Guinevere, Dinadan, and Collum—buries King Arthur's body. Though magic could have done the work instantly, they instinctively choose to dig the grave by hand, understanding that grief requires physical labor: sweat, blisters, and aching muscles. They carry the king to a high, sheltered spot near the sea, chop through roots and sandy soil, and share memories of Arthur as they work. Dinadan's dead-on impression of Arthur's baffled reaction to losing a tournament finally draws laughter even from Bedivere and Guinevere. Bedivere reflects on how Arthur essentially made himself up, seeing that Britain needed a king and becoming one because he could not offer less. They place a rough standing stone at Arthur's head, and Morgan inscribes it with an enchanted knife: HIC IACET ARTHURUS / REX QUONDAM (Here lies Arthur, the once and future king). Bedivere blows a mournful call on his hunting horn, and they return to the castle as the sun sets.

That night, Nimue bathes while Collum sits nearby. She tells him she is sorry he is not Arthur's son. Collum admits he never truly believed it. Nimue offers comfort, saying that somewhere he had a father who missed him and would have been proud. Collum looks in a mirror and again sees deep iridescent-blue butterfly wings over his shoulder—the same vision he had in the Glass Castle. Nimue studies them and concludes he is not exactly a fairy, but that there is something more to him they have not yet discovered. They sleep together, though only sleeping, which feels like enough.

In the morning, the mood has shifted; it is time to leave. Lancelot is tightening his grip on Britain, and someone must fight back. Morgan offers them a larger boat—a two-masted bronze caravel, half again as long as the Errant—and Palomides joins the party, declaring he is still a knight of the Round Table and fears they will fail without him. He explains that he now understands why fate brought him to Britain: to see it through its difficult rebirth. Morgan warns that dark times are coming, and Dinadan dryly notes that some change would do Britain good.

As they sail, the group discusses strategy: Bedivere will rally support in Dyfed, Guinevere will speak to her father in Cameliard, and someone must go to Cornwall to test King Cador's loyalties. Collum marvels at his own situation—a wool broker's stepson flying to Britain's rescue with the queen, a knight, a witch, and a Saracen.

Guinevere then reveals a story she has pieced together. Collum's mother was a flower-fairy who came to Morgan pregnant with a human knight's child. She stayed in the Otherworld until the baby was born, then was sent to Mull to live as a human. She eventually fell in love with the man Collum knew as his stepfather. The father was Sir Bleoberys, a Frankish knight who remained in love with the fairy girl and left Camelot to search for her and his son. Collum quietly reveals that Bleoberys found him—and that Collum killed him in a duel, not knowing who he was. The revelation lands heavily on the whole boat. Collum re-examines the memory from his father's perspective: a despairing man who had lost his beloved, sat down in a meadow, and met a young knight who looked much as he himself once had. Palomides calls it a blessed end and a cursed one. Collum forgives his father and asks for forgiveness in return.

Their journey is interrupted when the ship lurches violently—Merlin's magic is forcing them down. They crash into the sea near the Cornish coast, where enemy ships flying the red and white approach. Nimue summons a swell that spills soldiers from the longship, but more are coming. Collum, deciding there are no more choices left, takes the anchor and dives into the freezing Atlantic. He sinks past the point where any free diver would turn back, until the anchor touches the ocean floor. There, the Lady of the Lake appears, carrying Excalibur. She is bitter: Merlin tricked her into giving Arthur the sword by promising he would expel Christianity from Britain, but Arthur was just another Christian king. She thrusts Excalibur into a stone outcrop and tells Collum to take it if he can, calling it all a farce.

Collum tries to pull the sword free but cannot. He realizes the gods no longer make heroes—he must choose himself. He hefts the anchor like a giant's mattock and smashes the stone, splitting it open. Light blooms from within him, and he lifts Excalibur from the rubble. Leaving the anchor behind, he shoots up from the depths, trailing bubbles, back into the light.

Key Events

• Arthur is buried on Avalon; the grave is dug by hand and marked with an inscribed standing stone.

• Nimue and Collum share an intimate conversation; Collum sees fairy wings in a mirror again.

• Morgan provides a larger bronze caravel; Palomides joins the departing party.

• Guinevere reveals Collum's parentage: his mother was a flower-fairy, his father was Sir Bleoberys—whom Collum unknowingly killed in a duel.

• Merlin's magic forces the ship down near Cornwall; enemy ships close in.

• Collum dives with the anchor to the ocean floor, meets the Lady of the Lake, and fails to pull Excalibur from the stone.

• Collum smashes the stone with the anchor, retrieves Excalibur, and swims back to the surface.

Character Development

Collum undergoes the chapter's most significant transformation. He learns his true parentage—half fairy, half Frankish knight—and must reconcile with the horrifying fact that he killed his own father in ignorance. Rather than collapsing under guilt, he re-examines the memory from his father's perspective and finds a way to forgive and be forgiven. His decision to dive with the anchor, and later to smash the stone rather than pull the sword, marks a shift from waiting to be chosen to choosing himself. He is no longer the boy who hoped to be Arthur's son; he is becoming his own kind of hero.

Nimue shows vulnerability and resilience. Her admission that she no longer knows what to believe in—God or fairy—and her decision to believe in herself for a while reflects a quiet crisis of faith. Her tenderness toward Collum, and her willingness to simply sleep beside him, deepens their bond.

Guinevere steps into a more maternal and strategic role. She pieces together Collum's history with care and delivers it with her usual precise formality, but the revelation clearly moves her. She also takes practical charge of the ship and the mission, showing her evolution from queen to fellow traveler.

Bedivere emerges from grief with renewed purpose. He is more alert and engaged than Collum has ever seen him, and he takes the lead in planning the resistance. His relationship with Guinevere has shifted from adversarial to collaborative.

The Lady of the Lake is revealed as a bitter, betrayed figure. She gave Excalibur to Arthur under false pretenses, believing Merlin's promise that Arthur would expel Christianity. Her disillusionment reflects the broader theme of old ways losing ground to the new faith.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Grief as physical labor. The decision to dig Arthur's grave by hand, refusing magic, underscores that mourning must be worked through, not bypassed. The sweat, blisters, and aching muscles become a ritual of healing.

Self-creation versus divine selection. Bedivere's reflection that Arthur