Legends surrounding a mythical cup, sword and castle known as The Grail have long captured our collective Western imagination and continue to do so…
Legends surrounding a mythical cup, sword and castle known as The Grail have long captured our collective Western imagination and continue to do so today. Recounted through love stories of love, honour, adventure and tragedy that span across time periods; their significance for humanity cannot be easily explained but remain an evergreen theme that touches deep emotions within people everywhere.
Many scholars have attempted to explain the Grail through ancient symbols and initiatory ceremonies; however, their explanations are mostly speculations. One scholar, Laidlay Weston (1850-1928), believed that its main elements came from eyewitness accounts of an unusual type of ceremony in which certain mysterious symbols played an essential part. One cave painting at Montreal-de-Sos near Tarascon dated from 12th century is thought to have Cathar origin and depicts lance, sword fragment, solar disk with many red crosses on it as well as square panel with inner square panel; all these elements have been associated with its legend.
Writers have attempted to understand the symbolism of the Sword of the Grail through archetypal qualities. Vorthr represents that part of one’s personality dedicated to action and logic; Verena represents introspective intuition and reception; while Volnar uses law and lore to balance out these projective/receptive forces in all three characters.
Another intriguing connection between The Sword and Grail lies with a bleeding Lance. According to Wolfram von Eschenbach’s (c. 1202) novel Parzival (c. 1202), this lance was said to represent both its presence in its Castle as well as Christ being wounded by it; later iterations of this tale suggested it was actually Longinus who used his lance piercing through Christ’s side to cause His resurrection.
Modern audiences remain engaged by Arthurian legends. Guy Ritchie’s latest big-budget movie, King Arthur and the Kingdom of the Grail, stars Charlie Hunnam as young knight who seeks revenge against Vortigern for the death of his family at Vortigern’s hand and ultimately becomes legendary hero of legends. Additionally, an HBO television show entitled Grail will premiere later this summer; these adaptations of its story will introduce it to new audiences while remaining true to its central theme: A hero searching out an ancient symbol representing divine love.