The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, and cursing.

“Death itself didn’t shock Collum. People were guttering candles, always on the brink of going out, from measles or pox or child-birth or a cough. They starved or shat themselves or were eaten by bears or wolves.”

Collum’s reflection after killing Sir Bleoberys is an example of the author’s use of world building. The frequent, early deaths in an era long before modern medicine paints a colorful picture of the novel’s medieval milieu. The metaphor of the guttering or fast-dying candles for humans is an example of the text’s use of figurative language.

“‘Of all the animals,’ she said, ‘only man can feel a despair that is beyond his power to endure.’

‘God wouldn’t’ve sent him more than he could endure.’

‘I find your God is a great optimist when it comes to the question of how much people could endure.’”

This exchange between Morgan and Collum illustrates the novel’s theme of The Conflict Between Magic and Religion. While Collum believes that God tests humans by sending them adversities, Morgan dryly notes that the very idea of such a God is perverse. Collum misses the fact that Morgan makes the remark about despair when Collum wonders why Sir Bleoberys wanted to die at his hand. Morgan alludes to the truth that Bleoberys, Collum’s father, was overcome with pain at finding his lost son and that sacrificing himself was a way to assuage that pain.

“‘Can you read?’ […]

‘I can read.’

‘Just Latin. Or do you know your Beth-luis-nin?’

‘Just Latin.’

Beith-luis-nin meant Ogham, the old writing of the druids […] Back on Mull the elders made you feel guilty if you didn’t learnt it. Colum hadn’t. He was a good Christian, like King Arthur.”

In Ogham—the earliest-known writing form of Ireland—each letter represents a tree: “Beith” resembles a birch, for instance. Thus, the alphabet shows a continuum between nature and writing. That Collum refuses to learn it because he is a “good Christian” shows how dogma attempts to erase diverse sources of knowledge.