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Mordred

Arthurian Legend
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Traitorous nephew (or son) of Arthur who brought about Camelot’s fall

Detailed Definition
Mordred’s betrayal culminated in the Battle of Camlann, where he and Arthur mortally wounded each other. In poetry, he embodies treachery, the corruption of bloodlines, and the inevitable collapse of idealized orders.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King,” Mordred betrays Arthur, symbolizing kinship’s fragility; In T.H. White’s “The Once and Future King,” Mordred embodies nihilistic rebellion; In W.H. Auden’s “The Quest,” Mordred represents the inevitable fall of ideals; In modern poetry, Mordred often signifies the traitor within systems; In Derek Walcott’s “Omeros,” Mordred appears as Caribbean political rival; In Tracy K. Smith’s “Watershed,” Mordred’s treachery echoes in institutional collapse.
Additional Notes
Mordred, Arthur’s illegitimate son and nemesis in Arthurian legend, symbolizes betrayal, dynastic collapse, and the inescapability of fate; poets use him to explore the tragic consequences of incest (in some versions), civil war, and the fall of utopian orders—his final battle with Arthur at Camlann represents the self-destruction of ideals, making him a potent figure in poems about legacy, corruption, and cyclical history.
Also Known As
Traitor Knight Doom of Camelot Arthur’s Bane
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