App for mythopoeics
.the myth;
» Pantheon: Celtic (Arthurian)
» God(dess): Sir Bors
» Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bors & http://www.kingarthursknights.com/knights/bors.asp
» Family: {mother & father} Bors and Evaine; {spouse} none, technically, but was once tricked into sleeping with the daughter of King Brandegoris
» Played By: Andrew Garfield
» Human Alias: Sébastien Bohort
» Human Age: 27 [22nd July 1984]
» Ability: A extreme resistance to temptation, that mainly comes into play around other characters who have the ability to tempt. Bors is not a man who can be easily lured into things.
» Occupation: Priest
» History: Known as Sir Bors de Ganis in Arthurian myth Bors was the son of King Bors of Gaul, brother of Lionel and loyal cousin to Lancelot (who he was often portrayed as closer to than his own brother, sorry bro.) King Bors was one of Arthur’s allies against the rebel kings of Britain and expected to be helped in return, but Arthur was a little slow and his kingdom was overrun: King Bors being killed and his sons taken by the evil Claudas (this is where you boo.)
Bors and Lionel were raised in Claudas’ court for a few years, presumably in an unhappy way, before they eventually rebelled. Killing Claudas’ cruel son, Dorin, and being spirited away by the Lady of the Lake in a rather wonderful moment. From that point onwards Bors was raised next to his cousin, Lancelot, and had a good relationship with him from that point onwards.
Eventually all three boys were sent to Camelot and knighted, an extremely fine day for Bors. He is always portrayed as one of the finest knights (though there are many fine knights, really) and presumably did many noble deeds. This is supported by his sense of duty, seen in later tales, and so it can be assumed that he rode around saving people on a fairly regular basis. He certainly participated in many of Arthur’s battles, including the one that toppled that nasty Claudas from his throne (and here is where you cheer, yes.)
Another thing that he participated in was the fathering of Sir Elyan the White. Basically: the daughter of King Brandegoris tricked him into sleeping with her via a magic ring. Bors, rather dedicated to not having any sex EVER, felt a little upset about the matter but this did not prevent him from later introducing his son into the round table. He tried to be a good daddy, after all~.
For all these tales, though, Bors’ true period of glory comes when he decides to go after the Holy Grail. Overall 150 knights were stated to have gone on this quest but he, Galahad, Percival and Lancelot are the ones best known. On this quest several occurrences happened that showed his virtuous, stubborn as heck, character.
The first one is when a lady approaches Bors threatening to commit suicide unless he gets down and dirty with her. Bors, being a celibate fellow who really didn’t like sex, denied her despite her threats. The lady and her servants then jump off a castle and reveal themselves to be demons, sent to prey on the noble Bors through his sense of compassion. Unfortunately they picked the wrong knight: compassion? Pfft. Duty? HELL YES.
Another tale that shows his sense of duty is the one where his brother was getting whipped by villains in one direction and a rogue knight was kidnapping a innocent girl in the other. Bors goes to help the maiden but prays for his brother’s safety so it’s all alright, isn’t it bro?
But it isn’t, as it happens. Lionel took offence to this and attempted to kill Bors the moment he got loose. Bors, being himself, refused to defend himself or raise a weapon against his brother - even after Sir Calogrenant and a religious hermit were killed by the man. Luckily God intervened before Lionel could kill his brother too and immobilized the man with a column of fire. Leaving Bors to pick himself up and carry on with being generally dutiful all over the place.
Eventually this being dutiful all over the place led to him reaching Sallas and the Holy Grail. It’s stated that Galahad was the only one allowed to touch it, because he was so incredibly pure, but Bors was the only one out of the three who ambled back from the trip and so that was alright.
…Even if he got back right in the middle of Camelot’s fall. As ever Bors was loyal to Lancelot, his lovely cousin, and went into exile with him. Proving a loyal advisor and assisting in the rescue of Guineviere. He becomes the ruler of Claudas’ old lands, eventually, and is stated in some myths to have actually gone back to Arthur’s side and participated in the final battle.
His death, however, is not recorded in any texts. Though presumably he continued being incredibly dutiful up to his very last moments.
» Reincarnations: Bors’ first reincarnation was born as an extremely religious man, seriously: praying all day is incredible fun, known as Bernard in the France of 1070. The middle son of fairly rich parents who believed strictly in God and allowed no questioning on the matter. As a result he was brought up to believe in Christian ideals extremely passionately: so passionately, in fact, that he took a vow of celibacy when he was a boy and stuck to it as he grew up. God is cool, sex is not - remember that, kids!
Being born in 1070 he was the perfect age when the first crusade rolled around. As such he trundled along in 1096 and was there for most of the battles. He was certainly around when Antioch was captured, and was definitely there when Jerusalem finally fell. In his defence at least he wasn’t there just to slaughter everybody: he honestly believed that he was serving his God and that was that.
After the first crusade ended Bernard decided to stay in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and attempted to manage things fairly. He never married, never had kids but lived there until 1115, passing away from a short disease that didn’t cause him much pain. He thinks he was fairly well regarded (hopes, at any rate.)
Reincarnation number two was born soon afterwards, again in France but now known as Louis. Apart from his name, and the year (1124), his life was incredibly similar to last time. Deeply religious parents, a deeply religious background and growth into a religious nut as a result of both those things.
When the second crusade was called (properly called) in 1146 Louis immediately volunteered. Being French he was not sent to campaign against the Slavs but instead went back to fighting in the East. Charging off to teach the word of God, which he still honestly believed in, and attempt to save a few souls. Even if their need to be saved wasn’t actually that great.
Unfortunately his career wasn’t that brilliant this time. He participated in the Siege of Damascus in 1148 and died there in the utter rout. His body was never sent home because it was never found. A sad death for poor Louis.
Still, his next life happened just as quickly as the last one and he was born as Henry in 1152, this time in Aachen on the day of Frederick Barbarossa’s crowning. Being born in Germany his life was slightly different from the last one - he was the only son amongst five sisters, for example, and his parents were religious folk but ones who were fairly mild by all standards. As a result he was brought up in a slightly less frothing way, thinking about things instead of just charging in with a sword.
Being born a fair few years before the Third Crusade he lived a fairly full life (though still never getting married because girls had cooties) until the call was made. And then again packed up and prepared to follow his emperor over to the east… But, yet again, there was a change. Frederick died in 1190 and Henry returned home to Germany as a result, never even getting to the East.
Not that he much cared about this, to be honest. He left the army and settled down to preach religious texts instead - for once dedicating his life to peace instead of killing people in the name of his divine father. This was probably his first step away from being a knight, for living a fairly peaceful life proved a fairly happy decision and he was actually content when he died in 1201, succumbing to yet another fever with a smile on his face.
Yet another knock was given to his trend of killing people in the name of the Christian God in 1430, when he was reincarnated as Osman. The oldest son of a soldier in the Ottoman empire. He was fairly religious, since his mother was very passionate about her beliefs, and joined the Ottoman army as soon as he could, Ready to go off and do some serious conquering.
As a result Osman was present for the fall of Constantinople in 1453, sending the great city crashing down in an entirely resounding way. He was extremely proud of the achievement, standing in the dust and seeing the mayhem carrying on around him…
Until he came across a young soldier praying, and remembered his true self. He was so shocked by this, he’d been a Christian before, that he forgot to defend himself and so was soon slaughtered by that young soldier. He still remembers his dying moments from that reincarnation, staring up at the sky in a great state of confusion, but hasn’t quite processed anything else from that time - it was deeply puzzling, after all.
Perhaps so puzzling that it led to his next reincarnation not being born to be a soldier in any way. The younger son of minor nobility he was known as Edward Fox and became a strong protestant thanks to the teachings of his mother, a supporter of the Boleyn family (until their fall, where she sensibly shut up about it and took to humming whenever loyalties were mentioned.) As such he worked firmly to become a priest from the moment he could, and ended up proudly ready to serve God in 1554.
…The year before Mary I went a bit nuts and started trying to burn all non-Catholics, yeah. That would turn out well.
Or as predicted, really, Edward had a few years of defiant preaching but was arrested in 1557 and given only the briefest of trials before being led to the stake. As he was burning to death, such a lovely way to go, he remembered who he was and could only give the briefest sigh before passing out from the pain. It wasn’t the nicest way to go.
From this point onwards his reincarnating took a bit of a break. Bors only coming back in 1800, born in England as Bartholomew Bennett, the oldest son of a clergyman and his loving wife. As such he was pretty much set to follow this path from birth - studying to become a priest from a young age and achieving the distinction as soon as he possibly could.
Besides becoming a priest he didn’t really do much, to be honest. He gained his own parish but never married, never had kids and died in 1860 with only a few fairly baffled nieces surrounding him. He wasn’t really remembered beyond them.
Bors’ current reincarnation, Sébastien Bohort, was born in Nantes, France in 1984. He was the first son of his parents, good people who made sure to go to church every Sunday, and was followed by another boy about three years after his birth. Not that he was too close to his brother, he actually preferred spending time with his cousins (including a certain Remy Pascale, son of his mother’s sister (though they didn’t know each other that well, to be honest, his mother was the respectable one of her family (At least in Bors' admittedly rather judgemental eyes. He likes judging, it keeps him warm at night.))
His life was fairly ordinary up until the age of fifteen: he went to church every Sunday, did his homework, made a few friends and had vague dreams of becoming a footballer. It was a happy life, a good life… And remained like that even after his memories were triggered by his first kiss. He had a bit of business after suddenly deciding to dump his girlfriend but soon got past that and was happy again, extremely happy.
Because he’d found his vocation, as it happens. From the day he remembered Bors wanted to be a priest and turned all his energies towards that goal. He studied for many years, getting a degree in religious studies along the way, and eventually became a fully qualified priest at the age of twenty seven. Ready to help people and discuss their problems.
…In America, as it happens. Bors had learned English from his lovely grandmother (even if the woman was slightly strange otherwise) and so decided to try his luck over there, helping people and providing a kind ear in times of suffering. He is dedicated to serving God, after all, and if there appear to be many other reincarnated individuals in New York? Well, he can still try to help!
Bors is very determined, after all.
» Personality: You have to think of one word when you think of Bors and that word is ‘duty.’ Always duty, Bors is pretty much the ultimate promoter of doing your duty.
He’s also the type to follow laws to the letter. Not looking too much into them, not thinking that much about them - just following them because they’re laws and must be good. As a result he is very obedient, very committed to doing the right thing as set down in the books - Bors, overall, is pretty much the wet dream of several tired policemen.
He’s also very committed to following religious laws. He knows all of the sins, has read the bible many times and has never intentionally broken anything set down by them. This is a hangover from his questing days - he’ll always be extremely religious without question or thought, that’s just the way that Bors is.
As a result of this Bors can be a little judgemental of others, especially when they break obvious laws. He’ll look down his nose at them, state his opinion of their wickedness calmly into their face, won’t even think about condemning them because the book said so. No matter what other circumstances were concerned: the book said they were wrong and so they must be entirely wrong.
However, this also leads into a major fault of Bors’. He doesn’t really think on things, he condemns people because the laws say he should and doesn’t dwell on it beyond that. If asked for actual reasons why people are damned or why people are doing wrong he can only point to the laws, if he’s asked for his own opinion beyond the laws he’ll only be able to flounder. He doesn’t think too much on such things, does Bors, and when he’s called out on that… Well, it’s certainly a weakness if you can’t be seen to defend yourself on the matter.
This isn’t to say that he’ll be forced to this point easily, though. He’s too stubborn for that, too dedicated to digging his feet in and glowering to give up that easily. Bors is a firm man, if he’d let a woman (actually a demon, but he didn’t know that) jump off a castle instead of just sleeping with her then a simple pout certainly won’t get him to change his mind.
It may get him stressed, though, and that is another fault of Bors’. Though he is not naturally a passionate man, not a man who suddenly decides to burn down towns for the heck of it, he is a man who can be pushed into helpless emotion - sadness, bitten back frustration. It has been many years since Bors has been a knight and so he can no longer defend himself and his beliefs so firmly, something which can definitely lead to held back snarls and even yelling in French. His inability to act, coupled with his tendency to sometimes get stressed in the face of people defying him and his beliefs, could certainly be taken as another weakness.
This weakness does not take away from his strengths, however. And one of those strengths is how deeply positive he can be. Bors is definitely a optimist, despite everything - he believes in the goodness of the world and the deep down goodness of people. He can’t stop, he permanently believes that a sunny day will follow a rainy one and that is that.
This is because Bors is also very hopeful, something that certainly helped when he went questing for the grail. He honestly believes that the world will get better, people will be saved and good will triumph - and believes in this no matter how harsh the situation gets. He prefers to always look ahead instead of looking back and sobbing, even if he may trip over his feet a few times in doing so.
This hope also leads to him being very willing to listen to people. To look after them, to help them with their problems. In this reincarnation, and in many of his others, Bors is certainly a caring chap - he still has those noble and knightly instincts within him, and is always ready to ride to the rescue or at least lend a ear in a generally comforting way.
…As long as he doesn’t have to lend his penis, if you’ll forgive the odd segue. Bors is not a sexual man at all. He’s had sex a grand total of once over all his past lives (including his mythic one) and even that was only because of a magic ring. He’s actually a little repulsed by the act, really, and would prefer to not ever think of doing it, not ever hear other people talking about doing it and even not ever think of other people doing it. That’s a surefire way to get him stressed, really: talk about sex and he’ll either hide behind something or need to go to hospital for wrathful damage to his tongue.
This isn’t to say that he doesn’t have healthy relationships, though… He just doesn’t want sexual ones, thanks, and friendships are rarely sexual (at least in his eyes, his covered eyes whenever such topics come up.)
In myth he is definitely shown as close to a few people who really must be covered. The first two being Galahad and Percival: the other two in the threesome (forgive me, I had to use that term) of grail fetching. They are basically his bros, though he would never use that term, and he would do pretty much anything for them - they’re worth it, after all.
Another person that he would do almost anything for is his cousin, Lancelot. In myth Bors is always portrayed as being incredibly close to Lancelot, even going into exile with him, and so it is safe to assume that he is another person who draws such extreme loyalty from Bors.
All of his family draw extreme loyalty from Bors, actually. For Bors loves his family, absolutely adores them and would never hurt them even if they were coming at him with murder in their eyes (hey Lionel~.) He wouldn’t do anything for all of them (that honour is reserved for Galahad, Percival and Lancelot) but he’ll certainly try to look after them as best he can. And the thought that any of them would want to hurt him after that would certainly pain him deeply. (Even if he wouldn't abandon them, he's too loyal for that.)
Too loyal overall, really. For Bors is a very loyal man - loyal to his family, loyal to his country, loyal to his king (unless his king turns against Lancelot, then he’ll always pick Lancelot) and loyal to his God. He’ll happily follow all of them, will happily adore all of them - and will never be wavered from their side.
Bors is a very hard man to tempt, after all. He has a strong dislike of sexual matters, perhaps the easiest way to tempt most people, and even other kinds of temptation are unlikely to draw him. He’s a hard man to persuade into anything, is Bors, a hard man to trick away from his decisions. It is almost impossible to turn his body or mind from doing what he thinks is right.
For Bors, above all, is virtuous. He tries never to swear, he’s never touched a drop of alcohol, he’s never smoked, he’s never tried drugs and he’s never eaten shellfish - he’s pretty much entirely clean as a result, pretty much entirely virtuous. And this is because he believes so strongly in duty, so strongly in doing what is right and never turning away from that path. He is a being of virtue, is Bors.
And, above all, a being of duty - as stated at the beginning. A stubborn man, a religious man, a man who has never committed any sin. Granted, he rarely thinks about such things, and, granted, he can’t really defend his views in any physical sense and gets frustrated as a result of that… But he’s still a good man, a firm man. A obedient and dutiful guy above all else.
He is Sir Bors, after all.