| Synopsis: |
Uther Pendragon, King of Britain, and Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, fight for the land. Merlin, the Sorcerer, promises to give Excalibur, the Sword of Power that he has received from the Lady of the Lake, to Uther, in turn this latter has to call a truce and give lands to Gorlois. When the truce is signed, a feast is held at Tintagel Castle, the residence of Gorlois. Here Uther sees Igraine, Gorlois's wife, and lusts for her. The truce is broken, Uther attempts a siege of Tintagel and asks Merlin to do a magic to seduce Igraine. Merlin agrees but he demands that whoever is born from that night will be his. Gorlois leaves the castle to defeat Uther's soldiers, Uther enters the castle in the shape of Gorlois and have sex with Igraine. Morgana, Igraine's daughter with magic powers, sees her father die in that very moment. Nine months later a boy is born, Merlin shows up and asks Uther to honour his oath and takes the boy with him. Igraine finds out in that moment that she had been lying with a man who wasn't her husband and she despairs for the kidnapping of her newborn baby. Arthur goes after Merlin but is killed in an ambush from Gorlois's knights. Right before dying he thrusts his sword Excalibur in a stone. Merlin foretells that only a king will be able to draw it out. Merlin names the boy Arthur.
About twenty years later the land is still without a king. During a joust, where knights fight to receive the honour to draw the sword from the stone, Arthur is there as a squire to sir Ector, and accidentally draws the sword out the stone. Merlin reveals the crowd that Arthur is Uther's son and most of the participants accepts him as the new king, including sir Ector and sir Leondegrance, but not sir Uryens who declares war to Leondegrance and along with his men attacks Leondegrance's castle. Arthur, sir Ector and other knights run to aid Leondegrance. A fierce battle ensues, Arthur defeats Uryens and asks him to show loyalty, but Uryens states that he can't swear allegiance to a squire. In a strong act of courage Arthur hands Excalibur to Uryens and asks him to knight him. Uryens is tempted to kill him but moved by Arthur's faith and courage knights him first, and then kneels before him and swears allegiance, recognising in him the valour of Uther Pendragon. At the castle Arthur meets Guenevere, Leondegrance's daughter, and falls in love with her, Merlin warns him of the bad fate in sight.
On a day of a few years later Arthur meets sir Lancelot on his path. Lancelot is looking for someone who could defeat him in duel to prove that he's worthy to be a king's knight. Lancelot has already won over all Arthur's knights, so Arthur decided to throw himself in the fight him, but in a moment of difficulty ha calls for Excalibur's powers and defeats Lancelot, but also breaks the sword. Deeply ashamed for his vanity throws the broken sword in the river. The Lady of the Lake, convinced of his true regret, gives him a restored Excalibur. Lancelot swears loyalty to Arthur.
After a victorious battle with his men and the newly joined Lancelot, Arthur proclaims to his knights that he will marry, and asks Lancelot to go to Leondegrance and escort Guenevere to him. During the travel the two fall in love. However Arthur and Guenevere get married and live at Camelot. At the ceremony there are Merlin and Morgana, who asks the Sorcerer to be taught some magic. In the forest Lancelot meets Perceval and takes him to Camelot as a squire. During a feast at the Round Table, Gawain, one of the knights, influenced by Morgana accuses Guenevere to have feelings for Lancelot. Arthur calls for a duel where Lancelot and Gawain will have to fight and defend the king's and queen's honour. Lancelot wins, but Arthur knows that something is going on and finds Guenevere and Lancelot together in the forest naked.
Morgana uses her magic to disguise as Guenevere and sleeps with her brother Arthur. From this union a boy is born, Mordred. This incestuous union brings the wealthy kingdom to misery. Arthur knows that only the Holy Grail will save the kingdom and sends his men to search the lands and retrieve it. Many of them die or get bewitched by Morgana. Perceval is in search of the Grail too, and finds Lancelot, now an old man, who leads a bunch of followers. Perceval preaches and warns them against the sins of Pride and refuses to go in aid of Arthur. Perceval then finds the residence of Morgana where the Grail is. After a failing attempt, he manages to get hold of the Grail and takes it to a dying Arthur who drinks from it and quickly restores to a full strength. He summons his few men left and rides to fight Mordred who had threatened him before. Prior to going to battle, Arthur pays a visit to Guenevere in the convent where she had retired. She gives him Excalibur, the sword that she had kept safe for many years. The night before the battle, Arthur calls for Merlin's help. The Sorcerer has been trapped in a crystal cage by a Morgana's magic, but the calls from Arthur awakes and frees him from the cage. Merlin then goes to Morgana and tricks her to use her powers to invoke the Dragon, but doing so she uses up all her powers and ages rapidly. Mordred is repulsed by the sight of an old witch and kills her.
Mordred and Arthur meets in battle, but Arthur's men are outnumbered and everybody gets killed. At the end of the battle only Perceval, Arthur and Mordred stand. At the last minute Lancelot joins the fight and before dying he seeks for Arthur's forgiveness, Arthur grants it to him and Lancelot dies with honour. Arthur too has been deadly wounded while he kills Mordred and orders Perceval to throw Excalibur in the lake, where it will rest until a new king will come. Perceval reluctantly obeys, throws the sword in the lake, the Lady of the Lake grabs it and pulls it down. Perceval returns to Arthur, but sees him lying dead on a boat, guarded by three women dressed in white, sailing to Avalon on the horizon.
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