King Sorrow

Hill’s novel draws heavily from the British medieval legend of King Arthur. This is evident from the names of Hill’s main protagonists, Arthur and Gwen, who find their namesakes in the legendary king and his queen, Guinevere. The novel is not a strict retelling of Arthurian legend, which comprises many source texts that offer conflicting details (for example, Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur [1485]). However, King Sorrow borrows enough narrative elements to evoke the older material’s themes of nobility, human agency, and the folly of humankind. In this light, it may be helpful to identify the elements in the novel that parallel and diverge from Arthurian legend.

King Arthur maintains a chivalric fellowship known as the Knights of the Round Table, many of whom complete epic adventures that illuminate the nature of chivalry and pose moral challenges, such as Gawain’s conflict with the Green Knight, Bedivere’s quest to return Excalibur, and Lancelot’s forbidden romance with Guinevere. Similarly, Hill’s Arthur has a group of friends who go on individual journeys that challenge their moral character: Allie Shiner is challenged to kill a wicked man in a public venue, and the McBride twins are forced to weigh their loyalty to each other when faced with the threat of mutual destruction. Like King Arthur, whose divine right to the throne was proven when he pulled the legendary sword from the stone, Arthur goes on his own quest for a mythical sword that can only be drawn by a “good man.” Arthur’s doubt over whether he can draw the sword complicates the original legend by weighing the flaws of Hill’s protagonist against his noble intentions.

While the legendary Arthur never faces a dragon in any of the medieval tales, dragons were a staple of medieval folklore in Britain, often representing demonic figures because of associations with the Christian Devil. Several episodes in the knightly romances depict clashes with dragons, such as Lancelot’s visit to Corbenic. A stronger parallel to King Sorrow might be found in the tale of Gawain and the Green Knight. Gawain’s obligation to attend a fatal appointment with the uncanny knight mirrors Gwen’s appointment with King Sorrow in the final part of the novel. It is also notable that both Gawain and Gwen lose contests with the antagonists of their stories, forcing them to suffer consequential penalties.

Hill subverts the Arthurian legend by centering his novel’s Guinevere analogue, Gwen, whom he positions as the final victor of the story instead of Arthur. Gwen is an unlikely hero because of her low status from the beginning of the novel up to the point of Arthur’s death, as well as her reliance on Arthur’s expertise for guidance in confronting the dragon. Gwen’s unlikely valor creates greater stakes for the final confrontation, driving the reader’s concern about her ability to succeed against a powerful dragon. Where Arthurian legend frames Guinevere as a flawed character who fails in her nobility by being unfaithful to Arthur, Hill transforms his Gwen’s flaws into the bedrock for her redemptive humanity.