At the end of Camelot, Arthur has lost the war, his queen, and his knights. At the end of The Once and Future King, it is even worse: Arthur knows he will lose his life. And yet in every iteration of the Arthurian legend, he wins. His voice is the one that lasts: “Don’t let it be forgot / that once there was a spot / for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.” Camelot is a happy story not because the hero triumphs, but because his story endures. It is a story about the power of the stories we tell ourselves over and over until they crystallize into legend.
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