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twdmusicboxmystery · 4 years

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The Meaning of T.M.: King Arthur Template

Okay, I know I said I’d be taking a theory hiatus in December and I am/will, but I have a few more (3 to be exact) things I want to post first. So I’m going to do three (fairly small potatoes) theories this week. After that, I’ll probably either answer an Ask or two each day (until I run out) and just post Christmas edits.

Thank you SO much for this, Nonny! You might call this the “smoking gun” I was looking for. I knew the T.M. had to mean something big, but I doubt I would have figured this out on my own. And I know we can’t say for SURE this is what it means, but I both hope and believe it is. Because it’s AWESOME!

So, here goes. First let me say that @wdway has been harping on a particular painting we saw at the Kingdom’s fair in S9. The one from which the pike victims were taken. Here it is:

I mentioned it in my details post for 9x15, but beyond that didn’t have much to say. It’s called, “The Accolade” by Edmund Leighton. (Source)

Now, it’s important to know that, from what I can tell, the painting isn’t specifically supposed to be about Arthur. Or at least, that’s never been confirmed. It’s really more about knighthood. But the woman conferring a the knighthood is definitely Beth-ish, and the sigil on the back of the knight’s livery looks very reminiscent of the Pendragon sigil, so the suggestion is there. And since we know that in the legends of Arthur, he got his sword from the Lady of the Lake…

You see what I mean. Not to mention…

Similar, phoenix-like birds.

Just the fact that it’s someone being knighted is suspicious to us. It naturally feeds into Christian symbolism and Christian mythology, which is obviously a big deal for TD. The woman in it also reminded me a bit of the “Empress” Tarot card, which we’ve connected to Beth before.

Beyond that, I didn’t really know where to go with it. @wdway believed it was important, and I didn’t disagree, but without more of a theory to lay down, I kind of just left it in the background.

But when I read this Ask and shared it with my fellow theorists, this painting kind of came screaming to the forefront again. Here’s why:

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table just became the template for Rick’s story.

Okay, in all fairness, it’s probably been a template for a long time. We just didn’t know it. Using it as a template makes perfect sense. We know they use classic stories at templates for various characters. Rick would obviously be King Arthur. The other characters are his various knights.

And it works really well for TWD, because if you read extensively in Arthurian mythology, all of the knights have their own stories (sometimes multiple stories) and many of them die and are replaced by new knights. Sound like TWD to you?

Okay, so what’s this got to do with TD and Beth?

So, part of the Arthurian legend is tied to the three queens, who ferry him to Avalon when he’s mortally wounded and save his life. The idea is that he doesn’t die (thought he seemed to have received a mortal wound) but rather goes there to be healed and will someday return.

Sound like Rick in the helicopter? (I also can’t help but think about Zeke’s cancer and him going to this new Grady-esque community.)

The three queens often are thought to represent the three Greek fates, who control destiny. Or else fate, hope, and love. So, I started thinking (again) about who they might be in the show. I’ve always assumed the three queens to be Carol, Michonne and Maggie. And honestly, they probably still are. I’m just wondering how Jadis fits in since she actually did the “ferrying” and always had a somewhat cringe-worthy crush on Rick. But if Michonne goes to Rick, and we suspect Carol might end up in the mix somewhere (leaves with Daryl; seen filming in Texas, etc), we’ll, that’s 2/3. Meanwhile, we should see something of Lauren Cohan in 10b. So then I looked up Avalon. Obviously, I know what it is, but I was looking for a more specific definition. I found This: “Avalon is a mythical island” where people are HEALED. (Remember, Virgil lives on an island and Michonne is headed there now.) Avalon is also known as the Island of APPLES or the Isle of GLASS.

Do you see? The helicopter people are Avalon, symbolically. They’ve always been around—since S1—but shrouded in mystery, and never quite SEEN. (Gives FG’s line at Ty’s funeral new meaning, doesn’t it?)

And now Arthur/Rick was taken there when mortally wounded to be healed. (Bc of Zeke, I’m actually wondering if they’ll put a slightly different twist on the template, and all the remaining Kings—which would include Daryl—will end up going there to be healed from something. Just a thought.) And of course the next question is how Beth fits in. She’s not one of the three queens doing the ferrying, because she’s already there. If anything, she probably represents the Lady of Avalon who actually does the healing. And actually, we’ve already seen that. Not only with the general medical theme but because Carol was spontaneously healed at Grady. We’ve always said that might have been symbolic. This may be the template that explains the writers’ rationale for it. In fact (totally tumbling down a rabbit hole right now)

I’m thinking about one version of the Arthurian legend called The Mists of Avalon that centers on Morgan Le Faye and The Lady of the Lake. In it, the lady of Avalon (Beth) had two sisters. One who isn’t super present for her struggles (Maggie) and one who’s evil (Dawn). The Lady does overcome the evil sister, killing her...but kind of dies herself in the process. It’s seen as a sacrifice to overcome evil and the Lady is definitely the Christ figure in the story. I’m not sure how closely this version sticks to the original legends. It may be a more modern take on things.

One more thing.

We saw the paining at the fair…behind Enid and Siddiq.

Interesting, no? Because even though Enid died in the same episode, we couldn’t have known that Siddiq would die in 10x07/8 back then. But more to the point, they put this painting in the background behind Siddiq, and then the T.M. emerged when he actually died. For me, that signifies that the Arthur template would begin about the time that Siddiq died. Which it did. Because Michonne is now heading for the island.

So yet another example of how they show us symbolism and then pay it off, yeah?

I don’t have tons more to say about this right now, but I’m very excited about it. It backs up things we’ve seen saying for quite some time about Beth, Rick, and the helicopter group. Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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