okay okay okay, thinking thoughts
So I find the concept of Names really interesting in Camlann, reading into the extracanonical stuff put on the tumblr is giving me food for theory crafting. The Catacylsm seems to be some kind of return of magic to the world (possibly heralded by the return of The King of the Britons in their hour of need?) and thus people with significant Names have access to something because of it. they fall into the stories of their namesakes; Perry, Gwaine, and Kay are Knights, Morgan is Morgana Le Fay, and we now have a Gwen in Shújūn.
Based on Kay's dicussion with Perry if more people can fill in the roles of their stories to more 'to plan' the stories will go, Of course this is not good news if you know the general end point of Arthurian legend (Betrayal, muderer, war, most everyone dead, the 'Glory' of camelot gone). It's inherently kind of a doomsday cult if you stay in those stories, you know where parts of this are going (i'll get back to this)
it also seems like there may be some, for lack of a better term, kin drama going on. There are 900 members of the court and Kay mentions that Peredur is a really uncommon name outside of Wales, meaning there are certain knights who are more common, i assume Lancelot's, Kay's, maybe a few Talisin's, a bunch of Gareth's, and like 50 Elaines like in the legends lol
We also dont have the context for how Names work full yet and neither do our characters. I think theres a lot of answers to be had with Shújūn/Gwen with how it works, how you know other than the buzzing in you're head and desire go through the motions and Follow the Story
Now, where does Dai fit in all this?
Dai doesn't have a Name, and I think theres going to be a point where he changes his name in a major way, but not to a Name, but a Bardic name. In welsh poetic and story telling tradtions Welsh poets, THE OG Bards, will take on pseudonyms tell their stories. This practice stems from the medievil era, but goes forth to today, and many modern Welsh and welsh heritage poets have connections to this tradition (Dylan Thomas' middle name was his great uncles bardic name, Sarah Williams published her work under the name Sadie), I believe it's also a requirement to have one if you intend to perform in the major Eisteddfod, (I am Australian so my experiance of Eisteddfods here is very different so if i'm wrong on that let me know)
Why would he do this? I think Dai is going to, at least try, to write him and his friends a way out.
Much ink is spilt over how Arthurian legend doesnt have an 'orginal text', and as such there are lots of stories that are inherently contradictory; Bedwyr is the best knight, but so are Gwaine, Lancelot, and Galahad. Mordred is some random king until his Arthur's son. Arthur has a sister, no he has two, actually he has three and one of them is an Elaine. This could be used to explain any doubles (are you my Gwaine), as well as why we see a few different spelling varients which are, the very welsh Peredur as opposed to Percival or Parzifal, the anglisised and more boarish Kay as opposed to Cei or Caius (this last one might just to keep Dai and Kay distinct tho). These variations are no more or less 'canon' than any other telling of the story, and so often the writer of a given telling of Arthurian legend is going to have their own bias. But things dont HAVE to end the way they always do, and sometime you need to have someone outside the story you're caught in to tell you a new one.
You are not locked into that ever looming cloud of Thomas Mallory and Le Morte d'Arthur.
Other evidence I have for this is that Dai sings at the begining of each episode, and sings in welsh at that. He also is, to a point our narrator, existing both in and out of the current narative. Also his name is an a lyric of Sosban Fach (a song i would be surprised if it wasn't in the show at some point) 'Dai bach y sowldiwr' which is also not from the text the song was based on. Tangential yes, but i think it's worth thinking about.
I think there is also something to be said about choice in what your name is and how it feeds into the overall theme of identiy, and how that plays into other themes at play in the story, like Transness, Imperialism, and Predestination
TL:DR; While he doesnt have a Name, Dai's gonna give himself an epic bard name and save them all by writing a killer hook to get them out of the story
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OPEN STARTER: Henry Simpson
The regiment had been given their orders to move in on their target location. Having received information about a small group of soldiers from the Continental army being bunkered down there. Henry had taken time to voice his concerns that something didn't feel right but it had fallen on deaf ears. The Colonel was so certain and sure in the information that had received that nothing could dissuade him and he still ordered them in.
And Henry had begun to believe that the Colonel was right as they approached the building until suddenly his fellow soldiers began to drop like flies around him. A searing pain suddenly shooting through his leg and he collapsed to the ground. Managing to roll onto his back just in time to see the butt of a rifle coming down to strike him in the face and knock him unconscious.
When he regained consciousness, Henry slowly blinked his eyes open to find himself sat alone in a jail like cell. Red brick walls on all but the front of the cell. Thick blackened bars set in small windows bringing light down across his face, causing him to squint and raise a hand to shield his eyes. Once he became acclimatised to the lightly, Henry took more of a look around.
He could see no one else around him. None of his men in his cell or anywhere else in the room and no sign of whether or not any of them were still alive. Resting his head back against the cool brick wall, Henry closed his eyes for a moment to steady his mind and think. His concerns had to been right and the information had to have been false. Something must have been wrong and now he had been captured by the army he had endured fighting against.
Letting out a pain breath through a bloodied nose, Henry slowly reopened his eyes to glance down at where he had been shot in the leg and was surprised to see that it had been bandaged. Earning a crease of his brow in confusion before he inhaled with a grimace and looked up as he heard footsteps descending the stairs on the opposite side of the large room.
Readying himself for whoever was about to enter.
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