Further variations of these include alternate spellings with the letter i written as y, such as in the cases of Nymanne ( Nimanne as in Michel le Noir's Merlin) and Nynyane (Niniane).Īccording to Lucy Paton, the most primitive French form of this name might have been Niniane. Medieval authors and copyists produced various forms of the latter two, including: Nymenche (in addition to Ninianne / Ninienne) in the Vulgate Lancelot Nim ane and Ui ane (in addition to Viviane) in the Vulgate Merlin ( Niniane in the version Livre d'Artus) Nin eve / Nivene / Niviène / Nivienne and Vivienne in the Post-Vulgate Merlin ( Niviana in the Spanish Baladro del Sage Merlin) and Nimiane / Niniame and Vivian / Vivien in Arthour and Merlin and Henry Lovelich's Merlin. Today, the Lady of the Lake is best known as the character called either Nimue, or several scribal variants of Ninianne and Viviane. Nimue in Howard Pyle's The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (1903) Different sorceresses known as the Lady of the Lake appear concurrently as separate characters in some versions of the legend since at least the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently the seminal Le Morte d'Arthur, with the latter describing them as a hierarchical group, while some texts also give this title to either Morgan or her sister. They play important roles in many stories, including providing Arthur with the sword Excalibur, eliminating Merlin, raising Lancelot after the death of his father, and helping to take the dying Arthur to Avalon.

The Lady of the Lake ( French: Dame du Lac, Demoiselle du Lac, Welsh: Arglwyddes y Llyn, Cornish: Arloedhes an Lynn, Breton: Itron al Lenn, Italian: Dama del Lago) is a name or a title used by several either fairy or fairy-like but human enchantresses in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. The Lady of the Lake in Lancelot Speed's illustration for James Thomas Knowles' The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights (1912)ĭisputed origins, earlier and unnamed versions of the character in Lanzelet and Lancelot

Castle Beneath the Sea by Morgana Rhys