Uther Pendragon (pen-dragon = "head of the dragons") (French: Uter Pendragon; Welsh: Uthyr Pendraeg; Irish:Iubhair) is the legendary father of King Arthur in the Arthurian legend and second husband to Igraine and in some versions, murderer of her first husband.

Uther is first mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae. According to Geoffrey, he impregnated Igraine while magically disguised as her husband, Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall.

Geoffrey makes Uther the younger brother of Aurelius Ambrosius and his successor to the throne of Loegria (Logres), both being younger brothers of Constans, whom Vortigern had made his puppet-king before arranging for his death.

The surname Pendragon is explained by a dragon-shaped comet which Uther sees and which inspires him to make two dragon standards.

Welsh text mentions another son of Uther named Madoc, the father of Arthur's nephew Eliwlod.

Geoffrey also gives Uther a daughter Anna by Igraine. Anna marries King Lot and becomes mother by him of Gawain and Mordred. But in the later romances, Gawain's mother is generally Igraine's daughter by a previous marriage. Also elsewhere in his book, Geoffrey claims that King Lot married Aurelius Ambrosius' sister when that king was still reigning.

In Welsh genealogies, an Anna does appear as mother of Howel of Little Britain (whom Geoffrey also makes Athur's nephew) but not related to Uther Pendragon. Geoffrey insists, however, on a line of British kings from Brittany which Uther sees in a vision of a comet that will descend from a daughter that will be born to him—the first of these Breton Kings being Howel. Accordingly, it seems that Geoffrey's Anna appeared in whatever source Geoffrey was using as the mother of Howel, not the mother of Gawain. Later retellers of Geoffrey's account are confused by these contradictions and usually try to resolve them by making Howel's kinship to Arthur vague.

There is an alternate account of Uther Pendragon's background in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival. A certain Mazadân went with a Fay named Terdelaschoye to the land of Feimurgân. Mazadân becomes father of two sons, Lazaliez and Brickus. The latter fathers Utepandragûn, while the elder son Lazaliez becomes father of Gandin of Anjou father of Gahmuret, the father of Perceval.

In Prose Lancelot, Uther Pendragon claims to have been born in Bourges. He takes an army to Brittany to fight against King Claudas of Bourges, a situation resembling that of the historical ruler, Riothamus, who went to Brittany to fight ravagers based in Bourges.

Adaptations

In Robert de Boron's Merlin, Uther Pendragon personally kills Hengest after an assassination atempt by the Saxon leader. It is for Uther Pendragon that the Round Table is created by Merlin in this story.

In T.H. White's The Once and Future King, Uther Pendragon is the father of King Arthur and the King of England from 1066 to 1216. When he dies, a sword driven through an anvil and into stone appears in front of a church in London. It says that whoever pulls the stone from the anvil is the rightful King of England. At a tournament to decide the king, Arthur (not knowing that Pendragon was his father) pulls out the sword while on an errand for his knight.

The main character of Aleister Crowley's Diary of a Drug Fiend claims to be descended from Uther Pendragon.

Mary Stewart's first three books in the Arthurian Saga The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment have Uther Pendragon as a character in them. Uther becomes king at the end of the first book and reigns throughout the second book, at the end of which, he dies and Arthur is acclaimed king.

Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon illustrates the disguise of Uther, along with his affair and marriage to Igraine, and his death by Saxon invaders.

External links

• A more detailed study of Uther Pendragon

British traditional history | Arthurian legend | Mythological kings

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