Knightmare and Jung
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Just realised that the early series of Km in particular are very Jungian in their nature.
Consider the archetypes. We have the Wise Old Man of Merlin, the Fool/Trickster of Folly/Motley, the Shadow of Mogdred, the Witch of Mildread, the Maiden of Gretel, the Queen of Lilith, the Hero as a role played by the Dungeoneer, and so on.
Interpreted this way, Knightmare can be seen as a portrayal of classic unconscious tropes, in a classic dream setting. Greatly hindered by the helmet, it’s difficult to run away from trouble. It fits very well alongside similar stress dreams, like when your legs are stuck in mud and something scary is closing in on you… quite often a personification of some worry in the waking world, or even an unresolved part of yourself. If it’s the latter, then the Shadow will be the scariest of those threats. Mogdred, anyone? He’s referred to as Merlin’s evil alter ego but in this setting he is actually the Dungeoneer’s Shadow.
It seems that most people preferred the dungeon setting of the early series. In my case I tended to assume it was because I was younger, more impressionable, more easily scared and didn’t like change. But now I’m wondering whether it’s also because those early series were a closer portrayal of a Jungian nightmare, set in a gloomy dungeon metaphor of the interior of one’s mind, populated by archetypes, with the self-as-hero trying to defeat one’s own fears using courage and intelligence. A literal Knightmare.
The literature of every culture, over thousands of years, is riddled with these archetypes and tropes. Jung presents his theory as to why. It seems to make sense to me. So, were a new series of Km ever to be made, it could well be handy to embrace the idea and make character and design choices that deliberately and consciously, rather than inadvertently, relate back to these concepts. That may well help form something quite terrifying.
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