fandomhigh | History in Living Colour - Friday, Period 3 (Week 3)

The Danger Shop was set up to look like the courtyard of a castle this week. The Doctor was leaning against a sword on the far side as he waited for the students to gather. When he was satisfied enough of the class was there, he started to talk. "Right! So this is the last week of the basics before we start wading into dealing with history itself. Recorded history isn't always reliable, especially considering that most of the records have been destroyed. Now you might say 'but there are plenty of historical records out there' and you're right. There are plenty, but there's plenty more where those came from except that they no longer exist. That's where you get into the murkier areas of history and historical fact becomes myth as the stories are told through the generations and changed with each telling, archaeological sites are lost and good ol' common sense tells people that the 'original' story they heard can't possibly have been real.

Most of the time, stories are just stories, but some times you end up with altered stories about people who did live, castles that did stand and deeds that did, in fact, happen.

I want you all to keep in mind that because we're in the unfortunate situation of having multiple universes converging on one spot, what's myth in one universe may be fact in another. Today and for the rest of this course, I'll be teaching you what I know to be fact. It's up to you to recognise what does and doesn't fit into your knowledge of your home universe.

Now, with that out of the way, welcome to the home of a man you might know as King Arthur. He's gone by Artorius, bear-man in Welsh, Arturus and the like, but let's stick with Arthur for now. Modern vernacular calls this place Camelot, so we'll run with that, although it's had plenty of names over the centuries like its owner. It's in a little place you might know as Wales," he said, glancing at Gwen ~~if she was there~~ as he spoke. "You won't find knights of the round table here for the moment, but there really is a round table and it's right up there." He pointed to a window. "For those of you who don't know Arthur, he was a great British leader around, oh, the 6th century, give or take, brought together legendary knights, performed great deeds, defeated a Saxon invasion, had an adviser by the name of Merlin and a very, very famous sword by the name of Excalibur. He became a great folklore hero and still is to this day. There are plenty of books about him in the library and information on the internet. I'll be encouraging you to do your own research to supplement the class because there's more out there than I can cover in an hour and not make your brain dribble out of your ears.

So with that, let's mix a little learning and fun, although I think they're one and the same, and have a discussion and then you can play with the swords."

[OOC: Apologies for the tl;dr.]

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"How do you think the story of Arthur came to be so big when most of the historical records about him haven't survived? How can you pick out facts from folklore in general?"

"I think it has to do with oral history," Inara mused. "Even though the records didn't survive, the people who were alive to see the actual events told others, presumably, and the stories got handed down and passed on. As for picking out the facts...I have no idea. Maybe look at the stories and try to find the consistencies?"

Dick knew one of Arthur's knights personally. If he wanted to pick out the facts from the folklore, all he would have to do is call Jason Blood. But that didn't necessarily mean anything for this class thanks to alternate universes.

"Everyone likes a big hero," Dick said. "People didn't need records when they had stories about a pretty much invincible king who would return in the country's hour of need. Of course the flashy stuff was remembered over the truth."

"It didn't become a big thing despite the lack of records so much as because of it," Rodney argued. "Without a definitive account of the actual events, people in later times couldn't say for sure what really happened. The story would've been exaggerated on each subsequent retelling with the particulars adjusted to better fit the period it was told in rather than the time it supposedly took place, thus the continuing popularity."

Jen didn't have the slightest clue where to start out separating facts from folklore, given the insane things that happened in her world.

"Sometimes," she ventured, "people find stories like that inspiring. It's not exactly propaganda, although sometimes I'd guess it could be, and then when stories get passed down, they just get bigger and more elaborate."

"Because the Welsh are just that awesome," Gwen replied. It was impossible to tell if she was being serious or not.

"Because what he did was a pretty big deal," Meg said. "It stands to reason that people would remember it and tell stories about it. As to figuring what parts of those stories are actually true, you'd need to compare the different versions. And then pick out what parts are consistent to all of them."

"Word of mouth is a powerful thing," Sam said. "Especially the more fantastic a story is. It's hard to pick out the facts of stories like that, so you have to look at what's common in each one, and hope that those are the facts coming through."

History in Living Colour - Friday, Period 3 (Week 3)

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