Exploring Nimue's Arthurian Origins

Katherine Langford in Cursed

There have been myriad retellings of the story of King Arthur throughout the years, on the big and small screen, as well as the printed page. From the visually stunning, brilliantly over the top theatrics of John Boorman’s 1981 film Excalibur (a personal favorite of mine) to gritty tales like Antoine Fuqua’s King Arthur (2004) and more light-hearted television series such as the BBC produced Merlin, fans never tire of seeing adventures that are set in Arthurian times. There’s even been a graphic novel entitled Camelot 3000, which merged the legend of Arthur with a futuristic science-fiction tale. One of the more recent re-imaginings of  the story is the 2019 novel Cursed, written by Thomas Wheeler, with illustrations by comics legend Frank Miller. The story focuses on Nimue (known as the Lady of the Lake in many versions of the tale) and her quest to free her race, the Fey (fairy folk) from persecution by the Church, while discovering the secret behind the mystical powers she possesses, which seem tied to the mystical Sword of Power, aka Excalibur. The book is a female-empowered tale very much in the vein of The Hunger Games and the Divergent series. Thanks to its success with readers, it was inevitable the novel would be turned into a film or television show, and Netflix recently premiered a series based on the book.

The show is an enjoyable riff on the oft-told tale. Cursed takes the familiar trappings of the legend and re-configures the story into the origin of Nimue, who interacts with many of the familiar faces from Arthurian lore, including Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, Percival and Uther Pendragon. Many of these characters are portrayed quite differently than the ones we’re used to from previous iterations of the tale. For example, Arthur is a young mercenary, Gawain is one of the Fey, and Uther (who’s not Arthur’s father in this series) is a petty, self-important, power-hungry monarch. Even Merlin is not quite the powerful sorcerer we’re used to seeing in previous versions of the story. He’s an anguished, haunted soul, who’s wracked with guilt over his past actions, but still trying to manipulate events to influence the future of mankind.

Part of that future involves Nimue, who will learn that she has a greater destiny than she ever imagined. When her village is attacked by the Red Paladins, military-style forces sent out by the Church to purge the land of the Fey and other magical beings, Nimue leads the survivors on a journey to find sanctuary. She will learn (some of) the secrets of her past, and find that her destiny, and that of the Sword of Power, are inexorably linked. She’ll also discover that Merlin, Uther, The Church, Uther, and other interested parties (including a warrior named Cumber the Ice King) are all vying to possess the sword for their own reasons. There are political and religious manipulations, fierce battles and magical confrontations throughout the series, which is well-directed and visually striking. As for the cast, Katherine Langford (of 13 Reasons Why) is very good as Nimue, Gistaf Skarsgard is impressive as Merlin, and Peter Mullan (who played Jacob Snell on Ozark) is excellent as Father Carden, the leader of the Church’s vicious Red Paladin forces. There are also solid performances from Daniel Sharman and Bella Dayne in supporting roles that may figure prominently in future seasons.

Cursed is an effective, female-centric version of the legend of King Arthur. The series may evoke memories of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s iconic novel The Mists of Avalon, which was itself adapted for television as a miniseries in 2001. But Cursed stands on its own as a diverting, entertaining, and clever re-invention and re-interpretation of a classic tale. There are more entries in the book series planned, so it’s a fairly safe bet that Netflix will continue the television show as well. If you’re a fan of Arthurian tales, the show is worth a look. Here’s a link to the trailer for the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLTdy6PfotA.