Mordred's Lullaby

I actually wrote a paper in my college psychology class over this song, how the influences of an 'authority' figure affect the events in a child's life and that child's personality and characteristics in life.

Mordred has basically brought this guilelss son up to be her revenge against those who have wronged her.

This song is told by Morgana, half sister to King Arthur. Her hatred for Arthur derives from the previous generation, where Arthur's father killed Morgana's father, robbing her of her parent. Arthur, later, while married to Guinevere, was attracted to the wife of King Lot sexually, and deceived her into believing that he was her husband, later to find out that she was actually Morgana. She became pregnant with Mordred, and resented him for a long time, because of the fact that he's a result of incest between half-siblings. Mordred was an antagonist, who hated his father for his sin of adultery and incest, and wanted to seize the thrown. "Hush, child, darkness will rise from the deep, and carry it down into sleep, child." This for me, for some reason is the hardest line to interpret. I think it's metaphorically speaking that, the darkness, being his hatred for his father and those sins (and because he actually acted on that hatred, rebelling against his father), would lead to the downfall of Arthur, making everything right in her mind.

"Guileless son, I’ll shape your belief, and you’ll always know that your father’s a thief And you won't understand the cause of your grief, but you’ll always follow the voices beneath. " So, this is also a bit difficult to say exactly what it means. Obviously, the beginning means that she's going to make Mordred believe that his father is purely evil in every sense of the word. She wants Mordred to hate Arthur, because she wants Mordred to punish Arthur. The second part means that, although Mordred will never truly understand why he's supposed to hate his father, he'll always listen to what his mother says, because that's all he's ever known, and because his mother resented him, which made him always crave love from her more than anyone. 'The voices beneath' is Morgana brainwashing Mordred.

"Guileless son, your spirit will hate her. The flower who married my brother the traitor." This refers obviously to Guinevere, because of her affair and untrustworthy relationship with Arthur. She was in another relationship with Lancelot while married to Arthur, which makes her an easy pawn for Mordred. Destroying the marriage between Arthur and Guinevere would make it easier for Mordred to steal the thrown, because Morgana has brainwashed Mordred into believing that Arthur doesn't deserve it. Guinevere is the only obstacle keeping Mordred away from royalty. (Guinevere is childless, meaning the only heir is Mordred, the son of Arthur.)

"And you will expose his puppeteer behavior, for you are the proof of how he betrayed her loyalty." This obviously means that she's looking forward to when Arthur's affair with Morgana will be exposed to everyone, showing everyone what a sinner he is. Arthur basically raped Morgana, which was incest and adultery (on Guinevere), and nobody would respect him as King if they found out, which is exactly what Morgana wants.

"My only son, each day you grow older, each moment I’m watching my vengeance unfold. The child of my body, the flesh of my soul, will die in returning the birthright he stole." Depending on the version of the story, this could mean a lot. It really just refers to the fact that Mordred is living proof of what a terrible man Arthur is. Mordred will be the one that shows everyone how sinful the well-worshipped king is. In some versions, Morgana believes she should be at the thrown because Arthur's father killed hers. However, this doesn't make much sense because she's not technically royal. Her father was the duke, not the king. She's kind of just a bit crazy, and I'm not exactly sure why she believes she should be at the thrown. She just does.

First off, I love this song. The lyrics, the music, the voice, everything.

Second, when I first heard it, I thought of Final Fantasy VII. Specifically, Jenova's relationship with Sephiroth, Kadaj, and Hojo.

"My only son, I’ll shape your belief, and you’ll always know that your father’s a thief. And you won't understand the cause of your grief, but you’ll always follow the voices"

My only son = Sephiroth Your fathr's a thief = Hojo is a thief. A creepy thieft. Sephiroth follows what Jenova, "the voices", tells him to do

Of course, that's only the way I hear it.

Psst, nevercry -- it's Morgan le Fay singing to her and Arthur's son, whose name is Mordred. ;)

It's a lovely characterization of Morgan and, indirectly, Mordred. The repeated "loyalty" blended with so much bitterness reminds me of T. H. White's The Once and Future King, in which Mordred's mother was actually Morgan's sister Morgause and twisted all of her sons' emotions to be loyal to her no matter what.

Anyway, great song. A lot of intensity to the lyrics behind the pretty, soothing melody.

While I'd definitely agree that the song is more directly from the King Arthur legends, the verses

"The flower who married my brother the traitor. And you will expose his paltaple behavior, for you are the proof of how he betrayed her loyalty."

and

"My only son, each day you grow older, each moment I’m watching my vengeance unfold. The child of my body, the flesh of my soul, will die in returning the birthright he stole."

remind me strongly of Hamlet. Overall, a very mystical, entrancing song. Really intense.

you're both wrong It's Morgan's sister Morgaus (though I have no idea how to spell it)singing to her and her and half brother, Arthur's son, Mordred.

Few wrong lyrics... not 'my only son' it's 'guileless son' 'carry you down into sleep' 'voices beneath' 'And you will expose his puppet behaviour'

Mordred is King Arthur's son, and also son to Arthur's sister 'Morgan le fay'. He ended up killing his father.

Great song and amazing historical meaning behind it.

"It's Morgan's sister Morgaus"

Okay, I was all poised to correct you there, but apparently what happened is that in all but the oldest versions of the legend, Morgaine LeFay and Morgause were combined into a single figure, under Morgaine's (Morgan's) name, or so Wikipedia tells me. But I can still correct your spelling, as there's a 'e' on the end of it.

the lyrics r wrong, it says guileless son, not my only son

i love dis song its mi ringtone