Arthur Pendragon (also known as Wart) is a figure from a British folklore who was featured as the main protagonist of Disney's 18th full-length animated feature film, The Sword in the Stone.
In the film, Arthur is an orphan boy who becomes King of Medieval England thanks to his ability to pull a legendary sword from an anvil, making for a highly iconic moment.
Arthur was known as a 12-year-old orphan with blond hair and is very scrawny and awkward, but also friendly and polite. He has a rich imagination and dreams of becoming a knight and having adventures. However, as he is an orphan, he knows that the most he can hope for is to become a squire to his boorish adoptive brother, Sir Kay.
His adoptive father, Lord Ector, found Arthur when he was a baby and took him in. Although Ector cares for the boy to an extent, he still tends to favor his son, Kay, and thus raises Arthur much more strictly and abusively, and Kay is a constant tormentor and bully to his adopted brother than Ector. Almost everyone refers to him as Wart rather than his birth name, Arthur.
In fact, his real name is rarely mentioned throughout the film (And his last name, Pendragon, not at all), once by Wart himself, and later when he is revealed as the rightful King of England.
Biography[]
The Sword in the Stone[]
Arthur is watching Sir Kay hunting when he was in the woods, but he accidentally fell on Kay. Arthur began looking for the arrow that Kay lost and eventually appeared in the home of Lord Merlin, a powerful wizard, and became friends with him. While enjoying tea with Merlin, Merlin tells Arthur about the value of education and appoints himself as a mentor to Arthur.
Arthur returned to Lord Ector's castle with Merlin and the boy was sent to the kitchen as a punishment for the fear of Ector's wrath. Sir Pelinore is an old friend of Ector, who came here with tournament news and won the British crown as a prize. Ector decided that Kay could participate in the knighted in time. Ector also appointed Arthur as Kay's squire, which will be held in London.
The next day, he was accompanied by Merlin in the first class. Merlin turned Arthur and himself into fishes. At first, everything went smoothly. He was quickly chased by a big shuttle and initially managed to surpass the pike. Fortunately, he was saved by Merlin's loyal owl, Archimedes. This adventure taught the value of the brain to the muscles. When Arthur turned back, he rushed to the kitchen, where Ector gave him six shortcomings; 3 for being late, 3 after telling the true story of his lesson.
Later on, due to his punishment by Lord Ector, Arthur is forced to clean the entire kitchen. Merlin washed the dishes for himself and took Arthur to another class. This time, the course was about gravitation and (unexpected distortion) the relationship between men and women; in this lesson, Arthur became a squirrel and met a female squirrel who wanted him as a partner. When he tried to escape the passionate squirrel, he was in danger of being eaten by the wolf. However, because of the female squirrel, he was saved, but he later became a boy again.
Although he tried to explain, the female squirrel was heartbroken. After returning to the castle, Lord Ector began to blame Merlin for what he considered to be black magic around the kitchen. Arthur tried to defend Merlin, but Ector left more shortcomings on the boy and eventually punished him by revoking his chances of traveling to London and making an invisible boy, Hobbs, Kay's squire in Arthur's position. Merlin saw that Arthur is disappointed and apologizes, but he points out that he can still create something by educating himself.
Merlin needed time to explain the different concepts about how the world works, but it became so confused that Archimedes took charge. After discovering that Arthur is illiterate, Archimedes taught him reading and writing. During the break, Merlin needed time to show the model airplane. Although the demo didn't work, Arthur was still impressed anyway and linked his flying dreams to Merlin. When Arthur spoke, Merlin turned him into a sparrow. He then flew with Archimedes. The flight was smooth at first because the cockroach proved to be innate in flight, but during the flight, the cockroach was chased by the eagle, and when it fled, it finally fell into the chimney of Madam Mim, the enemy of Lord Merlin and the main antagonist of the film.
Although Madam Mim tried to show Arthur her magic, it was selfish, better than Merlin, and the orphan disagreed, so Madam Mim became a cat and tried to eat him. Arthur was saved with the intervention of Merlin. Arthur and Archimedes later observed a wizards duel between two wizards. Therefore, Arthur learned the value of knowledge and wisdom, because Merlin won by surpassing Mim. At Christmas time, Arthur was reinstated as Kay's new squire (because Hobbs had mumps). As Archimedes congratulates him, Merlin was cross with Arthur for choosing war games over education. Hurt by his disapproval, Arthur tearfully defends himself by saying that in time like this, he doesn't know how to move forward in life and being a squire is the only thing he has left. In response to this remark, the wizard transferred himself (very unintentionally) to Bermuda in the 20th century and lost control.
On New Year's Day, he later joined the tournament with Lord Ector and the newly knighted Sir Kay in London. When Arthur realized that he had forgotten Kay's sword in the inn, everything went smoothly. In order to find a substitute, Arthur pulls a magic sword from the stone in an ancient cemetery. When the sword is brought, it is immediately considered to be the legendary sword in the stone, which should be pulled by the legitimate British king. When they all went to the churchyard, Ector allowed Arthur to repeat the process, but before he could do so, Sir Kay, Lord Ector, and some other knights tried to pull it out, on the grounds that anyone could pull it a second time. It is confirmed that it is false). Pelinore and a knight named Sir Bart intervenes Lord Ector, Sir Kay, and the other knights, and allowed Arthur to the pull the sword out of the stone. He succeeded in doing it and everyone cheered for him as their new King of England.
Ector felt guilty for cruelly mistreating Arthur and took the opportunity to apologize and ask Wart for forgiveness, which Arthur thought was unnecessary. Early, the crowd asked for the boy's name, and Ector almost called him Wart, then corrected himself and called the boy Arthur for the first time. Time passes and Arthur, now crowned King Arthur, feels unprepared for the responsibility of ruling a country. With the assistance of Archimedes, he attempts to run away, but every exit is blocked by cheering crowds. Merlin then unexpectedly returns from Bermuda and is pleased to see that Arthur is now King Arthur and relates how famous the boy will become in the future.
House of Mouse[]
King Arthur appeared about twice in House of Mouse. In "Rent Day", where Mickey asks him to loan him money, and Merlin (next to Arthur) offers him money to get Arthur a sword. And in "Ask Von Drake" The Ludwig Von Drake Song shows a shot where King Arthur, Merlin, Sir Kay, and Madam Mim are trying to pull the sword out of the stone.
Novels[]
Return to the Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel[]
Arthur is mentioned in the novel. He has a son named Artie. He also dislikes technology, keeping Camelot Heights in the Dark Ages; though it's presumed that Arthur elements when it comes to medical care. King Ben is mildly annoyed with Arthur's choice as Camelot smells terrible from the lack of modern cleaning and bathing supplies.
Trivia[]
Historians are still uncertain on whether there was a real King Arthur or not.
The Disney Comics serial New Adventures of Beauty and the Beast had Belle reading about the adventures of King Arthur and explaining she had more of a time there than being outside. It was later referenced again in the musical adaptation of Beauty and the Beast during the "Human Again" segment (the film equivalent having Romeo & Juliet).
Arthur's voice had changed frequently throughout the film. It was the result of three different people (Rickie Sorensen and then Richard & Robert Reitherman) voicing him at the time. It will result again, but this time, in The Black Cauldron, where the voice actor of Taran, Grant Bardsley, had his voice changed, but still voiced him.
