Parallels between the Weasleys and King Arthur's family?

[mongo62aa]

No: HPFGUIDX 31603

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "frodoyoda_2000" <frodoyoda at a...> wrote:

> Actually, in many of the Arthurian tales(definitely in the Mists of 
> Avalon, maybe in The Once and Future King, and others), Gareth is 
not 
> the youngest, Mordred is. This would align Ron with him, and he was 
> the one who betrayed Arthur. Gareth was the second youngest 
brother, 
> which would make him either Fred or George. Gareth was killed by 
> Lancelot in a fit of passion as he saved Guinevere from being 
> exectued for her betrayal of Arthur.
> As I refuse to see Ron as a traitor, and really can't see Harry 
> killing either of the twins to save Ginny, I think that these 
> paralells 
> are shady at best...
> 
> retreating back into lurkdom,
> Molly

You make some good points here.

The exact relationships between characters in the Arthurian cycle 
vary quite a bit, depending upon the particular version of the story 
being told. Most of the modern retellings of the story do make 
Mordred the youngest, but he is actually only a half-brother of the 
other four, with Gareth being the youngest full brother. JKR has 
apparently stated that Harry WILL be betrayed by someone, but the 
person may not be an exact counterpart of Mordred.

I also agree that JKR used SOME plot elements from the Arthurian 
stories, and not the entire cycle. At least I hope so ... There is 
simply too much betrayal and fratricide in the original to be 
enjoyable today.