Morgan Le Fay
Morgan Le Fay is one of the most influential, complex, and murky characters of Arthurian Legend. The many iterations of her as a goddess, witch, fay, and sorceress were benign in early Welsh legend, but she eventually evolved into an antagonist to Arthur. She’s appeared in many modern forms, including Tomb Raider, Batman, and The Librarians. Of her myriad qualities, the most prominent features were her biological relationship with Arthur and her power—by comparison to Arthur and Merlin. She could bewitch Arthur and his knights and yet did not directly command armies (this was often by proxy). How to translate these qualities into the modern and science fiction world?
I had to be clear when I set out to shape Morgan as a character; she, like all the characters in the story, had to be self-actualizing. Although she came from power, I had to show that she could wield it and be powerful. Power can corrupt you if you don’t surround yourself with people who ground you. In Matrix Trigger, Morgan loses the restraints that would make her focused.
Arthur’s genealogy (though much of it is mythological) is convoluted, and many modern novels deal with the small family unit. There’s complexity when a family is involved since are a lot of interdependencies and relationships between family members. That’s fun in the right genres, but in the science fiction genre, that can be more of a hindrance than an aid. Still, I gave Arthur a fairly large family from which to draw upon. Since Arthur and Morgan are half blood relations, a central fulcrum was their mother Igerne MacGabran (drawn from Igraine of legend), who has her own power and is the wellspring from which the two derive theirs—Arthur drawing upon his genetic heritage, and Morgan drawing upon… well, you’ll see.
Beyond a shared mother, how does Morgan relate to Arthur? I put her in a different category and class—she grew up in the LaFayette family power sphere, not the world of a self-made army colonel like Aidan MacGabran. She possesses a different skill set, but—if I’ve done justice to the character and the story—she complements and opposes Arthur. She has a greater command of power learned early in life and has plans and designs beyond future’s veil. If you’ve followed along closely, she’s a character who’s been in the story from the beginning, but her power grows in the background until she’s now in full command in Matrix Trigger. Can she oppose Arthur? How can the dynamic between them evolve into something more?
