Igraine

Also known as: Dame Igraine / Queen Igraine / fair Igraine / lady Igraine · Family: Cornwall · Role: duchess · First appears: Book I, Chapter I

Igraine was married to Duke of Tintagil when Uther Pendragon became her suitor. She refused his advances and secretly departed with her husband for their castle, saying she feared she had been sent for to be dishonoured. Duke of Tintagil placed her in Tintagil while he occupied Terrabil, where Uther Pendragon laid siege; after the duke’s death, Uther Pendragon came to Igraine in her dead husband’s likeness and fathered King Arthur with her. Thirteen days later, they were married with great celebration.

In the later chapters, Merlin, Sir Ector, and Ulfius established that Uther Pendragon was King Arthur’s father and Igraine his mother, while Ulfius also called her false and traitorous to the king. Igraine was the parent of Morgan le Fay, who came with her when the queen was summoned, and King Arthur’s lover La Beale Isoud was revealed to be his maternal sister through Igraine. When Merlin finally identified Igraine as Arthur’s mother, they recognized one another and embraced: “And therewith King Arthur took his mother, Queen Igraine, in his arms and kissed her, and either wept upon other.”