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“Auntie, What Ails Thee?”: The Parzival Question In Orphan Black, Janet Brennan Croft
“Auntie, What Ails Thee?”: The Parzival Question In Orphan Black, Janet Brennan Croft
Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature
In Arthurian legend, the question Parzival fails to ask upon first seeing the Grail procession in the Fisher King’s castle, and must return to ask later, is the central turning point of his quest. While in many versions the question is about the Grail and its purpose, in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s retelling, the question posed is “What ails thee, Uncle?”, and it is the moment of humility, compassion, and sympathy that is essential to the achieving of the Grail vision, the healing of the Fisher King, and the restoration of the land. In the television series Orphan Black, the …