Uther Pendragon: Biography, Facts and Career

Uther Pendragon ( (Y)OO-thər pen-DRAG-ən; Welsh: Uthr Bendragon), also known as King Uther (or Uter), was a legendary King of the Britons and father of King Arthur. A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down in the 12th century by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in most later versions. He is a fairly ambiguous individual throughout the literature, but is described as a strong king and a defender of his people. According to Arthurian legend, Merlin magically disguises Uther to look like his enemy Gorlois, enabling Uther to sleep with Gorlois' wife Lady Igraine. Thus Arthur, "the once and future king", is an illegitimate child (though later legend, as found in Malory, emphasises that the conception occurred after Gorlois's death and that he was legitimised by Uther's subsequent marriage to Igraine). This act of conception occurs the very night that Uther's troops dispatch Gorlois. Differing versions of the Arthurian story see the theme of illegitimate conception being repeated in Arthur's siring of Mordred by his own half-sister Morgause in the 13th-century French prose cycles. In an alternative telling he is instead the son of an enemy king. It is Mordred who mortally wounds King Arthur in the Battle of Camlann.

Quick facts about Uther Pendragon

• Full name: Uther Pendragon
• Known as: Royal
• Wikidata ID: Q657200

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