Knight in Shining Armor

For those curious about my latest reading habits, here they are:

The Fountainhead

My god this book is long. It's long and depressing. Anytime I need to realize that life is a slow process of grinding down everything that is pure and wonderful into the mire that is reality then I should pick this book up. Also, listening to moody Amon Tobin while reading it is probably not the best idea for a cheerful reading atmosphere. I'm on a break with this book. Ayn Rand lurks on my coffee table for now, however this moody depression has found it's way into my other reading material...


King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as broken down by Ayn Rand (sort of, not really.)

Sir Lancelot: Kind of a meathead. Basically the smash-first-ask-questions-later prototype. Very dashing and flirty, but devoted to Guinevere. This horrible love triangle will later destroy the entire Round Table. Good work Lancelot.

Sir Galahad: Goody-two shoes. He sits in the Siege Perilous, which is supposedly a chair in which lesser knights would perish in. Probably the target of a lot of nougies and swirlies for being such a suck-up to Arthur. No other knights sit with him at the feasting table.

Sir Percival: The brooding emo knight. He's one of the group that finally finds the Holy Grail. Percival does so much brooding and navel-gazing that he ends up spending the rest of his days as a hermit in Palestine after finding the cup of Christ. A heart-warming riches to rags story.

Sir Gawain: The genuine nice-guy knight, who inevitably gets the shaft. Poor Gawain gets caught up in the Lancelot-Guinevere-Mordred-Arthur drama. He tries to intervene and make everybody happy and ends up with Lancelot's sword in his eye. Of course, being the nice-guy knight his last act is to pardon Lancelot and compliment him on his dashing tabard.

Sir Bors: The red-shirt knight. He's part of the Grail-finding knight crew, but gets no credit. He labors in anonymity and is neglected in even the Disney version. He doesn't kill anyone, nor does he suffer an honorable death. Probably ends up in a knight retirement home, rambling on to anyone who will listen.

Sir Mordred: The scheming family member. Sir Mordred is Arthur's own nephew, who grows up to inspire plots against Arthur with Morgan Le Fay. The only one with real character in the whole bunch, unfortunately that character turns out to be kind of an ass. Delivers the fatal blow to Arthur in the final battle as Arthur kills him. If Mordred would have swung his sword a little harder, we might be following his myth instead of Arthur's. Should have taken sword lessons from Lancelot. Hindsight is 20/20.

King Arthur: Most of the time, spouts a bunch of hot air and mostly does nothing. Sends his knights of the Round Table to do all the dirty work. His genius idea is to think of a round table concept that promotes feelings of equality, yet he retains the title of King, making his end of the table slightly more rounder. If he'd been born centuries later, he'd probably resemble Bernie Madoff.

Turns out all of the knights in shining armor aren't so shining after all. A good life lesson I suppose.

Back to The Fountainhead I guess. It's all very deep and meaningful, but I'm rooting for Sir Howard to smite his foes. If only it were that simple.