The Story of the Holy Grail

The version related to Lucas by Parry as they lay in Central Park is as follows:

The Fisher King as a little boy is shown a vision of the Grail surrounded by flames. He is filled with ideas and ambition, not of spiritual fulfilment, but of worldly power and greed. He reaches into the flames to grab the Grail, which disappears leaving only the flames. He is terribly burned, becoming the wounded king. For years he and his land waste away until the pure innocent soul of a fool comes along. He does not see a king, only a fellow human being who suffers pain. He asks what is wrong, the King replies that he is thirsty, the fool picks up a cup, fills it with water and hands it to the King. The cup is the Grail and the King is healed. The Grail had been right next to the king all the time, but he had been unable to see it because his heart was not pure.

This is an odd version of the story not extant in any of the major Grail texts, which can be briefly read as follows:

Parcival is a boy who grows up in the waste forest, ignorant of the world of knights and men, under the influence of his mother, he keeps him from knowledge of knighthood because her husband had died a knight. One day as he is hunting in the forest he comes upon a group of knights. They tell him that they are from Arthur's court. He longs to join them, and his mother realising trying to dissuade him will be of little use, gives him certain advice which will prove symbolic in the further story. He has some adventure on his way to Arthur's court and as he enters he meets a red knight leaving in some haste. This knight has insulted the king, stealing the cup and spilling wine on the queen as he did so. The boy goes forth and kills the red knight, proving his own knightly worth, he takes, or in some versions is presented with the red armour which he then wears. He has further meetings and adventures and comes upon two me in a boat, one of whom is fishing. The Fisher King offers him a place to stay for the night, giving him directions. when he enters the great hall he sees an elderly man sitting upright on a large bed, he is the man who was fishing, and is obviously ill. While they talk a youth enters with a beautiful sword. The old King declares that it is a gift destined for his guest, they continue to converse and another boy comes in carrying a white lance, dripping with blood. Then the Grail procession enters with the Grail maiden carrying the Holy Grail. all the time, remembering part of the advice of his mother, Parcival remains silent: He fails to ask the all important question which will release the king from his wound. They eat and retire for the night, when he awakes the castle is deserted. He leaves the castle finding a girl mourning over her dead lover. He tells her he has spent the night and she realises he has been in the Grail Castle, she explains that the king was wounded through both thighs in battle and can now only fish, being unable to ride or participate in any other activity. She asks if he saw the spear and the cup and inquires if he asked about them. He says he did see them but chose to remain silent. She berates him. He had failed to use this opportunity to heal both king and land. He then is distraught at his failing and vows not to sleep under the same roof twice until he has refound the Grail. He wanders in vain for much time, until one Good Friday he realises he has lost his way and his true vision, and is directed to a Hermit's chapel, where he falls to his knees and weeps his sad story to the hermit. The hermit tells him that the fisher king is the hermit's brother and that both are Parceval's uncles, his mother, who died of grief when he left the forest, being there sister; ie, they are all of the family of the Grail. 5

This version is based on Chretien de Troyes's poem, which we will recall was unfinished. It ended mid-sentence at this point and was completed in various ways by at least four other writers. There are variations also, the wound being caused in self defence when the knight Balin picks up the spear of Longinus, which was the spear used to pierce Christ on the cross and strikes King Pellam, as quoted by Malory. 6

We could go into the deeper meanings and the many slight variations. The cup stolen by the red knight representing sovereignty, the sword handed to Parceval being symbolic of speech and his need to speak, and that the origin of the wound is in the thigh or thighs, which relates back to the Celtic Bran who is wounded in thigh; ie, the genitals, causing a breech between king and land, but the deeper esoteric meanings of these and the various adventures which fill the tale are outside the scope of this discussion. It is of interest that the red knight appears in the film. In Grail mythology red and black Knights symbolise dysfunctional behaviour, knights who do not fight for truth or for a noble cause, they fight for the sake of it, they are spiritually empty. In a way Parry, who is chased by his red knight, will remain spiritually empty until he has come to terms with his wife's death, this is why he is unable to win the Grail; he is not in a position to ask the right question. Perceval in the Grail mythology eventually refinds the Grail castle, heals the Fisher King and takes his place as the Grail Guardian, awaiting the next seeker. This is true also of the film. At the outset, Parry is Perceval, the fool and seeker, Lucas the worldly wise Fisher King (in keeping more with the version told in the film than the true mythology). As the story progresses, however, when Parry is beaten up, we see a reversal; Parry is now the wounded Fisher King and Lucas, having re-lost his vision, almost on the brink of returning to his old selfish, uncaring, life as a radio/TV personality. He walks past the homosexual character who pleads with him that they know each other; it is interesting that here is the man that had first prompted compassion from Lucas returning to prick at his conscience, successfully as Lucas storms out of his meeting about a zany new comedy about homeless guys who enjoy their life style and regains his vision, just as Perceval does in the legend. Lucas then becomes the quester and eventually winner of the Grail. This Grail seeker becoming Grail winner becoming Grail guardian awaiting the next seeker is a true representation of the Grail story.

Which brings us to an analysis of the Grail legend in the other film under discussion: