Having read this book more than 3 times now, I am still puzzled by something and wonder whether anyone can clarify it.
Remember the bit just before Uthur dies, when Viviane goes and tries to help him and has a vision of them both as priest and priestess in Atlantis? Is that the same vision that Igraine was given by the old Merlin? Ok, it's pretty confirmed that Uther was a priest in Atlantis, but were Igraine and Viviane two different priestesses, both in love with him? Or are they both separate reincarnations of the same soul/spirit? Or is it a roving vision and any woman who has it thinks they are the "original" one? Sort of mean if that's so.
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I had the same confusion! I kind-of assumed that it was Viviane that was the "real" priestess in the memory, but since she knew she was too old to bear children for Uther she somehow passed on her memories to Igraine. I'm thinking the moonstone had something to do with it, too...like the moonstone made Uther think it was Igraine he was "remembering" and not Viviane.
I'm interested to see how other people interpret this event!
Awesome question- This is my take on it- I was very moved by it actually, and hope someday to find my "priest from Atlantis." ...sigh.... What I think she (MZB) was trying to convey was the idea of reincarnation, and souls traveling together through time, every once in awhile getting the chance to connect again. I think each vision was meant to be separate, but convey the same message. I actually felt bad for Viviane, because in all honesty, she should have been the one for Uther, because it was their two souls that were entwined throughout all time.
I don't recall Igraine getting the vision- maybe I missed that, but didn't Morgaine get that vision to help explain the union or connection between her and Arthur for the Great Rite?
I so love the way she worked the idea of reincarnation in like she did. It gave me goosebumps, when I figured it out- it was actually the second reading of the book that did it for me- I missed it the first time.
Can't wait to see what others think- this intrigued me.
Igraine's vision is on page 63-66 of the 1982 sphere printing, where she remembers that "Morgan" is a title as well as her daughter's name. In her vision, she seems to remember herself and Uther as having been together since childhood, destinied never to be separated. Viviane's, page 223-224, where she realises that her soul and Uther's are connected.
They seem to be, like Brooke says, repeated reincarnations ... not the once born, but special souls reincarnated and getting closer to the old Merlin's state ... he doesn't have to be reincarnated again, he requested reincarnation for a purpose ... sort of Christian link here, like Christ, or even Buddha, perfected souls freed from the wheel of time ... anyway I am still confused about whose soul is linked to whose ... don't like to think Merlin would so deceive Igraine (for whatever noble purposes!) but also like the idea of entwined souls (but two is good three is a crowd surely?)
That's why I sort of think Igraine and Viviane may be parts of the same soul ... like the Fairy Queen is Morgaine. That's another interesting bit ... you know, Morgaine never meets the fairy queen again because she knows she has become the fairy queen ... well, if she has or is, then she Morgaine as fairy queen must have met Morgaine as acolyte ... so there is a time cross here ... future older Morgaine must have met younger Morgaine, and older Morgaine, knowing the "future" and how things would turn out, still made the younger Morgaine do what she did (that is, not abort Mordred). So, in the end, older Morgaine must have felt that things turned out the way they should, because you see, technically as older Moragine/Fairy Queen she could have changed things by killing the child or at least encouraging Moragine to abort, but she didn't ... not even give a real warning.
OK, I totally missed this! When I get home, the first thing I'm doing is checking this out. Thanks so much for the question Chrissie!
I never gave the Vivianne/Uther vision much thought, actually. I just figured that Viv had a thing for Uther and could not bear him children. So, she let it be...I will have to go back and reread that part now, won't I? LOL!
I was confused when I read that too. It is almost just like the one Igraine had about Uther. I was actually wondering if it was a *ooops* on the part of MZB. Unless she is saying that her characters also belive in *split souls*.
I've been thinking about this, and I think that it was Viviane who was really in the past with Uther. They manipulated so many people, I'm not surprised that they - Viv and Merlin - did that to set Uther and Igraine together. Though I wonder if they had planned for the obsession that I and U have to have led to the abandonment of Morgaine and Arthur.
Maybe just another way that their meddling with things backfired on them.
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