Editing 1521: Sword in the Stone

{{comic
| number    = 1521
| date      = May 6, 2015
| title     = Sword in the Stone
| image     = sword in the stone.png
| titletext = That seems like an awful lot of hassle when all I wanted was a cool sword.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Megan]] pulls a sword out of a stone. A flash of light comes down and music plays, and a heavenly voice tells her she has ascended to the {{w|throne of England}}. Megan then pulls out her phone and searches on Wikipedia for {{w|England}}. After having read for a while, she decides she does not want the throne of England and slowly places the sword into back the rock, without taking her eyes off the text.

The comic references the fables of {{w|King Arthur}} and the {{w|Knights of the Round Table}}. In Arthurian legend, whoever can remove {{w|Excalibur#Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone|The Sword in the Stone}} is the lawful king of Britain (although this comic, as some versions of the legend, refers incorrectly to England). Arthur is an orphan being raised in secret; he notices the sword, removes it, and is proclaimed king. The sword is sometimes identified as {{w|Excalibur}}, although in other versions Excalibur was acquired by King Arthur from the {{w|Lady of the Lake}}. The most familiar version of this story is {{w|The Sword in the Stone (novel)|The Sword in the Stone}} by {{w|T. H. White}} which is based on {{w|Le Morte d'Arthur}} by {{w|Sir Thomas Malory}}. The animated {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)|musical}} by Walt Disney is a well-known version of this fairytale based on White's book.

A key element in the joke is that as Megan begins to read about England, especially information concerning being an English ruler, she quickly thinks better of this and begins to put the sword back in its place. The punchline that Megan puts the sword back after reading about England suggests that the "gift" of being the leader of England is not worth the risk and/or work associated. British history is rife with monarchic strife, and a brief inquiry into their {{w|List of monarchs of the British Isles by cause of death|causes of death}} will show that almost one in three {{w|British rulers}} have died either in battle or from murder, etc: Queen Elizabeth II, who was alive at the time of the comic's release, is the only English monarch to die of (exclusively) old age. This would quickly lead most people to conclude that the risks associated with ruling England far outweigh the benefits.

The title text furthers this plot, having Megan comment on the hassle when the only thing she was interested in was the cool sword. Apparently, Megan is not enthusiastic about power, and her choice is made when she sees how problematic it could be to reign over the country of England. There is also a subtle play on the fact that in the T. H. White version, Arthur likewise is unaware of the significance of pulling the sword from the stone - he is simply looking for a sword to replace the one belonging to his step-brother Kay that was stolen under his watch, to avoid embarrassment and reproach.

From the time of the {{w|Roman Empire}} all the way up to {{w|Charles II of England|Charles II's}} reclamation of the throne, the area now known as England has seen {{w|Invasions of the British Isles|several migration waves, Viking raids, invasions}} and fierce power struggles among aristocratic families. Besides the constant threat of usurpation, as evidenced by the numerous wars for the crown, such as the {{w|Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest}} and the {{w|War of the Roses}}, there were also constant difficulties in managing the frontier regions. This can be seen from {{w|Hadrian's Wall}}, a creation of the titular Roman Emperor designed to keep the ever difficult Scots out of the areas of Roman control (the Scots would be a {{w|Anglo-Scottish Wars|constant problem}} for England up until the reign of King {{w|James VI and I}}; think of the movie {{w|Braveheart}} for a good example of the regular headaches they caused, seen from the English point of view), as well as the {{w|List of Anglo-Welsh Wars|Welsh uprisings}} that occurred with such consistency that you could set your watch by them.

It is worth emphasizing that the term "England" is anachronistic in this context. At the time Arthur supposedly existed, there was no England — England was formed by Germanic tribes who {{w|Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|settled in Britain between the fifth and seventh centuries}}. In many of the stories, including the earliest, Arthur was in fact depicted as a leader of the native Romano-Britons in their attempts to repel these invaders. England would not exist had Arthur succeeded. The anachronism is not new; it entered Arthurian legend in the Middle Ages. (Thomas Malory's ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', for example, refers to Arthur as King of England.) In Arthurian legend, it was stated that Arthur would return when needed (in some versions he was explicitly associated with the {{w|Mab Darogan}}, a Welsh Messianic figure who would finally drive the English out of Britain and reclaim it for the native Britons).  It is possible that Megan in this comic is a 21st-century reincarnation of Arthur.

The timing of this comic might relate to the birth of princess {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Charlotte Elizabeth Diana}} on May 2, 2015, just four days before this comic, and the burden of a royal of having a whole life in public shaking hands of strangers. Since {{w|Succession to the Throne Act, 2013|2013}} the {{w|Line of succession to the British throne|line of succession}} was changed to {{w|Primogeniture#Absolute primogeniture|absolute primogeniture}}, meaning that she will keep her current position in the line (4th after her {{w|Prince George of Cambridge|older brother}}) even if she later gets baby brothers. Before this year, that would not have been the case, as the male gender took rank over birth order.

It is also probably not a coincidence that this comic was published the day before the {{w|United Kingdom general election, 2015|UK General Election}}, occurring on May 7, 2015. This election decides the modern-day leader of the UK. And the problems they face today may even be more likely to cause Megan to give away the throne, than the risk of untimely death she would have faced in Arthur's days.

A similar Wikipedia gag appears in [[911: Magic School Bus]].

The sword in the stone also appears in [[2578: Sword Pull]].

==Transcript==
:[Megan walks up to a sword in a stone.]

:[Megan tries to pull the sword out of the stone.]

:[A flash of light and music plays as she removes the sword.]

:[While standing with the swords a voice from the sky speaks in gray shaky letters:]
:Celestial voice: ''The Throne of England is yours''

:[Megan takes out her smart phone and searches:]
:Wikipedia
:England

:[Megan reads on her phone.]

:[Megan, still reading from her phone, starts to replace the sword back into the stone.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Fiction]]