Morgan Le Fay

Morgan Le Fay/Ganos Lal

Summary

Morgan Le Fay, AKA Ganos Lal, was an Ancient who fled Atlantis and eventually ascended.

Earth Mythological References

Morgan Le Fay, sometimes confused or interchangeable with Morgaine/Morgana/Margause of Arthurian legend, was an enchantress. She was nemesis to Merlin, and was able to get her protege, Nimue to seduce Merlin and trap him in an eternal prison (sometimes described as an enchanted cave or tree), thus preventing him from helping King Arthur during the final mythic battle.

Morgan Le Fay was originally called a goddess. Other early works had her being was one of the queens who bore Arthur off in the barge to Avalon after the battle of Camlann. In Malory's work, she was Arthur's half sister. She, Margause, and a third sister, Elaine, were the daughters of Ygraine (Igraine) and Gorwin.

Later in Chretien de Troyes' tale, Morgan Le Fay was again the half-sister of Arthur, and resented Arthur and her step-father Uther Pendragon. The resentment grew to hatred that caused her to attempt to have Arthur killed.

More recent spins on the Arthurian legend have turned Morgan Le Fay back to being another Lady of the Lake (Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson; Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley).

Stargate References

Ganos Lal was one of the Lantians that fled Atlantis 10,000 years ago. During her time in Atlantis, she created a database program complete with an avatar in her image as a way to teach young Lantian children. After the Lantians, later known as the Ancients, fled, they found Earth to be a hostile environment with primitive peoples. They scattered to different lands.

Eventually several Ancients, including Ganos Lal, ascended. When fellow Lantian Moros returned to the human realm as Myrddin/Merlin, Ganos Lal was sent to observe him. She became known as Morgan Le Fay. According to Daniel Jackson's readings, she was known in history as Merlin's greatest rival.

SG-1 first uncovered references to Morgan Le Fay when exploring Vagonbrei searching for Merlin's anti-ascended weapon (the Sangreal) (10.02 "Morpheus"). According to the village archives, Morgan lived in a cave overlooking the village. The villagers told Arthur and his knights where she stayed. After Arthur's knights left, the villagers came down with a sleeping sickness that the villagers attributed to a curse by Le Fay. In truth it was a parasite, though it's unclear how it became so prolific on Vagonbrei.

Over the centuries after this time, Morgan claimed to have softened more to Merlin's viewpoint (10.03 "The Pegasus Project"). She knew Daniel Jackson during his time as an Ascended Being and was impressed how he always spoke from his heart. When the Ori began to pose a danger to the Milky Way Galaxy, Morgan was one of the ascendeds sympathetic to stopping them. When Dr. Jackson traveled to Atlantis searching for clues to the Sangreal, Morgan Le Fay posed in the guise of her avatar to direct his search. She was not circumspect enough, however, and Daniel continued to investigate, pressing the point. He recognized her as Le Fay, and she revealed her past.

Daniel, Vala, and Dr. Elizabeth Weir continued to press her for more details, but she was afraid to cross the line of interference, knowing the Others may stop her. Finally, she decided to warn them that "Merlin's weapon is not...", but her thought remained unfinished. The Others yanked her away. Only later did she reveal that she was exiled for her actions here (Stargate: The Ark of Truth).

As it turned out, Morgan hid the Sangreal neither on Castiana nor Sahal, but a hidden planet located equidistant between the two locales, as well as Camelot and Vagonbrei (10.10 "The Quest Part 1"). To ensure only someone "true in spirit" would get the device, she placed tests of prudence, charity, kindness, wisdom, and faith along the way, as well as having it guarded by a dragon. A map and texts warned of the place and the traps. Morgan also put in place some kind of dampener that nullified ascended style powers to prevent such an individual, like Merlin or Adria from reaching it.

The final test, the dragon guard, would only disappear upon speaking the name of the guardian, Morgan's original name "Ganos Lal" (10.11 "The Quest Part 2"). The original Sangreal was apparently destroyed by Morgan Le Fay. Her tests actually activated an Ancient transportation device, similar to the Sodan "Eye of the Gods." It led to a chamber on another planet (or rather, series of planets) where a lab held Merlin in a stasis chamber of Ancient design. An additional safeguard insured someone connected to the Ori, such as Adria, would not reach the lab. Although Morgan destroyed the Sangreal, she kept Merlin alive but in stasis to protect him: if the need ever arose, he could rebuild the Sangreal.

Exiled by the Others, Morgan used a more indirect approach to help Daniel and his friends (Stargate: The Ark of Truth). She appeared to Daniel in visions as Merlin, leading him to find the Ark of Truth, a device created by the Alterans that would counteract the Ori's single-minded focus on worship. She distracted Adria and revealed the symbols that would activate the Ark to Vala. She also healed a mortally wounded Teal'c when he collapsed outside the City of the Gods at Celestis.

Soon after doing these things, she visited a despairing Daniel, imprisoned by the Ori. He saw through her Merlin disguise and begged her to help him, insisting the Ancients owed them after SG-1 used the Sangreal to destroy the other Ori. Morgan agreed, but explained that the followers' worship gave Adria too much power for Morgan to help. Daniel needed to activate the Ark. She immediately left his cell before explaining more, just before the healed Teal'c arrived to rescue him. Daniel, Teal'c, Vala, and Tomin were able to distract Adria enough to activate the Ark. Without Adria's boost of power through mindless worship, she and Morgan were now on equal footing. Morgan immediately appeared and battled Adria in her energy form. Whether or not Morgan survived the battle is unknown.

Episodes

• 10.02 "Morpheus" by reference only
• 10.03 "The Pegasus Project"
• 10.10 "The Quest Part 1" by reference only
• 10.11 "The Quest Part 2" by reference only
• Stargate: The Ark of Truth

Gallery

Morgan taken by the Others

Morgan le Fay about to battle Adria

Related Characters

• Dr. Daniel Jackson
• Vala Mal Doran
• Teal'c
• Adria
• King Arthur
• Merlin
• Tomin of Ver Isca
• Dr. Elizabeth Weir

Related Articles

• Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
• Ancients
• Ark of Truth
• Ascended Beings
• Atlantis
• Camelot (PX1-767)
• Castiana / Taoth Vaclarush
• Celestis
• Eye of the Gods
• Ori
• The Others
• Sahal / Valos Cor
• Sangreal
• Sleeper Parasite
• Vagonbrei

Further Reading

• Arthurian Romances, Chretien de Troyes, Penguin Books, 1991.
• Idylls of the King, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Signet Classic, 1961.
• Illustrated Encyclopedia of Arthurian Legends, Ronan Coghlan, Barnes and Noble, 1995.
• Malory Works, edited by Eugene Vinaver, Oxford University Press, 1971.
• Wikipedia entry on Morgan Le Fay
• Camelot Project of University of Rochester

Actor

• Sarah Strange

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--Aurora 18:08, 5 August 2006 (PDT)