Ancelyn
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Ancelyn ap Gwalchmai (PROSE: Battlefield [+]Loading...["Battlefield (novelisation)"]) was Knight Commander of the dead King Arthur's forces by the time the Seventh Doctor and Ace encountered Morgaine. (TV: Battlefield [+]Loading...["Battlefield (TV story)"])
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
In Arthur's world[[edit] | [edit source]]
Ancelyn was the son of royal guard Fontayne. (PROSE: One Fateful Knight)
Ancelyn was a noble and honourable knight: though he initially dismissed Brigadier Winifred Bambera as a "peasant", he accepted her as an equal after she bested him in combat. Though his enemy Mordred accused him of having fled the Battle of Camlann, this may have been a bluff; he was unflinchingly loyal to his king and his king's fight against Mordred and Morgaine.
In the Doctor's universe[[edit] | [edit source]]
Ancelyn came to our universe seeking Excalibur. Mordred also came and they fought. Ancelyn was thrown through a roof in an explosion. He was greeted by the Doctor (Merlin in his universe), Ace and Shou Yuing. Mordred arrived and threatened their lives. The Doctor was able to scare them away. Ancelyn and Brigadier Winifred Bambera then began fighting and insulting one another. The pair came to fall in love, (TV: Battlefield) got married, (PROSE: Excalibur of Mars) and had twins. (PROSE: Head Games)
During the Ice Warrior invasion of England in 1997, Ancelyn accompanied the Queen and other members of the royal family to Canada following Xznaal's coronation. (PROSE: The Dying Days)
The Eighth Doctor once tried to invite Ancelyn and Bambera to Christmas dinner at the Brigadier's house, but they were holidaying in Avalon. (PROSE: Faithful Friends: Part 3)
Later in their lives, Merlin sent Excalibur to Ancelyn in order for him to use it to stop Phobos and Deimos from drifting away from Mars. Ancelyn broke his foot in a football match and told Bambera to go in his place. (PROSE: Excalibur of Mars)
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
The name "Ancelyn" was not part of Arthurian lore and was coined for this serial. However, it is reminiscent of "Lancelot", the most famous, archetypal virtuous knight of the Round Table. His modern-day love interest Bambera's first name "Winifred" is a modern form of "Guinevere", King Arthur's wife, with whom Lancelot had an unconsummated affair as one of the main subplots of the Matter of Britain.
However, Ancelyn's full name translates to Ancelyn, son of Gawain, suggests not only that he is of Welsh extraction but also that his father was the legendary Sir Gawain, Arthur's nephew and one of his most trusted knights. This is contradicted both by the literary Lancelot's parentage as the son of King Ban, and in PROSE: One Fateful Knight [+]Loading...["One Fateful Knight (short story)"] which purports that Ancelyn's father was named Fontayne.
