18

The Mystery of the Lance and of Revenge

I have previously mentioned the complementarity existing between the lance and the cup. In the traditional representations of the “double power,” the scepter is often confused with the lance. Also, the symbolism of the lance, like the scepter’s, often interferes with the symbolism of the “axis of the world” and thus points to the well-known polar and regal meanings. In the cycle of the Grail, the lance appears mostly with regal figures and presents a double character: it wounds and it heals. This requires some further explanation.

In the cycle, the Grail’s lance is often bloodied: sometimes, rather than being drenched in blood, it produces a trickle of blood. In the Diu Crone, the king is fed by this blood. In later texts the blood acquires an increasingly important role, so much so as to overshadow the bowl that contains it and that originally played the most important role. In these texts, the Grail becomes Sangreal, with the double meaning of Christ’s blood and regal blood. In the Christianized elements of the cycle, the lance of the Grail is sometimes believed to be that which pierced Jesus’ side; thus the blood that flows from it is “the blood of redemption,” symbolizing the regenerating principle. This, however, does not explain the fact that the lance wounds a person such as Nescien, who wanted to get too close to the Grail, only to be wounded and blinded; his sight returns and the wound heals in virtue of the blood that flows from the lance’s blade, once it is pulled out of the flesh.

In the Grand Saint Graal, when such a phenomenon occurs, a shining angel declares that this is the beginning of the marvelous adventures that will take place in the land to which Joseph of Arimathea will travel, namely, in the North-Western region. Thanks to these adventures, “true knights will be recognized from false ones and the earthly knighthood will become the heavenly knighthood”; then the miracle of the blood flowing from the blade will occur again. Even the last king of Joseph’s dynasty will be wounded in both of his thighs by the lance and will be healed only at the arrival of the one who will discover the mystery of the Grail, being qualified to do so. In this context, the blood of the lance seems to be related to the virtue of the restoring hero. But in this text one also finds mentioned that the lanche aventureuse can inflict a wound, in the sense of inflicting a punishment that is meant to recall Jesus’ wound. All this seems to overshadow the “sacrificial” motif; in other words, what is recalled is the necessity of a “mortification,” or of a “sacrifice” as a preliminary condition for the Grail’s experience not to turn lethal. In other texts, however, this motif is mixed with the theme of revenge: the lance, with its blood, hints at a vengeance that the chosen one must exact, for only then, together with the fulfillment of the mystery, will peace and the end of the kingdom’s crisis be ushered in.

In relation to this variation the restoration assumes the character of a reaffirmation, or of a victorious assumption of the same force or tradition that others had previously picked up only to fall or be wounded by it. In this context the Christian theme of sacrifice is modified according to a more virile sense, which should be considered the original one. In Vauchier the steel of the lance is found fixed in the body of a dead knight. The one who pulls it out must avenge him; thus, the avenger is also the restorator. In any event, from a blood of enigmatic characteristics (redemption blood, blood of sacrifice or of revenge) we go to blood conceived as regal blood; the lance, in the end, leads to the “triumphal peace.” The central and solar vein of this tradition is reconfirmed again and again, shining through the labyrinths of symbols and the opacity of historical stratifications.

The theme la pes sera pas ceste lance is already found, together with that of revenge, in the Celtic legend of Peredur ab Evrawc, which probably influenced the Grail stories. Like Percival, the hero Peredur is cursed for not having “asked the question,” which here means for not having inquired about the “extraordinarily big lance” from which three rivulets of blood trickle out. In some forms of the legend, the castle in which these objects are found is confused with a second castle, the king of which is an old and lame knight. Peredur exclaims, “By my faith, I will not sleep tranquilly until I know the story and the meaning of the lance.” The explanation, which is found at the end of the tale, is that the supernatural Amazons of Kaerlayw had wounded a king (who turns out to be this old knight) and killed his son, to whom the severed head belongs. Peredur significantly turns to King Arthur and with his help exacts vengeance and exterminates the supernatural women; after this, the lame king regains his health, his kingdom, and his peace.

The women recognize in Peredur “the one who had studied martial arts under their tutelage, though they knew he was destined to kill them.” A perceptive reader will understand what this is all about. Concerning the wound caused by the women, the reader may refer to what I previously said from a double interpretative perspective concerning Amfortas’s wound. More in general, we have here the aspect according to which the heroic type always overcomes the woman. The Amazon, symbolically speaking, is the feminine principle that usurps the function of dominion; though the hero needs the woman and through her is able to become such, he still must destroy in her the traits according to which she proved fatal for the previous dynasty.

Moreover, the quality that makes the revenge and, in general, Peredur’s mission possible is connected to the test of the sword, more on which later. In the castle of the old man, Peredur had broken his sword by striking an iron pole, proving to be able to repair it immediately; but after two times, at the third test, the sword remains shattered and the old king says: “You only have two thirds of the force; you must conquer the last third. When your sword will be whole, no one will be able to compete with you.”¹ This deficiency implicitly appears as the cause owing to which Peredur does not “ask the question” and thus cannot carry out the task of revenge. These are three degrees of a test that may be characterized by the following formula: “Once stricken, I rise up again.” This refers to the capability of taking up again and reaffirming in a sacrificial manner (hence, eventually, a reconnection with the Christian theme) an energy that is broken in one of its material and elementary forms.

The theme of revenge is probably related to some historical element that was absorbed by the saga, the king’s wound always corresponding to some rebellion of forces or people that have usurped or are trying to usurp its function. The complete form of the legend follows this pattern: The blood that drips from the lance calls for revenge. Thus, to mend the broken sword is the first task, which leads to the question test. This is followed by the revenge, the restoration, and the glorification. Then the lance becomes a bright symbol of peace.

The fundamental themes of the ancient Celtic legend of Peredur correspond exactly to those of the legend of Percival, which in this way evokes ancient elements of a non-Christian origin and spirit. A last reference in this sense may be  indicated in the Destruction of Da Dargas Hostel and in the Musca Ullad, ancient Celtic legends in which mention is made of a powerful and lethal lance and of a bowl containing blood mixed with a flaming poisonous substance. As soon as the lance is immersed in this bowl its flames are extinguished. In Wolfram, Amfortas owes his wound’s torment and incurability to a burning poison in which the tip of the lance was dipped. In this it is said: “God has manifested His wonderful and terrible power.”² It is the equivalent of the poisonous and burning bleeding substance mentioned in the ancient Celtic legend. The lance, in its positive aspect of scepter, dissolves and puts out this substance, much as Heracles, as an Olympian hero, becomes the liberator of the titanic hero Prometheus. Then the darkness and the tragedy are dispelled, and the Hyperborean “memory of blood,” which guarded the sword, is reawakened. The mystery of the “regal blood” is realized.