The Mists of Avalon

Published in 1983, The Mists of Avalon is a novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It is notable among the many, many variants in Arthurian legend due to its approach - the story is told not only through the eyes of a woman, but through the eyes of one of the biggest villains in the legends. The narrator is Morgaine (Morgan le Fay or Morgan of the Fairies), who tells Arthur's tale (and her own) against the backdrop of approaching war with Rome and the Saxons, as well as religious war as Christianity threatens to destroy Avalon and Goddess worship in Britain.

Bradley was critically lauded for taking the Arthurian saga and making the characters three-dimensional. Up to this point, women were the biggest evils in the many variants - Morgan le Fay was an evil enchantress, as was Nimue, and Guinevere generally shouldered most of the blame for her extramarital tryst with Lancelot. This book attempts to rescue or make the women real, and not just one-note evil characters. In fact, none of the women mentioned in this paragraph have any wish to do harm to Camelot or Arthur.

Several books came after this, all of them prequels. Near the end of her life, Bradley began collaborating on them with Diana Paxson, who took over the series after her death. The novels which they wrote together include: Forest House, Lady of Avalon, and Priestess Of Avalon.

The main characters:

Morgaine: Protagonist, priestess of Avalon, and half sister to Arthur. Daughter of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and Igraine.
Arthur: King Arthur. Caught between oaths to the Lady of Avalon and the spread of Christianity.
Viviane: High Priestess of Avalon and sister to Igraine and Morgause. Manipulates things behind the scenes, but does everything to try to save Avalon.
Morgause: Sister to Igraine and Viviane. Plots to put her husband or one of her sons on the throne.

This was made into a miniseries in 2001, starring Julianna Margulies (ER) as Morgaine, Anjelica Huston (The Addams Family) as Viviane, and Joan Allen (Pleasantville) as Morgause.

This book contains examples of:

Adaptation Expansion: Like any other variant on Arthurian legend.
Aerith and Bob: Running the gamut from familiar - Arthur - to medieval and acceptable - Lancelot, Morgaine - to alternate spellings - Gwenhwyfar - and then Kevin.
Atlantis: Where the priests/priestesses in Britain came from.
Author Filibuster: Marion Zimmer Bradley is quite clear on her pro-feminist stance.
Beauty Brains and Brawn: The three sisters/maternal figures.
- Beauty: Morgause
- Brains: Viviane
- Brawn: Igraine
Because Destiny Says So: Pretty much every line out of Viviane's mouth. The entire reason for Arthur's existence.
Broken Pedestal: Morgaine's for Viviane when she finds out she orchestrated the anonymous sexual tryst between Morgaine and her brother.
Brother Sister Incest: Morgaine conceives a child by Arthur, a boy named Gwydion ("bright one"). This is subverted somewhat in that Morgaine and Arthur did not know they were having sex with each other at the time. Morgaine hadn't seen her half-brother since he was 3, both were masked, and both were playing parts in a Sacred Marriage rite.
The Chosen One: Guess who. No, really! Guess!
Deus Angst Machina: Just about everybody. Especially Morgaine, since she's the main protagonist of the story:
- Like being sent away as a child from everything she knew and loved.
- Or being manipulated into incest with her brother.
- Even being tricked into marrying an old dude...the father of the man she was in love with, no less.
- And the list goes on...
Distressed Damsel: Gwenhwyfar
Dress Hits Floor: (Miniseries version) Gwenhwyfar
Doorstopper: Even the paperback would make a decent doorstop or bludgeon in a pinch.
Drunk On the Dark Side: Mordred
The Dutiful Son: Arthur
Elegant Classical Musician: Morgaine considers that there are men who lust after her when she plays the harp in Caerleon. She's good with that harp.
Enigmatic Empowering Entity: The Lady of the Lake is a machiavellian politician who supports King Arthur because she believes that it will save her people.
Mr. Fanservice: In the miniseries, for sure: Accolon, Arthur, Lancelot
Evil Matriarch: Morgause
The Fair Folk: Present, and more than happy to either help after extracting a huge promise, or generally fuck things up to get what they want. Presented as powerful, manipulative, and not to be trusted.
The Hecate Sisters: Although they aren't sisters, Viviane makes explicit reference to the concept of "maiden, mother and crone."
Holier Than Thou: Gwenhwyfar's general attitude against anything Avalon-related.
Ho Yay: Arthur and Lancelot. Adds quite a different spin to the traditional love triangle...
Lawful Stupid: Arthur, sometimes.
Iron Lady: Viviane
Jesus Was Way Cool: Many pagans in the book comment that they don't mind Christ; their problem is with the people interpreting His words.
King Arthur: See The Chosen One.
Kissing Cousins: Morgaine's crush on Lancelot. Though they never fully seal the deal.
Knight in Shining Armor: Lancelot. Could practically be a Trope Namer.
Law of Inverse Fertility: Morgaine sleeps with Arthur once, and conceives. Gwenhwyfar does everything she can for years to conceive, down to betraying her Christianity and asking Morgaine for a magical charm, and cannot. Subverted a little; Gwenhwyfar's infertility is not natural. Morgause has cursed her to have no children, and the curse is not broken until Gwenhwyfar hits menopause.
- And by "cursed", they mean she planted goons in the castle to mix contraceptive/abortion herbs into her meals.
Les Yay: Viviane and Raven.
Living MacGuffin: Gwenhwyfar.
The Lost Woods: Prince Bright Night's domain.
Love Dodecahedron: Arthur, Gwenhwyfar, Lancelet, Morgaine, Accolon, Elaine.
Love Makes You Crazy: When Arthur caves to Gwenhwyfar's begging requests to forsake Avalon and exalt Christianity. Then the shit really hits the fan.
MacGuffin: The Holy Grail.
Matriarchy: The way things are run in Avalon where girls are forced to sleep with men they don't know or care about for ritual reasons, bear or abort children according to the dictates of the High Priestess and used their sexuality to lure and betray men they love.... This is Feminism?
Merlin and Nimue: Done with unbelievable tragedy.
Playing Against Type: You'd think Anjelica Huston would play the evil sister and Joan Allen would play the good one, instead of vice versa!
Please I Will Do Anything: Gwenhwyfar to Morgaine when she asks her to create a fertility charm to make her conceive, despite Gwen's extreme aversion to anything Pagan or magical.
Real Men Love Jesus: Gwenhwyfar basically pulls this on Arthur during a fight.
Rescue Sex: Gwenhwyfar and Lancelet, after her rescue.
Reincarnation Romance: Subverted. Viviane and Uther may have had one had they not been born a little too far apart and only met when they were both too old.
- Played straight earlier when Igraine has her epiphany that she and Uther were lovers in a previous lifetime. Uther-in-previous-incarnations got around.
Right Hand Hottie: Lancelot to Arthur.
Sex As a Rite of Passage: The Sacred Marriage ritual, watch out your partner might be your sibling.
Spell My Name With an S: Gwenhwyfar, Lancelet, Morgaine, Morgause, Igraine.
Three Way Sex: Arthur, Gwenhwyfar, and Lancelot.
Twice Told Tale: While it is not strictly necessary to be familiar with Arthurian legend to enjoy the book, it makes a lot more sense if you know the basics of the legends.
Villain Protagonist: Morgaine is usually the villain of Arthurian stories.
The Voiceless: Raven, a young seeress, has taken a vow of silence and dedicated her voice to the Goddess.
You Can't Fight Fate: Arthur's rise, Camelot's fall, and Avalon's secession from the world - but Viviane pretty much destroys or alienates everybody she loves trying.