Question by Mr.Ricano: has the mystery of king arthur and the search for avalon, (including the escalibur), have been found?
Best answer:
Answer by Your Best Fiend
I think part of the allure of the story is that mystery. But, if you are asking if King Arthur and Avalon existed in history, then this is not true. King Arthur was at best a composite of the romantic ideas about chivalry. He never lived except in the hearts and minds of people.
What do you think? Answer below!
No.
Scholars (and many cranks) still argue these matters.
For some of the current reasoning, see
http://www.britannia.com/history/h12.html
http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/344art.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/anglo_saxons/arthur_01.shtml
Remember, the Arthurian tales were spread by medieval story tellers who were far more concerned with stories that were liked and that they got gifts for telling than for any kind of historical accuracy. The kinds of things said today about Hollywood could be said about these tellers. If there is mystery in those of the tales that have survived, it is partly because they put the mystery into the tales.
You might as well solve the mystery of Dracula by looking at Hammer horror films. And you can do it that way, once you recall that the history of Dracula was created by the Hammer horror films and their sources, going back to Bram Stoker who wrote the original Dracula story, though even that was based on earlier tales of vampires and the supernatural.