Lancelot (Camelot 3000)

In his first life, Lancelot was King Arthur's best friend and greatest knight. He was respected and admired by most of his fellow knights but had a mutual dislike for Arthur's wizard Merlin. Lancelot and Arthur's queen Guinevere fell in love and, although they knew it was wrong, were unable to resist each other and had an affair. Arthur eventually discovered them and was bound by the law to sentence Guinevere to death. Lancelot rescued her from execution but Camelot fell in the civil wars that followed.

Camelot 3000

Over two thousand years later, Lancelot was reborn in France as Jules Futrelle. He became a businessman and eventually amassed so much wealth that he was the richest man on Earth. When aliens invaded Earth they focussed their attacks on England, and waves of refugees fled across the Channel into France. Futrelle used his vast resources to rehome and help them, but he was aware that even with his money he could not help everyone or do enough. He gave up his Paris home to the latest batch of refugees and relocated to his "estate", a terraformed asteroid in low Earth orbit.

When Arthur awoke and drew Excalibur from the stone once again it released seven bolts of energy which should have restored the reincarnated knights' memories, however Morgan LeFay disrupted the spell and so it would instead only halfway awaken them. Futrelle was on his way to the "estate" when he received an alert that trespassers had broken in. He planned to call in his security forces, when suddenly the spell caught up to him. Lancelot's personality began to rise up inside him and he instead decided to go and confront the intruders himself.

When he arrived, he discovered that Arthur had arrived and claimed the estate as "New Camelot". At the sight of him, Lancelot's memories returned and he immediately dropped to his knees, hailing Arthur as his king once more. He was introduced to Arthur's new squire Tom Prentice and had a curt reunion with Merlin. However, Guinevere was also with them, and Lancelot immediately fell in love with her on sight again.

The next day, Merlin said they must find the other knights reborn in the future and bring them to join their quest. He told them to arm themselves quickly and return, but when they left Merlin's quarters Lancelot followed Guinevere and told her that he still loved her. She momentarily tried to resist but quickly embraced and kissed him.

Lancelot donned his armour and joined the others with Merlin. The wizard gave each of them a charm which would help awaken the memories of the other knights reborn in the future; and teleported each of them to a knight's location. Lancelot was sent to Japan, where he found a man about to commit suicide for failing to protect his lord from the aliens. Lancelot showed the man the charm and restored his memories, revealing that he was Lancelot's son Galahad. Lancelot was overjoyed to see his son again but Galahad said that honour demanded he die for his failure. However, Lancelot told him that it was God's will for him to live and fight as a Knight of the Round Table once more, and Galahad reluctantly agreed to come back to New Camelot with him.

Lancelot and Galahad reunited with the other reincarnated knights and found many of them changed from their previous lives; Sir Tristan had been reborn as a woman while Sir Percival was a mutant "Neo-Man". Shortly afterwards, Merlin warned them that they were under attack from a combined air and ground force of United Nations troops. Lancelot took Galahad and Sir Kay to fight the enemy flyers using his own fighter craft, while Arthur lead the other knights to repel the ground forces. The enemy forces were revealed to be aliens in disguise, but in fact they had been sent by Jordan Matthew, the U.N. Security Director, who was secretly working with LeFay and the aliens.

After a celebration of their victory, Lancelot planned to meet Guinevere in a secluded part of the estate, but Tom followed and confronted him for pursuing Guinevere again when it had lead to the fall of Camelot in his first life. Lancelot asked the younger man if he had ever been in love and told him that his and Arthur's shared love for Guinevere was a curse that could cost each of them dearly; and that he would give up anything for Arthur but her. Tom said he still did not understand and Lancelot replied that one day he would and asked him not to judge Guinevere. After Tom left, Guinevere came and they again embraced.

As Lancelot and Guinevere were about to make love, Arthur called everyone to the throne room. To everyone's shock, including Guinevere, he announced that they would marry again in only two days. Arthur claimed that this was to provide inspiration to the people of Earth, although it was clearly more to assert his relationship with Guinevere, who he was not technically married to in this life, over Lancelot's. Lancelot expressed enthusiastic support, to the further surprise of the others. Later, Guinevere begged Lancelot to object, saying they could not let a marriage come in the way of their love again, but Lancelot refused and said she must marry Arthur, as he would need her beside him to lead them to victory against the aliens. Lancelot went to Arthur alone and asked to be Guinevere's guard for the wedding. He obliquely promised that he would never touch Guinevere again, and Arthur granted him the honour.

The wedding was held on the main floor of the United Nations Building, just as the ceremony was concluded and when Arthur and Guinevere were about to kiss, Guinevere was shot by an assassin. Guinevere died, and Lancelot prayed over her body for his life to be taken and given to her. Lancelot collapsed and Guinevere returned to life, and then Lancelot himself also rose.

The next day, Arthur held a council of war with Lancelot, Guinevere and Merlin. After the assassination, Arthur no longer trusted the governments of Earth and decided to free the prisoners of the U.N.'s main prison camp in Australia. The knights launched a full assault of the prison and freed the political prisoners whose only crime was to demand freedom. That night Guinevere came to Lancelot's quarters and said that his love had brought her back to life, and she could not simply forget that or her love for him. They made love, but Arthur once again caught them. This time he chose not to kill Guinevere, but banished them from New Camelot.

Lancelot and Guinevere returned to Paris, while Arthur fell into a deep depression and ceased his war against the aliens. Although they did not regret their love, Lancelot and Guinevere did regret the pain they had caused Arthur and how it had caused him to withdraw from the fight. Arthur soon recalled them as Merlin had been kidnapped by his former apprentice Nyneve and he needed every soldier he could call upon regardless of his personal feelings. A talisman which Merlin used to protect himself has been destroyed, seemingly by Sir Tristan. Arthur put Tristan on trial and he admitted that he had planned to destroy the charm, as he had been tempted to betray the Knights of the Round Table by LeFay, but swore it had already been broken when he got there. Arthur made Tristan swear his innocence on Excalibur, claiming that it was sharp enough to cleave truth from lies and would kill anyone who lied while holding it. Tristan seemingly proved his innocence when Excalibur did not kill him and Arthur asked each of the knights to do so in turn. They all did, including Lancelot and Guinevere, but Kay refused, demonstrating his guilt. He admitted that he had broken the charm in the hopes that seeing Merlin in danger would rouse Arthur from his funk, and that Merlin would have been able to resist Nyneve. He begged for forgiveness and even Lancelot spoke up for him, saying that an action taken for the good of the Round Table could not be wrong, but Arthur nevertheless sentenced his brother to death.

The Knights went outside for Kay's execution, when they were suddenly attacked by a fleet of alien ships. The knights managed to rally, but one of the ships flew up on Arthur from behind and fired on him. Kay and Tom both jumped into the path of the beam to save Arthur; Kay took a direct hit and was killed instantly, while Tom only caught a glancing blow and was left alive, but seriously injured and afflicted with radiation poisoning that would kill him in only a few days. Arthur gave Kay an honourable burial for sacrificing his life. As Lancelot and Arthur stood vigil over Kay's grave, Arthur wondered who else would fall in their quest; Lancelot suggested using Excalibur's power to determine that but Arthur told him that Excalibur could not divine truth, but Kay didn't know that.

To save Tom's life, Arthur determined to find the Holy Grail which could heal him. He sent Tom with Lancelot and Guinevere, as well as Percival, who had seen the Grail in his previous life, to find it. Meanwhile Arthur lead the rest of his forces to take the fight to the aliens and LeFay on the tenth planet of the solar system. The party travelled to Glastonbury Tor, where Percival saw a figure which the others could not and lead them to a hidden cave. There they met the Guardian of the Grail, Percival's own beloved uncle, still alive over two thousand years later thanks to the power of the Grail. The Guardian showed them a collection of objects, one of which was the disguised Grail, and told Percival he must choose which it was. One of the objects was a crucifix, which Lancelot told Percival to grab, but Percival recognised that the true Grail was a simple cube; as Christ was no longer on the cross and had transcended death. The cube unfolded into a cross and then the Grail itself.

Percival used the Grail to heal Tom, who was mere moments from death. The Grail then transformed Percival back into a man and he ascended into Heaven, thanking his friends for fighting for him and freeing him. The Guardian gave the Grail to Lancelot, telling him he was now its Guardian, but as soon as they left the save they were attacked by a force of aliens, who stole the Grail.

Lancelot knew they needed to follow Arthur and the others to the alien planet, both to help them and retrieve the Grail. Although Arthur had taken the only spacecraft on Earth, Lancelot knew that the Lady of the Lake could help them. He lead them to Salisbury Down, which was now a nuclear power plant, and broke in; taking the opportunity to vent his aggression on the facility's alien guards. He called upon the Lady, who had once been a mortal woman named Elaine who loved him, and she was able to take them via magic to the tenth planet, arriving just ahead of Arthur's party and the two sides reunited.

They camped for the night and few hour later a crowd of aliens appeared on the ridge. However, these aliens were peaceful and lead the group to their queen mother. She told them that Morgan LeFay had come to their once frozen planet, changed the climate to make it into a desert and kidnapped some of the queen's infant children who she turned into her mindless puppets; the aliens they had been fighting. The queen mother promised to help them destroy Morgan.

Arthur planned to lead a small force into Morgan's castle and rescue Merlin while Lancelot lead the remaining knights, Neo-Men and their alien allies in a frontal assault. However, Lancelot knocked Arthur unconscious and took his place so he could find and retrieve the Grail. Some friendly aliens snuck Lancelot, Tom, Tristan and Sir Gawain into Castle LeFay hidden inside crates of food; and they split up, ostensibly to search for Merlin, but in Lancelot's case he was hoping to find the Grail.

In the corridors of the castle he found the treacherous Jordan Matthew, wearing armour made from the Grail itself. Matthew revealed that he was the reincarnation of Modred and Lancelot attacked him, but found that the armour made from the Grail made Modred unbeatable, as any wound would heal instantly. Lancelot repeatedly struck Modred but he was unhurt and ran Lancelot through, leaving him grievously wounded. Meanwhile, Arthur's forces could not break through the gate of the castle, and so Galahad sacrificed both himself and the rocket to blow open the gates. Arthur and his forces charged in just as Modred was about to kill Lancelot. Arthur duelled Modred but also found that he could not be harmed. Their fight took them to Morgan's throne room, where they found Merlin being held under an enchantment. Lancelot realised that the holy power of the Grail might react with Merlin's demonic magic and called out to Arthur, who threw Modred at Merlin. This created a great explosion that killed Modred, shattered the Grail armour and freed Merlin.

The knights fought off the remaining aliens and monsters in the castle, however, Morgan summoned her entire army to attack them, and the knights and their allies could not fight them off. To destroy their enemies once and for all, Arthur had Merlin teleport the others back to Earth and used Excalibur to split the atoms of a rock, triggering a nuclear explosion and sacrificing himself and the Grail to kill Morgan and her army.

The surviving knights returned to Earth, where they erected gravestones for Arthur, Galahad and Percival next to Kay's grave. Lancelot and Guinevere chose to remain together and Guinevere discovered that she was pregnant. Either Arthur or Lancelot could be the father, but they both agreed that they hoped the child was Arthur's.

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Notes

This character or object is an adaptation of Lancelot, a character or object in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.

Lancelot (Camelot 3000)

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