N I G H T B R I N G E R . S E
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VIVIANE
Vivien
The chief French Lady of the Lake.
Viviane's father, Dyonas, was a vavasour of high lineage who long served the Duke of Burgoyne and married the Duke's daughter. The goddess Diane of the Woods, who used to visit Dyonas, promised him that his first child would be coveted by one of the wisest of men. Merlin met Dyonas' daughter Viviane at a fountain when she was twelve years old, and she promised to give him her love when he had taught her his crafts. According to this Vulgate account, Viviane was the woman who imprisoned Merlin.
When Queen Elaine of Benwick left her tiny son Galahad on a hill in sight of their conquered city, in order to rush to her dying husband, Viviane seized the opportunity to take the child. She renamed him Lancelot and raised him in her own rich city, disguised to mundane eyes beneath the appearance of a lake - hence "Lancelot of the Lake". Later, Viviane sent one of her chief damsels, Seraide, to rescue Lancelot's cousins Lionel and Bors from King Claudas and bring them, also, to the Lake.
When Lancelot was eighteen, Viviane yielded to his request, coached him in the requirements of knighthood, equipped him, and brought him and his cousins to Arthur's court. Viviane continued to act as Lancelot's guardian, through personal visits to Britain and through subordinate damsels whom she sent in her place.
She came to La Roche while Arthur was Camille's prisoner there and completed the matchmaking between Lancelot and Guenevere, counseling the Queen to love Lancelot with all her heart. Viviane then returned home, remarking,
I am anxious not to displease him who loves me, well knowing that a lover can only be happy when the object of his love is near.
When Sir Bors and Viviane visited each other during Arthur's war with Claudas, Bors invested in Viviane's husband with the Chastel del Cor, apparently in France.
According to the Vulgate, the Damsels of the Lake owed their knowledge of magic - apparently all of it - to Merlin.
Tennyson makes Vivien a votary of the old pagan sun worship. He also makes her definitely evil, but this accords ill with the roles both of Nimue in Malory and Viviane in the Vulgate - moreover, in order to do it, he divorces Viviane from the beneficent Lady of the Lake and makes them two separate characthers.
Though Viviane has against her imprisonment of Merlin, the kidnaping of Lancelot [though it may be said to have had good results], and the promotion of the affair between Lancelot and Guenevere [but she was not the only go-between in the case], she still seems to be shown in a good light, as a generally beneficent enchantress.
See also
Lady of the Lake
Nimue
Nineve
VIVIANE'S FAMILY AND RETAINERS:
ADOPTED SON: Lancelot
PROTÉGÉS: Lionel, Sir Bors de Ganis
COUSIN: Lunette
DAMSELS: "Rossignol", Seraide
Lover: Merlin
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