T.H. White and What Makes a King-to-Be

In my novella, The Wolf Boy Returns from Space, my king-to-be is more a young Alexander the Great than, say, Harry Potter. That is, he has a cold, observant, ambitious side even as a teen. He knows he has plans. 

T.H. White's Wart, however, is supposed to be a great king not for ambition but because he is good. 

So what is Wart like? 

One of the most interesting characteristics White gives Wart in his frankly medieval if anachronistic England is that he doesn't put himself forward. About Kay, the narrator states, "[He was] one of those people who would be neither a follower nor a leader, but only an aspiring heart, impatient in the failing body which imprisoned it." 

Wart, however, "admired Kay and was a born follower. He was a hero-worshipper."

These qualities may seem odd ones for a incipient king, especially in our current "stand up and defend your label!" society. 

The movie is a disappointment--

the best action sequences are

missing--but Wart's character

is fairly accurate.

In T.H. White's hands, however, Wart as follower makes him pure boy.  He is curious, courageous, quick-witted, quick-on-his-feet, engaged with everything he does. He loves things with his whole heart. His greatest trait, of which he is almost entirely unaware, is his empathy. He understands and loves Kay, so he begs Merlyn for an adventure for Kay. He eventually earns Kay's "honest love." 

Wart loves the glory of jousts and worries about the combatants being hurt. He begs a boon for Wat but also, ultimately, lets Wat and Dog Boy to do their own thing.

Wart's leadership qualities here dovetail with T.H. White's treatment of Robin W(H)ood. Of all the social/political orders Wart encounters, Robin W(H)ood's independent band are the most efficient, the happiest, and the most self-supporting. 

Wart doesn't want to push others around. In one of the most touching passages of The Sword in the Stone, Wart tells Merlyn that as a knight, he would take on his responsibilities alone. 

He muses (he isn't bragging), "I would pray to God to let me encounter all the evil in the world in my own person, so that if I conquered there should be none [of the evil] left, while if I was defeated, it would be I who would suffer for it." 

Merlyn chides him for being "presumptuous" and unrealistic. Besides, nobody would let Wart do what he wishes. 

"I could ask," said the Wart. 

"You could ask," repeated Merlyn.