The myth of the wounded king and the heroic fool.
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The myth of the Fisher King is a Grail story of two central characters, The Fisher King and Parsifal. In various re-tellings, it is also told from the perspective of Parsifal.
It is a tale of masculine wounding, midlife, the relationship with our mothers, finding our purpose, and healing and embracing our power as men.
Let us start with the king. The Fisher King is the last in a long line of kings who are keepers and protectors of the Holy Grail. However, he rules over a decaying and wasted kingdom. Crops won’t grow, churches are empty, the people are in despair. The source of this rot is a wound the King has in his thigh that won’t heal - in some tellings, the wound is in his groin. As we’ll see later, the wound is highly symbolic.
“The whole land is in desolation, for a land mirrors the condition of its king, inwardly in a mythological dimension, as well as outwardly in the physical world.” [1]
Worse still, the wound is self-inflicted, in some tellings by accident and in others it is a result of his own moral failings. The King spends his days in pain, complaining about his discomfort as he is carried around in a cot. The only thing that brings him any respite is going fishing in the river, hence his Fisher King moniker.
The court jester tells the King that the only thing that will heal his wound and return prosperity to the land are the actions of an innocent fool who asks the ‘right question’ of the King. Many others have asked questions and none have asked the right one. So the King and his kingdom continue to wait in despair for this naive hero…
Now we turn to Parsifal, whose name means ‘pure fool’. He lives in poverty in a rural village, raised by an overbearing and overprotective mother. He knows nothing of his father who was in fact a knight.
One day, a group of knights enters Parsifal’s village. He is utterly captivated by what he sees, these confident, noble and powerful men on their horses. With typical youthful exuberance and much to his mother’s chagrin, he declares that he too will become a knight.
She reluctantly allows Parsifal to leave, giving him a garment (a kind of undershirt), for him to wear - which he does so for most of his life. Again, this is also highly symbolic.
So Parsifal leaves his village and his mother’s embrace, and undergoes a series of trials and adventures. First, he arrives in the court of King Arthur only to be mocked and thrown out a young upstart.
Arthur’s court, however, has a damsel who has not smiled in years and in legend, only the greatest knight will be able to bring her joy. On meeting the young and innocent Parsifal, this damsel bursts into laughter. Arthur knights Parsifal on the spot and he enters the next chapter of his life in knighthood.
Next, Parsifal seeks out the most fearsome knight of all, The Red Knight. Because Parsifal is innocent and naive, he has no fear of a much stronger and more experienced knight. He initially attempts to take the knight’s horse and armour but is easily knocked to the ground, and laughed at by The Red Knight. Parsifal however throws a dagger into the Red Knight’s eye, killing him instantly.
The Red Knight represents “the shadow side of masculinity, the negative, potentially destructive power. To truly become a man the shadow personality must be struggled with, but it cannot be repressed. The boy must not repress his aggressiveness since he needs the masculine power of his Red Knight shadow to make his way through the mature world.” [1]
Thus, through Parsifal this episode teaches us that the anger and aggression present in the masculine must not be avoided nor allowed to go unchecked, but instead must be integrated (we explore this further below).
Newly emboldened and confident, Parsifal begins a series of heroic adventures, rescuing and dazzling fair maidens, and defeating a number of foes - but he keeps an oath to himself to never kill anyone. Instead, he asks all of his defeated foes to swear allegiance to Arthurs Court. [2]
Along the way, Parsifal acquires a mentor, a wise old man called Gournamond. He advises Parsifal that if he is ever in the presence of the Holy Grail, he must ask “Whom does the Grail serve?”. This, we know (but Parsifal does not) is the question that will heal The Fisher King’s wound and restore his kingdom.
This brings us to Parsifal’s first encounter with The Fisher King. One day, in search of somewhere to lodge for the night, Parsifal is directed towards the Grail Castle, a place “just down the road and to the left” [1].
Parsifal follows the directions and finds himself in “the Grail Castle, windows gleaming, knights and ladies greeting him, the splendor of which he had never dreamed of in his life.” [2]
What follows is a great feast and celebration with the king present, and the knights and maidens of his court. The Grail is brought out, but the king is unable to drink from it because of his wounds. At this moment, Parsifal remembers the advice of his wise mentor Gournamond - but he hesitates. He remembers too the advice of his mother before he left home, to never ask too many questions.
So Parsifal keeps his silence and does not speak the question that would transform everything, although Parsifal is the only person in the kingdom who is unaware of the power of this question.
Soon the ceremony ends and the next morning Parsifal leaves on his horse. The Grail Castle vanishes for it only exists for those who discover it.
Parsifal continues on his travels, experiencing many more heroic adventures, rescuing damsels, vanquishing more foes and sending them to Arthur’s Court. By now, Parsifal is regarded as one of the greatest of all knights. He is summoned to Arthurs Court where a three-day festival commences. Parsifal is a returning hero, celebrated and honoured for his many great deeds over the years.
At the very peak of the festival though, a “most hideous damsel” appears, riding in on a mule with twisted feet. She promptly “recites to the court all of Parsifal's sins and stupidities, the worst being his inability to ask the healing question in the Grail castle.” [3]. Parsifal is utterly humbled in front of the great audience that has just been celebrating him.
He realises in this moment the new quest he must undertake, the most important quest - to find the Grail Castle again and ask the question.
He also realises that if he is to succeed in his quest, he must now remove the undergarment made for him by his mother, which he has refused to take off all these years. He does so and sets off again.
“Every youth has to go through the humiliation of finding that his imitation masculinity will not hold up.”
- Robert Johnson
It takes Parsifal twenty long years to find the Grail Castle again. He receives directions from a hermit who tells him the castle is just down the road and to the left for “the Grail Castle is always close at hand.” [1]
Parsifal returns to the castle, now with the humility and experience of many years. Again, a feast and celebration is taking place, and again, the Grail is brought out in front of The Fisher King and Parsifal. The time though, Parsifal does not hesitate and asks the question: “Whom does the Grail serve?”
The court erupts in celebration for this is the question they have been waiting for. The question is answered thus: “You, My Lord, the Grail King.” [3]
The Fisher King is instantly healed and health and prosperity begins to return to the kingdom. Parsifal’s quest is finally complete.
What does all of this mean? Perhaps the themes, characters and symbols in this summary have already resonated in some way. Before reading on, ask yourself which parts of the story or characters you felt a connection to, or felt some recognition of?
We began with The Fisher King and his wound. Although the origin of the wound is not certain, there is a symbolism of where it is located - his upper thigh or groin, the location of his sexual organs. This may suggest his sexual power is diminished but regardless, he has become an ‘impotent’ king and this has impacted his whole kingdom.
It is notable also that the King spends his days complaining about his wound to those around him, yet seems unable to rouse himself to heal, leaving his court to suffer. This speaks to the many men we might know (or be ourselves), suffering and complaining in vain:
“I doubt if there is a woman in the world who has not had to mutely stand by as she watched a man agonize over his Fisher King aspect. She may be the one who notices, even before the man himself is aware of it, that there is suffering and a haunting sense of injury and incompleteness in him. A man suffering in this way is often driven to do idiotic things to cure the wound and ease the desperation he feels. Usually he seeks an unconscious solution outside of himself, complaining about his work, his marriage, or his place in the world.” [1]
The character of the King himself perhaps represents our truest being or soul - the longer it is misunderstood or unhealed, the longer we live in a barren outer and inner world. It is therefore our work as men to heal our ‘inner court’:
“Mythology teaches us that the king who rules over our innermost court sets the tone and character for that court and thus our whole life. If the king is well, we are well; if things are right inside, they will go well outside. With the wounded Fisher King presiding at the inner court of modern western man we can expect much outward suffering and alienation. And so it is: the kingdom is not flourishing; the crops are poor; maidens are bereaved; children are orphaned. This eloquent language expresses how a wounded archetypal underpinning manifests itself in problems in our external lives.” [1]
What ultimately heals the King? It is the naive fool that is Parsifal. What Parsifal represents is not truly foolishness but the innocent and playful energy within all of us. “A man must consent to look to a foolish, innocent, adolescent part of himself for his cure. The inner fool is the only one who can touch his Fisher King wound.” [1]
To become more whole we invite more of this part of ourselves into our being as men - the parts we probably left behind in childhood as we became ‘serious’ people. Parsifal is a separate character to the Fisher King, and in the same way, we must allow something ‘new’ to emerge or re-emerge within us. Indeed, it is Parsifal’s innocence that is the source of his fearlessness.
“For a man to be truly healed he must allow something entirely different from himself to enter into his consciousness and change him.” [1]
Parsifal himself represent this journey of masculinity from boy to adolescent, into adulthood and later the trials and agonies of midlife. A fundamental part of this is his relationship with his mother. The undershirt garment that is given to Parsifal represent his Mother Complex. In developmental psychology, the role of our mother is vital. She is our first relationship, our original connection to the feminine and the performer of many functions - emotional regulator, protector, source of love.
And yet, for any man to develop and mature, there must ultimately be a separation from Mother. It is the nature of this separation that is key. If it is a violent split, there may be a psychic wound that remains unhealed and an unhealthy relationship or repression of the feminine might develop.
On the other hand, if the mother relationship remains tethered in an overbearing or overly attached way, then the boy will never mature into a man, and will likely never separate in order to form his own self and discover his own sources of power and connection. It is this later dynamic that we see in Parsifal - until he realises that he must shed the undershirt and live as himself, trusting his own inner wisdom and guidance. This is the task for all boys and men and rarely comes without some pain, yet is an essential rite.
“No son ever develops into manhood without, in some way, being disloyal to his mother. If he remains with her, to comfort her and console her, then he never gets out of his mother complex. Often a mother will do all she can to keep her son with her. One of the most subtle ways is to encourage in him the idea of being loyal to her; but if he gives in to her completely then she often finds herself with a son severely injured in his masculinity. The son must ride off and leave his mother, even if it appears to mean disloyalty, and the mother must bear this pain.” [1]
In Parsifal, we also see the development and channelling of aggression. He defeats the Red Knight who represents the inner anger and aggression that perhaps sits within all of us. What this symbolises is not the defeat of aggression but the integration of it.
Anger and aggression are often demonised in modern culture but are in fact essential for us to become functioning adults, if we are able to understand, integrate and channel these emotions healthily. One example of this is Martin Luther King who described ‘righteous indignation’ as a form of anger essential to making positive change for humanity and society.
In Parsifal’s realisation that he must return to the Grail Castle and the twenty years it takes him, we see the midlife journey - the discovery of a true and meaningful mission, and the long journey to accomplish it.
In the first half of life, we’ve vanquished many foes and won many battles but now we must find something beyond the winning, warring and competing. For most of us, this is a difficult journey fraught with confusion, angst, self-doubt and loneliness.
And yet if we are to self-actualise in the way that Parsifal does, we must undertake this midlife journey with vigour and intention, or otherwise see out our days as hollow and unfulfilled men.
Longer tellings of this story also include much of Parsifal’s relationships with the women he meets along the way, and his shifting relationship with his own masculine and feminine, ultimately integrating these parts.
Parsifal’s story and that of The Fisher King are ultimately ones of male individuation, the acknowledgement, healing and integration of these separate parts of our selves. This is our quest as men.
And the Grail Castle itself? It exists only when we seek to find it and yet it is always there, ‘just down the road and to the left’. Perhaps this represents the journey from our heads to our hearts?
“The Grail castle is always just down the road and a turn to the left. If anyone is humble enough and of good heart, he can find that interior castle.”
- Robert Johnson
To explore this myth in more depth, Robert Johnson’s book ‘He’, referenced here, is an excellent telling and exploration of the symbolism within it.
References:
[1] Johnson, R.A. (2009). He : Understanding Masculine Psychology. New York: Harpercollins E-Books.
[2] Anon, (n.d.). The Story of Parsifal and the Grail Myth – Dr. Jaime G. Corvalan Foundation. [online] Available at: https://portalofconsciousness.com/the-story-of-parsifal/.
[3] The myth of Parsifal. (n.d.). Available at: https://marillesblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/the-myth-of-parsifal.pdf
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