The final incarnation of the Irish valkyrie Morrigan, Morgan plays a critical but ambiguous role in the Arthurian cycle. Portrayed as a mortal female deeply learned in Magick and a close relative of Arthur's (maternal half-sister), she is always at odds with Arthur, and is responsible for any of a number of attempts to drag him down. Once he is mortally wounded though, and his cause a pyyrhic and ultimately futile victory, it is Morgan who appears at his side, nursing him and taking him off to the Isle of Avalon, to rest until his presence is needed once more. One gets the distinct impression (at least, I do...) that she somehow engineered the rise of Arthur to the status of Hero, in order to create an Eternal Champion of Britain. This notion is supported somewhat by the earlier Morrigan's ambiguous relationship with CuChulainn, in which she took him up on his desire for a short but glorious life, and violently opposed him until, at his doom, she used his blood to nourish the soil of Eire.
