He incorporates Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, his magician advisor Merlin, and the story of Arthur's conception, in which Uther, disguised as his enemy Gorlois by Merlin's magic, sleeps with Gorlois's wife Igerna at Tintagel, and she conceives Arthur.

Gorlois sends Igerna to the impregnable castle of Tintagel for protection while he himself is besieged by Uther in another town.

Uther consults with Merlin who uses his magic to transform the king into the likeness of Gorlois and thus gain access to Igerna at Tintagel.

Gorlois conducts the war from the castle of Dimilioc but places his wife in safety in the castle of Tintagel.

Disguised as Gorlois by Merlin, Uther Pendragon is able to enter Tintagel to satisfy his lust.

" Opposing views appear in Layamon's Brut where Cador appears first as a leader who takes charge of Uther's host when they are attacked by Gorlois while Uther is secretly lying beside Igraine in Tintagel.

While Gorlois defends himself against Uther's armies at his fort of Dimilioc, he sends Igraine to stay safe within Tintagel Castle, which is supposedly his most secure refuge.

" Geoffrey of Monmouth's story goes on to explain how the wizard Merlin was summoned, and in order to help get them into Tintagel Castle, he magically changed Uther's appearance to that of Gorlois, whilst also changing his own and Ulfin's appearances to those of two of Gorlois's companions.

" In Layamon's Brut Cador appears as a leader who takes charge of Uther's host when they are attacked by Gorlois while Uther is secretly lying beside Igraine in Tintagel.

The castle at Tintagel has been said to be where King Arthur was conceived ( when Uther Pendragon entered the castle in the form of Gorlois ).

One might suppose Rica to be another name for Gorlois ( though Welsh translations of Geoffrey name him Gwrlais ), but we also have in Geoffrey's account a Gormant the Irish who is king of Ireland ( based on the villain of the French chançon de geste called Gormant et Isenbart ) and this Gormant might be hiding here also as Gormant ap Rica, this being a possible corruption of Gormant Ireland.

In Arthurian legend Gorlois ( Gwrlais in Welsh ) is attributed the title " Duke of Cornwall " but evidence of his existence is scant.

Uther killed Gorlois and took Igraine: the result of their union was the future King Arthur.

Thus Arthur, " the once and future king ," is an illegitimate child ( though the later legend emphasizes that the conception occurred after Gorlois ' death and that therefore he was legitimated by Uther's subsequent marriage to Igraine ).

She becomes the wife of Uther Pendragon, but her first husband was Gorlois ; her daughters by Gorlois are Elaine, Morgause, and Morgan le Fay.

Geoffrey does not say, and later accounts disagree, as to whether Gorlois died before or after Arthur was begotten ( something that might be important in determining whether or not a child could be made legitimate by a later marriage to its true father ).

According to the tale told by Geoffrey, his father, King Uther Pendragon, was disguised by Merlin's sorcery to look like Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall the husband of Ygerna, Arthur's mother.

She was brought up in Avalon and given as a wife to Gorlois at the age of fifteen, a mostly unhappy union for her.

Because Igraine was so young when they married, their relationship has been strained, but Gorlois did his best to make her feel comfortable, giving her gifts and letting her keep her daughter Morgaine.

To the Brut Tysilio the translator adds the information that Cador was son of Gorlois, presumably by Igraine, which would make him Arthur's maternal half-brother.

His mother's parents were Gorlois and Igraine ; she was a sister of Elaine and Morgan le Fay and maternal half-sister to King Arthur.

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae ( c. 1136 ), Gorlois Duke of Cornwall puts his wife Igraine in Tintagol while he's at war ( posuit eam in oppido Tintagol in littore maris: " he put her in the oppidum Tintagol on the shore of the sea ").

According to legend, Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall under King Uther Pendragon, rebelled against the latter's rule when the king became obsessed with Gorlois ' wife Igraine.

He secures Britain's frontiers and quells Saxon uprisings with the aids of his retainers, one of whom is Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall.

It is also said to be the stronghold of the Dukes and Duchesses of Cornwall, namely Duchess, then Queen, Igraine ( Ygraine, Ygerna ) and Duke Gorlois.

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Igerna enters the story as the wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall.

In the Brut Tysilio, Duke Cador of Cornwall is the son of Gorlois, one would guess by Igraine.

In this book, which is a fictionalised account of British history, Arthur's father, the king of all Britain, Uther Pendragon, is said to go to war against Gorlois, the Duke of Cornwall, in order to capture the wife of Gorlois, Igraine, with whom Uther has fallen in love.

She is said to be the daughter of Arthur's mother, the Lady Igraine, and her first husband, Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, so that Arthur ( son of Igraine and Uther Pendragon ) is her half-brother.

Her character is perhaps most fully developed in Sir Thomas Malory's 15th-century compilation of Arthurian legends Le Morte d ' Arthur, in which she appears as Morgause, daughter of Lady Igraine and her first husband Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and sister of Morgan le Fay ( the future mother of Ywain ) and Elaine.

Elaine of Garlot is the daughter of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, and Igraine.

However, her advances are rejected, as Uther only has eyes for Igraine, the wife of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall.

Cornwall is featured heavily in the beginning of The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley * as the home of Igraine, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall.

Gorlois, the duke of Cornwall arrives, which inspires Eldol to grab Hengist's helmet, and Eldol pulls Hengist into the Britons.

The youngest of Gorlois and Igraine's daughters, she is sent to a convent when Uther Pendragon kills her father and marries her mother.

* Gorlois is Igraine's husband and Morgaine's father.

Merlin disguised Uther Pendragon as Gorlois so that Uther could enter Tintagol and know Igraine, who thought him her husband.

Her husband Gorlois dies in battle that same night.

According to Arthurian Legend, Uther, through circumstances and Merlin's help, tricks the wife of his enemy Gorlois, Lady Igraine, and sleeps with her.

He spends the night with her and they conceive a son, Arthur, but the next morning it is discovered that Gorlois had been killed.

She is also hostile to Uther as the murderer of Gorlois, and to her own mother.

However, the guilt about Gorlois torments her to the end.

When Gorlois suspects that Igraine has an affair with Uther, he turns on her, accuses her of being a whore and a witch, and even breaks his oath to Uther.

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Uther falls in love with Igraine and wars with Gorlois to get to her.

Uther asks for Merlin's aid in pursuing her, and Merlin concocts some drugs that disguise Uther in the form of Gorlois.