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King Arthur, The Hero In the tale of King Arthur, he can certainly be classified as a hero. He fits almost every aspect of the hero cycle. He has an unusual birth, periods of initiation, countless obstacles that he faces, and he dies and ascends to a greater plane in the end. When Arthur was born, he was taken away from his parents King Uther Pendragon and his Queen, Igraine. This ultimately took Arthur out of line to be heir to the throne of Britain, but it had to be done because Arthur would have had many enemies and it would not have been safe for him to stay with his parents. He was given to Sir Ector who raised him as if he were his own son. This is part of Arthur’s unusual birth because a baby in that time period is hardly ever given up to be raised by someone else, especially a baby of royalty. Arthur’s birth was also very unique because elves were present as he was being born. As Merlin explained to Arthur, “They enchanted you with their strongest magic and presented you with special gifts. They gave you the courage and the strength to be the best of all knights. They gave you the int