After two episodes of a King Arthur adaptation in which the man was barely present, The Winter King episode 3 brings back the once and future king, as he finally steps foot in Britain after eight years.
The Winter King is an adaptation of the King Arthur cycle that transplants it onto medieval Britain, with less magic and more warfare. After being exiled by his father king Uther Pendragon, Arthur Pendragon has to return to the kingdom of Dumnonia to save it from the Saxon threat.
This TV show is based on "The Warlord Chronicles", a series of novels by historical author Bernard Cornwell, and like other works by the author, it's full of drama, action and backstabbing, all in armor and tunics.
Episode 2 ended with Arthur finally returning to Britain to save the survivors of a raid on Avalon, and this The Winter King episode 3 recap will follow what happens after that.
The king returns to Caer Cadarn
After the ambush, Arthur (Ian De Caestecker) and his party have beaten all of the raiders. The only survivors are Gundleus (Simon Merrells) and his pagan wife Ladwys (Tatjana Nardone), and the former surrenders his sword to Arthur.
The party goes to Caer Cadarn. Nearly everybody wants to kill Gundleus and Nimue (Ellie James) gets a sword ready to execute him. Even the raider lord himself would rather be killed than imprisoned. However Arther has other plans: he locks up Gundleus in Uther's old room, as it's the only one with a lock, along with Ladwys. Nimue warns Arthur that the gods will punish him for not giving them blood.
Derfel (Stuart Campbell) visits the upset Nimue. She slices up both of their hands and makes a bond between them.
Arthur sets up his warband in a camp just outside Caer Cadarn and Bishop Bedwin (Steven Elder) tells him about the war with the Saxons. Owain has taken nearly all of Caer Cadarn's men to fight them, as they're getting dangerously far west. Later, some of the survivors from Avalon are having dinner with the warband, and we learn that Arthur has told many stories from his upbringing in Britain.
Arthur sends a scout north to the kingdom of Powys, which is hostile to Dumnonia, to see what's going on there. Then Derfel comes to tend to Arthur's horse, and the man recognizes the boy from all those years ago. Derfel wants to join Arthur's war party, so the man takes the boy to witness their training session.
As this happens Nimue leaves Caer Cadarn, to clean in a pool (metaphorically and physically). However she has visions of the pool bubbling and going black.
Refugees and warriors
Arthur and his second-in-command Sagramor (Ken Nwosu) go for a ride and encounter a group of refugees heading to Caer Cadarn. These are survivors of a Saxon attack. Owain (Daniel Ings) is there too, and he's finally reunited with Arthur.
Owain briefs Arthur and Bedwin about all that's been going on, but when he finds out that Gundleus is still alive, he's mad. Arthur tells him that he can do what he wants with the prisoner since Owain is one of the three protectorates of Mordred (and therefore 1/3 in command of Dumnonia) but that it's best if Gundleus is kept alive. However they conclude that it'd be best if they imprisoned Ladwys elsewhere, and task her with using her healing skills on some of Owain's injured men.
Owain, Bedwin and Arthur talk about the various kingdoms who are their allies and enemies, and Bedwin says that Arthur should be one of Mordred's protectors.
Lady Morgan asks Nimue to help heal Owain's wounded. However she sees Ladwys there too, and starts to attack the pagan woman. Nimue steals back the jewelry that Gundleus stole from her and gave to Ladwys, before the fight is broken up. Afterward, Nimue goes to Derfel and asks him to help her kill Gundleus.
Arthur's spy returns from Powys, to let them know that the kingdom is preparing to invade Dumnonia. Bedwin and Owain join them to discuss, and Arthur decides that he needs to unite all the tribal kings and Mordred's naming ceremony to start up some good old-fashioned diplomacy.
Later, Owain tells Bedwin that he doesn't think Arthur should be a protector of Mordred. Then Caer Cadarn is abuzz with news: Arthur and his men have gone to help the villagers harvest crops from the field, to get the work done faster. Owain, Bedwin and Derfel go to join in, and the latter tells Owain that he wants to join Arthur's war party. Owain forbids it, but then relents and tells Derfel that he'll train him.
To kill a (raider) king
There's a big feast later, and Nimue and Derfel discuss their plans to kill Gundleus. Arthur has the only key to the room around his neck. So Nimue decides she'll prepare some herbs to put him to sleep so that Derfel can take the key.
Arthur goes to see Ladwys to ask about her relation to Gundleus. They were bound by a druidess but Gundleus' uncle, the raider lord, doesn't recognize it. Instead, he wants Gundleus to marry the princess of another faction to broker an alliance.
Nimue gives Derfel something to slip into Arthur's wine, to put him to sleep. Derfel tries to do so, and tells Arthur that Owain wants him to join his party. However Arther can tell something is up, and admits that he knew Nimue would give Derfel something to put in his drink in the first place. He simply gives Derfel the key though.
Derfel goes to Nimue, but lies to her and pretends that he couldn't get the key and doesn't want to betray Arthur.
Arthur goes to Gundleus' room, and talks about how he wants peace and no more raiding... and is willing to do away with the tribute the tribes have to pay to Dumnonia in the interest of fairness. Arthur asks Gundleus to bring his uncle to Mordred's naming ceremony, and in exchange he'll purchase all of the raiders' weapons that they've been building to fight the Saxons.
Then Arthur lets Gundleus go, and nobody is happy. Owain and Bedwin go to see Arthur in disbelief, and Owain leaves in a strop. He says he's going to collect taxes owed to Dumnonia from various kingdoms, and lots of people go with him... including Derfel.
