Morgan Le Fay should be a name well known to anyone who likes Arthurian Legend. You know, King Arthur, Excalibur and the Knights of the Round Table. Morgan Le Fay was a sorceress noted in several versions of the legend.
In the early legends she did not have much of a story behind her. She was a sorceress, healer and sometimes fairy. Most of the time she is one of the maidens who takes a dying Arthur to the Isle of Avalon to be healed. According to the Vulgate Cycle, she is married to King Urien and is the handmaiden of Queen Guinevere, King Arthur's wife.
It's not until Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur that Morgan is established as Arthur's half sister by his mother Igraine. Here she plays a small role as advarsary for Arthur and Guinevere as she conspires to become Queen. Some have depicted her as the mother of Mordred, who mortally wounded King Arthur. However, this is actually her sister Morgause. Despite having a small role in the legends, Morgan Le Fay has been depicted in hundreds of stories.
In Marion Zimmer Bradley's "The Mists of Avalon" Morgaine (Morgan Le Fay) is the main character of the story. She is the half sister of King Arthur and a priestess of the Goddess religion struggling to keep her worship alive in the midst of rising Christianity. Though, the book dragged for me, I loved the depiction of the Goddess worship in this story.
In Marvel Comics Morgan Le Fay is a half faeries sorceress who is the sometimes villain of the Avengers, Captain Britain, and Dr. Strange (among others).
In DC Comics she is a super-villain sorceress who practices the black arts. She has shown up in the comics as well as the Justice League cartoon.
Katie McGrath as Morgana
She is Morgana, an eventual villain, in the BBC television series Merlin. I have to give my cheesy BBC show some love and I really need to catch up on the seasons.
Even J.K. Rowling mentions her in Harry Potter.
What are your favorite references to Morgan Le Fay?
