Cerdic is the main antagonist of the 2004 Touchstone Pictures film King Arthur, which sought to tell a historically accurate version of the legend of Arthur and his knights.
Background[]
Personality[]
Cerdic is shown to be a very calm, almost lethargic, elder man who pridefully displays a cruel and sinister side to him. He only knows pain and destruction and gladly leads his men into creating more of it, even going so far as to humiliate his own son. He believes in the purity of his own people to the point that he refused one of his subordinates from assaulting a woman as he did not want their blood mixing, though shortly afterwards he had the woman killed anyway. It is implied that his modus operandi has made him emotionally numb and possibly bored from his task. Upon meeting Arthur, he finds the thrill in his work and becomes determined to kill the famous soldier.
Historical accuracy[]
Cerdic does not originate from Arthurian legends, but is a supposedly actual historical person, though this is up for debate. He was said to lead the first Anglo-Saxons to Britain and become the first king of Wessex. Some sources say that he and his son Cynric were junior soldiers who were simply held in high regard. He had apparently lead an army through successful battles and said to have died in the year 534. His son Cynric succeeded him.
Trivia[]
- Despite being the main villain of the film, Cerdic's name is never said once.
- His name is pronounced "Shur-ditch".
- Cerdic replaces more familiar Arthurian villains such as Mordred, Arthur's son who leads to his downfall, Lucius Tiberius, a Roman general whom Arthur battles in his conquest of Europe, Maleagant, Guinevere's abductor, Morgan le Fay, sometimes villain and sometimes ally who is a witch, and the Red Knight, a vicious knight fought by Percival and Gawain.
