In The Wicked Day, Mary Stewart explores the role of fate in the life of man. As a young boy, Mordred is raised by fisher folk, unaware that he is the illegitimate son of King Arthur and Arthur's half-sister Morgause. Morgause, aware of a prophesy by Merlin, the magician, that Mordred would some day be the bane of King Arthur, brings the boy to her court as a secret weapon against her hated half-brother. Growing up with his four half-brothers, Mordred at first is told and believes that he is the illegitimate son of Morgause's deceased husband, King Lot. Eventually, Morgause and her family travel to Arthur's court at Camelot. When the young man becomes aware of his true parentage and his predicted role in Arthur's doom, he tries to commit suicide but is prevented by Nimue, Merlin's pupil and successor, who warns him that fate...