Original subtitles

[MUSIC - EXCHANGE, "WHERE THE TRUTH LIES"]

SINGER: A whisper in my ear, a voice so strong and clear.

Upon this beach I see a million grains of sand.

And I believe we are destiny-bound to survive

against all odds.

Out where the truth lies, I will follow.

Out beyond this barren surround, I cry without a song.

Out where the truth lies, I will follow my eyes into the sun.

VOICEOVER: Man's fate, what a strange riddle it is.

How few clues there are with which

to explain the random ways in which

men seem to begin and end, to live and love,

to succeed and fail.

Each individual destiny invisibly

interweaving with the next, fashioning

the beautiful and terrifying tapestries of our lives,

shaping our passions and our destinies,

extracting such strange and unexpected prices.

Demanding that in order for one man to flourish another

must perish.

Father!

[horn blowing]

Secure the castle!

A siege is at hand!

[bang]

[shouting]

[whinnying]

[crying]

What news is there?

BOY: They're on the hill, almost upon us.

It's King Cynan, my lord.

He's come to take the castle, to kill your father.

to kill us all!

Your Highness, they say Cynan brings with him

three men to our every one.

Even so, Rolf, the advantage is ours.

The man comes without honor.

What men we have will fight with hearts

full of courage and truth.

Those Cynan brings with him come with their souls

stripped naked by greed.

[shouting]

[banging]

[gasp]

PRINCE VALIANT: Don't you dare, you filthy vermin!

Mother, quickly.

Go to the tower and bolt the door.

But Valiant--

Don't worry, Mother.

Father will have this battle won in no time.

How can he not with such an extraordinarily

talented son and heir fighting at his side?

You are extraordinary, but promise me also to be careful,

my beautiful and daring boy.

You and father taught me not to be careful,

but to be bold, to fight for what is right and true.

I am a prince and I must fight as one.

I have no choice, my dear mother,

but to return to you either with my shield or upon it.

[footsteps]

[battle sounds]

How goes it, Rolf?

It goes well, my young prince.

What's needed now is for your father to best Cynan himself.

With that, his men will flee and our battle will be won.

Father, father!

KING WILLEM: No!

He is an innocent child!

[screech]

Don't rest easy, Cynan.

This is not how it ends, I swear it is not.

Rolf and the others need help with the rigging.

We must set sail.

Why do you not stay and fight?

Most of my soldiers have fled.

They thought Cynan's blow had brought me to my death.

I have only your mother and a handful of men left, Valiant.

Would you have me lead them to slaughter

in the name of manly pride?

I would have you make it right, father.

Somehow I would have you make it right.

[thunder]

[seagulls calling]

Father, mother, come quickly! We're approaching--

[rumble]

--land.

So I see.

Valiant, what manner of place is this?

Just an ordinary sort of place.

[growl]

Perhaps I was mistaken.

It seems this, place whatever it may be is far from ordinary.

[growl]

Father, look.

Enough!

I already stand with my back to the sea.

I can be pushed no farther.

Other barbarians have preceded you,

have taken my kingdom and my castle.

Now you stand above me waiting to take my life.

I did not surrender my home and land without a fight,

I shall not surrender my life without one.

My land, my coast.

You are the invaders.

An arrow should not be in this hand,

it should be through your hearts.

Why not put one there and be done with it?

When your father looked on me he looked on the face of death,

yet he stood to fight.

This, this is a mighty courage.

Evil would surely be visited on him who stilled

the heart of such a man.

I want no such curse on my head.

If not murder, then what is it you plan to do with us?

QUEEN BRIANA: What is it like, this island on which

you intend to make us live?

A place like any other.

Perhaps quicksand, perhaps poisonous snakes.

[squawk]

Maybe some wild things.

PRINCE VALIANT: This is how he expects my family to eat?

Out of shells filled with what?

Slugs, bugs, swill?

My father is a king.

He deserves to be treated with dignity.

ROLF: It is this or starvation.

Then I, for one, shall gladly starve.

We are royalty, Rolf.

We should not be fed as if we were pigs.

It's an ugly truth, but you'll have to face it, boy.

Your home is no longer in a castle.

You dwell in a marsh.

Now make the best of it.

Why are you bidding me to suddenly embrace

the attitudes of a peasant?

You have always instructed me to conduct myself as a prince.

True.

When you were barely more than a baby,

your father entrusted you to my care,

to train you to sit a horse, to swing a sword,

to someday be a prince.

But I was born such.

I am the son of a king.

There is far more to it than that, my lad.

Much is required of a prince.

He must possess a spirit not only braver

and stronger than that of other men,

but one far sweeter and kinder, too.

Is it not enough that your father has lost his kingdom

and your mother her home?

Do they need now the burden of a petulant son as well?

A boy so arrogant that he would rather

starve than lower himself to eat from a turtle shell?

The test of a prince is not the spirit

he shows when all goes right with his world, but the spirit

he shows when all goes wrong.

Had you forgotten that?

It seems I had.

for a moment.

[frogs croaking]

PRINCE VALIANT: No, no, no!

Father!

MERLIN: A new order, the round table.

Might will no longer make right.

What then, Arthur?

What then shall make right?

KING ARTHUR: Truth and justice, Merlin.

VOICEOVER: Father!

No!

KING ARTHUR: Protected by Excalibur

and the knights of the round table,

they shall come to Camelot, Merlin.

To Camelot!

MERLIN: And who will they be, Arthur, these knights

of the round table?

KING ARTHUR: They must value above all else truth and honor.

They must have souls as pure as dawn and hearts

filled with courage.

A knight of the round table, champion of justice

and defender of truth.

I, King Arthur, call them to this,

and by the power of Excalibur, I name it as your destiny.

To be a knight, to uphold the code of honor and truth,

to make real my father's dream.

This, this is my destiny.

ROLF: Rubbish.

Rubbish?

Am I then to assume that you won't talk to my father for me?

This vision you say has been coming

to you every night since we arrived,

you believe what it shows you?

With all my soul.

Camelot is real, Rolf, I know it is.

Well, boy, if you've truly a destiny to follow,

then follow it.

You have no time to waste in idle chat.

But how do I explain such a thing to my father?

What is it I tell him?

ROLF: The truth, boy.

Tell him the truth.

I have seen Camelot, and I believe

it to be my destiny, father.

Your destiny?

To dedicate yourself to what?

To the phantoms of a boyish imagination?

Never!

I will not allow it.

Willem, please.

He's only asking if you--

What more must I give, woman?

I have already lost home and kingdom.

But now you ask me to happily lose my child as well.

Our boy has long ago ceased to be a child.

PRINCE VALIANT: I am a man now, father, and with all my heart,

I wish to be as good and true a man as you have always been.

Goodness, truth, they have brought me to exile and ruin.

PRINCE VALIANT: It doesn't have to always be so, father.

I want to go to Camelot, to King Arthur,

to ensure that someday justice will triumph over violence.

Will you not believe in my quest?

Will you not give me your blessing?

KING WILLEM: I cannot believe in folly, and I will not

give my blessing to madness.

Madne You are taking from me more than you know, Valiant.

You are taking my very heart.

PRINCE VALIANT: Goodbye, then, mother.

Wish me luck?

QUEEN BRIANA: Always.

Well, I guess I'm off.

Valiant, wait.

Rolf has gone to pack you some provisions.

No need.

I'll soon be feasting at King Arthur's table.

I shall have found Camelot by sundown, and if not then,

by tomorrow for sure.

[music playing]