Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Music & Entertainment
‘Knightfall’: The Templars, It Ain’t

‘Knightfall’: The Templars, It Ain’t

Last updated on: December 7, 2017 at 9:46 am by Kate O'Hare

‘Knightfall’: The Templars, It Ain’t 2017-12-07T09:46:34-08:00 Kate O'Hare

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT, History Channel premieres “Knightfall,” a 10-part series ostensibly about the Knights Templar. History even offered a historian as an interview, but that hardly seems relevant, because precious little of “Knightfall” has much to do with the actual history of the Knights Templar.

You can watch it if you want, but this may be a case where I did, so you don’t have to.

The series purports to be about the waning days of the religious order/fighting force in the early 1300s. The Templars began as protectors of Catholic pilgrims from Muslim forces in Holy Land during the Crusades, and took a strange journey to end up as international bankers in France.

Of all the injustices done to the Knights Templar, by King Philip IV of France (who took it upon himself to burn Templars for heresy — or to get their money, you decide) and by the Vatican (which later apologized for having disbanded the Templars, despite absolving them of heresy), “Knightfall” is a minor sin, but still a shame.

If all you want is a lot of blood, swordfighting and sex, sure, go ahead. There’s plenty of all of the above. And apparently, the Templars like to troop around their Temple and the streets of Paris constantly decked out in full chain mail and battle armor. But hey, it looks good.

Oh, and when Pope Boniface VIII (played by Jim Carter of “Downton Abbey” fame) shows up, he wears the full pope robes and the big pope crown or hat at all times. He probably slept in them, but I can’t say that for sure.

All you’ll ostensibly learn about the Templars is they were obsessed with finding the Holy Grail — which, by the way, is more of a legendary and literary object, not an actual historical artifact. Christ indeed drank from a cup during the Last Supper, but whether the Grail actually refers to that cup or not, the cup itself has never been identified.

So, despite all the people who may have sought the Grail, you can’t go point to it anywhere. We have alleged pieces of the True Cross, but nobody claims to have the Grail on a shelf. The series, though, accepts the Grail as a cup, and as an actual thing, which makes a few key appearances.

Pope Boniface is also obsessed with the Grail, with visions of an absolute European theocracy, established by the mighty power of the Grail, dancing in his head. Yep.

Obviously, he took a cue from Hitler’s obsession with the Ark of the Covenant in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Speaking of Indiana Jones, coincidentally or not, the Grail in question looks a great deal like the cup eventually found in “Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail,” echoes of which are seen in “Knightfall.” Remember the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword in the “Indy” movie? They’re here, reformed as the Brotherhood of the Sun (whatever that means), Muslim knights in search of the powerful Cup of Christ. Why Muslims would give a fig for the Holy Grail or think it holds divine power is beyond me, but there you go.

“Knightfall” also has liberal doses of the Camelot tale. The head Templar, a surly, bearded fellow (OK, most of the Templars are surly and bearded, but this one has the best and most visible abs) named Landry (Tom Cullen), is having an affair with Queen Joan (Olivia Ross), the wife of his best pal, King Philip (Ed Stoppard). If you think this sounds like the triangle of Lancelot, Guinevere and Arthur, it does.

Queen Joan does Guinevere one better by even attempting abortion after getting pregnant — heavens, who could have anticipated that might happen?? — but in one small mercy, that sin is avoided … making it one of the few to hold that distinction.

The writers have even tossed in a farmboy called Parsifal, just in case you missed the whole Round Table thing the first time.

There’s also a very modern attempt to increase and expand the roles of the female characters, which winds up doing nobody any favors.

If you put any knowledge of history or theology to one side and just take this as the deadly serious, Templar version of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” I suppose you could have fun watching it. The Templars come off as flawed, not-so-bad guys, if you don’t take the whole mortal-sin thing into account. And the horses are nice.

Not saying I expected more, but I had hoped for more. Should have known better.

My advice: Just rewatch any of the other movies listed above. It’ll be more fun and take up way less of your life.

Cast: Tom Cullen, Jim Carter, Pádraic Delaney, Simon Merrells, Julian Ovenden, Olivia Ross, Ed Stoppard, Sabrina Bartlett, Bobby Schofield, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina … Creators: Don Handfield and Richard Rayner

Images: Courtesy History Channel

Don’t miss a thing: head over to my other home, as Social Media Manager at Family Theater Productions; and check out FTP’s Faith & Family Media Blog, and our YouTube Channel.

Previous Post

November 29, 2017

'This Is Us' Creator Has a Message for Eli Manning

Next Post

December 10, 2017 'Shock Rock' Star Alice Cooper to Play Herod in 'Jesus Christ Superstar Live'

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books breaking news digital media Faith practice food interview jane the virgin media movies music NFL Pope Francis Showbiz 101 social media sports technology television Uncategorized video

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz