Lanval's story is unusual for its time. A helpless and outcast knight meets a beautiful and magical woman. The only term of their love, established by the nameless woman, is that Lanval cannot tell anyone about her. When he breaks that rule and offends Queen Guinevere, he must rely on his mistress to save him, and she does. In this poem the woman is the heroine; the woman has control of Lanval's destiny. Lanval is an example of courtly love, a term used to describe certain values ​​in medieval European literature. With courtly love, the woman is traditionally in control of the relationship; however, I believe that the control of women goes far beyond this subgenre. The power of women, in Lanval, is shown not only through the plot. After all, the final scene of Marie de France's Lanval uses common poetic conventions, such as word choice and imagery, to explore the power women held in a time when men were often the heroes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Lanval's fate is entirely under the control of the magical woman, an arrangement that shows her supreme power. Lanval asks for his help when he says, “I don't care who can kill me, / If he has no mercy on me” (599-600). Without this woman's compassion, Lanval is doomed. What is even more surprising is the fact that Lanval does not care about his fate if it does not include this woman. This mood inverts the common damsel in distress theme seen in literature of the time. Not only is the woman responsible for their romance, but she is also responsible for Lanval's outcome. Instead of the woman needing Lanval, he needs her. Reversing traditional roles and giving women immense power, Marie de France warns men not to underestimate the amount of power a woman can have; one day a man's life could be in the hands of a woman. Furthermore, the woman's first entry into King Arthur's court demonstrates her power over the masses. Multiple lines point to the fact that the crowd is infatuated with her: "[S]uch beauty had never come" to the palace before, a statement that speaks to the fact that this woman was much more beautiful than Queen Guinevere (602) . In fact "all [the citizens] honored her / and offered themselves to her service" (610). This woman's beauty literally dominated the room; it's as if the citizens take their loyalty to King Arthur and shift it towards her, so that her stature surpasses that of the royals present. Through this aspect of the narrative, Marie de France states that a woman could be as powerful as a ruler or as any man. What is so important, though, is that this woman is not tied to any man. Even King Arthur “who was very polite, / rose up to meet her” (607-8). The king goes to her instead of vice versa, thus indicating how authoritative the magical woman is, since even someone as powerful and well-regarded as King Arthur “cannot hold her back” (631). It goes without saying that if King Arthur can't hold this woman, neither can Lanval. In fact, she saves Lanval because she loves him, not because she is desperate for his love (615). Another important aspect of the woman's power manifests itself when she demands Lanval's release. Without any objection, King Arthur “allows it to be so,” Lanval's freedom being here (625). King Arthur doesn't even ask Queen Guinevere, who is somehow at the origin of the dilemma, to reaffirm what happened. He immediately takes this beautiful woman's words as the only truth and releases Lanval into his custody. This is the last thing the reader sees of Lanval and the last that, 14(4), 31-48.