Morgause and Arthur's son Mordred was conceived out of incest. Arthur had slept with his own sister. "He did not know he was doing so, and perhaps it may have been due to her, but it seems, in tragedy, that innocence is not enough," states the author of The Once and Future King(White 312). Author T.H. White explains that Arthur did not know Morgause was his sister, but there was nothing he could do to save himself after that point because he had sinned.
Morgause, a sinner herself, had four children all together. Her children with King Lot were Agravaine, Gawaine, Gareth, and Gaheris. Her son with King Arthur was Mordred. She raised all of her sons poorly and did not pay much attention to them. She taught them to hate Arthur, knowing that they would make it to the Round Table one day and bring it down. She taught all of her children that fighting was the answer which was the exact opposite of Arthur's ideal. The hate Morgause had for Arthur, and the training of her sons, played large roles in her plan to ruin Arthur's system.
Other people have been blamed for Arthur's destruction. Morgause's son Agravaine wanted to keep the feud between Arthur and the Orkney's alive. He was always angry and wanted everyone to be miserable including Arthur. Agravaine was one of the people who told Arthur personally about Lancelot and Guenevere's affair. He did not want Arthur's ideal to succeed at any cost and would do anything to stop it from working.
Although Agravaine played a part in the demise of the Round Table, he is not directly responsible for it. The only reason Agravaine told Arthur about the affair was to get back at Lancelot because he was jealous of him. He merely goes along with Mordred's plan because he was raised to fight and make people unhappy. Morgause is the force behind Agravaine's evil ways. If it was not for Morgause, Agravaine could have been brought up differently. The environment one grows up in determines the kind of person they turn out to be.
