Meliagrance took Lancelot on a tour of his castle, showing its entire splendour, going from room to room and around the ramparts. With Sir Lancelot at his ease, he led him to a certain room and contrived it so that his guest stepped upon a hidden trapdoor. The weight of Sir Lancelot opened the trapdoor and he fell into a deep and dark dungeon. The host closed over the door, leaving his guest imprisoned. Going to the stables he hid Sir Lavaine’s horse and went to meet the others at dinner as if nothing had happened. Since Morgana's betrayal, Guinevere is the only female within Arthur's inner circle and is the 'mother' of the Knights of the Round Table and Merlin. There is a hint from Malory that Guinevere may have set up her own abduction, perhaps as some kind of test as she deliberately leaves her own company of guards, the Queen’s Knights, behind to rely on ten lightly armed knights without their armour. It may be that Arthur, for all his greatness, was ageing and with age lost his former vitality and potency. Therefore, a younger, more dynamic replacement was needed to ensure the fertility of the land. It was Lancelot she sent for to rescue her and not her husband. Later writers such as Wace (c. 1110-1174 CE) and Layamon (c. late 12th/early 13th century CE) depict Guinevere as complicit in Mordred's coup, but theirs is the minority view, and most writers suggest she had no choice as she was abducted by Mordred along with the monarchy. The Welsh writer Caradoc of Lancarvan (12th century CE), a colleague of Geoffrey's, gives the first known story of Guinevere's abduction in his Life of Gildas (written c. 1136-1150 CE). Here she is taken by Lord Melvas, King of the Summer Land, and hidden away for over a year while Arthur searches for her. Once he finds her, he prepares to destroy Melvas' kingdom, but Gildas appears before hostilities begin and resolves the conflict peacefully: Guinevere is returned to Arthur and Melvas keeps his kingdom intact. As with Geoffrey, Caradoc gives no details on Guinevere's part in all of this. She remains a static figure with no personality or impact on the plot other than being Arthur's queen whom he must rescue. Chretien de Troyes & Marie de France

In this story,Guinevere has been abducted and rescued, then accused of a crime and in danger of being burnt for adultery and treason. Lancelot has proven to be the strongest and most potent of her suitors, which is exactly what a goddess of sovereignty needs. As the personification of a goddess of sovereignty, her relationships with more than one powerful male should not be seen as sexual promiscuity or immoral behaviour but purely the human representative of the goddess fulfilling her role and purpose. Another Knight, Sir Meliagaunt found something suspicious between them and he confronted them both in front of King Arthur. Then King was forced to blame his wife for adultery and also to fight her lover. Many violent battles were bought in between Arthur and Lancelot, followed by joining of several Knights on each of the side. Eventually, Guinevere realized his mistake and returned to King Arthur. The following narrative is largely based on the Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate) prose cycle, telling the story of Lancelot and Guinevere in accordance to the courtly love conventions still popular in the early 13th-century France (Guinevere's role in this romance is Lancelot's "female lord", just as the Lady of the Lake is his "female master" [43]), however soon afterwards directly condemned as sinful in the Post-Vulgate Cycle retelling that also influenced Malory. When the mysterious White Knight (Lancelot) arrives from the continent, Guinevere is instantly smitten. The teenage Lancelot first joins the Queen's Knights to serve Guinevere after having been knighted by her. Following Lancelot's early rescue of Guinevere from Maleagant (in Le Morte d'Arthur this episode only happens much later on) and his admission into the Round Table, and with the Lady of the Lake's and Galehaut's assistance, the two then begin an escalating romantic affair that in the end will inadvertently lead to Arthur's fall. It is hinted when Gwen was brainwashed into allying with Morgana that she is barren, as she says to Leon "Arthur has no other family to succeed him." This could be a nod to most versions of the legend where Guinevere is unable to bear Arthur's heir. This hasn't been confirmed as being true. However in Perlesvaus, which is an Old French Arthurian romance, Guinevere and Arthur have a legitimate and biological son named Loholt.Guinevere watching the mortally wounded Arthur being sailed off to Avalon in Queen Guinevere by James Archer (c. 1860) Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian series of novels The Warlord Chronicles depicts Guinevere as the princess of Henis Wyren in North Wales. She is fiercely anti-Christian as a devoted follower of the Ancient Egyptian goddess Isis and has ambitions of becoming queen of Dumnonia through her marriage with Arthur, the illegitimate son of Uther Pendragon in the novels. Guinevere is the cause of a civil war in The Winter King and later conspires with Lancelot against Arthur in Enemy of God, albeit later they reconcile as she plays a vital role in the victory at Badon and eventually she and her son accompany the wounded Arthur to exile in Brittany after Camlann at the end of Excalibur. When it was time for bride searching, King Arthur went to his friend Merlin who was able to foresee the future. Merlin advised that the king should marry the person he loved the most, but not Guinevere as she would cheat him and love someone else in future. Despite Merlin’s suggestion, King asked him to take his proposal to Cameliard. After knowing the royal blood of King Arthur, father of the princess was ready to marry her to King Arthur. Archibald, Elizabeth; Putter, Ad (2009). The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521860598.

When Lancelot returned from the dead as a shade without a soul she was surprised It is unknown if she still has romantic feelings for Lancelot who died again when Merlin released his soul. Göller, Karl Heinz (1981). The Alliterative Morte Arthure: A Reassessment of the Poem. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-0859910750. Years later, following the Grail Quest, Malory tells his readers that the pair started behaving carelessly in public, stating that "Launcelot began to resort unto the Queene Guinevere again and forget the promise and the perfection that he made in the Quest... and so they loved together more hotter than they did beforehand." They indulged in "privy draughts together" and behaved in such a way that "many in the court spoke of it." Guinevere is charged with adultery on three occasions, including once when she is also accused of sorcery. [46] Their now not-so secret affair is finally exposed by Guinevere's sworn enemy and Arthur's half-sister, the enchantress Morgan le Fay who had schemed against her on various occasions (sometimes being foiled in that by Lancelot, who had also defended Guinevere on many other occasions and performed assorted feats in her honour), and proven by two of the late King Lot's sons, Agravain and Mordred. Revealed as a betrayer of his king and friend, Lancelot kills several of Arthur's knights and escapes. Incited to defend honour, Arthur reluctantly sentences his wife to be burned at the stake. Knowing Lancelot and his family would try to stop the execution, the king sends many of his knights to defend the pyre, though Gawain refuses to participate. Lancelot arrives with his kinsmen and followers and rescues the queen. Gawain's unarmed brothers Gaheris and Gareth are killed in the battle (among others, including fellow Knights of the Round Aglovale, Segwarides and Tor, and originally also Gawain's third brother Agravain), sending Gawain into a rage so great that he pressures Arthur into a direct confrontation with Lancelot. Guinevere is a central character in the 1960 Broadway musical Camelot, in which she was initially portrayed by Julie Andrews and later by Sally Ann Howes. She was also played by Vanessa Redgrave in the 1967 film adaptation, and by Phillipa Soo in the 2023 Broadway revival. Later, Gaius is abducted and brought to Morgana in an attempt to discover who Emrys is. While the whole of Camelot believed Gaius to be a traitor, Gwen did not believe this, and comforted Merlin and supported his idea that Gaius had been abducted. Gwen later cared for Gaius after he was rescued by Merlin and Gwaine.Ashley, Mike (1 September 2011). The Mammoth Book of King Arthur. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 9781780333557– via Google Books. Kibler, William W., The Romance of Arthur, New York & London, Garland Publishing, Inc. 1994 p. 121. Loomis, Roger Sherman (2000). The Development of Arthurian Romance. Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-40955-9. Guinevere, wife of Arthur, legendary king of Britain, best known in Arthurian romance through the love that his knight Sir Lancelot bore for her. In early Welsh literature, one Gwenhwyvar was “the first lady of this island”; in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s inventive Historia regum Britanniae (early 12th century), she was named Guanhumara and was presented as a Roman lady. In some accounts it was suggested that she was Arthur’s second wife.