ARTHUR IS CATH PALUG ALL ALONG! Four Knights of the Apocalypse Chapter 217 Spoilers!

In the previous Four Knights of the Apocalypse chapter, we learn that Gawain was a fusion of Merlin and Escanor’s flesh, not a normal baby, and that King Arthur was not the main villain.

Four Knights of the Apocalypse Chapter 217 is titled, “The Eternal King”.

This chapter has 20 pages.

The chapter cover shows the current “Arthur” with Chaos monsters behind him.

In one of the towers in Camelot, the Four Evils are recuperating, with Ironside reflecting on how his own son Diodora warned him that he had been tricked, which is why Ironside could not remember his own son.

Pellegarde felt the same as he is confused why he forgot his wife and Percival, showing once again Pellegarde did care for the boy.

Meanwhile, Beltriepe or Daymond calls out the two for forgetting their obligation to King Arthur since he gave them the power of Chaos, to wield a sword to protect what they hold dear.

Ironside is angered, saying that it is a lie because it does not matter if they have power yet lose memory of what they hold dear.

Worreldane’s True Character

Worreldane points out they have all been played for fools by Arthur.

Worreldane emerges, revealing her true form, needing to walk on her staff, thanks to Percival draining the life out of her.

She also tells the other men that they ought to thank Lancelot for weakening the Chaos within them so they can have a moment to be their true selves again.

Unlike the other Four Evils, Worreldane is a mystery as we exclusively see her as a servant of Chaos.

However, in her short time, we see that there is a sympathetic side to her as she created the Lizardmen subspecies in an attempt to recreate dragons, a race slowly dying out due to infertility.

The Reveal

Ironside wonders why Arthur even did this but Daymond insists there is a grave reason since the King swore to build an eternal kingdom where anyone can find happiness and he was willing to trample on the dignity of his most loyal knights to do so.

Pellegarde reminds them that the King he swore his fealty to was never that cold or callous because even if they overlook Arthur’s actions, if something went wrong, they would have killed their own loved ones by their own hands.

Meanwhile, Arthur is convering with the Lady of the Lake in a mental plane and he identifies her as a “silbing” through their mother, Chaos.

Arthur calls the Lady the “infinite pool of magic” of Chaos and tells her to keep this conversation secret from Lancelot, which is easy since Lancelot does not read her private thoughts.

Arthur mocks the Lady and notes that Lancelot might have not cared for her at all because behind her gracious image is an egotistical and selfish annoyance.

Arthur remarks that only a “sibling” can put up with the Lady of the Lake so she should abandon humanity and come with him.

They seemingly enter Lake Salisbury, the body of the Lady that Lancelot drank, so in a way they are in his stomach.

The Lady refuses to associate with her “helpless brother” but fake Arthur says he is a changed man who wants to lead the humans their Mother Chaos created to the path of true happiness.

Comparing himself to his sister, fake Arthur says that the Lady was only using her power for a “mere human” and here the Lady spots a contradiction.

How would someone who acts as a king who seeks his kingdom’s eternal happiness treat his subjects as “mere humans”, mere toys to play with.

With her power, the Lady exposes the fake Arthur…

…As none other than Cath Palug, the “purest embodiment of Malice”

Yes, the final boss of Seven Deadly Sins who ate Arthur’s right arm.

It is interesting to note that both Arthurs lack the right arm, so perhaps Cath lacks the ability to recreate it while he is able to heal all wounds.

A common regeneration mechanic is that wounds prior to obtaining the ability to regenerate cannot be healed.

The Lady also clarifies that she did not lend anyone her powers but that Lancelot was able to take her magic by force, something Cath willnever be capable of.

Before making the fake Arthur drown, the Lady says that he better have his fill of playing as a king.

Fake Arthur seems to snap out of it as he promises to get back at the Lady of the Lake.

The Four Evils catch wind of Arthur talking to himself.

Arthur assumes the knights of Chaos want to head back to the frontlines but he tells them to take their rest.

Pellegarde steps forward and asks if the man before them really is King Arthur Pendragon.

Cath nonchalantly responds, saying if his identity is that important at this point in the game and was wondering if they shared the same goal of building an eternal kingdom all along.

Cath also slips up in his speech as he replaces “begins” with “pegins”, revealing how mentally he has slipped.

He lists down the wishes of each of the Four Evils and calls them small garbage wishes.

Pellegarde, his wife. Ironside, his son Diodora. Daymond, his daughter Isolde II, and Worreldane, the Lizardmen species created with Ancient Magic.

Now, Cath fully transforms himself into his monster form, seemingly mutated with all those faces and tendrils shown when a clone of “Arthur” fought Lancelot in Chapter 206: “The Gloating Man”.

Cath reveals his ultimate goal: to make all humans utterly to the peak of their happiness and then destoy everything out of sheer self-satisfaction of seeing everyone’s faces turn to abject horror.

The Four Evils stand dumbfounded at this transformation and Pellegarde refuses to believe this is the being they served, so Cath puts them back under his spell.

Cath mocks Arthur for “installing” the cancer (Cath) back into his own body and it is a fitting analogy since Cath had slowly become a cancerous growth inside Arthur that took over slowly until Merlin needed to extract the real Arthur and so the real body was taken over by the cat monster while a piece of Arthur was likely preserved like how Merlin saved a piece of Escanor to create Gawain.

Cath reveals that he does have Arthur’s body but Merlin was able to separate Arthur’s will before he could finish consuming him.

This could also mean that Cath has an unstable relationship with his empty vessel, as he is just wearing a skinsuit.

This means that Arthur and Merlin spent years in isolation to recover Arthur’s weakened body, so there are two physical Arthurs but the real one, his will, is on a weaker vessel made by Merlin close to how she made Gawain, hence the timing of last chapter.

The chapter ends with Guinevere preparing for her wedding, as she is about to unknowingly wed a cat monster.

Cath Palug

The reveal that the King Arthur the Four Knights of the Apocalypse fought was Cath Palug actually has basis in real myth

In the early 13th century, the Anglo-Norman poet André de Coutance rebuked the French for their vindictive poems on King Arthur’s death, which claimed that he was killed by a cat.

This story goes that Cath Palug kicked Arthur into a bog, killed him, swam to England and became king in his place.

The theory of Cath Palug being Arthur has been around for a long time, even upon his introduction as the main villain since it was strange for such a kindhearted character who is destined to create the Round Table to be so malicious and vindictive.

While some were expecting a more elaborate twist, this one was actually so simple it makes perfect sense.

Cath Palug had been absorbed into Arthur’s being but he had already warned him of the contradiction between an eternal kingdom and a world that is not, which the cat monster realized too late was the essence of chaos, paradox.

Cath’s warnings did foreshadow that contradiction: to build something eternal out of the temporal, something must give and the solution Cath created was an illusion world that was fueled by consuming the real world itself.

The current Arthur being Cath also recontextualizes so many of his actions.

Aside from the seemingly reckless, self-destructive campaign to absorb Britannia for the sake of building the utopian Camelot, there are notable examples of how different he is from Arthur.

Arthur has not shown bloodlust or a desire to seek thrill and he has been enjoying intervening in since he is bored with overseeing the creation of an eternal kingdom, indicating he is half-hearted in that end goal.

Furthermore, he created a fake Merlin out of a transformed Fairy to keep him company.

One can see this as Arthur’s longing for his maternal mentor and possible crush but now it shows a twisted pervertedness that Cath now expresses towards Guinevere.

However, it could also be a sign of how lonely Cath is deep down and that beneath its malicious nihilistic drive to destroy all life is a sad little creature longing for family.

Because even if his creation of Merlin is for some sick fantasy, why bother living a lie?

It was timely that “Arthur” destroyed the fake Merlin when Guinevere revealed the deception because although Guinevere could not realize the man before her was a false identity, it did reveal that Cath liked Merlin somehow.

Was it because of his time with the real Arthur, who was in love with Merlin?

Either way, we have a wedding to catch.

Four Knights of the Apocalypse chapter 218 is titled, “Marriage Red” and will be released on December 3, 2025.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE ANIME EXPLAINED WHATSAPP GROUP CHAT NOW!