Round Table

Origin

The Round Table of Arthurian legend is the table around which King Arthur and his fellow knights congregated. The table was designed to be round, as it represented that all members that sat there were of equal status.

In some legends, such as Le Morte d'Arthur and Idylls of the King, when the knight destined to lead a successful quest to obtain the Holy Grail took his seat at the table, a vision of the Grail appeared before them. This is most likely the origin of the artifact's memory-projecting effects.

Effects

This stone table inspired the legends of King Arthur's Court. Whenever a Warehouse agent places their hand on the table, the table copies and stores that agent's memory of their personal defining moment with

• Myka using table
• Memories being projected by table

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the Warehouse. It can determine an agent's defining moment for them, but they are also able to choose a specific memory they want to submit themselves. 

The memories the table stores can then be viewed later, even centuries in the future, by other agents, which is why it is used as the Warehouse time capsule. 

Usage

Whenever the Warehouse moves to a new country, the host country supplies the new generation of Warehouse agents, which means the old agents no longer work for the Warehouse. Before the Warehouse moves, the agents of the current Warehouse are given one last mission: contribute their memories to the table. 

The ritual is considered not only the agents gift to the Warehouse, but the Warehouse's gift to the agents. For instance, after Steve contributed his memory to the table he realized that when he first arrived at the Warehouse he thought he'd never be able to find peace among all the chaos of the Warehouse, but the table helped him to remember that the Warehouse had already given him the peace he was searching for. 

In "Endless," Mrs. Frederic alerts Artie and the others that Warehouse 13 has reached its end and will be moving to a new country with new agents. However, after contributing to the table, they eventually learn that while the Warehouse is moving, the actual move will not take place within their lifetimes. 

Memories

• Helena Wells: Snagging Jack the Ripper's Lantern, one of the first artifacts she snagged as a Warehouse agent.
• Claudia Donovan: Recharging the 42nd Street Film Marquee by tap dancing so it could be neutralized. This was also the day Claudia had second thoughts about becoming the Caretaker of the Warehouse as she realized how much she loved being an agent.
• Artie Nielsen: Snagging Thomas Wedgwood's Champagne Glass with his son, Scott Mohr.
• Myka Bering: Snagging a Five-Tailed Fox Ceramic Statue with Pete. That was the day Myka realized that at Warehouse 13, she could use all of her deductive skills and kick a lot of butt as well. Additionally, this memory showed her that she was in love with Pete.
• Steve Jinks: Going inside Artie's heart with Claudia by use of H.G. Wells' Shrink Ray. When Steve was inside Artie's heart, he said it felt like he was at peace. Mrs. Frederic suggested it was like Nirvana, and Steve said that he did not find peace; the Warehouse gave it to him.
• Pete Lattimer: Every moment Pete spent at the Warehouse was his defining moment.

Other

• Mrs. Frederic's defining moment, and whether it was even shown, are uncertain. However, she showed Steve several of her own memories:
  • An event that was early in Warehouse 13's reign, and/or was significant or special in some way.
  • A memory of her late husband Mr. Frederic; it is implied that he was impressive in some way.
  • Meeting Leena for the first time and making a promise to protect her from harm after she foresaw her own death in the Warehouse.

Appearances

• Endless

Trivia

• In Age Before Beauty, Artie briefly mentions that the Knights of the Round Table is nothing more than a bedtime story. Which means that either he was lying, or that the Round Table has a different origin than what is mentioned in Arthurian lore.
• It is unknown whether the Caretaker is able to submit several of their own memories to the Table, or if they can simply use the Table to project their memories in general. Whether this ability extends to non-Caretakers is also unknown.
  • It is also unknown if new memories can be re-submitted by the same person.
• The Caretaker is capable of displaying memories other agents have submitted even if they are not present. They are likely the only one with this ability.
• Whether or not agents can place their defining moments onto the Table before knowing that the Warehouse will eventually move is not known, but likely.
• As revealed in the episode commentary, the Table is kept in the Memini Chamber. Memini is Latin for "I remember", "recollect", "mention", or "think".
• Parts of submitted memories or entire memories themselves were cut for time or replaced in the final version of the episode:
  • Artie pleading to Mrs. Frederic and the Regents was originally going to be shown at the end of his memory.
  • Instead of some event that she was present for, Mrs. Frederic was originally going to show Steve how she came to the Warehouse.
  • A scene was cut where Pete and Myka arrive at the Wilsons' home disguised as new neighbors. Steve interrupts the beginning of this memory to complain about how he was stuck in a hot-air balloon elsewhere for fifteen hours during this case; Myka tells him to keep watching, as she's "about to do (her) best Hercule Poirot."
  • The memory of Mrs. Frederic promising Leena to protect her was originally going to be her memory of her husband's death.
• The table is inscribed with various runes of the Elder Futhark alphabet (with no discernible meaning). As the language was used by German tribes during the Migration Period of the 4th through 6th centuries, the earliest the artifact could have been collected by the Warehouse was during the era of Warehouse 3 (31 BC - 434 AD).
  • As they were said to have inspired the legend of King Arthur and his court to some degree, it's equally likely they were collected in the 12 century during the reign of Warehouse 6 (813 AD - 1219 AD), as the first written record of the knights of the Round Table, Roman de Brut, was published in the 1150s.