Excalibur discussion

What do you think happened to nimue, the kingdom of Gwent, Powys, Morgan and Sansum, Derfel and Ceinwyn, the boat with Arthur on it?
I have been pondering these and, finding no real, good answer on the web, desire to find some peace in the mind, for the lack of an explanation leaves me feeling hanging. Even if that is what Cornwell intended, I want to find out if it is even possible to remedy the situation.

I don't think you're gonna get any cut-and-dry closure, unfortunately. I loved the generally gloomy and ambiguous nature of the ending, it was very powerful. I'm sure that was Cornwell's intention.

That's part of the whole Arthurian mythos...the suspension of resolution. So not new to Cornwell.
Merlin in a cave, Arthur away sleeping until needed, the questing beast out of reach etc.
Most of the older tales have similar loose ends...though some of that is due to the authors not finishing the texts...

I guess Gwent just got destroyed by the Saxons while ferrel became a monk and nimue was burned as a witch? Seems plausible, but as for Arthur, there should be no answer.

I mean Derfel

No answer about Arthur and the others on the boat, that's the whole point. But I think the other characters (the ones that didn't leave in the boat), probably lived in peace for a bit. It's commonly believed that the Saxon spread was stalled, or was significantly slowed, for at least a generation. And with Mordred dead, there's nobody to fight Meurig.

So I think there was relative peace long enough for Derfel and Ceinwyn, Sansum and Morgan to grow old. And we know the Saxons returned when Derfel was very old.

What bugs me is that it wasn't just Arthur and Gwenyvere in that boat. Their children and grandchildren went too. I'm sure that was hard on Ceinwyn and Derfel. Cornwell didn't give much attention to that fact, but it kinda broke my heart. I hope he didn't go someplace magical, like Derfel suggested people believe, but just to some nice place where they can all live out their lives. Gwydre and his family are just too young to simply disappear off the earth without it being tragic.

I remember reading these books back in the late 90's.
There was more to the ending, not a lot more but, there was an epilogue with old Derfel. I was disappointed reading the Kindle version and discovering the last few pages were missing.