Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Rick and Morty Season 6, Episode 9.Before Season 6 of Rick and Morty went on a hiatus, the series engaged in one-shot adventures while there was the unsolved issue of interdimensional travel. Rick’s (voiced by Justin Roiland) portal gun was fixed in Episode 6, but the season still follows the same structure. Instead of taking Rick and the Smith family to different points in spacetime, Season 6 is committed to a single universe, where the characters can reflect on their life choices and try to become better people. That’s precisely the theme of Season 6, Episode 9, “A Rick in King Mortur's Mort,” in which Rick makes an effort to be more supportive of his grandson, and Morty (voiced by Roiland) takes responsibility for his actions.
It might sound mature and dramatic, but this is still Rick and Morty we are talking about. So, any character growth will happen amidst the wackiest situations like a Solar System War I and a confrontation with eunuch knights. Season 6, Episode 9 also has a deep connection to Season 4's “The Vat of Acid Episode,” a parallel showing how much Rick grew in the last few seasons.
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The Knight of the Sun
“A Rick in King Mortur's Mort” begins with Rick and Morty in line for a unique pop-up restaurant that rarely comes to the Solar System. Rick thinks waiting in line to get food is dumb, but Morty is excited about the experience. While waiting, Morty sees two men dressed as medieval knights carrying a lot of food. One of the knights drops an alien sandwich, which Morty rushes to give back to him. Touched by Morty’s honesty, the knight offers the sandwich to Morty as a reward for his excellent behavior. Morty declines the free food, which, for the knight, is the utmost proof the kid is pure of heart.
The knight, Sir Helios, decides Morty should become his successor in the long line of Knights of the Sun. Morty is unsure if he should accept Sir Helios' sword, but after Rick tells his grandson how the whole affair is stupid, Morty agrees to serve as a knight. Morty tells Rick he’s boring for not jumping into new adventures when the opportunity arises and seems to accept the knight’s offer just to spite his grandfather. Morty is confident in his decision, but as soon as he takes Sir Helios’ sword, the knight throws himself against the blade, forcing the boy to take his life. And if that wasn’t enough of a red flag, Morty is immediately teleported to the sun by a fiery beam.
Morty finds out the Knights of the Sun live in a medieval castle built on the surface of the scalding star. After swearing allegiance to the Sun, the Knights become virtually immortal, only dying when they wish to. They are also indestructible, resisting even the heat of the sun itself. And while they devote their lives to protecting the Specter of the Sun, around which the whole Solar System revolves, they can visit their family and friends whenever they like. In short, joining the Knights of the Sun seems like a sweet deal. There’s a catch, though, since, during his oath ceremony, Morty finds out he must cut his penis off and throw in the sun’s magma surface as an ultimate sacrifice for the cause.
Morty refuses to become a eunuch, spitting on the Knights of the Sun’s tradition. Rick arrives to save his grandson, but to leave the fortress, Morty must best the King of the Sun in combat. Rick offers Morty an AI sword that has seen Blade and learned all of Marvel’s vampire killer’s moves. That means Morty easily wins the duel, gaining his freedom. Things are never so simple in the Rick and Morty universe, though, and by defeating the King, Morty becomes the new ruler of the Knights of the Sun, the protector of the Specter and order in the Solar System.
Morty and Rick escape to Earth, where the boy expects Rick to scold him. Rick, however, tells his grandson being called “boring” opens his eyes to how badly he had been treating him and decides to be 22% more supportive for the rest of the episode. Morty doesn’t trust Rick immediately, thinking this might be another Vat of Acid situation. In the Vat of Acid episode, Rick pretends to accept Morty’s criticism only to throw him into a horrible and mind-bending nightmare where he loses the love of his life. However, Rick’s change of heart seems genuine in “A Rick in King Mortur's Mort.” Before the episode ends, the scientist will even tell his grandson they shouldn’t move to a different dimension but commit to their mistakes. The season finale could have an unexpected twist and turn Rick into an absolute prick again. Even so, it feels like Rick is trying to change for many episodes, which gives the series a breath of fresh air.
Morty’s escape to Earth doesn’t solve all his issues, since the Knights of the Sun come to serve their new King. As they tell Morty, the Specter of the Sun keeps the Solar System working, and their entire culture is built around protecting it and the King, the only person who can wield the Specter. To get rid of the Knights, Morty teaches them universal gravitation, explaining that the Specter is a fake. Morty even takes the Specter away from the Sun to prove the object does nothing. The Knight’s spirits are destroyed, and they abandon their posts. Morty is free from duty as a King, and everything seems to work well. That is, until the Knights of the Moon attack.
Solar System War I
While the Specter of the Sun didn’t affect gravity, the Knights of the Sun were responsible for keeping the order around the Solar System. That’s because each planet of the Solar System has its faction of medieval-themed protectors, and all believe the Scepter is the ultimate source of power. So without the Knights of the Sun to keep order, the planets begin to attack each other, trying to become the supreme leader of the Solar System.
Morty tries to attend a meeting in Pluto to ensure peace. However, when the leaders of each planet see a non-eunuch king carrying the Specter, they all decide they should rule instead. Morty’s decisions lead to an interplanetary war, with the Specter changing hands dozens of times, as the armies of each planet build weapons of mass destruction to ensure they’ll be the last people standing.
Morty is willing to take responsibility for his actions and goes after the Knights of the Sun. Unfortunately, the Knights became heroin addicts, and due to their powers, they could never overdose. So, anything that Morty offers them must topple the joys of drug abuse without consequence. With all odds against him, Morty decides to sacrifice that which he holds most dear: his penis. Morty promises to cut his penis off, even if it's a senseless act, just to prove to the Knights of the Sun tradition is essential, and they should all go back to their posts.
All the rulers of the Solar System planets gather in the Sun for the penis-cutting ceremony. Rick, however, is still willing to help his son, gifting him three fake penises he can use to fulfill his promise but still keep his junk to himself. Unfortunately, the interplanetary war boosted the medieval armies' technological research. Now, they have fake-penises detectors to ensure tradition will be followed. To be more precise, three sensors force Morty to discard his robotic penis, his prosthetic penis, and even his magic penis.
There seems to be no hope, but Rick uses telepathic thoughts to tell Morty to grab the ceremonial scissors and run. Grandfather and grandson throw themselves into the sun's lava, a death miming the Vat of Acid. That means, once more, Rick proved the Vat of Acid wasn’t a dumb idea while also being supportive of Morty and accepting his grandson could use real help from time to time.
Morty’s sacrifice changes the Knights of the Sun culture. First, since the King decided to give all of himself to the Sun instead of just the penis, the Knights decided to abolish the penis-cutting tradition. The selfless act of taking his own life also led to a new era of peace and prosperity in the Solar System, one that can last as long as Morty and Rick pretend to remain dead. “A Rick in King Mortur's Mort” is an odd adventure, for sure, but it’s interesting to see how Rick and Morty’s relationship has evolved.
Interdimensional Lost & Found
- When going to Pluto, Rick says this kind of lame visit is more of a Jerry (voiced by Chris Parnell) thing. This is a nod to Season 1, Episode 9, "Something Ricked This Way Comes," in which Jerry's refusal to believe Pluto is no longer a planet leads him to be involved with a government conspiracy.
- All the leaders of the planets of the Solar System are not only medieval-themed but carry a relation to the planet’s name. The leader of Neptune, for instance, looks like Neptune, the Roman god of the oceans. And the Marquis of Mars is a hotheaded man who wants to go to war with everybody, just like the Roman god of war, after which the planet was named. The cherry on top of everything is that the Earl of Earth is no one else but Santa. That’s right, Santa Claus is the protector of our planet before the armies of the Solar System.
- It’s curious that Santa became a part of Season 6, Episode 9, because next week's episode, "Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortcation," is expected to be a Christmas-themed season finale. The last we saw Santa in Episode 9, he was crucified as part of Solar System War I. So, maybe the season finale will deal with the aftermath of Morty meddling with the Knights of the Sun.
New episodes of Rick and Morty come to Adult Swim every Sunday at 11 p.m. ET.
