Merlin the wizard

By Casenave Julieta, Espino Evangelina, Godoy Juan Ignacio,

Lopez Jay Sara and Vitale Gimena Valentina.
Merlin was an enchanter and wise man in the Arthurian legend and romance of the Middle
Ages, linked with characters in ancient Celtic mythology. He appeared in Arthurian legend as
an enigmatic figure, a prophet and sorcerer at the royal court. In Celtic mythology he first
appeared in various 6th century Welsh poems as a “wild man” and a prophet who lived in the
forest, various stories tell that him lived in the Caledonian Forest, others in the Forest of
Tweeddale. Some of his greatest skills were invisibility, shapeshifting, weather and element
control. There was also a demonic theory which was that Merlin was born from an Incubus
and a human maiden named Adhan, making him a Cambion (Half-demon, half-human)
which was why he had magical powers. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote one of the first sources
on Merlin: “The Prophesies of Merlin”: the first book to portray him as most people recognize
him today. In Monmouth's “History of the Kings of Britain”, Merlin gave predictions about
England's political future. Sir Thomas Mallory, an English famous writer, author of Le Morthe
Darthur. He was the first to place Merlin in closeness to King Arthur.

As we mentioned before Merlin was a sorcerer at the royal court. The most relevant kings
that he helped were King Uther Pendragon and his son King Arthur. Merlin was the one who
advised Uther to establish the knightly fellowship of the Round Table, according to Mallory.
Besides, regarding Geoffrey’s History, Merlin magically made Uther look like his enemy
Gorlois, so then he could sleep with his enemy’s wife Lady Igraine. That night Arthur was
conceived and the next day it was discovered that Gorlois had been killed. However, Uther
married the widow and sixteen years later he died by poison.
Merlin also stated that Uther’s heir would be revealed by a test which consisted in drawing a
sword from a stone. After King Uther’s death, Merlin crowned Arthur the King of Britain once
Arthur had pulled the sword.
According to Malory’s version, Merlin was fundamental to Arthur’s life from his conception to
his education, his power and the way he ruled his kingdom through justice. He was the one
who placed Arthur with Sir Ector’s family. Arthur served Sir Ector’s son, Kay. When he found
out he had forgotten to bring his brother’s sword from the tent, he saw a sword in a stone
and drew it. His brother realized it was the king’s sword and pretended he drew it, but they
found out he was lying. Arthur then returned the sword to the place where he had found it,
proving he is Uther’s heir. In other versions of the story it says that Arthur did not found the
Excalibur sword in a stone but that a woman named Lady of the Lake gave it to him.
After this, Merlin counsels him in kingship and remains as the one who is trying to advise
others to listen to their better natures. When Arthur tells him he wants to marry Guinevere,
Merlin warns him that she will not be loyal to him. However, Arthur did not listen. After
meeting the Lady of the Lake, Arthur loses Merlin.
The Lady of the Lake was an enchantress in the “Matter of Britain”, which was the body of
medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany (French
Region) and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. She
played a crucial role in many stories, including being Merlin’s apprentice and enchanting
him. Different writers and translators gave the Arthurian character the names Nimue,
Nymue, Nimueh, Viviane, Vivien, Vivienne, Niniane, Ninniane, Ninianne, Niviene, Nyneve or
Nineve, among other variations.
As we mentioned earlier, according to legend, the Lady of the Lake played a very important
role in Merlin's life, being the one who led him to his death. There are many different
versions of their story. Common themes in most of them include her using one of his own
spells to get rid of him. Usually, having learnt everything she could from him, Lady of the
Lake will then replace the eliminated Merlin within the story, taking up his role as Arthur's
adviser. However, Merlin's fate of either demise or eternal imprisonment, along with his
destroyer or captor's motivation, is recounted differently in variants of these motives. The
exact form of his either prison or grave can be a cave, a hole under a large rock, a magic
tower, or a tree. These are usually placed within the enchanted forest of Brocéliande, a
legendary location often identified as the real-life Paimpont forest in Brittany (French
Region).
Lady of the Lake is mentioned as having broken Merlin’s heart, but the legend does not tell
how exactly Merlin vanishes. In the Vulgate Lancelot, which predated the later Vulgate
Merlin, she (aged just 12 at the time) makes Merlin sleep forever in a pit in the forest of
Darnantes. In the Post-Vulgate Suite de Merlin, the young King Bagdemagus (one of the
early Knights of the Round Table) manages to find the rock under which Merlin is entombed
alive by Lady of the Lake. He communicates with Merlin but is unable to lift the stone; what
follows next is supposedly narrated in the mysterious text Conte del Brait (Tale of the Cry).
In the Prophecies of Merlin version, his tomb is unsuccessfully searched for by various
parties, but cannot be accessed due to the deadly magic traps around it. One notably
alternate version having a happier ending for Merlin is contained within the Premiers Faits
section of the Livre du Graal, where Lady of the Lake peacefully confines him in Brocéliande
with walls of air, visible only as a mist to others but as a beautiful yet unbreakable crystal
tower to him.

Refrences
Howard Pyle illustration from the 1903 edition of The Story of King Arthur and His Knights.
Retrieved from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin#/media/File:Arthur-
Pyle_The_Enchanter_Merlin.JPG
Celtic mythology from Wikipedia. Retrieved from.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_mythology
Incubus meaning. Retrieved from. https://www.lexico.com/definition/incubus
Cambion. Retrieved from. https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Cambion
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Geoffrey Of Monmouth". Encyclopedia Britannica,
1 Jan. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Geoffrey-of-Monmouth
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Thomas Malory". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29
Jan. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Malory
Mark, J. J. (2019, April 24). Merlin. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
https://www.worldhistory.org/Merlin/

World History Encyclopedia. (2021, September) King Arthur: The History and Story of King
Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table. Retrieved from.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4USmGPfK2M

Unknown author - International Studio Volume 76. Retrieved from.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur#/media/File:Arth_tapestry2.jpg

Lady of the lake. Retrieved from. https://mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake

Lady of the Lake by Iribel. Retrieved from. https://www.worldanvil.com/i/468474

Lupack. A. Brocéliande. Retrieved from.
https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/theme/broceliande

Merlin and Viviane enter Brocéliande in Gustave Doré's illustration for Idylls of the

King (1868). Retrieved from.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paimpont_forest#/media/File:Idylls_of_the_King_12.jpg