Merlin

Culture: British/Celtic

Mother: Daughter of Meurig ap Maredydd, King of Dyfed

Father: An incubus/demon; Mordryn Frych, Prince of Gododdin

Sibling: Gwenddydd (Ganieda)

Merlin was a legendary Welsh or British bard who became associated with the stories of King Arthur. In addition to being an adviser and recorder of heroic histories, Merlin was also, in most tales, portrayed as a magician and seer. Merlin’s prophetic and magical powers vary among tellings and are anchored in multiple sources, including those of Myrddin, the Welsh name from which Merlin is derived.

Geoffrey of Monmouth, who was a key figure in the development of the Merlin legend, describes Merlin’s mother as a princess who had become a nun, the daughter of Meurig ap Maredydd, the King of Dyfed, a region in western Wales. Different versions of the early Myrddin/Merlin legend suggest that the father was either an evil spirit/incubus, or possibly Mordryn Frych, a prince to whom the princess had been promised before becoming a nun. It was the version of the story that involved the incubus that led to the attribution of magical, and sometimes dark, powers in Merlin.

Merlin’s popularity grew throughout the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, and even into the modern period. He appeared in poems and novels, from Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur to Tennyson’s narrative poem Idylls of the King, and even Mark Twain’s Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.

In Mythology

In the earliest stories of Merlin, he was credited with erecting the stones that compose Stonehenge, after bringing them from where they stood in Ireland. However, the oldest stories do not associate Merlin with Arthur. Merlin started out as a Welsh prophet who helped King Vortigern by telling him that the tower he was building wouldn’t stand because there were two dragons and a lake far below its foundation. When a hole was dug, the two dragons, one red and one white, were released. Merlin then went on to prophesy about the future of the British kingdom. Monmouth’s tales do mention Merlin helping Uther Pendragon, who would become the father of King Arthur. Merlin assisted Uther in gaining access to the woman he loved, Igraine, by transforming Uther to look like Igraine’s husband. The night they are together was when Arthur was conceived. However, further association with Arthur would await later authors.

Upon the death of Uther Pendragon, who had become king, it was Merlin who told the English barons that the future and rightful king was the one who could pull a sword out of a stone. In some legends of King Arthur, Merlin was identified as a tutor to the young Arthur, but most stories have him as advisor once Arthur became king.

Merlin appears and disappears from the legends surrounding Arthur, but was consistently present in stories revolving around the Quest for the Holy Grail, foretelling events and battles that would occur and knights and kings who would be important in the pursuit.

The design and construction of the Round Table was attributed to Merlin in some tales. Merlin prophesied Arthur’s love for Guinevere, as well as how that love would eventually lead to the destruction of Arthur’s kingdom.

Powers possessed by Merlin vary among tales, from being primarily a prophet to one who could change into the form of other people or animals, cast spells, and call down fire from the sky.

Merlin had a sister named Gwenddydd, though Geoffrey of Monmouth anglicized this to Ganieda. When her husband died, Ganieda went to live with Merlin in the forest. However, Ganieda is not the best known of the women in the Merlin legend. Other women were identified as Merlin’s successor or, in some tales, the cause of his death.

In his old age, Merlin became infatuated with a beautiful woman who, in many stories, was his student, and in others was identified as the Lady of the Lake. Her name was given variously as Niniane, Viviane, Vivien, or Nimue. She convinced Merlin to teach her all his magic spells, and then, rather than returning his love, she imprisoned him, in some tales, in a tangle of thorns, in others, in a rock or cave.

Origins

In the twelfth century, for his book Historia Regum Britanniae (1135–38), Geoffrey of Monmouth adapted a mythic Celtic figure known as Myrddin, who appeared in a few ancient Welsh poems, and combined his traits with those of a Welsh youth named Ambrosius Aurelianus, the son of a Roman consul. According to an eighth century history book by a Welsh monk named Nennius, Ambrosius (or Emrys in Welsh) had given advice to the legendary British king Vortigern, advice only a seer could give. Geoffrey’s composite character, with elements from both traditions, was named Ambrosius Merlinus, a man with prophetic powers who would give advice to both King Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon, and later to Arthur himself.

Monmouth then wove into the story of his Merlin elements from legends about a wild man who was skilled at divination. This Merlin was able to prophesy the future of Britain and the birth of King Arthur. A century later, in a work by Robert de Borron titled Merlin, the final element was added—the association with Arthur, his knights, and the Holy Grail. While Merlin would continue to evolve, by this point, most of the attributes and powers associated with him were well established, and he would be familiar to most readers today.

In Popular Culture

While King Arthur and the knights of the round table continue to be popular, appearing in a remarkable number of novels and movies, Merlin is the character from these legends who has become the most ubiquitous. He appears in numerous novels, such as That Hideous Strength (C.S. Lewis) and The Merlin Trilogy (Mary Stewart), among many others, some with and some without Arthur. References to Merlin are woven through the Harry Potter books. Merlin has appeared in dozens of movies, including a Disney cartoon (The Sword in the Stone), a 1998 TV mini-series, an opera, a Broadway musical, stories in both Marvel Comics and DC Comics, and in a range of video games. Time magazine named Merlin one of the top 10 most beloved wizards of all time.

Bibliography

Bullfinch, Thomas. Bullfinch’s Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, and Legends of Charlemagne. 1867. San Diego: Canterbury Classics, 2014. Print.

Ellis, Peter Berresford. Celtic Myths and Legends. New York: Carroll, 2002. Print.

Lupack, Alan. The Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.

Mallory, Sir Thomas. Le Morte d’Arthur. Adapted by Keith Baines. New York: Bramhall, 1962.

Rutherford, Ward. Celtic Mythology: The Nature and Influence of Celtic Myth, from Druidism to Arthurian Legend. San Francisco: Weiser, 2015. Print.

Squire, Charles. Celtic Myth and Legend. Mineola: Dover, 2003. Print.