Merlin Might be Human Too

I think that Merlin is one of the coolest guys in literature that hardly ever gets individual attention. I think that the Prose Merlin document written by Robert de Boron and compiled by Samuel N. Rosenburg presents him as a more interesting and clever person. I mean, he starts talking when he’s a baby and he manages to save his mother’s life from execution. That’s pretty awesome, right?
He’s part demon so he can see the past, but he’s also blessed by God so he can see the future. He is full of wisdom and it seems to be difficult to not be persuaded of his powers eventually. He manages to get into the good graces of two brothers, King Pendragon and his brother Uther (who will father Arthur). They rely on him completely because all of his predictions came true and his advice never does them wrong. When it comes time for the brothers to engage in a battle against the Saxons, they turn to Merlin for advice. The brothers ask Merlin how they will die (this seems to be everyone’s favorite question to ask Merlin, doesn’t it?), Merlin says that “nothing begins that does not come to an end, and no man should fear death if he receives it properly. Everyone living must realize that he will die, and you must realize that you will as well, and that neither nobility nor fortune can spare you from death” (Rosenburg 323). This is pretty deep, I think, because he’s basically telling them that death happens to everyone. But he says it so concisely and bluntly that it really gets the point across.

The only time I didn’t really like Merlin was in the story of Niviane the Huntress. Merlin is an old man at this time and he falls in love with a guest of King Arthur named Niviane. BUT…Niviane is fifteen. FIFTEEN. And Merlin is lusting after her because he knows that she’s a virgin and he wants to be her first. Niviane knows this and she has a really intense hatred for him that is so strong that she basically tricks him into teaching her magic. This ultimately makes her much stronger than Merlin because she manages to bewitch him and this leads to his downfall/death by being sealed in a tomb. But to me the irony is that for a long time Merlin was undisputedly the most powerful person alive and at the end someone else defeats him. And he’s defeated by not just anyone, but a much younger woman to boot. So needless to say, this was not Merlin’s best moment.

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