Merlin will always be one of the very first "famous" people I think of when I hear the word magic. I know that Harry Potter has changed this greatly for our generation, but everyone always thought of Merlin when they first heard the word magic. This crazy old wackjob throughout the ages has defined magic for years and years.
Merlin is seriously a just a celebrity of the pre-Harry Potter era. It's clear that Harry has taken his lime light but in comparison of the two, Merlin is more powerful. Even though the origin of Merlin's power is forgotten about, let's not forget that both Satan and God game this single human unlimited power (Prose Merlin). Well it was more like Satan's plan backfired, but Merlin was given the power to know the past, present, and future (like the three Fates of Greek Mythology). The "past" part of the deal came from Satan, while the other two were given to Merlin from God. With these powers, he was solely able to choose his own path in life. If he was only given the powers from Satan, there is no doubt that we would all know Merlin for the horrible things rather than the great things. God gave Merlin the chance of freewill, giving him a chance to find a happy median between the two.
Despite what we've read in class, I will always see Merlin as the cooky old man from Disney's version of the The Sword and the Stone. That movie is seriously one of my favorites! After reading the excerpt from The Once and Future King, I can applaud Disney for their accuracy. I'm quite impressed. While I was reading, I could see the movie playing in my head. The Merlin in the story and the movie were very much alike. He wasn't a crazed selfish man who obsessed over nuts in the forest. He was a wise mentor and a friend to Arthur. A very different Merlin than the one in Prose Merlin.
Ultimately, even though I am team Harry Potter, I will always think of Merlin when it comes to magic. He was the wizard celebrity of the ages before the time of the boy who lived.
I was waiting for you to post a blog about how accurate Disney was. I love how you just went on this rampage about how Harry took Merlin’s fame. I totally agree with you though. Before this class, I would have said Harry Potter is an amazing movie and is better than Merlin. Though after reading about magic and exerts on Merlin, I can now see why everyone in class agreed with you. Merlin's characters fit the description we learn about in our textbooks better than Harry does. With this said, I still love Harry Potter over Merlin. I think I would have liked Merlin more if his character did not vary as much in each text. It is hard to understand his character when his powers and appearance changes in each text. In each Harry Potter movie, Harry did get older and become wiser, but his character never really changed.
ReplyDeleteI kind of prefer Merlin over Harry Potter, actually. However, I can see some similarities between the two since they both have to deal with good and evil, not from outside forces but from the good and evil within them as well. Merlin has more power than Harry Potter and he uses that power to manipulate events. Merlin's character does change as well, and quite drastically it seems and Harry Potter also goes through some changes as well. I think that it's important to see some character changes because it makes that character a little easier to sympathize with.
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