Disney's King Merlin's Lesser-Known Antics

As children grow into young adults, they gather mindfuls of medieval lore from sources such as Walt Disney's film "The Sword and the Stone" and minimum-wage-earning teens costumed as Lancelot for the county medieval fair. However, upon reading Wace's Roman de Brut, one might discover that the vivid character portraits painted by these sources differ greatly from medieval textual descriptions of at least one character in Arthurian legend: Merlin. Rather than portraying him as the sprightly old wizard in Walt Disney's vision, the translation of Wace's account depicts Merlin as a wise, but humble prophet, much more Christ-like than wizard-like.

Merlin's powers of prophecy, like those of Christ, seem as though they were both valued and feared by his peers in Arthurian legend. In one particular scene, King Vortigern's wise men convince him that his latest architectural undertaking is a failure because Merlin's blood is not mixed with the mortar. The King summons Merlin and asks him if this is indeed the case, to which Merlin replies, "summon the men who prescribed my blood, for they are liars indeed! … Your majesty, listen! Under the foundation of your tower lies a pool that is broad and deep and that makes your tower crumble. If you want to believe me, then dig down and you will see. … Masters…you, who tried to mix my blood with your mortar, tell me what's in this pool (pp.98)." And when they could not, Merlin continued, "Empty this pool by draining the water off. Down at the bottom are two sleeping dragons lying on two large stones. One of these dragons is white, while the other is as crimson as blood." In this scenario, Merlin appears to merely be serving his king in a dutiful fashion, and bringing an end to the problem of the king's crumbling tower; according to the king's wise men, Merlin should be able to help the king because "he has no earthly father." Merlin's mother, much like Mary, the mother of Christ, does not know how or by whom he was conceived. Merlin, in response to this hour of duty, is quick to prove that the king's wise men are indeed mistaken. However, Merlin is not merely being solicited for a favor by the king- he is being persecuted because of his birth rite. Under threat of death, he was forced to defend himself by telling Vortigern the secret to his multiple failures in constructing his tower, and all the while, the wise men were perfectly content to allow Merlin to be sacrificed to save themselves. This situation is familiar to scholars of Christianity, who study the persecution of Christ because of his birth rite as the Son of God. He, too, was persecuted to the point of blood by those eager to dispose of someone so much more valuable than themselves.

The contrasting white and crimson dragons sleeping below the surface of an untouched pool of water mirrors the morality clash between Merlin and the evil king, which will inevitably come to a head at some point, but is currently simmering quietly. The violent dragon fight is symbolic of the conflict of interest between Merlin's purity of soul and intention and. King Vortigern and his wise mens' selfish, cruel history of action.

After Aurelius returns from Brittany and burns Vortigern to death in the very tower Merlin helped construct, he too summons Merlin in hopes of luring tales of his kingdom's future from his mouth. This time, however, Merlin replies, "I can't do this. I won't open my mouth unless I'm forced to, and this is because of humility. If I spoke braggingly or jestingly or proudly, my guardian spirit, who teaches me all that I know, would leave my lips and take all of my knowledge away….If you want to create a lasting work that's beautiful and fitting and will be talked about for all time to come, then bring over here the circle that the giants built in Ireland- a wonderful, huge, round work with stone set on stone- so strong and heavy that no strength of men now alive can ever lift them (pp. 99)." In this, Merlin suddenly makes himself both excused from using his prophetic powers, but also needed by the king to move this wonder into his domain, thereby ensuring that the king's wrath will not be aimed at him; this is an extremely clever move on Merlin's part. He seems to be in the habit of proving his value without ever putting himself at risk, but rather in the great favor of those in charge of his fate.

Upon arriving in Ireland with the king and his men, Merlin once again challenges those closest to the king to complete a task which he knows they cannot (as he did when he asked Vortigern's men if they knew why the King's tower crumbled), making himself indispensable to the king when he completes the task with "craft and cunning." What is the difference between Merlin setting up a situation that cannot be solved without his magic, and Merlin simply telling others how to complete these magical tasks on their own? Why does his power not leave him if he uses it proudly, as it supposedly does when he speaks of it proudly? It probably does not at all, but is instead a convenient excuse for Merlin to use in order to prevent himself from being used and then being disposed of. He has created a situation comparable to that of Jesus Christ and his apostles, in that, while Christ's apparent power frightened those around him, his gifts of healing, prophecy, and transformation were too greatly coveted for him to be in danger- for a while, anyway.

Later, Merlin comes to the rescue of yet another king, King Uther, who is hopelessly in love with Igerna, wife of the lord of Cornwall. As Uther tries unsuccessfully to invade the lord's castle and steal his wife, he summons Merlin for advice. Merlin says, "Sir, you shall have her. I'll give you all you want and you won't have to repay me a thing...I can make one person resemble another, and vice versa. Without any doubt I can give you the body, face, manner, speech, and habits of the count of Cornwall (pp.104)." Here, Merlin offers his services freely, without any supposed fear of having his power removed from him. Strangely, or maybe not so, this particular king (Uther), is the only king in Merlin's history so far who fares well in the future. He marries the woman he loves after her husband is killed and takes over his kingdom. It appears that Merlin used his powers of prophecy to readily please those who might actually survive the future and look upon him with favor, should he need it.
His prophetic powers made Merlin a threat to some, but a valuable commodity for others. It is apparent that the uses of his magic were neither accidental nor spontaneous; Merlin used his powers only when he had something to gain from their use, be it favor or protection or both. He, like Christ, was persecuted for powers he was born with, and like Christ, was greatly feared for possessing those powers. However, in somewhat of an opposite situation to that which the Son of God faced, while some thought Merlin would be less threatening dead, others, generally those in power recognized his importance and kept him alive. Merlin was not a great sorcerer whose mission was to dazzle the world with his magic, but a humble, cunning prophet who recognized the value of a good skill, and did what he could to keep himself out of trouble.