Editing Merlin (section)

=== Later developments ===
Both ''Merlin'' and its continuations have been adapted in verse and prose, translated into several languages, and further modified to various degrees by other authors. Notably, the Post-Vulgate ''Suite'' (along with an earlier version of the Prose ''Merlin'') was the main source for the opening section of [[Thomas Malory]]'s English-language compilation work ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' which formed a now-iconic version of the legend. Compared to some of his French sources (such as the Vulgate ''Lancelot'' which described Merlin as "treacherous and disloyal by nature, like his [demon] father before him"<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sC1dcIRjg0C&pg=PA553 |title=The Holy Grail: History, Legend, and Symbolism |date=January 2006 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=9780486452791 |access-date=2023-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105054602/https://books.google.com/books?id=0sC1dcIRjg0C&pg=PA553 |archive-date=2023-11-05 |url-status=live}}</ref>), Malory limited the extent of the negative association of Merlin and his powers. He is relatively rarely condemned as demonic by other characters such as [[King Lot]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saunders |first=Corinne |url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK535700/ |title=Romance Rewritten: The Evolution of Middle English Romance. A Tribute to Helen Cooper |date=9 November 2018 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |editor-last1=Archibald |editor-first1=Elizabeth |series=Wellcome Trust–Funded Monographs and Book Chapters |chapter=Lifting the Veil: Voices, Visions, and Destiny in Malory's Morte Darthur |pmid=30620517 |editor-last2=Leitch |editor-first2=Megan |editor-last3=Saunders |editor-first3=Corinne |via=PubMed}}</ref> instead he is presented as an ambiguous trickster.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Greene |first1=Wendy Tibbetts |year=1987 |title=Malory's Merlin: An Ambiguous Magician? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27868621 |url-status=live |journal=Arthurian Interpretations |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=56–63 |jstor=27868621 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328181255/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27868621 |archive-date=2023-03-28 |access-date=2023-03-28}}</ref>[[File:Merlin by Louis Rhead.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''Merlin, the Enchanter'' by [[Louis Rhead]] (1923)]]

As the Arthurian myths were retold, Merlin's prophetic "[[Divination|seer]]" aspects were sometimes de-emphasized (or even seemingly vanish entirely, as in the fragmentary and more fantastical ''Livre d'Artus''<ref name=ab/>) in favor of portraying him as a [[Magician (fantasy)|wizard]] and an advisor to the young Arthur, sometimes in the struggle between good and evil sides of his character, and living in deep forests connected with nature. Through his ability to change his shape, he may appear as a "wild man" figure, evoking his prototype Myrddin Wyllt,<ref>Koch, ''Celtic Culture'', p. 1325.</ref> as a civilized man of any age (including as a very young child), or even as a talking animal.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 43632466|title = The Space of Transformation: Merlin Between Two Deaths|last1 = Griffin|first1 = Miranda|journal = Medium Ævum|year = 2011|volume = 80|issue = 1|pages = 85–103|doi = 10.2307/43632466}}</ref> His guises can be highly deformed and animalistic even when Merlin is presenting as a human or humanoid being.<ref name=ab/>{{#tag:ref|In the ''Livre d'Artus'', for instance, Merlin enters Rome in the form of a huge stag with a white fore-foot. He bursts into the presence of [[Julius Caesar]] (here Arthur's contemporary) and tells the emperor that only the wild man of the woods can interpret the dream that has been troubling him. Later, he returns in the form of a black, shaggy man, barefoot, with a torn coat. In another episode, he decides to do something that will be spoken of forever. Going into the forest of Brocéliande, he transforms himself into a herdsman carrying a club and wearing a wolf-skin and leggings. He is large, bent, black, lean, hairy and old, and his ears hang down to his waist. His head is as big as a buffalo's, his hair is down to his waist, he has a hump on his back, his feet and hands are backwards, he is hideous, and is over 18 feet tall. By his arts, he calls a herd of deer to come and graze around him.<ref name="loomis" />|group="note"}} In the ''Perceval en prose'' (also known as the Didot ''Perceval'' and usually also attributed to Robert), where Merlin is the initiator of the Grail Quest and cannot die until the end of days, he eventually retires after Arthur's downfall by turning himself into a bird and entering the mysterious ''[[Esplumoir Merlin|esplumoir]]'', never to be seen again.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k116499t/f508.image | title=Le Saint Graal, ou le Joseph d'Arimathie, première branche des romans de la Table ronde. T1 / Publié d'après des textes et des documents inédits par Eugène Hucher | access-date=2022-04-14 | archive-date=2022-04-14 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414205144/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k116499t/f508.image | url-status=live }}</ref>

The earliest English verse romance concerning Merlin is ''[[Of Arthour and of Merlin]]'' of the late 13th century, which drew from the chronicles and the Vulgate Cycle. In English-language medieval texts that conflate [[Sub-Roman Britain|Britain]] with the [[Kingdom of England]], the Anglo-Saxon enemies against whom Merlin aids first Uther and then Arthur tend to be replaced by the [[Saracen|Saracens]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Calkin |first=Siobhain Bly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=saL7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT148 |title=Saracens and the Making of English Identity: The Auchinleck Manuscript |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-47171-2 |language=en}}</ref> or simply just invading pagans. The earliest Merlin work written in Germany was [[Caesarius of Heisterbach]]'s Latin theological text ''Dialogus Miraculorum'' (1220). Among other medieval works dealing with the Merlin legend is the 13th-century French romance ''[[Le Roman de Silence]],''<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U8mBCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT89 |title=Gender in Medieval Culture |last=Sauer |first=Michelle M. |date=24 September 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4411-8694-2 |language=en}}</ref> and the 13th-14th Italian story collection ''Il Novellino'' that pictures him as a righteous seer chastising people for their sins.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_lk-wKzYZAC&pg=PA49|title=The Novellino or One Hundred Ancient Tales: An Edition and Translation based on the 1525 Gualteruzzi editio princeps|first=Joseph P.|last=Consoli|date=4 July 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136511059|via=Google Books}}</ref> Conversely, the ''[[Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland]]'', which sympathizes with Mordred as usual in Scottish chronicle tradition, particularly attributes Merlin's supernatural evil influence on Arthur to its very negative portrayal of his rule.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Joanna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDooDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT134 |title=Premodern Scotland: Literature and Governance 1420-1587 |last2=Wingfield |first2=Emily |date=16 June 2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-109148-3 |access-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115212817/https://books.google.com/books?id=jDooDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT134 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the Second Continuation of ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]'', written around 1210, a young daughter of Merlin called the Lady of the High Peak of Mont Dolorous, appears to guide [[Perceval]] towards the Grail Castle.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nutt |first=Alfred |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42205/42205-h/42205-h.htm |title=Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail |date=13 February 2019 |publisher=The Folk-Lore Society |isbn=9783749406272 |access-date=1 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601232034/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42205/42205-h/42205-h.htm |archive-date=1 June 2023 |url-status=live |via=Project Gutenberg}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bryant |first1=Nigel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oWTwf8MZOb8C&pg=PA175 |title=The Legend of the Grail |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=2004 |isbn=9781843840060 |access-date=2023-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105054603/https://books.google.com/books?id=oWTwf8MZOb8C&pg=PA175 |archive-date=2023-11-05 |url-status=live}}</ref> Merlin's usually unspecified mother is sometimes called Adhan or Aldan, or Optima, as in Bauduin (Baudouin) Butor's 1294 romance known as either ''Les Fils du Roi Constant'' or ''Pandragus et Libanor''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uq8jEQAAQBAJ&pg=PT253|title=Out of the Mouths of Babes: Infant Voices in Medieval French Literature|first=Julie|last=Singer|date=March 10, 2025|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-83803-8 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Paolino Pieri's 14th-century Italian ''La Storia di Merlino'', which invents a new version of the story of Merlin's youth,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CpWNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|title=Merlin: A Casebook|first=Peter H.|last=Goodrich|date=June 24, 2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-58340-8 |via=Google Books}}</ref> names his mother as Marinaia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WaoqAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA213|title=The Arthurian Legend in Italian Literature|first=Edmund G.|last=Gardner|date=April 24, 1930|publisher=J.M. Dent & Sons Limited|via=Google Books}}</ref> [[Ulrich Füetrer]]'s 15th-century ''Buch der Abenteuer'', in the section based on [[Albrecht von Scharfenberg]]'s lost ''Merlin'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boyd |first=James |date=15 April 1936 |title=Ulrich Füetrer's Parzival: Material and Sources |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zRdZAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 |publisher=Society for the study of mediæval languages and literature |via=Google Books}}</ref> turns Merlin into father of Uter, effectively making Merlin's grandson Arthur a part-devil too. The eponymous redeemed half-demon Gowther is Merlin's half-brother in the 15th-century English poem ''[[Sir Gowther]]''.

[[File:Beguiling of Merlin.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lady of the Lake]] in ''[[The Beguiling of Merlin]]'' by [[Edward Burne-Jones]] (1874). The depicted episode in its various tellings became a major inspiration for [[Romanticism|Romantic]] authors and artists of the late 19th century.]]

In the prose chivalric romance tradition, Merlin has a major weakness: young beautiful women of ''[[femme fatale]]'' archetype.<ref name="ff2">{{Cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Barbara D. |year=2000 |title=The Spanish 'Viviens' of "El baladro del sabio Merlín" and "Benjamín Jarnés's Viviana y Merlín": From Femme Fatale to Femme Vitale |journal=Arthuriana |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=82–93 |doi=10.1353/art.2000.0035 |jstor=27869522 |s2cid=162352301}}</ref> This is what leads him to his doom by a Lady of the Lake. Besides her, Merlin's apprentice in chivalric romances is often King Arthur's half-sister, [[Morgan le Fay]], who is sometimes depicted as Merlin's lover<ref>{{cite web |url=http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/conlee-prose-merlin-arthur-and-gawain |title=Arthur and Gawain - Robbins Library Digital Projects |website=rochester.edu |access-date=1 May 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171119190904/https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/conlee-prose-merlin-arthur-and-gawain |archive-date=19 November 2017}}</ref> and sometimes as just his unrequited love interest.{{#tag:ref|As summarized by [[Anne Berthelot]], depending on the version of the narrative, "it may be that a lustful Merlin seduces an (almost) innocent Morgue [Morgan], thus pushing her to her ''déchéance'' (downfall). Or Morgue may appear as an ambitious and unscrupulous bitch ready to seduce an old tottering Merlin in order to gain the wisdom he alone can dispense."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Berthelot |first=Anne |date=2000 |title=Merlin and the Ladies of the Lake |journal=Arthuriana |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=55–81 |issn=1078-6279 |jstor=27869521}}</ref>|group="note"}} Contrary to many modern works in which they are archenemies, Merlin and Morgan are never opposed to each other in any medieval tradition, other than she forcibly rejecting him in some texts. Merlin's love for Morgan is so great that he even lies to the king to save her in the Huth ''Merlin'', which is the only instance of him ever intentionally misleading Arthur.<ref>Goodrich, ''Merlin: A Casebook'', p. 149–150.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Merlin also otherwise protects Morgan and continues to aid her when she requests help in some other texts. The ''Prophéties de Merlin'' tells of Morgan's reaction to the news of his entombment by the Lady of the Lake, saying she was "at the same time glad and sorry" and "sorry and worried, because if she were to have need of Merlin, she would be ruined for want of him."<ref name=ll/>|group="note"}} In the Venetian prose romance ''[Les] Prophéties de Merlin'', also known as the ''Prophécies de Merlin'' (c. 1274-79), he further tutors [[Sebile]], two other witch queens, and the Lady of the Isle of [[Avalon]] (Dama di Isola do Vallone). Other figures who learn sorcery from Merlin include the Wise Damsel in the Italian prose romance ''Historia di Merlino'',{{#tag:ref|The Italian [[Tristan]] tradition identifies the Wise Damsel (Savia Donzella / Savia Damigella) as the usually unnamed fairy enchantress who abducted Tristan's father [[Meliodas]] to be her lover. In some versions, including the ''[[Tavola Ritonda]]'', Merlin (Merlino) first appears as a knight to foretell the death of Meliodas' wife Eliabella, who will search for her husband without success while pregnant with Tristan. He then gathers and leads a group of the knights of the realm Leonis to the Wise Damsel's magically hidden and otherwise unaccessible tower or castle deep in the wilderness of the forest Dirlantes (the same Darnantes that Merlin sometimes meets his end) so they can kill her, which Merlin explicitly orders them to do, and free Meliodas. Years later, [[Tristan and Iseult]] will take refuge in her now abandoned but still enchanted castle while hiding from [[King Mark]].|group="note"}} and the male wizard [[Mabon ap Modron|Mabon]] in the Post-Vulgate ''Merlin Continuation'' and in the [[Prose Tristan|Prose ''Tristan'']]. While Merlin's apprentices gain or expand their magical powers through him, his prophetic powers cannot be passed on.