Editing Merlin (section)

===Tales of Merlin's end===
{{See also|Lady of the Lake}}

{{multiple image
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| image1            = Merlin and Nimue by Edward Burne-Jones.jpg
| image2            = 315 The Romance of King Arthur.jpg
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| caption1          = Edward Burne-Jones' 1861 ''Merlin and Nimue'', the title using the Lady's name popularized by [[William Caxton|Caxton]]
| caption2          = [[Arthur Rackham]]'s illustration for ''Romance of King Arthur'' (1917) abridged from ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' by [[Alfred W. Pollard]]:<br><small>"How by her subtle working she made Merlin to go under the stone to let wit of the marvels there and she wrought so there for him that he came never out for all the craft he could do."</small>
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In the prose romance tradition, Merlin's eventual undoing comes from his lusting after another of his female students: the one often named Viviane, among various other names and spellings (including Malory's own Nyneve that his editor [[William Caxton]] changed to Nymue which in turn eventually became the now-popular Nimue). Her character and relation to Merlin have been added to the legend of Merlin in the prose continuations of de Boron Merlin, identifying her with the figure of [[Lancelot]]'s supernatural foster mother. She is also called a [[fairy]] (French ''fee'') like Morgan and described as a Lady of the Lake, or the "chief Lady of the Lake" in the case of Malory's Nimue. In the Arthurian prequel ''[[Perceforest]]'', the ancestry of both Merlin and the Lady of the Lake is descended from the ancient fairy Morgane (unrelated to Arthur's sister). Here, their bloodline had been cursed by Morgane out of false belief that her daughter was raped by a human (really her lover) so that a female descendant is destined to kill a male one.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_HwcwFTpbIsC&pg=PA1254|title=Le roman de Perceforest|first=Gilles|last=Roussineau|date=15 March 1987|publisher=Librairie Droz|isbn=9782600026116|via=Google Books|access-date=15 March 2023|archive-date=15 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315061717/https://books.google.com/books?id=_HwcwFTpbIsC&pg=PA1254|url-status=live}}</ref>

There are several different versions of their story. Common themes in most of them include Merlin actually having the prior prophetic knowledge of her plot against him (one exception is the Spanish Post-Vulgate ''Baladro'' where his foresight ability is explicitly dampened by sexual desire<ref name=ff>{{Cite journal |jstor = 27869522|title = The Spanish 'Viviens' of "El baladro del sabio Merlín" and "Benjamín Jarnés's Viviana y Merlín": From Femme Fatale to Femme Vitale|last1 = Miller|first1 = Barbara D.|journal = Arthuriana|year = 2000|volume = 10|issue = 1|pages = 82–93|doi = 10.1353/art.2000.0035|s2cid = 162352301}}</ref>) but lacking either ability or will to counteract it in any way, along with her using one of his own spells to get rid of him. Usually (including in ''Le Morte d'Arthur''), having learned everything she could from him, Viviane will then also replace the eliminated Merlin within the story, taking up his role as Arthur's adviser and court mage.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mangle |first=Josh |date=1 May 2018 |title=Echoes of Legend: Magic as the Bridge Between a Pagan Past and a Christian Future in Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur |url=https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/graduatetheses/84 |journal=Graduate Theses |access-date=15 May 2019 |archive-date=8 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208222656/https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/graduatetheses/84/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, Merlin's fate of either demise or eternal imprisonment, along with his destroyer or captor's motivation (from her fear of Merlin and protecting her own virginity, to her jealousy of his relationship with Morgan), is recounted differently in several variants of this motif. The exact form of his prison or grave can be also variably a cave, a tree, or hole either within or under a large rock (according to ''Le Morte d'Arthur'', this happens somewhere in Benwick, the kingdom of [[King Ban|Lancelot's father]]<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfyvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA175|title=George Eliot's Originals and Contemporaries: Essays in Victorian Literary History and Biography|first=Gordon S.|last=Haight|date=18 June 1992|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349126507|via=Google Books|access-date=15 March 2023|archive-date=15 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315073002/https://books.google.com/books?id=kfyvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA175|url-status=live}}</ref>), or an invisible tower made of magic with no physical walls.<ref name="loomis">Loomis, Roger Sherman (1927). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZcZkAAAAMAAJ Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance]''. Columbia University Press.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwiqxJbBqHIC&pg=PA383|title=Viator. Medieval and Renaissance Studies|author=University of California, Los Angeles|date=15 March 1970|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520031364|via=Google Books|access-date=15 March 2023|archive-date=15 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230315073003/https://books.google.com/books?id=WwiqxJbBqHIC&pg=PA383|url-status=live}}</ref> The scene is sometimes explicitly placed in the enchanted forest of [[Brocéliande]], a legendary location today identified with the real-life [[Paimpont forest]] in Brittany.<ref name="The enchanted wood">{{Cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/France/The-enchanted-wood/2005/03/25/1111692620456.html |title=The enchanted wood |date=26 March 2005 |website=Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |access-date=7 July 2018 |archive-date=11 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111215747/http://www.smh.com.au/news/France/The-enchanted-wood/2005/03/25/1111692620456.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A Breton tradition cited by [[Roger Sherman Loomis]] in ''Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance'' (where he also asserts that it "seems almost certain that Morgan le Fay and the Lady of the Lake were originally the same person" in the legend) has Merlin trapped by his mistress inside a tree on the [[Île de Sein]].

Niniane, as the Lady of the Lake student of Merlin is known in the ''Livre d'Artus'' continuation of ''Merlin'', is mentioned as having broken his heart before his later second relationship with Morgan, but here the text does not tell how exactly Merlin did vanish, other than relating his farewell meeting with Blaise. In the Vulgate ''Merlin'', she (aged just 12 at the time) makes Merlin sleep forever in a pit in the forest of Darnantes "and that is where he remained, for never again did anyone see or hear of him or have news to tell of him."<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTY44q6n0MgC&pg=PA21 |title=Lancelot-Grail: Lancelot, pt. I |last=Lacy |first=Norris J. |date=2010 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=978-1-84384-226-2 |language=en}}</ref> In the Post-Vulgate ''Suite de Merlin'', the young King [[Bagdemagus]] (one of the early [[Knights of the Round Table]]) manages to find the rock under which Merlin is entombed alive by Niviene, as she is named there.{{#tag:ref|In the Post-Vulgate ''Suite'', Viviane (Niviene) is introduced as a young teenage princess. She is about to depart from Arthur's court following her initial episode but, with some encouragement from Merlin, Arthur asks her to stay in his castle with the queen. During her stay, Merlin falls in love with her and desires her. Viviane, frightened that Merlin might take advantage of her with his spells, swears that she will never love him unless he swears to teach her all of his magic. Merlin consents, unaware that throughout the course of her lessons, Viviane will use Merlin's own powers against him, forcing him to do her bidding. When Viviane finally goes back to her country, Merlin escorts her. However, along the way, Merlin receives a vision that Arthur is in need of assistance. Viviane and Merlin rush back to Arthur's castle, but have to stop for the night in a stone chamber once inhabited by two lovers (a king's son Anasteu and a peasant woman in their forbidden affair). Merlin relates that when the lovers died, they were placed in a magic tomb within a room in the chamber. That night, while Merlin is asleep, Viviane, still disgusted with Merlin's desire for her, as well as his demonic heritage, casts a spell over him and places him in the magic tomb so that he can never escape, thus causing his slow death.|group="note"}} He communicates with Merlin, but is unable to lift the stone; what follows next is supposedly narrated in the mysterious text ''Conte del Brait'' (''Tale of the Cry'').{{#tag:ref|The ''Conte'' referred to in the story is an unknown, supposedly separate text that might have been just fictitious.<ref name=":0" /> However, the Spanish Post-Vulgate manuscript known as the ''Baladro del sabio Merlin'' (''The Shriek of the Sage Merlin''), does describe what happened next. Merlin informs Bagdemagus that only Tristan could have opened the iron door sealing the cave in which Merlin is trapped in, but Tristan is by that time still just a baby. Merlin than gives the story's eponymous great cry in a demonic voice, calling for his father to come and take him, and dies amidst a terrific supernatural event.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/romanceofgrailst00bogd |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/romanceofgrailst00bogd/page/54 54] |title=The Romance of the Grail: A Study of the Structure and Genesis of a Thirteenth-century Arthurian Prose Romance |last=Bogdanow |first=Fanni |date=1966 |publisher=Manchester University Press |language=en}}</ref>|group="note"}} In the ''Prophéties de Merlin'', his tomb is unsuccessfully searched for by various parties, including Morgan and her enchantresses, but the tomb cannot be accessed due to the deadly magic traps around it,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Larrington |first=Carolyne |title=The Enchantress, the Knight and the Cleric: Authorial Surrogates in Arthurian Romance' |chapter=The Enchantress, the Knight and the Cleric: Authorial Surrogates in Arthurian Romance |date=2008 |pages=43–66 |doi=10.1017/9781846156113.003 |isbn=978-1-84615-611-3 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/265037 |language=en |access-date=2018-07-03 |archive-date=2021-08-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813032158/https://www.academia.edu/265037 |url-status=live }}</ref> while the Lady of the Lake comes to taunt Merlin, asking if he has rotted yet.<ref name=":0" /> She only allows [[Tristan]]'s half-brother Meliadus the Younger (her lover, groomed by her from childhood) to access it and record his prophecies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bruce |first=Christopher W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZFbczeMtYcC&pg=PA353 |title=The Arthurian Name Dictionary |date=1999 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-8153-2865-0 |language=en}}</ref> One notably alternate version that has a happier ending for Merlin is the ''Premiers Faits'' section of the ''Livre du Graal'', where Niniane peacefully confines him in Brocéliande with walls of air, visible only as a mist to others but as a beautiful yet unbreakable crystal tower to him (only Merlin's disembodied voice can escape his prison one last time when he speaks to [[Gawain]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6hBCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 |title=Transforming Tales: Rewriting Metamorphosis in Medieval French Literature |last=Griffin |first=Miranda |year=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-968698-8 |language=en}}</ref> on the knight's quest to find him), where they then spend almost every night together as lovers.<ref>Goodrich, ''Merlin: A Casebook'', p. 168.</ref> Besides evoking the final scenes from ''Vita Merlini'', this particular variant of their story also mirrors a certain episode type found in romances in two versions. There, depending on the variant, Merlin can be object of one-sided desire by a different amorous sorceress who (unsuccessfully) plots to trap him, or it is him who does trap an unwilling lover with his magic.{{#tag:ref|In the Italian romance ''Tavola Ritonda'', a fairy enchantress named Escorducarla, the mother of the evil [[Annowre|Elergia]], falls in love with Merlin and plans to trap him for herself in her purpose-built Palace of Great Desire, but Merlin foils this plot and banishes her to Avalon. Conversely, Gaucher de Dourdan's continuation of ''[[Perceval, the Story of the Grail]]'' has Merlin magically abducting a maiden who did not want to love him and then building a house for them to live in together.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/studiesinfairym00patogoog|title=Studies in the fairy mythology of Arthurian romance|first=Lucy Allen|last=Paton|date=9 November 1903|publisher=Boston, Ginn & Co.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>|group="note"}}

[[File:Bradamante at Merlin's Tomb by Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard, High Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|upright|''Bradamante at Merlin's Tomb'' by [[Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard]] (1820)]]

Unrelated to the legend of the Lady of the Lake, other purported sites of Merlin's burial include a cave deep inside Merlin's Hill ({{langx|cy|Bryn Myrddin}}), outside Carmarthen. Carmarthen is also associated with Merlin more generally, including through the 13th-century manuscript known as the ''[[Black Book of Carmarthen|Black Book]]'' and the local lore of [[Merlin's Oak]]. In [[North Wales|North Welsh]] tradition, Merlin retires to [[Bardsey Island]] ({{langx|cy|Ynys Enlli|links=no}}), where he lives in a house of glass ({{langx|cy|Tŷ Gwydr|links=no}}) with the [[Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain]] ({{langx|cy|Tri Thlws ar Ddeg Ynys Prydain|links=no}}).<ref name=ashe08>{{cite book |last1=Ashe |first1=Geoffrey |title=Merlin, the Prophet and his History |date=2008 |publisher=Sutton |isbn=978-0-7509-4149-5}}</ref>{{rp|200}} One site of his tomb is said to be [[Marlborough Mound]] in [[Wiltshire]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Merlin's Mount, Marlborough, Wiltshire |url=https://megalithix.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/merlins-mount/ |website=The Northern Antiquarian |date=10 June 2010 |access-date=1 March 2020 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301153138/https://megalithix.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/merlins-mount/ |url-status=live }}</ref> known in medieval times as ''Merlebergia'' (the Abbot of [[Cirencester Abbey|Cirencester]] wrote in 1215: "Merlin's tumulus gave you your name, Merlebergia"<ref name=ashe08/>{{rp|93}}).

Another site associated with Merlin's burial, in his 'Merlin Silvestris' aspect, is the confluence of the Pausalyl Burn and [[River Tweed]] in [[Drumelzier]], Scotland. The 15th-century ''[[Scotichronicon]]'' tells that Merlin himself underwent a [[Threefold death|triple-death]], at the hands of some shepherds of the under-king [[Meldred]]: stoned and beaten by the shepherds, he falls over a cliff and is impaled on a stake, his head falls forward into the water, and he drowns.{{#tag:ref|Merlin is credited with predicting this: "Today I will perish, overwhelmed by stones and cudgels. / Today by body will be pierced through by a sharp stake / of wood, and so my life will expire. / Today I shall end my present life engulfed in the waves."<ref name=dames/>{{rp|67}}|group="note"}} The fulfillment of another prophecy, ascribed to [[Thomas the Rhymer]], came about when a spate of the Tweed and Pausayl occurred during the reign of the Scottish James VI and I on the English throne: "When Tweed and Pausayl meet at Merlin's grave, / Scotland and England one king shall have."<ref name=dames/>{{rp|62}}