Editing Merlin (section)

== Modern culture ==
{{Further|Fiction featuring Merlin|Merlin in comics}}

Merlin and stories involving him have continued to be popular from the [[Renaissance]] to the present day, especially since the renewed interest in the legend of Arthur in modern times. During the [[French Renaissance]], Merlin would continue to be uniquely appealing figure of theater and ballet even after the interest in Arthur himself had already waned.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf6zAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA163 | title=The New Arthurian Encyclopedia: New edition | isbn=978-1-136-60633-5 | last1=Lacy | first1=Norris J. | last2=Ashe | first2=Geoffrey | last3=Ihle | first3=Sandra Ness | last4=Kalinke | first4=Marianne E. | last5=Thompson | first5=Raymond H. | date=5 September 2013 | publisher=Routledge }}</ref> Since the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] period, Merlin has been typically depicted as a [[wise old man]] with a long white beard, creating a modern wizard archetype reflected in many fantasy characters,<ref>[https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/magic-merlin-wizard-camelota]{{dead link|date=November 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> such as [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s [[Gandalf]]<ref name=ab/> or [[J. K. Rowling]]'s [[Albus Dumbledore|Dumbledore]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Walton |first=Kathryn  |date=4 October 2020 |title=The story of Merlin and the Demons who made him |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2020/10/merlin-demons/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923233553/https://www.medievalists.net/2020/10/merlin-demons/ |archive-date=23 September 2023 |access-date=7 July 2023 |website=Medievalists.net}}</ref> who also use some of his other traits. As noted by Arthurian scholar Alan Lupack, "numerous novels, poems and plays center around Merlin. In American literature and popular culture, Merlin is perhaps the most frequently portrayed Arthurian character."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/theme/merlin |title=Merlin {{!}} Robbins Library Digital Projects |website=d.lib.rochester.edu |access-date=4 July 2019 |archive-date=4 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704094614/https://d.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/theme/merlin |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to [[Stephen Thomas Knight]], Merlin embodies a conflict between knowledge and power: beginning as a symbol of wisdom in the first Welsh stories, he became an advisor to kings in the Middle Ages, and eventually a mentor and teacher to Arthur and others in the works around the world since the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DyZzDwAAQBAJ |title=Merlin: Knowledge and Power through the Ages - Stephen Knight - Google Books |format= |date=18 October 2018 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9781501732928 |accessdate=5 June 2023}}</ref> While some modern authors write about Merlin positively through an explicitly Christian world-view,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/27869422|title='A land shining with goodness': Magic and Religion in Stephen R. Lawhead's "Taliesin, Merlin, and Arthur"|author=Doherty, John J.|year=1999|journal=Arthuriana|volume=9|issue=1|pages=57–66|doi=10.1353/art.1999.0063|jstor=27869422|s2cid=161452366|access-date=2023-06-08|archive-date=2023-06-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605121324/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27869422|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> some [[New Age]] movements instead see Merlin as a druid who accesses all the mysteries of the world.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43308138|title=The New Age Mage: Merlin as Contemporary Occult Icon|author=Goodrich, Peter|year=1992|journal=Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts|volume=5|issue=1 (17)|pages=42–73|jstor=43308138|access-date=2023-06-02|archive-date=2023-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602233619/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43308138|url-status=live}}</ref> For instance, Merlin appears in the teachings of the Montana-based New Age religious-survivalist group [[Church Universal and Triumphant]] as one of their "[[Ascended master|ascended masters]]".<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1v0BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 | title=Millennium Rage: Survivalists, White Supremacists, and the Doomsday Prophecy | isbn=978-1-4899-6076-4 | last1=Lamy | first1=P. | date=11 November 2013 | publisher=Springer }}</ref> Francophone artistic productions since the end of the 20th century have tended to avoid the Christian aspects of the character in favor of the pagan aspects and the ''tradition sylvestre'' (attributing positive values to one's links to forest and wild animals), thus "dechristianizing" Merlin to present him as a champion for the idea of return to nature.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Gaëlle Zussa, Merlin. Rémanences contemporaines d'un personnage littéraire médiéval dans la production culturelle francophone (fin xxe siècle et début xxie siècle) : origines et pouvoirs|first=Gaëlle|last=Zussa|date=1 June 2009|journal=Perspectives médiévales. Revue d'épistémologie des langues et littératures du Moyen Âge|volume=33 |issue=33|doi=10.4000/peme.2803|doi-access=free}}</ref> Diverging from his traditional role in medieval romances, Merlin is also sometimes portrayed as a villain.<ref name=":1" /> As Peter H. Goodrich wrote in ''Merlin: A Casebook'':

{{quote|Merlin's primary characteristics continue to be recalled, refined, and expanded today, continually encompassing new ideas and technologies as well as old ones. The ability of this complex figure to endure for more than fourteen centuries results not only from his manifold roles and their imaginative appeal, but also from significant, often irresolvable tensions or polarities [...] between beast and human (Wild Man), natural and supernatural (Wonder Child), physical and metaphysical (Poet), secular and sacred (Prophet), active and passive (Counselor), magic and science (Wizard), and male and female (Lover). Interwoven with these primary tensions are additional polarities that apply to all of Merlin's roles, such as those between madness and sanity, pagan and Christian, demonic and heavenly, mortality and immortality, and impotency and potency.<ref name=phg/>}}

[[File:Stamp British Honduras 1948 5c.jpg|thumb|[[HMS Merlin (1796)|HMS ''Merlin'' (1796)]] on a 1948 stamp]]

Things named in honour of the legendary figure include asteroid [[2598 Merlin]], the British company [[Merlin Entertainments]], the handheld console [[Merlin (console)|Merlin]], the literary magazine ''[[Merlin (literary magazine)|Merlin]]'', the metal band [[Merlin (metal band)|Merlin]], and more than a dozen different British warships each called [[HMS Merlin|HMS ''Merlin'']]. He was one of eight British magical figures who were commemorated on a [[United Kingdom commemorative stamps 2010–2019#2011|series of UK postage stamps]] issued by the [[Royal Mail]] in 2011,<ref>{{cite news |title=Gallery: Royal Mail: Stamps from magical realms |url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2011/mar/09/royal-mail-stamps-magical-realms |access-date=22 September 2022 |newspaper=The Guardian |archive-date=11 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011172947/https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2011/mar/09/royal-mail-stamps-magical-realms |url-status=live }}</ref> and one of the three Arthurian figures (along with Arthur and Morgan) commemorated on the gold and silver British pound coins issued by the [[Royal Mint]] in 2023.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.coinupdate.com/united-kingdom-last-gold-and-silver-proof-coins-in-mythical-legends-series-concludes-with-sorceress-morgan-le-fay | title=United Kingdom: Last gold and silver Proof coins in "Mythical Legends" series concludes with sorceress Morgan le Fay &#124; Coin Update | access-date=2023-09-27 | archive-date=2023-09-27 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927234248/https://news.coinupdate.com/united-kingdom-last-gold-and-silver-proof-coins-in-mythical-legends-series-concludes-with-sorceress-morgan-le-fay/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> ''[[Merlinia]]'', the [[Ordovician]] [[trilobite]], is also named after Merlin; the name is given in memory of a Welsh legend in which the broken tail parts of trilobites were identified as butterflies turned to stone by Merlin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/fossils-and-geological-time/trilobites/|title=Trilobites|access-date=2023-10-22|archive-date=2023-12-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221105304/https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/fossils-and-geological-time/trilobites/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-trilobites-conquered-prehistoric-oceans.html|title=How trilobites conquered prehistoric oceans|website=[[Natural History Museum, London|National History Museum]] cite|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013205713/https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-trilobites-conquered-prehistoric-oceans.html|archive-date=13 October 2023|url-status=live}}</ref>

Contrary to a popular belief among the [[Royal Air Force]] pilots and general society at the time (and also later), the [[Rolls-Royce Merlin|Merlin engine]] that powered several British aircraft during the Second World War (including the famous [[Supermarine Spitfire|Spitfire fighter]] that helped to win the [[Battle of Britain]]) was not named after the Arthurian legend figure, but after [[Merlin (bird)|the bird]], as dictated by the [[Rolls-Royce]] company naming policy. That coincidence nevertheless had a positive effect on British war morale.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5825EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT25|title=R. J. Mitchell: To the Spitfire|first=John|last=Shelton|date=April 16, 2023|publisher=Fonthill Media|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oheeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA30|title=Spitfire: The Autobiography|first=Jon E.|last=Lewis|date=February 7, 2013|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-1-4721-0782-4 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PImDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT281|title=The Spitfire: An Icon of the Skies|first=Philip|last=Kaplan|date=July 31, 2017|publisher=Casemate Publishers|isbn=978-1-4738-9854-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e9EcEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT91|title=The Spitfire Smiths: A Unique Story of Brothers in Arms|first1=Rod|last1=Smith|first2=Christopher|last2=Shores|date=September 22, 2008|publisher=Casemate Publishers|isbn=978-1-908117-55-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

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