Interesting tidbit about Merlin the Magician or sorcerer or, you know, whatever: he was not actually a part of the original legends and tales of King Arthur. Another nugget of interest: it was not Thomas Malory who introduced Merlin into the realm. In fact, Merlin precedes Malory by a few centuries. No, credit for the introduction of the guy who is probably second only to Arthur himself in terms of recognition of the goings-on inside Camelot traces back to the very same historian responsible for the background information which Shakespeare used to create his famous history cycle of plays about British kings named Henry and their various usurpers and usurpees.
Geoffrey of Monmouth produces Prophecies of Merlin in 1134. Malory’s Morte d’Arthur cemented the legend of Merlin for all time in 1485. Over the ensuing centuries, countless poets, dramatists, novelists and screenwriters continued to build on the legacy set in motion by Geoffrey. Care to hazard a guess at how long it took for the first book-length story of Merlin’s life told in the first person by the magician to join that long list of additions?
The publication of Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave in 1970 represents an epochal event in the legend of King Arthur up there with Morte d’Arthur and The Sword in the Stone. Almost inexplicably, no writer had ever either tried or been successful in in the producing a “history” of Merlin as told through his own unique perspective. Stewart goes even further by refashioning Merlin from a purely supernatural figure into a human named Myrddin Emrys who acquires skills in magic the natural way: he learns them.
The Crystal Cave is just the first entry in what would become the author’s most famous work, collectively known as the “Merlin Trilogy.” Merlin looks back on his life and tells the story of his childhood up to the birth of Arthur. It is only in the sequel, The Hollow Hills, that the more familiar legends of Merlin begin working their way into the narrative.
What is most interesting about having Merlin tell his own story—in the hands of Stewart, any rate—is an element that is organically inherent in the Arthurian legend, but often sorely missing from the way it’s told. By any standard account of time and space, Merlin should be one of the most irony-laced characters in literature since he already knows what’s coming and do nothing to stop it. And yet, too often this irony is not fully developed. Stewart offers an interesting take on this irony and applies it quite well. By having Merlin tell his story, he is actually telling the story of others because of his special powers of foreknowledge. But this power of knowing events that are to come is tempered by ignorance of the actions which stimulate those events. In other words, Merlin has a grasp on the effect, but can only guess at the cause. The inherent irony within that gap is really the place where Stewart’s reinterpretation of Merlin takes on its fullest impact and creativity.
