Merlin the Wizard, Merlin the Sorcerer, and Merlin the Magician - are just some of the titles given to the prophet in the Legend of Merlin. Medieval writers, poets and Chroniclers used his character in their works and the stories of the "Knights of the Round Table" and the legends and myths about Merlin play an important role in the History of the Britons. He was surrounded with magic and mystery and until a certain point people did not question his existence, although there is no historical evidence to prove it.

The man who invented Merlin the Wizard was a Welsh cleric called Geoffrey of Monmouth. In 1136 Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote a book called Historia Regum Britanniae - the History of the King's of Britain, in which the figure of Marlin is based on a mixture of previous historical and legendary figures. Geoffrey created the main framework of Arthurian legend and the figure of Arthur as a semi-historical British king. All three of his surviving works are written in Latin: "Prophecies of Merlin", Historia Regum Britanniae and "Life of Merlin".

The Arthurian legends were based on the books written by the clerics and poets of the medieval era or the Middles Ages - legends about the King Arthur and the mystical magical and prophetic world of Merlin the Wizard – and were used by Kings of England to authenticate their claims to both the Welsh and English thrones.

But it is from the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth that the character of Merlin the Wizard first arises and although Geoffrey based his own work on earlier sources, he is the true visionary of Merlin and all that he could become.
Geoffrey's version of Merlin's character was immediately popular, and later writers, like Boron, expanded the description to produce a fuller image of the Merlin the Wizard.

There were many magical legends surrounding Merlin. He appeared as an old, wise man, giving his wisdom to four successive British kings. He was reputed to be a mystical Druid - a Celtic priest, a man who possessed the knowledge and secrets of the ancients and the mystical advisor to King Arthur at Camelot. In the earliest tales of Merlin, described in the medieval Welsh poems, he is Myrddin Wyllt (Myrddin the Wild). After going mad in battle Myrddin ran off to live in the Caledonian forest and became a wild man that learned to talk to the animals, revealing the magic of nature. Even so his madness has also given him the gift of prophecy, and he was known as a wild prophet.
Myrddin's character itself was based on earlier Scottish stories of Lailoken, who became Myrddin in the Welsh tales.

Merlin's apocalyptic prophecies in Geoffrey's books claim to see far into the future and foretell the fate of Britain. They were so widely popular in Geoffrey's day that new prophecies attributed to Merlin the Wizard continued to be written until the 17th century.

Merlin enters the Geoffrey's "Historia" as a boy living at the time of King Vortigern. Vortigern is trying to build a tower but can not stable it. Summoning his magicians they inform him that in order for the tower to stand he must sacrifice the blood of a boy with no father. That boy, it turns out, is Merlin. Merlin's powers of prophecy, which are attributed to his demonic parentage, are first mentioned at this point: He was born to a Welsh princess and a demon - an evil spirit that visited his mother in the night. Vortigern informs the boy he is to be sacrificed. Merlin explains that the tower can not stand because it was built upon a pond, and below the pond is a cave with two dragons that symbolize the Britons and the Saxons and predict the future of Britain, the fall of Vortigern and the ultimate rise of Arthur. Merlin's following prophecies are described in Geoffrey's "Prophetiae Merlini".

The Historia also tells of Merlin's construction of Stonehenge (known to Geoffrey as the Giant's Circle or Giant's Ring), his association with Uther Pendragon and his role in Uther's seduction of the lady Igraine through magic and deceit leading to the conception of Arthur.

Several years after the publication of the Historia Geoffrey returned to the character of Merlin the Wizard, having found further information on his life. This is the basis of his "Vita Merlini", a tale which seems to tell a very different story than that of the Historia. Other authors have speculated that Geoffrey was in fact writing about two different Merlins: Myrddin Emrys, the wizard of the time of Vortigern and Uther Pendragon and Merlin Caledonensis, the wild man of the Caledonian Forests.

It was Robert de Boron, a French poet of the late 12th and early 13th centuries, who brought in some of the most important elements in the story of Merlin the Wizard. Boron's Merlin comes from the world of Christianity- an element that did not exist in Geoffrey's Merlin tales. Boron also takes the story of Merlin's demonic origin a step further, claiming him the son of the Devil and a nun (rather than Geoffrey's Welsh princess), conceived to be an anti-Christ. His evil nature disappears with his baptism and he is left with magical and prophetic powers.

The motifs of Merlin's that first appear in Boron's work are the sword in the stone, Merlin's ability to change into different animals, Merlin being the builder of the Round Table and the story of Merlin's seduction by Niniane (Lady of the Lake) and trapping in an oak tree.

Merlin is undoubtedly a key figure in the tradition of western fantasy literature. He embodies the qualities of a "pure" wizard: prophet and sage, magician and sorcerer, advisor and puppet master and a "wild man", attached to the magic of nature. Besides his critical role in the Arthurian tales he is a figure of power in his own right, and shall always remain prominent in the world of fantasy literature.



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