Merlin
Earth Culture of Origin
Celtic, Druid, Welsh, Scottish, British
Alternate Names / Spellings
Myrddin ab Morfryn, Myrddyn, Merlini, Emrys, Merlin Ambrosius, Druid Thomas, Thomas of Rymour, Merlin Anglicus, Myrddin Emrys (Welsh), Myrddin Wyllt (Merlin the wild), Merlin Caledonensis (Scottish Merlin), Merlinus, Merlyn
Earth Mythological References
There are many stories in the Arthurian legend about Merlin. In some, he is the son of a devil and a nun, thus giving him magical powers, including that of seeing into the future. Other stories say that Merlin was a warrior who went insane after a battle, gained the gift of prophecy, and spent the rest of his life in the Caledonian Forest in Scotland. The most popular versions of Arthurian legend portray Merlin as an aged magician who was also the tutor of King Arthur.
Merlin is said to have helped established the Round Table, and foresaw King Arthur's reign, the quest for the Holy Grail, and the destruction of Arthur's castle, Camelot. Merlin is also credited for creating Stonehenge.
It is also said that Merlin fell in love with the Lady of the Lake, who learns from him and then uses her magic to imprison him forever with an irreversible spell.
Stargate References
Vala Mal Doran brought a stolen tablet encoded with Ancient to the SGC for Daniel Jackson to decipher. After decoding and translating the tablet, Daniel said that it spoke of a great storehouse of treasure. Vala insisted that this treasure was on Earth. The location of this treasure wasn't specified in the tablet, but the man who carved the tablet signed it — Myrddin.
The Atlantis Expedition Team brought back information they obtained from the Ancient database stored in the great city-ship Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. The database included a list of names of those Ancient city-dwellers who returned to Earth 10,000 years ago to escape from the Wraith, a terrible enemy who had besieged the city for several years. Amazingly, Daniel found the same name in this list of names: Myrddin, whose other popular name is Merlin of Arthurian legend. This gave Daniel a clue as to where the treasure might be located. He followed some of the various versions of Arthurian legend to narrow down the search to the Tor of Glastonbury — the Isle of Avalon.
Using the Asgard sensors on the Prometheus, the SGC found that the Tor had underground caverns about half a mile down. Using the ring transporter, Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell, Daniel, Teal'c, and Vala beamed into the cavern and were soon thereafter faced with a sword in the stone and a holographic image of Merlin. The hologram gave his message, addressed to the Knights of the Round Table, telling them that they would have to prove they had truth of spirit and wealth of knowledge in order to obtain the treasures hidden in the underworld, the storehouse of riches of Ambrosius Aurelianus, the name attributed to King Arthur in some versions of Arthurian legend.
Daniel theorized that Merlin was an Ancient who was at an advanced evolutionary stage, but not yet ascended. He also theorized that Merlin helped the man known as King Arthur to ascend, based on the myths of Arthur which said that Arthur would return after his death in battle (the Once and Future King).
Episodes
Related Characters
Related Articles
- Ancients
- Ascended Beings
- Atlantis
- Atlantis Expedition Team
- Avalon
- Prometheus
- Ring Transporter
- Wraith
Further Reading
- Wikipedia: Merlin (wizard)
- Isle of Avalon: Arthurian Traditions in Glastonbury
- The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester
- Mystical-WWW - The Arthurian A 2 Z listing M
Actor
--DeeKayP 15:43, 18 Jul 2005 (PDT)