Merlin - Fiction Featuring Merlin

Fiction Featuring Merlin

Many parts of Arthurian fiction include Merlin as a character. Mark Twain made Merlin the villain in his 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. C. S. Lewis used the figure of Merlin Ambrosius in his 1946 novel That Hideous Strength, the third book in the Space Trilogy. Merlin is also portrayed in the T. A. Barron series The Lost Years of Merlin and The Great Tree of Avalon.

Merlin is well known in the series of "Harry Potter" as one of the greatest wizards of all time. According to the newly released website, Pottermore, Merlin was described with deeper biographical background. According to J.K. Rowling, Merlin was born sometime during the medieval era. During his formative years, he attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and was Sorted into Slytherin House. It's possible that he was taught by Salazar Slytherin himself, given the time period Merlin lived.

Merlin is a major character in T. H. White's collection The Once and Future King and the related The Book of Merlyn. Mary Stewart produced an influential quintet of Arthurian novels, with Merlin as the protagonist in the first three: The Crystal Cave (1970), The Hollow Hills (1973) and The Last Enchantment (1979). Merlin plays a modern-day villain in Roger Zelazny's short story "The Last Defender of Camelot" (1979), which won the 1980 Balrog Award for short fiction and was adapted into an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone in 1986. Kristine Jones explores Merlin's childhood in Merlin of Carmarthen. Merlin's Mirror, by Andre Norton, tells the story of the half-human, half-alien Merlin.

Merlin is an important figure in films and television programs, where he functions often as a teacher or mentor figure, a role that he shares with other wizard and wizard-like figures in popular texts, such as Gandalf the White. One of the best known of the film Merlins is the Merlin of the 1963 animated Disney film The Sword in the Stone, based on T. H. White's novel of the same name. In the 1967 episode Merlin, the Magician from the TV show The Time Tunnel, Merlin is portrayed by Christopher Cary. The character, played by Nicol Williamson, has a large role in the 1981 film Excalibur. Laurence Naismith appears as Merlyn in the film version of the musical play Camelot (based on T. H. White's The Once and Future King). In the 1998 miniseries Merlin, the protagonist Merlin (played by actor Sam Neill) battled the pagan goddess Queen Mab.

In 1981, the television series Mr. Merlin featured Merlin living undercover in modern-day San Francisco. In 2006 and 2007, the television series Stargate SG-1 used Merlin and Arthurian legend as major plot points. In 2005, Merlin appeared as leader of the Woads of Britton and father to Guinevere in King Arthur. Also in 2007, the film The Last Legion portrayed Merlin (initially called Ambrosinus) as a druid and tutor of both the last Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus Caesar, as well as of his son Arthur.

In 1985, Merlin was portrayed in the arcade game Gauntlet (arcade game). His role in the game series continued until Gauntlet 4 for the Sega Genesis.

In 2008, the BBC created a television series, also called Merlin, where Merlin is portrayed by Colin Morgan. Merlin was the protagonist of the 2008 fantasy film Merlin and the War of the Dragons. The Doctor Who episode Battlefield suggests that Arthurian legend in our world is influenced by actual events in a parallel world, and that the Doctor is himself Merlin.

In the 2010 film The Sorcerer's Apprentice, modern day New Yorker David Stutler, played by Jay Baruchel, discovers he is the last descendant of Merlin and is trained as a sorcerer by Balthazar Blake, portrayed by Nicolas Cage, a former student of the great wizard, so that he may ultimately do battle with Merlin's old nemesis Morganna, played by Alice Krige.

In the 2011 TV series Camelot, Merlin was played by Joseph Fiennes. Ashley Cowie, Scottish author, historian, and archaeologist, and his team search the U.K. for treasures said to have been hidden away by Merlin in the 5th episode of season 1's "Legend Quest".

A main belt asteroid is named Merlin in honour of the legendary wizard. Merlin is a character in the MMO role-playing games Wizard101 (under the alias of Merle Ambrose, a take on the name Merlin Ambrosius) and RuneScape. In the role-playing game Magic and Mayhem, Merlin is the game's final antagonist. The Disney version of Merlin appears in the ARPGs Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.