The Death of Merlin...and Why the Wizard Didn't Stop It! - European Arthurian - Extra Mythology

There have been countless tellings of the story of King Arthur and Merlin BUT why would this all-powerful magical guy submit to his own death?

*Thanks for participating in this week's discussion!*

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[Revenante_of_Asylum]

And here we have Merlin helpfully demonstrating the finer differences between Intelligence and Wisdom.

[Dan_Ben_Michael]

For all we know Merlin is still chilling in the cave, casting spells to get food and water, and pimped out the cave and surrounded by a harem. He just can’t escape. Seeing as the spell cast by Nimue is unbreakable nobody can be truly sure that Merlin is dead in there yet.

[mikotagayuna]

Not only was Merlin sired by a demon, it was an incubus. That would explain a lot why someone as wise as him wouldn't be able to overcome his lusty nature.

[paullenoue]

I always wondered if Merlin chose the dishonorable death because he saw what would happen if he avoided it and lived longer, which somehow was much worse.

[Leivve]

In Le Morte Dr Arthur, one of the Knights finds Merlin and offers to help move the boulder out of the way, but Merlin waves him off saying it's suppose to be this way.

[thesephiam]

So what is the lesson to be learned from this?

Is it that even the wisest and most power men will do stupid things for a chance at love?

Are we meant to feel sorry for Merlin? Or laugh?

Or was it that merlin realized that he needed to train a replacement and the cave was her test?

[blueeaglegaming]

"I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith" -R.A. Salvatore

[Jlragent]

How do you miss the obvious answer to not pursue this woman? He told Arthur, "Genevieve would lead to his downfall. But if the heart made up its mind, then his mind wouldn't listen to reason." Same thing with Merlin.

[PIRATEA]

Merlin sacrifices his whole life just to have a taste of affection. Super tragic.

Yes, I know they framed him as a creepy stalker in the episode but as they usually say: "a good story has many interpretations, and this is just one."

[CaedenV]

I always thought part of Merlin's whole stichk was that he knew the future because he experienced life backwards. So his whole life in a world with limited writing and history trying to figure out how he ended up in the situations that he previously experienced in the future.

[Daemonworks]

Arthurian legendry is one hell of a rabbit hole to fall down. Like nearly everything one encounters today comes from two or three specific versions, with Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur dominating, and maybe some Green Knight but there's so very, very much more.

Other versions of his origins include, often mixed: being the son of an incubus or other minor demon, having had no father at all, a perfectly human bard deeply traumatized by war, being a forest hermit or wildman. In some versions he's the child of satan, and was supposed to be the antichrist, but that was averted by a timely baptism and divine blessing granting him both infernal and divine powers.
Stories of his end also vary wildy, especially if you're looking at both the earlier and later versions, especially if you compare older versions. He's also known to have retired, gotten married, moved into a large house and taken up stargazing.

Another random favourite variation, less related to Merlin, is that it's the scabbard, not the sword that was the real treasure.

[jesseyancy]

The earliest accounts of merlin that mention his death Ive personally read basically just say "yea merlin is under a Mountain somewhere waiting till Briton is in peril. Ok now let's talk about how much we miss Arthur"

[Rehteal]

My guess on it all is that this was his way of naming a successor, in a Sith-like way. If he could see all of this coming, then surely the end result would be something he desired, and what would the end result be besides a young, new wizard in the world to take his place?

[AtariEric]

Do we _know_ Merlin taught her _unbreakable_ spells? Do we _know_ Merlin died in that cave - or, perhaps, did he simply change shape, leave, and go somewhere else?

[BeratLjumani]

I mean he kinda explained it when mentioning Arthur and Guinevere. Arthur’s heart knew what it wanted so his brain wouldn’t listen, so it’s safe to assume that Merlin fell to the same infatuation.

He knew this was kill him but his heart loved her more than common sense loved his life.

[freddypowell]

Even here there are obviously different tellings, because the version I read had merlin put to sleep in preparation for future events (I think Arthur's return). Although maybe the Roger Lancelyn Green version was bowdlerised in that respect. Another difference seems to be that in your telling Nimue seems to be someone totally separate from the lady of the lake.

[scrollcaps]

Knowing Merlin, he f*cked around and found out what he already knew was going to happen.

[thatunknown_altguy]

5:40 i just love the toh reference man

[Thieme]

I loved the Sword in the Stone reference at 7:00 :D