On King Arthur (again!) - Merlin

Yes, another post about King Arthur! HUZZAH!
I know that this is an easy way to do things because I'm writing similar things for class, but I find it kind of interesting - so I'm writing about Merlin today.

Right, so Merlin.  In the three accounts we have read so far - Geoffrey of Monmouth, Thomas Malory, and Lord Alfred Tennyson - Merlin has pretty much been Uther's wingman; his sole purpose seems to be to turn him into Gorlois (and, later, to whisk Arthur off to a humbler upbringing).  As far as we've gotten in Arthur's upbringing, that's Merlin's only relationship to Arthur.

Then we get to T. H. White's The Once and Future King.  If any of you have ever seen Disney's The Sword in the Stone, this is the same Merlin that shows up in the book (I'm pretty sure the movie is based on the first third of the book, in fact).  The Once and Future King is obviously more of a kid's book than the others - there's no mention of wingmen or sex of any level of consent - and the early pages focus more on Arthur's early life than the other works thus far. (this is probably because, again, it's a kid's book, and probably wants to relate to the target audience and everything).  Here, Merlin is Arthur's teacher, mentor, and the resident hooligan of the castle.  He's got powerful magic, turning Arthur into a fish and a hawk for various ordeals.  Outside of Uther's relationship with Ygerne, this is the first real mention of Merlin's magical abilities.

Merlin, in White's tale, gets a lot more description than in the earlier works; whatever classic Wizard trope you have in your head - that's what Merlin is in this book (also, look up The Sword in the Stone; they do a good job of animating him).  Interestingly, this is one of the only descriptions of the wizard we have - or any character, for that matter.  It shows a bit of the values for the time - White was writing a narrative story for kids in the 1930s, not a history of kings from a monastery in Wales in the 12th century, as Monmouth was.  White spends more time describing interests and places and things - the typical fare that you need to comprehend a novel.  Monmouth does the same, but focuses more on the battles than the people.  Merlin is more of a presence in T. H. White's novel as well - that could just be because Arthur hasn't properly pulled the sword out of the stone yet; maybe Merlin leaves after that.  I don't really know.

The third major thing that White added to Merlin's character is that he ages backwards.  As Merlin has only had a few lines of text among all three of the previous authors, it's a lot easier to expand on his character and his hobbies.  Here, White uses Merlin's backwards aging as a source for comedy and bringing in time-irrelevant things (Merlin tries to draw his pointed wizard hat from thin air, for example, and goes through several iterations, including a sailor's hat, before he gets it).  At the same time, there's so much potential for something darker - but, of course, remembering one's audience is important.  (Maybe White might go into that... but... we haven't gotten there yet).