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|name = Merlin
  
|name = Merlin
 
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|status = Deceased
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|species = Human<br>Tree ''(formerly)''
  
|species = Human<br>Tree ''(formerly)''
 
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|gender = Male

Revision as of 20:47, 24 November 2015

This page is move protected The subject of this article is involved with the Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is or relates to a character The subject of this article is male The subject of this article is involved with Camelot The subject of this article is involved with the Enchanted Forest The subject of this article is involved with the Land Without Magic The subject of this article is magical or capable of using magic The subject of this article is featured in Season Four of Once Upon a Time The subject of this article is featured in Season Five of Once Upon a Time


Not all wizards have long, white beards.

—Merlin to Nimue src

Merlin, better known as the Sorcerer and also known as the Usher, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the nineteenth episode of the fourth season. He is voiced by co-star Jonathan Adams in Season Four, and is portrayed by guest star Elliot Knight in Season Five.

Merlin is based on the character of the same name from the Arthurian Legend and the Disney film, "The Sword in the Stone", and on the Sorcerer from the poem, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".

History

Before First Curse

At some point in his life, Merlin becomes a foot soldier in an unknown army. However, he flees into the nearby desert with Adda, a fellow soldier. Exhausted and thirsty, Merlin and his companion come across a Holy Grail filled with water. His friend, attempting to drink from it, is turned into ash. With only two options, succumbing to death by thirst or by the grail's power, Merlin drops to his knees and asks for permission from the gods to drink from the cup. He then takes a sip from the grail, finding himself still alive, as he gains magic and immortality. With his new found magic, he accidentally turns the desert into a grasslands. ("Nimue")

Five hundred years later, an immortal Merlin has gained a reputation as a healer and takes a young boy as his apprentice. At some point during or after this, Merlin creates a box, which contains a hat that can absorb and accumulate magic. As a safeguard, the hat is also protected by an enchantment so that only someone who has not succumbed to the darkness in their heart can open it. ("The Apprentice", "Nimue")

Often, when people come to him seeking help, Merlin already knows what they desire, in part because of his ability to see the future. However, when he meets Nimue, he is unable to discern her reason for needing his help. She explains having fled her village from Vortigan, who killed everyone there. Nimue wants revenge by planting the seeds of the middlemist flowers, which grew in her village. After she scatters the seeds, Nimue makes plans to return in spring to see if the flowers have taken root, but Merlin uses magic to make the flowers bloom instantly. The two mutually fall in love, and after they have been together for a time, Merlin considers marrying her, but he worries his immortality will be a problem because she will eventually age and die while he will remain young forever. After revealing this to her, he details his plan to use the first spark of mankind's original fire to mold the Holy Grail into a sword as way to get rid of his magic and immortality. With Nimue carrying the grail in a bag, she and Merlin head to the site of the flame, but on the way there, they stop by her ruined village. There, without Merlin's notice, she drinks from the grail, hoping to be immortal so she will never have to part from him. She once again begs him to destroy Vortigan, but he declines because using magic to kill someone is giving into darkness. Once Merlin creates the sword, she alerts him to Vortigan's presence. Vortigan, attempting to make Merlin forfeit the sword to him, holds Nimue hostage. She breaks free and tries to kill Vortigan, but he fatally stabs her instead. After she seemingly dies in his arms, Merlin confronts Vortigan, whose heart is unexpectedly ripped out by Nimue. Only then, she tells Merlin what she did, while he begs her not to crush the heart, as doing so will make her dark. Unable to shake her grudge, she pulverizes Vortigan's heart to ash, triggering a monstrous change in her physical appearance. Fearing Merlin will try to take her power, Nimue smashes the sword, severing the tip from the blade, and steals the last spark ember. ("Nimue")

In time, Merlin fashions the remaining sword tip into a dagger, tethering it to Nimue, who becomes known as the first Dark One, in order to protect the realm from her. For whoever possesses the dagger, the Dark One will be forced to obey the person's commands. As for the broken sword, Merlin puts it in a stone. ("Nimue")

At one point, Merlin tries to get rid of Nimue for good by summoning her with the dagger. While she heeds his call, Nimue magically flits back and forth, until Merlin orders her to stop, prompting her to materialize right in front of him. He attempts to stab her with the dagger, but cannot bring himself to do it and drops the dagger. As he is lost in grief over losing her to the darkness, Nimue picks up the dagger, allowing one of Merlin's tears to drip onto it, causing the sorcerer to turn into a tree. ("Dreamcatcher")

For eons, Merlin and his Apprentice have chosen a person, whether male or female, to become an Author, whose sole responsibility is to witness and record stories in a magical storybook. ("Best Laid Plans")

As the Dark One powers pass down from one person to the next, every Dark One tries and fails to harness Merlin's hat, in the hopes of to retain their magic while also gaining freedom from the dagger. In Merlin's absence, the Apprentice guards the hat, successfully stopping the most recent Dark One, Zoso, from stealing the relic. ("The Apprentice")

While still trapped in tree form, Merlin gives a young boy named Arthur a prophecy, telling him that he will be king of Camelot one day, after pulling the sword Excalibur from its stone. Years later, Arthur fulfills the prophecy by freeing Excalibur, however, he discovers the blade tip is missing and keeps it a secret from the kingdom's people. ("The Dark Swan", "The Broken Kingdom")

Years later, Apprentice retires to a cottage, continuing to protect Merlin's hat, by hiding it in his basement. The current Dark One, Rumplestiltskin, poisons the Apprentice to transfigure him into a mouse. Before the man turns, Rumplestiltskin manipulates a girl, Anna, by making her believe he wants her to kill the Apprentice with a tonic. Due to her pure heart, she cannot do it, and is further coerced into killing Rumplestiltskin. Pushed to her breaking point, Anna stops herself before she can act on her dark wish. As she sheds tears in frustration, Rumplestiltskin collects one of them and uses it to retrieve the hat. Later, he is outsmarted by Anna, who leaves for home with the hat, and then Ingrid takes the item for herself. On her terms, Ingrid promises the Apprentice that she will return the hat only if the Sorcerer helps locate someone. Presumably, the Sorcerer learns of this from the Apprentice, who reappears to Ingrid and fulfills her asking price for retrieval of the hat. ("The Apprentice", "Smash the Mirror")

The Apprentice speaks with the Sorcerer having banished the current Author, Isaac, into the book after he made him harm Maleficent's child. The Sorcerer, however, cannot undo what has already been done and remarks that the fate of the child, along with the fate of Snow White and Prince Charming's child, are bound together as they always have been. ("Best Laid Plans", "Lily")

During First Curse
Merlin conspires a prophecy that speaks of Emma pulling Excalibur from its stone. In 1989, he appears, dressed as an usher, in the Land Without Magic to warn a six-year old Emma to never do "it", even if it's for the right reasons, because bad things will happen. Merlin cautions her, stating that one day she will have the chance to pull out the sword from the stone, but he advises her not to. Once he gives her the message, he disappears. ("The Dark Swan")

During Second Curse
When the second curse is cast, Merlin's mansion manifests in Storybrooke. Inside, the house contains his hat, a hidden door portal to Arendelle and a secret room containing blank storybooks. ("A Curious Thing," "A Tale of Two Sisters," "Heroes and Villains")

After Second Curse

In Merlin's mansion, Mr. Gold discovers the hat and begins using it to free himself from the dagger. Amassing power in the hat, he traps the Apprentice as well as the nuns, before his plans are halted by his banishment out of Storybrooke. Finding the mansion's secret room, Henry leads Emma and Regina there to show them the blank storybooks. This causes Regina to mistakenly believe the Author is the sorcerer, although Mother Superior later clarifies they are two different people and that the sorcerer has not been seen for a very long time. ("A Tale of Two Sisters," "Heroes and Villains," "Darkness on the Edge of Town")

After the Apprentice's failed attempt to trap the Darkness from the current Dark One, he tells Emma about the Darkness' history with the sorcerer, Merlin, who they must find in order to contain it. ("Operation Mongoose Part 2")

Template:During Camelot Quest Template:After Camelot Quest

Trivia

Etymology

  • The name "Merlin" is of Welsh origin and is derived from the name "Myrddin", meaning "sea fortress".[1]

Character Notes

  • According to Rumplestiltskin, he is thousands of years old. However, that is an exaggeration, as Merlin has been immortal for a thousand of years at most. ("The Apprentice", "Nimue")

Production Notes

  • The casting call describes him as "an African American in his early 30s to early 40s and boasting a natural British accent to play a man with great wisdom and intelligence beyond his years, someone who has always put duty in front of his own desires, even at great personal cost".[2]
  • According to Adam Horowitz, the idea of exploring Merlin has been cogitated since 2013, just not immediately.[3]
  • Elliot Knight's interpretation of the character is inspired by Sam Neill's portrayal of Merlin in the 1998 television miniseries of the same name.[4]
    • Interestingly, the official ABC promo picture of Merlin[5] uses almost exactly the same font as the cover of the 1998 region 2 DVD release of the miniseries.[6]

Appearances


References

  1. ↑ http://www.behindthename.com/name/merlin
  2. ↑ http://tvline.com/2015/06/09/once-upon-a-time-season-5-cast-merlin-arthur-guinevere/
  3. ↑ http://collider.com/once-upon-a-time-season-3-edward-kitsis-adam-horowitz-interview/#U9UzrCpGLwYQIRFQ.99
  4. ↑ http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/10/21/10-things-you-didn-t-know-about-merlin-from-once-upon-a-time-3601749?lt_source=external,manual,manual
  5. ↑ https://twitter.com/onceabc/status/646739308389515264
  6. ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Merlin-DVD-Sam-Neill/dp/B000QUEK5A/ref=pd_cp_74_2/280-7373905-7627758?ie=UTF8&refRID=1A5QFT57E2G20XKRKMZW
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