Merlin
15th October 2025 by | Uncategorized
Merlin isn’t one person but a literary composite. Early Welsh tradition gives us Myrddin Wyllt, a wild prophetic figure; Latin chronicles add Ambrosius; Geoffrey of Monmouth (12th c.) fuses strands in Historia Regum Britanniae and Vita Merlini—then French and English romances turn Merlin into Arthur’s counsellor, engineer of Stonehenge in legend, and tragic victim of his own foresight.
Across a millennium, authors used Merlin to ask: what is wise counsel, and who controls it? Sometimes he’s king-maker; sometimes a warning about power that knows the future but can’t change it.
Takeaway: Merlin is a mirror for authority—every age rewrites him to negotiate knowledge, magic, and the risks of giving advice to rulers.
Gemma
www.murderinthetower.london
The past is never silent