Airdate: Merlin: The Legend

No it’s not the BBC drama, but a documentary to screen on SBS about Merlin: Mythical hero or historical figure, wise leader or madman, magician or scientist, Christian or pagan?

Merlin: The Legend takes a look at Merlin’s roots in art and literature, both ancient and modern-day, to see how the wizard has changed since he first captured the world’s imagination, and why his influence remains strong.

It’s in an obscure 12th century book – The History of the Kings of Britain – written by a little-known clergyman that Merlin makes his first appearance. The writer fuses several characters together to create this fictitious person whose job it is to look after King Arthur.

From then on, Merlin’s shape changes to fit the cultural and political needs of the time.

Sometimes he’s the archetypal wizard in a long cloak and pointed hat; others paint him in a romantic light; for a while he inhabits a royal court; yet at other times he’s portrayed as a tragic figure, banished by society and living wild.

“A wild man in a wild place is really part of the mythology of every country on earth…a universal tradition,” says historian John Davies.

What’s fascinating is that in all these incarnations there are constants: his age, his beard, his staff, long gown and hood – so how did they come about?

Merlin: The Legend also explains how his story spread from his Welsh and Celtic roots to inhabit the imagination of mainstream Christian Europe, which then elaborates on his birth and demise.
In the 18th century Merlin can be seen in the paintings of druids; in the 19th century
Tennyson retells the legend; and in the 20th century members of Germany’s Nazi Party use him to embody their vision of a new world order.

But as folklore specialist Juliette Wood explains, authors C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien soon reclaim Merlin as their own – their writings depicting the wizard as a soldier in the everlasting battle of good v. evil:

“They’d get together quite regularly and talk about their philosophy and their fantasies and out of it really emerged this new image of Merlin – this image of Merlin as good.”

So in today’s world, who is Merlin?

He is a valuable commodity, a creature of contemporary culture. He is Gandalf, Professor Dumbledore, even Harry Potter himself. Others see him as a new-age shaman, a healer, a connecting force between humans and nature.

“We do get quite a few people walking up, dressed up as Merlin – probably frighten the sheep up the top as well – kissing the earth that they believe he walked on,” says a local from the Welsh town of Carmarthen, where Merlin’s tomb supposedly lies hidden.

Whether myth or reality, Merlin dances across the centuries working his magic through art, poetry, books, games, film and television – his presence is inescapable.

It airs Sunday 26 September at 7.30pm on SBS ONE.