King Aurthur and Merlin?

Question

Okay. in the tv series. aurthur and merlin are around the same age. Aurthur is descend to become king and currently on the tv show merlin is just his servant.
In the legend. merlin is old and comes to aurthur at a young age.

which one is right?

Answer 1

actually more people have come to the idea the "merlin" is actually a title and not a name, so there could have been several "merlins"

Answer 2

The televsion ages are quite “wrong” when compared to the medieval tales of the Arthurian Merlin.



See http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/geofhkb.htm for a modern English translation of the earliest surviving text to mention the Arthurian Merlin. Note that in this account, Merlin is not even mentioned in respect to Arthur, and may never even have met him.



Later writers of Arthurian romances introduced Merlin as a counselor of Arthur during his early reign. See for example http://members.terracom.net/~dorothea/baladro/index.html for one version.



But at least one medieval writer introduces Merlin as an adviser to Arthur throughout his reign.



There are also medieval writers that make out Merlin to be a rather evil character. See, for example, http://omacl.org/Graal/branch20.html , section X .



Merlin being about the same age as Arthur is a unique feature of this television series.

Answer 3

TV programmes are written to entertain and so do not necessarily represent the 'truth'. As far as Arthurian legend is concerned, since it is just a legend, what is the truth anyway? The story of Arthur is one that appeals because it includes all the archetypes that people naturally cling to. This might be the only truth about it. Merlin is usually depicted as old as this is associated with wisdom. Arthur is the young virile king as this is what we think of when we think of a hero. It is because the legend has all these archetypes that it makes for a good TV programme. If it is a good story it is worth telling again.

Answer 4

There is a variety of interpretations of arthurian stories and on merlin and there isn't really a "right" or a "wrong"



Merlin was definitely older than Arthur however. He helped Arthur's father (King Uther) trick and sleep with his mother (Iraine) and get her pregnant with arthur. As payment for helping Uther do this, Merlin took the baby arthur and either raised him himself or gave him to a knight (sir ector) to raise.



So, Merlin was an adult at the time of Arthur's birth. The Tv series people are merely giving their own spin on the story and it's only based loosly on older arthurian literature.

Answer 5

There was no King Arthur, so neither is "right". But all legends have Merlin as an extremely old magician even when Arthur is a young boy.

Answer 6

Merlyn was a young boy when King Vortigern asked his advice (actually I think they were going to sacrifice them when he told them why it would not work).

Vortigern was defeated by Uther and we may assume the younger king was already a grown man. Merlyn became his advisor and helped him to sire Arthur.

He then eventually stands by Arthur until he is an adult.

I´d say Merlyn is at least 30 years older than Arthur.



Pay no attention whatsoever to modern TV shows raping age-old stories. The Americans even managed to screw up the story of the recovery of the Enigma device.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-571_(film)

Answer 7

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