Myrddhin

[threemonkeys]

When Jeremy Clarkson hears an engine note that he particularly loves, what engine does he relate it back to? When Michael Wood starts doing his "In Search of..." documentaries, who is pretty much the first subject? When TV producers want a subject for a new series featuring a youthful wizard, where do they look? Yes, its Merlin - well Arthur and Merlin really. They get everywhere.

I mention Merlin in particular, because I recently read three novels in succession all of which invoke Merlin in some way. All in different ways as it happens - an indication of the flexibility and wide use of the character over the years. Charles de Lint uses him as a kind of forest spirit presence in the opening of Spiritwalk. It isn't de Lint's best work - it may well be the opposite - it is the sequel to Moonheart, and like that book suffers from too much stuff crammed in it compared to his later more focussed work.

In Illuminations, Gillian Polack uses a version of Arthurian times for the setting of a fantasy tale found in an old library - both Arthur and Merlin get a mention or two. However, they don't get such a look in during the other story that winds its way through letters that bridge the Arthurian fable and that is where the really fascinating part of the story takes place.

The Last Watch is the fourth book in a trilogy by Sergei Lukyanenko and it shows typical fourth book weaknesses of story. What is more, it invokes merlin much more than the books mentioned above. Turns out Merlin was ...[spoilers removed] - I don't need to tell you what, I'm sure you have seen the same type of thing before. The real problem with The Last Watch, making it weaker than the others, is that it is missing a major character - Moscow.

I suppose it isn't surprising - Arthur & Merlin really are the most powerful myth to emanate from the British Isles. Its hard to even think who #2 may be - Beowulf I suppose. I suppose it depends on how you define "myth" though.

Oh, and I should mention that I'm told that Mary Stewart's Merlin books are going to be reissued after many years out of print. I read them in High school. I wonder how well they hold up.

Comments

[luciusmalfoy.livejournal.com]

I'd figure Robin Hood beats Arthur! (Or is at least on par with him!)

[luciusmalfoy.livejournal.com]

My favourite merlin book so far as beeng ht ecrystal cave. Is that the Mary Stewart one? I remember it being quite old.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is Mary Stewart - there are a couple of others that follow on from it.

[luciusmalfoy.livejournal.com]

I loved them so much! I need to ship them in from Australia!

(Hah, that's such a good reminder.)

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

D'oh - forgot Robin Hood.

[luciusmalfoy.livejournal.com]

St George and the dragon, Andy adds.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Y'know thats an interesting one. St George is patron saint of England and all that so clearly important, but you hardly ever hear that story any more. I wonder why it has lost ground to the others.

[luciusmalfoy.livejournal.com]

It's weird, that was the first one that Andy came up with. I guess it's because the story has been shifted and moved into the generic saving the princess kind of thing. You don't need St George to have that same story.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I think that's a general thing - the important myths in a society influence the other stories that are told. How many fantasies use the Arthurian notion of somebody who has lost their lineage but come back into it by some great feat (sword/stone) and fulfill their destiny.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

I would rank Robin Hood second. Though the archetype "He took from the rich and he gave to the poor/He'd a hand and a heart and a brain" is probably ahead. (Except in the Scottish Border; Border ballads have a lot about taking from the rich, but almost nothing about giving to the poor.)

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I'm told there are resonances of the Arthur story in the Irish Finn McCool stories. I guess myths like to share good ideas around.

Since the part of my ancestry that is Scots is Highland, I just smile.

[flinthart.livejournal.com]

St George is actually a Turk. And if there are resonances of Arthur in Finn Mac Cool... perhaps it's the other way around, no?

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Well yes. As it was explained to me, some aspects of the Arthurian story have their origins in the Irish Stories. The idea being that Arthur is the convergence of a bunch of sources from all over Britain and Ireland.

[mundens.livejournal.com]

I;d say the reason Arthur is so strong as a myth is that it's a classic example of the Campbellian monomyth, and it also resonates very strongly with the story of Christ.

It's especially strong in the UK because it's the most well known of the tales which feature the promise that "he shall return again in our hour of direst need". Have you ever read the comic Camelot 3000?

One of my favourite Arthurian concepts is that of "the immortal Lancelot" doomed, like the Wandering Jew, to live forever until he can atone for his betrayal. "Lance", or a "Mr. Dulac" has often made an appearance in my role-playing games. Being the "best knight", he usually assists the characters physically and then rides off into the sunset in what ever is appropriate for the genre, often a white MG Roadster.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

No to reading Camelot 3000 - I don't remember ever seeing it even. Well until I googled it just now that is.

I do like the idea of the wandering Lancelot too. I've come across it from time to time and always enjoyed it. Wandering Galahad too.

I see Lance more in a Morgan than an MG but that may just be my personal biases at work.