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The issue with knowing the future is: You're working in percentiles not absolutes. Small changes can cause massive effects. Him hoping he could change the future with light touches make sense.
For all we know Merlin is still chilling in the cave, casting spells to get food and water, and pimped out the cave and surrounded by a harem. He just can’t escape. Seeing as the spell cast by Nimue is unbreakable nobody can be truly sure that Merlin is dead in there yet.
That's actually how the Fate series presents Merlin. Except instead the cave led to Avalon and he locked himself in a tower there to live for eternity. He also just watches humanity with his clairvoyance because that's his entertainment
Honestly anything has a time limit nothing is absolute that's the thing about magic it always has some kind of negative effect who knows he might get out enough time maybe even an earthquake could release him and the fact I doubt he died he was most likely an immortal considering he seen the future and had been there before using his magic
Not only was Merlin sired by a demon, it was an incubus. That would explain a lot why someone as wise as him wouldn't be able to overcome his lusty nature.
It should be noted that this was likely Post-Christianization at work since Merlin's origins predate the advent of Christianity. In order to reconcile his ability to do magic without a connection to God, their only choice was to make his powers demonic in origin. However, since Merlin was overall a fairly heroic figure, they couldn't justify him being a demon himself and thus had to settle with demonic ancestry.
I don't read this as lusty, but more as obsessive love. This is a very real, very human thing. It's not a matter of willpower or wisdom, it is a thing so proximate to mental illness even the most strong-willed of people can succumb to it.
I always wondered if Merlin chose the dishonorable death because he saw what would happen if he avoided it and lived longer, which somehow was much worse.
In Le Morte Dr Arthur, one of the Knights finds Merlin and offers to help move the boulder out of the way, but Merlin waves him off saying it's suppose to be this way.
So what is the lesson to be learned from this? Is it that even the wisest and most power men will do stupid things for a chance at love? Are we meant to feel sorry for Merlin? Or laugh? Or was it that merlin realized that he needed to train a replacement and the cave was her test?
I think back in the day before modern views on relationships this would have maybe been seen as a story of unrequited love. It would be seen as Merlin laying down his life for just a taste of the love of a beautiful woman.
I think the lesson is stories can be told in many different ways depending on who is telling it. This telling was an original take on a less common version of Merlin's end.
@@johnschmidt1262 the vid probably could have used one of those "a good story has many interpretations, and this is just one" disclaimer before confidently stating that Merlin was just a creepy stalker with no motivations other than horndogginess despite literally being willing to die
"I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith" -R.A. Salvatore
Arthurian legendry is one hell of a rabbit hole to fall down. Like nearly everything one encounters today comes from two or three specific versions, with Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur dominating, and maybe some Green Knight but there's so very, very much more. Other versions of his origins include, often mixed: being the son of an incubus or other minor demon, having had no father at all, a perfectly human bard deeply traumatized by war, being a forest hermit or wildman. In some versions he's the child of satan, and was supposed to be the antichrist, but that was averted by a timely baptism and divine blessing granting him both infernal and divine powers. Stories of his end also vary wildy, especially if you're looking at both the earlier and later versions, especially if you compare older versions. He's also known to have retired, gotten married, moved into a large house and taken up stargazing. Another random favourite variation, less related to Merlin, is that it's the scabbard, not the sword that was the real treasure.
I sort of hate that the episode mentioned a possible demon father and then acted like that was the most broadly accepted version. Give me the son of Taliesin any day!
How do you miss the obvious answer to not pursue this woman? He told Arthur, "Genevieve would lead to his downfall. But if the heart made up its mind, then his mind wouldn't listen to reason." Same thing with Merlin.
I think an interesting theory is that in the futures he saw, he would either starve in that cave, or end up so frustrated at his failed advances, hed kill her. Out of love, he chose his own death. Because unless he was trapped in an unpenitrable cave of his own magic, there was no way he was leaving her alone. Beautiful commentary on the male experience
Merlin sacrifices his whole life just to have a taste of affection. Super tragic. Yes, I know they framed him as a creepy stalker in the episode but as they usually say: "a good story has many interpretations, and this is just one."
@@isapheonix Hey, if Napoleon was able to find love with an aging single mother who was deeply in debt, constantly had affairs, and found him utterly repulsive, then there's hope for anybody.
I always thought part of Merlin's whole stichk was that he knew the future because he experienced life backwards. So his whole life in a world with limited writing and history trying to figure out how he ended up in the situations that he previously experienced in the future.
The earliest accounts of merlin that mention his death Ive personally read basically just say "yea merlin is under a Mountain somewhere waiting till Briton is in peril. Ok now let's talk about how much we miss Arthur"
Oh boy I wish Merlin came out now because Britain is in big trouble as we speak! The Mayor of London and First minister of Scotland are pakis while the prime minister of England is a poo
My guess on it all is that this was his way of naming a successor, in a Sith-like way. If he could see all of this coming, then surely the end result would be something he desired, and what would the end result be besides a young, new wizard in the world to take his place?
Do we _know_ Merlin taught her _unbreakable_ spells? Do we _know_ Merlin died in that cave - or, perhaps, did he simply change shape, leave, and go somewhere else?
Do we know any of this story actually happened whatsoever? Or are we just going along with what the story says for fun? Because the story says he died in the cave.
@@zawarudo1161fair point. It doesn't matter if you make a door indestructible if you don't make the walls also that as well. Otherwise you can just blow the door off its hinges. The door won't break but the hinges will come out of the wall.
Even here there are obviously different tellings, because the version I read had merlin put to sleep in preparation for future events (I think Arthur's return). Although maybe the Roger Lancelyn Green version was bowdlerised in that respect. Another difference seems to be that in your telling Nimue seems to be someone totally separate from the lady of the lake.
Every time people cite the Sword in the Stone as Excalibur, I get the urge to slap them like people who missed the early seasons of GoT, and think the Lanister ending was romantic
I mean he kinda explained it when mentioning Arthur and Guinevere. Arthur’s heart knew what it wanted so his brain wouldn’t listen, so it’s safe to assume that Merlin fell to the same infatuation. He knew this was kill him but his heart loved her more than common sense loved his life.
I think this was an info hazard for Merlin on top of that. He was suppose to see her at the feast, but instead he saw her years in advance. By seeing his death, he had trapped himself into it.
He didn’t actually love her. He stalked and obsessed over a woman who repeatedly told him to get lost until she killed him to escape his unwanted attentions. That isn’t love, that is delusion.
The actual myth tends to be more complicated than that in both directions Because while Nimue first seduces him to learn his magic she was not going to hurt him and she remained for a time after learning from him until she got tired of Merlin and only then after he refused to leave did she got rid of him
There's a LOT of versions of this. I mean, she's also the Lady of the Lake and Lancelot's mother and her name is Vivienne, depending on which telling of the story you want to use. This is a bog standard adaptation of Mallory's _Le Morte d'Arthur_ version, I think, and that's one of the most common sources for modern tellings.
Things named in honour of the legendary figure have included asteroid 2598 Merlin, companies Merlin and Merlin Entertainments, handheld console Merlin, literary magazine Merlin, metal band Merlin, and more than a dozen different British warships called HMS Merlin. He was one of eight British magical figures that were commemorated on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail in 2011.
The sad part of this is that history has his name wrong. The tale of Merlin is based in part on a very possibly real historical figure, a druid and prophet from the 6th century known as Myrddin Wyllt. It's not clear why the D became an L but one theory suggests that it happened when the French started telling his story because Myrddin sounds too close to merde.
@@ChrisMattern-oh6wx in theory Welsh pronunciation could have shifted over time, for example we don't actually know how Romans or Greeks pronounced their language, we can only base Latin or Greek pronunciation on the modern versions of Italian and Greek which could have changed substantially though slowly and imperceptibly over time. The simple fact that "Merde" wasn't even a documented word makes it essentially impossible as people wouldn't change the name to Merlin to avoid sounding like a word that didn't exist yet.
It's interesting that this channel reframes the story of Merlin and Nimowe as the story of a stalker and his victim, rather than a seductress and her victim
I mean that's absolutely what it was. Sometimes historical authors who are drowning in their own prejudices write about events mirroring real life (in this case, what it looks like when a powerful man pesters a woman constantly without taking no for an answer) and then just ... fail to see those events for what they are, and blame the wrong person. But that doesn't mean we have to see the stories they wrote through the lens they did.
Since none of the people are real, you can tell the story any way you want. The version that will stand the test of time are those that mean the most to the audience.
They're not inventing some new variation; that's a pretty standard telling of it. I think they pretty much used Mallory's _Le Morte d'Arthur_ wholesale, which is one of the most common sources for modern tellings. What's so interesting about that?
Interesting, in the version of the story I heard growing up, Nimue was a servant of Morgan Le Fay sent to kill him, and Merlin didn't know this because he couldn't see his own future. Also, Nimue didn't just seal him in a cave, she had drained him of his magic.
You know I'm glad u posted this bc Excalibur is one of my favorite movies and I always wondered about why the wise Merlin just ran head first into his demise despite knowing the consequences. I kinda thought maybe it was one of those things of fate that had to be in the myths. Kinda disappointing it was mainly Merlin being a creep
@@azazelreeds I always thought of his creeping as sort of a wise mentor figure kinda Kenobi or grandalf manipulating behind the scenes. I mean still kinda messed up but more like a helicopter parent who tries to prevent the worse outcome for their child, but now after listening to this and fact that Merlin kinda bought Arthur in exchange for his dad getting freaky which drove the entire plot of the myths puts everything I knew into question lol
Merlin can in no way be justified and got what he deserved of course. But he knew that. I think he just didn't care anymore. He had accomplished everything he could imagine he had seen everything. Everything but romance. He also knew that he would fail in this venture but it didn't matter because well nothing mattered then. He would rather trick himself into thinking he had a chance when he didn't than continue living a pointless life. Perhaps he thought the gift of magic was worth the grief and justified his actions, because he always knew it would never go anywhere he just wanted to dream and then die, accepting his life would never truly be complete and never could be.
@@azazelreeds With Uther he at least had the idea to make him shapeshift to better his chances, which he then somehow forgot about for himself. In spite of being ready to even die in pursuit of her attention.
For me this sounds like the true objective was to teach Nymue magic. It's like he wasn't in love with the woman he met, but he was in love with the woman she would become. Meaning that his love can only have an actual object if he goes along with everything he had seen. Also let's not forget that he is still a super wizard/druid and can probably chill in that cave for a very long time without issues.
Merlin: "Wait a minute..., what was all this 'Maybe I could see a world where I could start to not be a hundred percent repulsed by your constant, unwanted attention.' talk?"
Why didn’t Merlin try to change his future? Well…. Those who try to deny their fate are often the ones running straight into it Check so many other myths about prophecy and what not
@@freddypowell7292 I think that's whole point they're trying to make, he was wise enough to know that if he tried to deny fate he would just end up fulfilling it one way or another anyway. So the wisest option would be to just accept it.
This video specifically said that he could change the future with "no repercussions", that is, he could change it WITHOUT self-fulfilling prophecies, so ostensibly, if he had tried to change it, it wouldn't have ended up causing it.
@@I.____.....__...__yeah but they are wrong. The Arthurian myths run on you can fight fate no matter what you do and your actions to try to stop disaster merely is setting the stage for it.
@@thezodiacfoundation153 But Merlin saw ALL the future, there was nothing in this universe he had not yet seen, and there was no fate he could not avoid.
Who would've thought that the most powerful wizard in the story would die not from rational thought, but rather his pants. But I might as well give a hats off to him for the courage to face his fate rather avoid it despite the simple way to do it unlike other mythical figures that had face fate.
It's funny how Arthur tried to warn Merlin to just not do it and Merlin still continuing his pursuit of Nimowe. It just gave Arthur a taste of what Merlin felt when he tried to warn him about Guinevere. Which to me was a bit hilarious.
The nebula ad with JetLag is surprisingly well timed, since right now (approx. a year after upload) there is a new season again with the Sam & Tobi Team. LetLag is just great
Pretty sure Merlin can live through being sealed away. Having said that though; If he saw the future, he knew there was no way he would ever be with Nimua. He taught her magic, and let her seal him away forever. He just didn't want to live a life without her. So he didn't live at all. This is what happens when we hopelessly chase after people who never love us back. You can't earn love. People love you, or they don't. Thats just how feelings work.
I have a strange feeling that Merlin’s death was a later edition alike to the Lancelot Guinevere romance. Right around the ideas of noble romance and courtly romance, which might explain why Merlin acts like a fool.
My favorite version is where Merlin is disgusted with Arthur's doomed romance so he seeks out Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, because he has never felt love. Not a flattering portral of him, but it worked well for the story. I think they leaned a bit to hard into calling Merlin a creep in this episode. He is, and it isnt subtle so let the story tell it. They seem to do this with a lot of mythical figures.
"if you marry Genevier great misfortune would fall on camalot so mabye just dont?" "Well im in love merlin" After the wedding "If you get with Nimowe you will litterally die" "Oh your one to talk Arthur"
I think the Arthur sleeping with his half Sister Morgan Le Fey was a later version that came simply from Morgan and Mordred/Mordraut sounding alike. Morgan and Mordred were never originally related, Mordred's ambition to take Arthur's throne was always his own ambition, and Morgan would mess with Arthur and his knights using Magic and the Fey but most of her "Evil Schemes" were more like Pranks and she was one of the Sorceresses who showing up to heal Arthur after he's injured fighting Mordred.
Nah Arthur and mordred tend to be related is just that his original mother was the other sister of Arthur and with time both sisters ended combined in a single character.
In fact, Morgan-the-temptress is a really recent conflation of Morgan le Fay with Nimue and Morgause, Arthur's _other_ half-sister who commits incest with him and begets Mordred. And by "recent" I mean as recent as 1981: John Boorman's _Excalibur_ was the first version of the Arthurian story to weld the three characters together.
Merlin: What are my chances? Nimuey: Not good Merlin: Not good like... one out of a hundred? Nimuey: More like... one out of a million Merlin: ... So you're telling me there's a chance... YEAH!!!!!
As a basic brit with no confirmed research, apologies if I'm just wrong, but I hear Merlin, Uther Pendragon, and Morrigan legends were adopted after the conquest of the Welsh. The later popular idealism of Arthur and Camelot legends was discouraging to the French aristocracy influences. At which point several addition were made. Lancelot du Lac, lover of the queen, The Fisher King, and Tristan and Isolde. .
Probably he saw that other future is far worse than his dead,Like the magic diminishing,the fall of Britain(the place he build) and the endless war between human he had to saw
"if you can forsee your death why not give up on her" you know what you're absolutely right Arthur!! by the way just curious, hows that sister you shouldnt have slept with and who's incest child is said to cause your death? oh and how's Guinevere, ya know that woman you were specifically told would bring about your downfall if you married her? or just in a nutshell "hey there Kettle, name's Pot, have we met?"
Feels like between the lines of this story reads something about the loneliness of power and the deep longing to be understood, even at the cost of certain betrayal.
0:05 Curse. Used to have premonitions of deaths of friends and loved ones I couldn’t prevent, down to a minuet detail. It was often the case I saw them as they happened from within my slumber or moments before it. I still blame myself for not being able to wake myself up and call for help to save them. The last premonition I had was of my own death in a crash. I was driving down the highway on my way home, wearing my favorite Hawaiian shirt, when the song The Passenger comes on around 3:22 pm. I cross the intersection before a bridge crossing the express way, and within moments, a semi plowing up the entrance ramp cuts across and slams into my car. The impact between it and the center median crushes me, and I bleed out before help arrives. That day did come almost a year later, but when it did, I felt a sickening clamminess overtake me and I slowed while passing through the intersection, as the song began to play. As if on queue, the semi came flying up, and I braced. Turned out I had slowed up just enough to barely be scratched by the semi by nearly an inch. The car ahead of me had its left back bumper rear ended before the truck sped off down the exit ramp, having flown through the next intersection, police sirens growing louder. I pulled over at the next parking lot just beyond there, fell out of my car, and vomited in the grass. I still wince whenever that song comes on.
Yeah Nimue was fae and was hundreds of years older than Merlin (she was the granddaughter of the Roman god Diana), he wasnt leching after a younger woman.
One of my questions are, if he had all this magic… couldn’t he just teleport out or something. He probably can’t break the rocks but can’t he just use magic to teleport out and still live????
In the Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin, Malory's source for the earlier parts of Le Morte d'Arthur, Nimuë is the Lady of the Lake - an enchantress who lives in a castle beneath a lake surrounding the island of Avalon. According to legend, she is most famous for giving Arthur the magical sword Excalibur, for fostering Sir Lancelot after his father's death and for imprisoning Merlin in a tree.
We all do something that we know is bad for us, but do it anyway because it feels so good in the immediate term. I don't need to be an all-powerful wizard to know three sodas a day is bad for me. But the temptation is strong, and I'm going to fail a lot.
Heres one idea. When you can see into the future and predict everything, Life just becomes boring after awhile or he saw that the woman he trained would guide the future when he was gone. As powerful as Merlin was, he could not escape death in the end. So he gave into his feelings and followed them down his path he knew wouldn't work out for him. But really knows, I can't tell you what possible futures Merlin saw
I once heard a story where a man could see the lifespan of people around him and the woman he fell in love with had only 7 years left to live. Even though he could have avoided the pain of her death by not marrying her, he decided against that and enjoyed the short time they had with each other. I think Merlin felt the same way, even though the woman would lead to he doom, he cherished those moments with her and I believe as he slowly withered in that cave he remembered the good times he had with her. To an outsider he died a fool's death, but to him he died happy.
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Meh 😑😊
I wish I can help u
I hope you make an series about napolean master of europe going to nebula right now
So many myths of Merlin, I've never heard of the one where he's so creepy.
The issue with knowing the future is: You're working in percentiles not absolutes. Small changes can cause massive effects. Him hoping he could change the future with light touches make sense.
And here we have Merlin helpfully demonstrating the finer differences between Intelligence and Wisdom.
True
I guess Merlin was bored of avoiding his own death so its just logical to die because he probably had avoided his death for tausends of years
For all we know Merlin is still chilling in the cave, casting spells to get food and water, and pimped out the cave and surrounded by a harem. He just can’t escape. Seeing as the spell cast by Nimue is unbreakable nobody can be truly sure that Merlin is dead in there yet.
That's actually how the Fate series presents Merlin. Except instead the cave led to Avalon and he locked himself in a tower there to live for eternity. He also just watches humanity with his clairvoyance because that's his entertainment
@@jossebrodeur6033 So he is a telenovela fan
So in effect, he became Schrodinger's Wizard?
Honestly anything has a time limit nothing is absolute that's the thing about magic it always has some kind of negative effect who knows he might get out enough time maybe even an earthquake could release him and the fact I doubt he died he was most likely an immortal considering he seen the future and had been there before using his magic
Schrodingers Horn-Dog
Not only was Merlin sired by a demon, it was an incubus. That would explain a lot why someone as wise as him wouldn't be able to overcome his lusty nature.
It should be noted that this was likely Post-Christianization at work since Merlin's origins predate the advent of Christianity. In order to reconcile his ability to do magic without a connection to God, their only choice was to make his powers demonic in origin. However, since Merlin was overall a fairly heroic figure, they couldn't justify him being a demon himself and thus had to settle with demonic ancestry.
Yeah his mother was abused and they had to do some exorcism to avoid Merlin becoming the antichrist
I don't read this as lusty, but more as obsessive love. This is a very real, very human thing. It's not a matter of willpower or wisdom, it is a thing so proximate to mental illness even the most strong-willed of people can succumb to it.
@@olenickel6013 Por que no los dos?
Plus his shape shifting abilities
I always wondered if Merlin chose the dishonorable death because he saw what would happen if he avoided it and lived longer, which somehow was much worse.
He'd see the rise of the industrial age
@@brandanberg1716 he saw internet as a thing
@@em5522 He expected the Inquisition.
@@Mackyle-Wotring No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise! Surprise and fear.
It was... he'd be forever alone... either way
In Le Morte Dr Arthur, one of the Knights finds Merlin and offers to help move the boulder out of the way, but Merlin waves him off saying it's suppose to be this way.
gotta love medieval fanfiction
@@blank_3768 Which is just lite, PG-13 Greek fiction
@@WindFireAllThatKindOfThing Merlin was probably a fan of Greek classics and was annoyed that he was being denied his dreamed “death by hubris.”
So what is the lesson to be learned from this?
Is it that even the wisest and most power men will do stupid things for a chance at love?
Are we meant to feel sorry for Merlin? Or laugh?
Or was it that merlin realized that he needed to train a replacement and the cave was her test?
It that Merlin just couldn’t keep it in his pants
@@ecurewitz Yes, he couldn't "keep it in his pants" by wishing to hold a girl's hand and feel loved. 🙄
I think back in the day before modern views on relationships this would have maybe been seen as a story of unrequited love. It would be seen as Merlin laying down his life for just a taste of the love of a beautiful woman.
I think the lesson is stories can be told in many different ways depending on who is telling it.
This telling was an original take on a less common version of Merlin's end.
@@johnschmidt1262 the vid probably could have used one of those "a good story has many interpretations, and this is just one" disclaimer before confidently stating that Merlin was just a creepy stalker with no motivations other than horndogginess despite literally being willing to die
"I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith" -R.A. Salvatore
Instantly recognized
Magic is just science way above your understanding.
Ah yes, _he who believeth in Jesus as thy lord and savior, getteth the dragons._ 😂
@@I.____.....__...__ I'm on bord with that
More like I wouldn’t want to live in world without imagination.
Arthurian legendry is one hell of a rabbit hole to fall down. Like nearly everything one encounters today comes from two or three specific versions, with Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur dominating, and maybe some Green Knight but there's so very, very much more.
Other versions of his origins include, often mixed: being the son of an incubus or other minor demon, having had no father at all, a perfectly human bard deeply traumatized by war, being a forest hermit or wildman. In some versions he's the child of satan, and was supposed to be the antichrist, but that was averted by a timely baptism and divine blessing granting him both infernal and divine powers.
Stories of his end also vary wildy, especially if you're looking at both the earlier and later versions, especially if you compare older versions. He's also known to have retired, gotten married, moved into a large house and taken up stargazing.
Another random favourite variation, less related to Merlin, is that it's the scabbard, not the sword that was the real treasure.
I sort of hate that the episode mentioned a possible demon father and then acted like that was the most broadly accepted version. Give me the son of Taliesin any day!
@@samprastherabbit who's that?
How do you miss the obvious answer to not pursue this woman? He told Arthur, "Genevieve would lead to his downfall. But if the heart made up its mind, then his mind wouldn't listen to reason." Same thing with Merlin.
I think an interesting theory is that in the futures he saw, he would either starve in that cave, or end up so frustrated at his failed advances, hed kill her. Out of love, he chose his own death. Because unless he was trapped in an unpenitrable cave of his own magic, there was no way he was leaving her alone. Beautiful commentary on the male experience
Merlin sacrifices his whole life just to have a taste of affection. Super tragic.
Yes, I know they framed him as a creepy stalker in the episode but as they usually say: "a good story has many interpretations, and this is just one."
Ya... dude could have found someone who was actually interested in him instead of chasing after someone totally disinterested
@@isapheonix in many tellings Nimue is the one who starts the whole debacle.
@@isapheonix maybe his real goal was to pass on his magic and that was the only way he could see it happening.
Kind of related to him tbh, I'm a hopeless romantic and it felt like he was too
@@isapheonix
Hey, if Napoleon was able to find love with an aging single mother who was deeply in debt, constantly had affairs, and found him utterly repulsive, then there's hope for anybody.
I always thought part of Merlin's whole stichk was that he knew the future because he experienced life backwards. So his whole life in a world with limited writing and history trying to figure out how he ended up in the situations that he previously experienced in the future.
That's specifically his depiction in The Once And Future King, which is meant to be a twist on the original story.
What? How?!??
@@the_mad_fool it’s also how he’s portrayed in the play
Backwards eh? Then was it a cave or a womb?
The earliest accounts of merlin that mention his death Ive personally read basically just say "yea merlin is under a Mountain somewhere waiting till Briton is in peril. Ok now let's talk about how much we miss Arthur"
Oh boy I wish Merlin came out now because Britain is in big trouble as we speak! The Mayor of London and First minister of Scotland are pakis while the prime minister of England is a poo
Define "peril". Vague and ambiguous prophecies are as worthless as conspiracy-theories. 😒
that’s Arthur
@Blank _ yes I did mention Arthur too
the things I read were that Merlin was trapped in an invisible castle/prison first, then Arthur faced his fate.
My guess on it all is that this was his way of naming a successor, in a Sith-like way. If he could see all of this coming, then surely the end result would be something he desired, and what would the end result be besides a young, new wizard in the world to take his place?
Do we _know_ Merlin taught her _unbreakable_ spells? Do we _know_ Merlin died in that cave - or, perhaps, did he simply change shape, leave, and go somewhere else?
Do we know any of this story actually happened whatsoever? Or are we just going along with what the story says for fun? Because the story says he died in the cave.
@@Jacob-ge1py Buzzkill.
Do we know He didn't Just Break Out of the cave through another Wall?
Merlin later became a anime writer or something
@@zawarudo1161fair point. It doesn't matter if you make a door indestructible if you don't make the walls also that as well. Otherwise you can just blow the door off its hinges. The door won't break but the hinges will come out of the wall.
5:40 i just love the toh reference man
Same I flipped out when I saw it
Even here there are obviously different tellings, because the version I read had merlin put to sleep in preparation for future events (I think Arthur's return). Although maybe the Roger Lancelyn Green version was bowdlerised in that respect. Another difference seems to be that in your telling Nimue seems to be someone totally separate from the lady of the lake.
68th 👍
The one I first read had Merlin unable to see his own future.
Great episode! Never knew Merlin was that desperate.
Also, I love the little Owl House reference at 5:39!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed! 😂
I loved the Sword in the Stone reference at 7:00 :D
Every time people cite the Sword in the Stone as Excalibur, I get the urge to slap them like people who missed the early seasons of GoT, and think the Lanister ending was romantic
I mean he kinda explained it when mentioning Arthur and Guinevere. Arthur’s heart knew what it wanted so his brain wouldn’t listen, so it’s safe to assume that Merlin fell to the same infatuation.
He knew this was kill him but his heart loved her more than common sense loved his life.
I think this was an info hazard for Merlin on top of that. He was suppose to see her at the feast, but instead he saw her years in advance. By seeing his death, he had trapped himself into it.
As done so many a man.
He didn’t actually love her. He stalked and obsessed over a woman who repeatedly told him to get lost until she killed him to escape his unwanted attentions. That isn’t love, that is delusion.
This episode was great! The version I read as a child had Nimue seduce Merlin to steal his powers, but I prefer this telling a heck of a lot more.
They always blamed the women instead of the pervy men
The actual myth tends to be more complicated than that in both directions
Because while Nimue first seduces him to learn his magic she was not going to hurt him and she remained for a time after learning from him until she got tired of Merlin and only then after he refused to leave did she got rid of him
There's a LOT of versions of this. I mean, she's also the Lady of the Lake and Lancelot's mother and her name is Vivienne, depending on which telling of the story you want to use. This is a bog standard adaptation of Mallory's _Le Morte d'Arthur_ version, I think, and that's one of the most common sources for modern tellings.
Love the fact that at 6:57 it has both the references of Disney and BBC Merlins...
YOOO LOVE THE OWL HOUSE REFERENCE!!! Also awesome video in general!
Right the Demon origin, which makes Merlin an Incubus, which is the Cannon that the Fate Franchise went with
5:53 LOVING THAT TOH REFFERENCE
Knowing Merlin, he f*cked around and found out what he already knew was going to happen.
He was probably all "Damn, finding out w/o getting to f*ck around first is no fun"
Yes! These episodes are so magical and entertaining! Thanks a lot guys!
I see what you did there.
Things named in honour of the legendary figure have included asteroid 2598 Merlin, companies Merlin and Merlin Entertainments, handheld console Merlin, literary magazine Merlin, metal band Merlin, and more than a dozen different British warships called HMS Merlin. He was one of eight British magical figures that were commemorated on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail in 2011.
The sad part of this is that history has his name wrong. The tale of Merlin is based in part on a very possibly real historical figure, a druid and prophet from the 6th century known as Myrddin Wyllt. It's not clear why the D became an L but one theory suggests that it happened when the French started telling his story because Myrddin sounds too close to merde.
@@ELSTERLING Given these stories predate the word "Merde" that seems unlikely...
Also the Rolls Royce Merlin aircraft engine, which powered the Spitfire and many of the RAF's other aircraft in WWII.
@@esmeecampbell7396 Also, it's not pronounced that way. The Welsh double d represents a sound close to "th."
@@ChrisMattern-oh6wx in theory Welsh pronunciation could have shifted over time, for example we don't actually know how Romans or Greeks pronounced their language, we can only base Latin or Greek pronunciation on the modern versions of Italian and Greek which could have changed substantially though slowly and imperceptibly over time.
The simple fact that "Merde" wasn't even a documented word makes it essentially impossible as people wouldn't change the name to Merlin to avoid sounding like a word that didn't exist yet.
It's interesting that this channel reframes the story of Merlin and Nimowe as the story of a stalker and his victim, rather than a seductress and her victim
I mean that's absolutely what it was. Sometimes historical authors who are drowning in their own prejudices write about events mirroring real life (in this case, what it looks like when a powerful man pesters a woman constantly without taking no for an answer) and then just ... fail to see those events for what they are, and blame the wrong person. But that doesn't mean we have to see the stories they wrote through the lens they did.
Interesting how?
Since none of the people are real, you can tell the story any way you want. The version that will stand the test of time are those that mean the most to the audience.
They're not inventing some new variation; that's a pretty standard telling of it. I think they pretty much used Mallory's _Le Morte d'Arthur_ wholesale, which is one of the most common sources for modern tellings. What's so interesting about that?
@MAlanThomasII about the same amount of interesting as them not picking any of the other dozens of variations.
that little Owl House reference just made my day, thank you so much for that!
Interesting, in the version of the story I heard growing up, Nimue was a servant of Morgan Le Fay sent to kill him, and Merlin didn't know this because he couldn't see his own future. Also, Nimue didn't just seal him in a cave, she had drained him of his magic.
Was it worth it, Merlin? Was it really worth it?
YES!!! 🧙♂️
"No, but I'd do it again."
Death by simping. An all to relatable fate.
You know I'm glad u posted this bc Excalibur is one of my favorite movies and I always wondered about why the wise Merlin just ran head first into his demise despite knowing the consequences. I kinda thought maybe it was one of those things of fate that had to be in the myths. Kinda disappointing it was mainly Merlin being a creep
Unfortunately Merlin is just a creep in general. When he's not creeping himself he's helping others like Uther creep
@@azazelreeds I always thought of his creeping as sort of a wise mentor figure kinda Kenobi or grandalf manipulating behind the scenes. I mean still kinda messed up but more like a helicopter parent who tries to prevent the worse outcome for their child, but now after listening to this and fact that Merlin kinda bought Arthur in exchange for his dad getting freaky which drove the entire plot of the myths puts everything I knew into question lol
Merlin can in no way be justified and got what he deserved of course. But he knew that. I think he just didn't care anymore. He had accomplished everything he could imagine he had seen everything. Everything but romance. He also knew that he would fail in this venture but it didn't matter because well nothing mattered then. He would rather trick himself into thinking he had a chance when he didn't than continue living a pointless life. Perhaps he thought the gift of magic was worth the grief and justified his actions, because he always knew it would never go anywhere he just wanted to dream and then die, accepting his life would never truly be complete and never could be.
@@azazelreeds With Uther he at least had the idea to make him shapeshift to better his chances, which he then somehow forgot about for himself. In spite of being ready to even die in pursuit of her attention.
For me this sounds like the true objective was to teach Nymue magic.
It's like he wasn't in love with the woman he met, but he was in love with the woman she would become. Meaning that his love can only have an actual object if he goes along with everything he had seen.
Also let's not forget that he is still a super wizard/druid and can probably chill in that cave for a very long time without issues.
Merlin: "Wait a minute..., what was all this 'Maybe I could see a world where I could start to not be a hundred percent repulsed by your constant, unwanted attention.' talk?"
Merlin: the biggest simp in history
5:40 I love that little Owl House reference
Why didn’t Merlin try to change his future? Well…. Those who try to deny their fate are often the ones running straight into it
Check so many other myths about prophecy and what not
Thing is though, this particular story has him make absolutely no attempts to deny his fate.
@@freddypowell7292 I think that's whole point they're trying to make, he was wise enough to know that if he tried to deny fate he would just end up fulfilling it one way or another anyway. So the wisest option would be to just accept it.
This video specifically said that he could change the future with "no repercussions", that is, he could change it WITHOUT self-fulfilling prophecies, so ostensibly, if he had tried to change it, it wouldn't have ended up causing it.
@@I.____.....__...__yeah but they are wrong. The Arthurian myths run on you can fight fate no matter what you do and your actions to try to stop disaster merely is setting the stage for it.
@@thezodiacfoundation153 But Merlin saw ALL the future, there was nothing in this universe he had not yet seen, and there was no fate he could not avoid.
Who would've thought that the most powerful wizard in the story would die not from rational thought, but rather his pants. But I might as well give a hats off to him for the courage to face his fate rather avoid it despite the simple way to do it unlike other mythical figures that had face fate.
5:47 THAT OWL HOUSE REFERENCE
props to this legend for being a great cautionary tale and also probably just what merlin wanted us to think how he died for whatever reason
In the version I learned, Merlin was sealed magically into the tree above the cave, and is kinda kept there is a sort of suspended animation.
It's funny how Arthur tried to warn Merlin to just not do it and Merlin still continuing his pursuit of Nimowe. It just gave Arthur a taste of what Merlin felt when he tried to warn him about Guinevere. Which to me was a bit hilarious.
No matter the source material, BBC'S version of a young Merlin being drinking buddies with Arthur will be my favorite Merlin
"Do you think the power to see into the future is a gift, or a curse?"
Yes.
The moral of story: Post nut-clarity beats even the wisest thoughts from a wise man.
I would love a series on the knights of the round table! Great work as always
The nebula ad with JetLag is surprisingly well timed, since right now (approx. a year after upload) there is a new season again with the Sam & Tobi Team. LetLag is just great
"Man literally too horny to choose not to die"
Pretty sure Merlin can live through being sealed away. Having said that though; If he saw the future, he knew there was no way he would ever be with Nimua.
He taught her magic, and let her seal him away forever.
He just didn't want to live a life without her. So he didn't live at all. This is what happens when we hopelessly chase after people who never love us back. You can't earn love. People love you, or they don't. Thats just how feelings work.
Love the owl house reference at 5:40
I have a strange feeling that Merlin’s death was a later edition alike to the Lancelot Guinevere romance. Right around the ideas of noble romance and courtly romance, which might explain why Merlin acts like a fool.
You should do some of the fantastical stories of the early Christian saints, fighting dragons and performing miracles and whatnot. Catholic mythology.
My favorite version is where Merlin is disgusted with Arthur's doomed romance so he seeks out Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, because he has never felt love. Not a flattering portral of him, but it worked well for the story. I think they leaned a bit to hard into calling Merlin a creep in this episode. He is, and it isnt subtle so let the story tell it. They seem to do this with a lot of mythical figures.
This channel is everything the world needs
"if you marry Genevier great misfortune would fall on camalot so mabye just dont?"
"Well im in love merlin"
After the wedding
"If you get with Nimowe you will litterally die"
"Oh your one to talk Arthur"
I think the Arthur sleeping with his half Sister Morgan Le Fey was a later version that came simply from Morgan and Mordred/Mordraut sounding alike. Morgan and Mordred were never originally related, Mordred's ambition to take Arthur's throne was always his own ambition, and Morgan would mess with Arthur and his knights using Magic and the Fey but most of her "Evil Schemes" were more like Pranks and she was one of the Sorceresses who showing up to heal Arthur after he's injured fighting Mordred.
Nah Arthur and mordred tend to be related is just that his original mother was the other sister of Arthur and with time both sisters ended combined in a single character.
@@unaiestanconapelaez2526 Ooooh!
In fact, Morgan-the-temptress is a really recent conflation of Morgan le Fay with Nimue and Morgause, Arthur's _other_ half-sister who commits incest with him and begets Mordred. And by "recent" I mean as recent as 1981: John Boorman's _Excalibur_ was the first version of the Arthurian story to weld the three characters together.
I never realized how much Merlin is to ice king from Adventure time haha
I liked the small owl housr reference at 5:40
I love how you animate everything in the Poptropica art style
Merlin: What are my chances?
Nimuey: Not good
Merlin: Not good like... one out of a hundred?
Nimuey: More like... one out of a million
Merlin: ... So you're telling me there's a chance... YEAH!!!!!
As a basic brit with no confirmed research, apologies if I'm just wrong, but I hear Merlin, Uther Pendragon, and Morrigan legends were adopted after the conquest of the Welsh. The later popular idealism of Arthur and Camelot legends was discouraging to the French aristocracy influences. At which point several addition were made. Lancelot du Lac, lover of the queen, The Fisher King, and Tristan and Isolde. .
5:40 I see what you guys did there! ^^ Nice reference!
The figure that inspired Merlin is very fascinating
Probably he saw that other future is far worse than his dead,Like the magic diminishing,the fall of Britain(the place he build) and the endless war between human he had to saw
I love the idea that merlin potentially knew he would have the name dick wizard extraordinaire thanks to the fate franchise
If one thing is certain, Merlin LOVED to play pranks and mess with Artoria 😂
1:30 who else though that would be a sponsor lmao
Poor ice kin... merlin. It is said that his last words before the stone closed on him were "t'was worth it indeed"
"if you can forsee your death why not give up on her"
you know what you're absolutely right Arthur!!
by the way just curious, hows that sister you shouldnt have slept with and who's incest child is said to cause your death?
oh and how's Guinevere, ya know that woman you were specifically told would bring about your downfall if you married her?
or just in a nutshell "hey there Kettle, name's Pot, have we met?"
5:40 reference spotted
Yo 5:40, is that a owl house reference?
I loved the light gliff
5:40 OMG THERE WAS A TOH REFERENCE
"This begs the question"
No, it doesn't. It *raises* the question.
5:40 ITS A LIGHT GLYPH
THE LIGHT GLIPH IS SUCH AN AMAZING DETAIL
Feels like between the lines of this story reads something about the loneliness of power and the deep longing to be understood, even at the cost of certain betrayal.
0:05 Curse. Used to have premonitions of deaths of friends and loved ones I couldn’t prevent, down to a minuet detail. It was often the case I saw them as they happened from within my slumber or moments before it. I still blame myself for not being able to wake myself up and call for help to save them. The last premonition I had was of my own death in a crash. I was driving down the highway on my way home, wearing my favorite Hawaiian shirt, when the song The Passenger comes on around 3:22 pm. I cross the intersection before a bridge crossing the express way, and within moments, a semi plowing up the entrance ramp cuts across and slams into my car. The impact between it and the center median crushes me, and I bleed out before help arrives. That day did come almost a year later, but when it did, I felt a sickening clamminess overtake me and I slowed while passing through the intersection, as the song began to play. As if on queue, the semi came flying up, and I braced. Turned out I had slowed up just enough to barely be scratched by the semi by nearly an inch. The car ahead of me had its left back bumper rear ended before the truck sped off down the exit ramp, having flown through the next intersection, police sirens growing louder. I pulled over at the next parking lot just beyond there, fell out of my car, and vomited in the grass. I still wince whenever that song comes on.
5:41 nice owl house reference
“Guess I’m dying than” my life motto
Merlin literally ended his life by simping tragic how a lot of men fall onto this type of addiction
I love the owl house reference, thanks for that
Yeah Nimue was fae and was hundreds of years older than Merlin (she was the granddaughter of the Roman god Diana), he wasnt leching after a younger woman.
I saw that toh refrance 5:46
Yes! More on Arthurian legends!
5:40 TOH reference spotted
5:40 OWL HOUSE LIGHT GLYPH
One of my questions are, if he had all this magic… couldn’t he just teleport out or something. He probably can’t break the rocks but can’t he just use magic to teleport out and still live????
5:41 appreciate the owl house reference:D
In the Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin, Malory's source for the earlier parts of Le Morte d'Arthur, Nimuë is the Lady of the Lake - an enchantress who lives in a castle beneath a lake surrounding the island of Avalon. According to legend, she is most famous for giving Arthur the magical sword Excalibur, for fostering Sir Lancelot after his father's death and for imprisoning Merlin in a tree.
We all do something that we know is bad for us, but do it anyway because it feels so good in the immediate term. I don't need to be an all-powerful wizard to know three sodas a day is bad for me. But the temptation is strong, and I'm going to fail a lot.
So he pulled a reverse card by first finding out and then f’ing around?
"Anál nathrach, orth’ bháis’s bethad, do chél dénmha"
She hit him with the Charm of Making ...😅😅😅😅
Idk what i expected but it wasnt Merlin basically being Ice King halfway thru lol
0:15 there isn’t a downside to the monkeys paw, just ask my totally alive son!
I love the little owl house reference at 5:40
Heres one idea. When you can see into the future and predict everything, Life just becomes boring after awhile or he saw that the woman he trained would guide the future when he was gone. As powerful as Merlin was, he could not escape death in the end. So he gave into his feelings and followed them down his path he knew wouldn't work out for him. But really knows, I can't tell you what possible futures Merlin saw
I once heard a story where a man could see the lifespan of people around him and the woman he fell in love with had only 7 years left to live. Even though he could have avoided the pain of her death by not marrying her, he decided against that and enjoyed the short time they had with each other. I think Merlin felt the same way, even though the woman would lead to he doom, he cherished those moments with her and I believe as he slowly withered in that cave he remembered the good times he had with her. To an outsider he died a fool's death, but to him he died happy.
@@johanroyce6324 true but still based on what we were told it was creepy and one sided lol
5:40 The Owl House!
To make things more skeevy, Nimue wasn't even a teenager when Merlin started creeping on her.
Was that Archimedes the Owl from Sword in the Stone?