Merlin

Merlin is the deuteragonist of Disney's 1963 animated feature film The Sword in the Stone. Regarded as the world’s most powerful wizard, Merlin tasks himself in educating a young boy named Arthur. Though wise in his own right, Merlin's absentmindedness tends to complicate his teachings—especially in the eyes of his crotchety familiar, Archimedes.

Background

Merlin is a wizard of unspecified origin who is first seen living in a forest cottage. It is unknown how he acquired his pet owl, Archimedes, but he certainly gave him an education, which he would later attempt to pass down to Arthur Pendragon, a feat of which Merlin seems to be proud. He also met Madam Mim and became a bitter enemy to her.

Personality and Appearance

Merlin is a wizard of unspecified origin, who is first seen living in a forest cottage. He is a very wise character who believes in the philosophy of "Brain over Brawn". To this end, Merlin values education as opposed to the war-training philosophies shared by much of the rest of society. He also warns Arthur not to believe that magic will solve every problem. Despite his wisdom, he can be absentminded and forgetful, as well as clumsy, with his long beard often getting tangled up in whatever he might be doing.

Looks-wise, Merlin has the appearance of an elderly grandfatherly-type gentleman with a kind face, white hair, and a long white beard. He wears glasses and his signature attire is a long blue vestment and a pointed wizard hat.

Powers and Abilities

• Magic: As a wizard, Merlin shows a wide variety of powers and is generally hailed as being the greatest and most powerful wizard in the world.
  • Foresight: He shows an ability to see into the future, though not completely. He often references his knowledge of the future when speaking to others, leaving them understandably confused.
  • Animal transformations: Merlin possesses a well-developed ability to shape-shift as he was able to change into various animals, including a fish, a squirrel, a turtle, a hare, a caterpillar, a walrus, a mouse, a crab, a goat (all of which were blue), and a germ.
  • Enchantment: Merlin can cast spells to imbue a subject with magical properties. He demonstrated enchanting all of his possessions to shrink in size to fit into a bag, levitate objects, summon objects verbally or with a gesture, transform someone into an animal, conjure indoor snowfall, and so on.
  • Animation: Merlin can use his magic to animate inanimate objects to move with a life and will of their own, and even for them to develop a personality, such as his Sugar Bowl.
  • Alchemy: Among Merlin's belongings included what was apparently a laboratory for alchemy, indicating he is knowledgeable in making potions and transmutation.
  • Abjuration: Merlin can dispel magic with but a single word 'Alakazam', such as dispelling the dishes he'd enchanted to wash and sort themselves, and reverting a subject to its true form.
  • Time-travel: Merlin is able to travel various timespans and can see into the future. If he's that able to time-travel, he can see vehicles and technology into modern timelines (such as he mentions them to Arthur, much to his confusion).

Appearances

The Sword in the Stone

Merlin is first seen getting water from his well and preparing afternoon tea in his cottage, having predicted that a young boy will soon join him. He admits that the specific identity is unknown to him at the time. He later meets a pre-teen orphan named Arthur, commonly known as Wart, after the boy literally drops through Merlin's roof when trying to reach for the arrow. Merlin speaks to Wart about the value of an education and decides to appoint himself as Wart's tutor. After Wart explains that he must return to his castle, Merlin decides to accompany him and displays his magical abilities by shrinking all his possessions so that they fit into a small carpetbag. As he and Wart leave his cottage, he gets his beard caught to the closed door, so he pulled to get it off, then makes a mess of his beard.

They arrive at the castle of Wart's foster father, Sir Ector. Though Sir Ector initially disapproves, Merlin is able to persuade him through a display of magic, which frightens the man into accepting Merlin's offer. Merlin, who is mistakenly called "Marvin" by Ector, is provided the "guest room", which is revealed to be a crumbling, teetering tower.

The next day, Merlin begins Wart's education, teaching him the principle of the brain over brawn by transforming Wart into a fish. During the adventure, Merlin, also in fish form, is trapped in an old helmet while Wart is chased by a giant pike. Merlin forgets the magic words to change them both back, but Archimedes manages to save the boy from the vicious fish. Merlin then comes out of the water with the helmet now on his head (having apparently remembered the appropriate spell), wondering aloud what a monster like that is doing in the moat and vowing to "turn him into a minnow!" but is distracted by the need to turn Arthur back to human form.

Later, Merlin goes to retrieve Wart for another lesson, but he is being forced to clean the entire kitchen as punishment for being late as a result of the previous lesson. Merlin uses his magic to enchant the various kitchen objects to make them clean themselves, and sneaks Wart out. Merlin transforms himself and Wart into squirrels. Merlin and Wart are both pursued as mates by two female squirrels. Merlin grows increasingly annoyed and finally transforms back into a human out of anger. He then transforms Wart, much to the sorrow of the young female squirrel who had been chasing the boy. Merlin then sympathetically explains love to his student.

Back at the castle, Merlin is insulted by Sir Ector, who believes that Merlin's magical enchantment of the kitchen objects was the result of black magic, then magically disappears after being threatened by the Scullery Maid. Sir Ector thinks that Merlin will cast an evil spell on him and Kay, and calls him an old devil. When Wart protests and tries to defend Merlin and his magic, Sir Ector angrily piles more demerits on the boy, and as punishment, he forbids Wart from making a future trip to a London tournament as Kay's squire. This leads to Wart being replaced by an unseen boy groom named Hobbs. After seeing Wart's sadness, Merlin apologizes, as he knew how much the potential trip to London meant to the boy. He then suggests that Wart uses the opportunity to further his studies and that he can still make something for himself by getting an education.

Merlin begins by talking about various happenings of the future, but the poor boy is so confused that Archimedes decides to take over Wart's education. Despite Merlin's annoyance, he is later pleased to see the boy learning to write with Archimedes' help. Merlin takes the opportunity to show Wart a model airplane. The plane fails to fly, though, because the propeller becomes caught in Merlin's long beard and ends up crashing and sinking into the castle's moat, much to Archimedes's amusement. Wart appreciates the demonstration anyway and confides that he dreams of flying. Seeing an opportunity, Merlin secretly turns Wart into a small bird. Wart then goes flying with Archimedes.

After being told by Archimedes of Wart's capture by Madam Mim, Merlin appears to save his apprentice, and confront Mim. Mim angrily challenges Merlin to a Wizard's Duel, where he turns into a turtle, a rabbit, a caterpillar, a walrus, a mouse, a crab, and a goat. Though initially at an advantage until Mim cheats by transforming into a purple dragon (which is a loophole abuse since she didn't say anything about purple dragons), Merlin wins the duel by cleverly transforming into a germ (which is also a loophole), disarming Mim's dragon transformation and forcing her to stay in bed for a few weeks.

Later, Wart happily informs Merlin that he has been reinstated as the squire to Kay. However, Merlin is disappointed about Wart’s decision to become a squire, as he thought that Wart had finally put aside war games in favor of learning. When Wart tries to explain that being a squire is his best hope and the only thing he has left (since he admits that he doesn't know how to achieve better things in life, especially in time like this), Merlin loses his temper and angrily exclaims "Blow me to Bermuda!" Unfortunately, his magic takes him literally and he takes off like a rocket to Bermuda. Later, he returns to England and is pleased to find out that Wart is now King Arthur, due to pulling the sword from the stone and anvil, and he is happy to tell him how famous he will become in the future.

House of Mouse

Merlin makes cameo appearances in a few episodes of the television series House of Mouse. In "Rent Day", Merlin promises to give Mickey the 50 dollars that he needs to pay the House of Mouse's rent if he can find Arthur a sword. In "Jiminy Cricket", he was seen sitting with Rafiki, King Triton, and Grandmother Willow as part of the "elders" that Jiminy Cricket refers to.

Sofia the First

Merlin makes a guest appearance in the Sofia the First episode "Gone with the Wand". He was very understanding and forgiving to Calista despite her taking his Dragonclaw Wand and it ending up in Morgana's hands. With the help of Cedric and Calista he was able to defeat his arch-enemy. To express his thanks, he gave a red hat to Calista as a gift and promised to always remember his good friend Cedric the Sensational. He also made a return in "Day of the Sorcerers", "Too Cute to Spook", and "The Great Pretender".

Other appearances

In the series finale of At Home With Olaf, a short clip of The Sword of the Stone featuring Merlin and Arthur appears during a montage of heartwarming moments from Disney films playing in Olaf's song "I Am with You".

Merlin's fish form appears in The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse in the episode "School of Fish" as a teacher. He later makes an appearance in the episode "Disappearing Act".

In Once Upon a Studio, Merlin appears in the The Snuggly Duckling barista with his sugar bowl, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and Lucille Krunklehorn, using his magic to make tea when Moana rushes to him to help Flounder find water, and he uses his magic to cast a spell ("Chapeaulius Bowlius") for water in the Mad Hatter's hat for Flounder to swim in. He later appeared in the group photo along with the rest of Disney characters.

In Wish, Merlin was among the Disney animated characters that appeared during the credits. His stellar image has additional stars forming a magic wave from the tip of his wand.

Video games

Kingdom Hearts series

Merlin appears in the Kingdom Hearts series as a recurring character that aids Sora in the arts of magic. He is typically found in the hub world of each game.

In Kingdom Hearts, Merlin lived in an underground house in Traverse Town, with the Fairy Godmother. Sora met him when delivering the Hundred Acre Wood book to him from Cid. Merlin then teaches him, Donald, and Goofy magic and gives them permission to view the book.

In Kingdom Hearts II, Merlin moved to the reforming Hollow Bastion and lived in the headquarters of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee as the town at the base of the castle steadily rebuilt and grew. He retrieved the Hundred Acre Wood book from Traverse Town and as usual, allowed Sora to view it. He also gave Sora Chicken Little's summon charm.

Later, he is summoned to Disney Castle by Sora, Donald, and Goofy after the power of the Cornerstone of Light is compromised and the Castle is attacked by Maleficent and her hordes of Heartless. Merlin is able to deduce that somehow a portal to the past was being utilized by Maleficent's forces to destroy the Cornerstone of Light before the Castle was constructed in order to weaken its defenses in the present. He summoned a similar portal for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to travel back in time as well in order to prevent the Cornerstone's destruction and seal the enemy's doorway. Merlin realized that the nature of time travel would tempt the three heroes to make changes to the past that would alter the future, and exhorted them to resist any such temptation (although he did not divulge the nature of the world they were traveling to, most likely to avoid giving them ideas beforehand). After Sora, Donald, and Goofy succeeded in their mission and prevented the present version of Pete from trying to steal the Cornerstone while defeating him with support from Captain Pete, Merlin congratulated them and was pleased to see his faith in them was fulfilled, although he did need to sternly remind Donald about his promise not to misuse the doorway's power when he thought to use it to placate Daisy Duck, who was annoyed that he hadn't stopped by for a while and missed their date.^[3]

Merlin seems to have developed a rivalry with Cid, who prefers technology to magic, while Merlin prefers magic to technology. Their rivalry nearly gets out of hand when Cid calls Merlin an "old loon", and Merlin zaps Hollow Bastion's power computer just as Cid finished the CD-ROM needed to stop the Master Control Program, causing the disc to be imbued with magic as well. It is through this mixture that thanks to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, along with Tron, the town's systems are saved. Merlin and Cid later recall that Hollow Bastion was formerly called Radiant Garden and decide to rename it to its former name.

In Birth by Sleep set a decade before in the first game, he was found in Radiant Garden just before the world is engulfed in darkness. He accidentally dropped the book of Hundred Acre Wood, but Terra returned it to him. He gave Terra, and later Ventus and Aqua, permission to view the book at any time, granting the three access to the Hundred Acre Wood Command Board.

In Dream Drop Distance, Yen Sid mentioned to Mickey that Merlin, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather were training Lea's magical ability and Keyblade handling. At the end of 0.2 ~A Fragmentary Passage~, Yen Sid decides to send Kairi there as well so she can train alongside Lea.

In Kingdom Hearts III, Kairi explains in a letter that Merlin had sent her and Lea to a realm where time is stilled, allowing them to train at their own pace. Meanwhile, Merlin contacts Chip and Dale to deliver a message to Sora. Sora, Donald, and Goofy track Merlin to the restaurant Le Grand Bistro in Twilight Town, where the wizard reveals to have Pooh's storybook with him, having once more brought it from Radiant Garden to Twilight Town.

Disney Dreamlight Valley

Merlin is mainly the first Disney character that the player will encounter upon starting a new game, welcoming them to Dreamlight Valley and helping them get accustomed to what their main mission is with restoring the Valley, clearing away all the Night Thorns, and reopening all the biomes in the Valley, serving as the tutorial for when starting a new game until meeting up with the other residents still in the Valley in Mickey, Goofy, and Scrooge. His later friendship quests will power up the Royal Watering Can to help remove mushroom patches found around the Valley, as those serve as the blockage preventing access to the rest of the Glade of Trust until the quests are finished, though his Level 10 friendship quest to upgrade the watering can to take out the larger mushroom patches will require having WALL-E returned to the Valley to unlock it. He's also needed as part of the quest to return Mirabel Madrigal to the Valley, and Stitch as well, along with aiding Elsa with rescuing Olaf, and cooperates with Cinderella's Fairy Godmother to undo the effects of The Forgetting once they identify the source of it in The Forgotten.

Disney Parks

Merlin was a common character hosting the Sword in the Stone ceremony at both the Walt Disney World and Disneyland. In this show, he would allow children to make an attempt to pull the Sword from the Stone and crown the one who succeeds the temporary ruler of Fantasyland. Merlin's show still exists at Hong Kong Disneyland.

Disneyland

In California, Merlin was featured in Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams, usually as a replacement for one of the fairies.

He also used to host the "Sword In The Stone Ceremony" located near King Arthur Carousel in Fantasyland where he encourages guests to pull the sword of Excalibur out of the stone.

Merlin alongside Arthur Pendragon appear during the grand finale of the Magic Happens Parade on their own dedicated float.

Walt Disney World

Merlin is the host of the interactive attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, where he guides guests around the Magic Kingdom park to help him stop Hades and his legion of Disney Villains from stealing the legendary Crystal of the Magic Kingdom and taking over the park. During the journey, Merlin teams up with other Disney protagonists including Pongo, Genie, Rafiki, Kuzco, Pocahontas, Mama Odie, Sebastian, and the Good Fairies. He also has his own spell card known as "Merlin's Fireball".

The scene where Merlin was packing his things during the song Higitus Figitus was among the scenes in the Magic montage of Wonderful World of Animation at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Disneyland Paris

Merlin hosted the shows Magical Celebration and Merlin and the Witch Academy.

In 2012, Merlin took part in Disneyland Paris' 20th Anniversary celebration. In Disney Magic On Parade, Merlin was seen on the back of a float starring "Disney Magicians".

Disney Cruise Line

Onboard the Disney Dream cruise ship, Merlin is one of the "magic makers" of Disney to help a practical father's imagination grow. Merlin can be seen with his magic bag to aid the father. In the end, after the image is restored, Merlin joins the father, his daughter and a cast of Disney characters to celebrate.

Gallery

Trivia

• Merlin is the only character from The Sword and the Stone to become a recurring character in Disney productions after the film's original release. The only other character from the film who could be considered such as Madam Mim, due to her inclusion in the Donald Duck comics and the Disney Villains franchise, though still to a lesser degree than Merlin.
• The exclamation Merlin cries during a crisis, "Jehoshaphat", is the name of the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah.
• Animator Bill Peet based parts of Merlin's appearance and personality off of Walt Disney. Merlin's nose was modeled directly off of Disney's.
• In the 2023 Halloween musical special Mickey and Friends: Trick or Treats, during Witch Hazel's musical number. She mentions that Merlin was one of her former boyfriends and decided to transform him into a statue.

See also

• Merlin (King Arthur)
• Merlin (The Sorcerer's Apprentice)
• Miles
• Merlin (Once Upon a Time)
• Merlin (Legend of the Three Caballeros)

References

External links

• Merlin on Wikipedia
• Merlin on Kingdom Hearts Wiki