47 Fun Facts About Merlin

On which British channel did Merlin air from 2008 to 2012?

Merlin aired on BBC One from 20 September 2008 until its two-part finale, The Diamond of the Day, on 22 and 24 December 2012.

How many series of the BBC's Merlin were made?

Five series were made, 13 episodes each for 65 in total; series one began in September 2008 and series five ended in December 2012.

Who played Merlin in the BBC series?

The Northern Irish actor later played Leo Elster in Humans and Billy Clanton in Belfast.

Why must Merlin hide his powers in Camelot?

King Uther executes sorcerers: since his crackdown twenty years earlier, magic is banned in Camelot on pain of death, so Merlin keeps his gift secret.

What was Uther's crackdown on magic twenty years before the series called?

The Great Purge was Uther's campaign to eradicate magic from Camelot; he executed sorcerers, banned magic on pain of death and chained the last dragon beneath the castle.

What is the name of the Great Dragon imprisoned beneath Camelot?

Kilgharrah is the Great Dragon chained beneath Camelot for twenty years; Aithusa is the white dragon hatched from the last dragon egg in series four.

Who voiced the Great Dragon?

John Hurt voiced the Great Dragon; he had earlier voiced Hazel in Watership Down (1978) and Aragorn in Ralph Bakshi's animated The Lord of the Rings.

Who played Arthur Pendragon?

He later played Damien Thorn in the Omen sequel series Damien.

Who played Morgana?

Katie McGrath played Morgana; she went on to play Lena Luthor in Supergirl and Zara in Jurassic World (2015).

Morgana is eventually revealed to be whose illegitimate daughter?

Uther fathered Morgana with Gorlois's wife Vivienne; he confesses it to Gaius in series three's The Crystal Cave, and her betrayal later leaves him a broken man.

What is Gwen's job when the series begins?

Gwen is Morgana's servant, and the daughter of Tom the blacksmith; Uther later deems her unworthy of Arthur and in series one even sentences her for witchcraft.

Who played Gaius, the court physician?

Richard Wilson played Gaius; he is best known as Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the Grave.

Which Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor played Uther Pendragon?

Anthony Head, Buffy's Rupert Giles, played Uther; he was also the prime minister in Little Britain and Rupert Mannion in Ted Lasso.

Who is the traitor uncle who arrives to help Arthur in series four?

Agravaine, played by Nathaniel Parker, is Queen Ygraine's brother; he blames Uther for her death and secretly serves Morgana throughout series four.

What is Merlin's aged alter ego called?

Dragoon the Great is the old-man disguise Merlin first adopts in series three's Queen of Hearts; the Dolma, an elderly sorceress, is his other disguise in series five.

By what name do the druids and Morgana know Merlin in prophecy?

Emrys is the name the druids and Morgana use for Merlin, whom their prophecies call the greatest sorcerer ever to live; it is the Welsh form of Ambrosius.

What power does Merlin inherit from his father Balinor?

Balinor, played by John Lynch, was the last Dragonlord; when he dies in Merlin's arms in The Last Dragonlord, command over dragons passes to his son.

How does the Great Dragon forge Excalibur in the series?

He keeps demanding his freedom in return for his help.

What is Merlin's home village called?

Ealdor, just across the border in Cenred's kingdom, is Merlin's home village; Arthur travels there to defend it from Kanen's raiders in The Moment of Truth.

Which knight sacrifices himself to close the veil between worlds?

Lancelot walks into the veil at the Isle of the Blessed in The Darkest Hour; the Cailleach had refused Merlin, saying his time among men was not yet over.

Which actor played the knight who began as a commoner and sacrificed himself at the veil?

Macken played Gwaine, Hopper played Percival and Edun played Gwen's brother Elyan.

Which two actors played Mordred at different ages?

Asa Butterfield played Mordred as the druid boy in the early series and Alexander Vlahos the adult knight in series five; the boy Arthur helped free is destined to kill him.

Who played Morgana's half-sister Morgause?

Emilia Fox played Morgause, the high priestess and Morgana's half-sister; Michelle Ryan played the witch Nimueh in series one.

Which Game of Thrones actor played the Witchfinder Aredian?

Charles Dance, Game of Thrones' Tywin Lannister, played Aredian in series two's The Witchfinder; Uther summons him after a villager reports seeing magic.

What curse afflicts the druid girl Freya?

Laura Donnelly played the doomed girl, who later appears as the Lady of the Lake.

Which creature does Morgana implant in Merlin's neck to make him kill Arthur?

The Fomorroh, a serpent-like creature, is planted in Merlin's neck in series four's A Servant of Two Masters, binding him to Morgana's order to kill Arthur.

At which battle does the series climax?

The series ends at Camlann: in The Diamond of the Day Merlin, restored to full power, hurls lightning at the Saxons and drives off the white dragon Aithusa.

How does the final episode end?

He returns Excalibur to the lake, and the scene jumps to the present with Merlin still waiting for Arthur.

Which French castle served as Camelot for filming?

The Château de Pierrefonds in Oise stood in for Camelot; interiors and other locations were filmed in Wales, around Cardiff.

Which production company made Merlin with BBC Wales?

Shine Limited made Merlin for BBC Wales, with FremantleMedia handling international sales; Julie Gardner, BBC Wales's head of drama, was executive producer for the BBC.

Which US network first aired Merlin, in June 2009?

NBC aired the first series from June 2009; the show moved to NBC's sister cable channel Syfy from series two onward.

What BAFTA did Merlin win in 2011?

Rights to the show were sold to more than 180 countries.

Which sorceress does Merlin kill with lightning at the Isle of the Blessed in series one?

Merlin strikes Nimueh down with lightning on the Isle of the Blessed in the series one finale, Le Morte d'Arthur, after she tries to take Gaius's life for Arthur's.

Where in England was the attraction Merlin: The Dragon Tower built?

It included a £150,000 wax model of Colin Morgan and closed in 2014.

What is the name of Merlin's talking owl in Disney's The Sword in the Stone?

Archimedes, Merlin's grumpy, highly educated owl in Disney's 1963 The Sword in the Stone, helps tutor the young Arthur and is voiced by Junius Matthews.

In his traditional biography, Merlin is the son of a mortal woman and what?

This demonic parentage is the source of his prophecy and shapeshifting powers.

In Welsh poetry, what drove the original bard behind Merlin mad?

He fled to live as a wild man of the woods in the 6th century.

What did the boy prophet reveal beneath King Vortigern's collapsing tower?

The white dragon stood for the Saxons and the red for the Britons.

According to Geoffrey, which monument did Merlin build by bringing stones from Ireland?

Geoffrey has Merlin move the Giants' Ring from Mount Killaraus in Ireland to Salisbury Plain as Stonehenge, a memorial to slain Britons where Aurelius Ambrosius was later buried.

Merlin's magic lets Uther enter which castle in disguise to father Arthur?

Merlin transforms Uther into Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, so he can enter Tintagel and lie with Igraine; Arthur is conceived there.

What was the 1150 work by the Merlin legend's creator devoted to the wizard?

Vita Merlini (The Life of Merlin, c. 1150) drew on the older Welsh Myrddin poems; in it the bard Taliesin recalls carrying the wounded Arthur to Avalon.

In the French prose cycles, which student traps Merlin forever?

The Lady of the Lake, called Viviane, Niniane or Nimue depending on the text, learns Merlin's magic and seals him in a tomb or tree, then becomes Arthur's protector.

Which enchanted forest is often the scene of Merlin's imprisonment?

Brocéliande, the enchanted forest of the Arthurian romances, is identified today with the Paimpont forest in Brittany; there Viviane imprisons Merlin.

For how many members did Merlin have Uther establish the Round Table?

In Robert de Boron's Merlin the table has fifty seats, one left empty; Merlin modelled it on the Last Supper table and Joseph of Arimathea's Grail table.

Which Welsh town is traditionally associated with Merlin's name and a famous oak?

Carmarthen, Caerfyrddin in Welsh, is Merlin's traditional birthplace and home of Merlin's Oak; scholars think the name Myrddin was back-formed from Caerfyrddin.

Which Wiltshire site is claimed as one location of Merlin's tomb?

Marlborough Mound, in the grounds of Marlborough College, is claimed as Merlin's tomb; the town's medieval name Merlebergia was read as 'Merlin's barrow'.

Who played Merlin in John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur?

Nicol Williamson played a sardonic, steel-capped Merlin in Excalibur (1981), opposite Nigel Terry as Arthur and Helen Mirren as Morgana.