As a
student on superhero stories (comics and movies), I appreciate a good origin
story. We all want to know where the hero came from—though I thank Marvel for
skipping a third version of Spidey’s origins on the big screen (please do the
same for the Fantastic Four now that they’re back!).
We have it
with Arthur. But we don’t with Merlin. Throughout Arthurian legend, people
speculate that he’s the son of a devil. I think we need to examine and
deconstruct this. Merlin certainly doesn’t seem to act evil. He set up the
conditions that allows Arthur’s birth. He dispenses great wisdom to Arthur. He
sees the future and warns of evil. If anything, he is a force for good.
So why is
he the son of a devil?
By the time
Arthur’s stories are coming out, we’ve had centuries under Christianity since
the Roman Emperor Constantine had made his great transition to Christianity in
the early 300s. So we’ve been under a binary mythological system for all that
time. God is the source of all good and Satan is the source of all evil. There
are no other options. Supernatural power comes from one of these two sources.
Period. End of discussion. If it’s not from God, it’s from the devil.
We also
know that there is only one son of God, Jesus. This is part of why Arthur isn’t
divinely born, and we have to go through all the trouble with the sword to get
the divine mandate. Except, there was a simpler way.