Works involving the mythical figure Merlin have been popular since the renewed interest in the legend of King Arthur in modern times. As noted by Arthurian scholar Alan Lupack, "numerous novels, poems and plays center around Merlin. In American literature and popular culture, Merlin is perhaps the most frequently portrayed Arthurian character."
Film
The Green Knight (2021), played by Emmet O'Brien. Hellboy (2019), played by Brian Gleeson. The Kid Who Would Be King (2019), played by Angus Imrie (young form) and Patrick Stewart (true form). Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), played by Stanley Tucci. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017), played by Kamil Lemieszewski. Kingsman film franchise (2015–present), played by Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle) and Djimon Hounsou (The King's Man); here, Merlin is a title rather than a person. Avalon High (2010), the Disney Channel Original Movie based on Meg Cabot's 2005 novel of the same name, played by Joey Pollari; in this version, the character of Miles is the reincarnation of Merlin. The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010), played by James A. Stephens. Merlin and the War of the Dragons (2008), played by Simon Lloyd Roberts. Shrek the Third (2007), voiced by Eric Idle. The Last Legion (2007), played by Ben Kingsley. Merlin's Apprentice (2006), played by Sam Neill. King Arthur (2004), played by Stephen Dillane; in this version, Merlin is presented as a Celtic Druid instead of a wizard. The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2001), played by Robert Davi. Merlin: The Return (1999), played by Rik Mayall. Quest for Camelot (1998), voiced by John Gielgud. Merlin (1998), played by Sam Neill. In the miniseries, Merlin fights the pagan goddess Queen Mab.Morton, Jennie (2008) "Of Magicians and Masculinity: Merlin and the Manifestation of the New Man," UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity: Vol. 4: No. 1, Article 6. Merlin: The Quest Begins (1998), played by Jason Connery. Stargate SG-1 (1997), played by Matthew Walker and by Michael Shanks when inhabiting the character Daniel's body. Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996), played by George Milan. Kids of the Round Table (1995), played by Malcolm McDowell. A Kid in King Arthur's Court (1995), played again by Ron Moody. Merlin and the Dragons (1991), narrated film by Kevin Kline. Dragon and Slippers (1991), voiced by Tony Randall. Vasantha Sena (1985), played by Shobana. Arthur the King (1983), played by Edward Woodward. Knightriders (1981), played by Brother Blue. Excalibur (1981), played by Nicol Williamson. Le Dernier métro (1980), played by Marcel Berbert. The Spaceman and King Arthur (1979), played by Ron Moody; Merlin is, in a rather unusual fashion, portrayed as an evil character. Licensed to Love and Kill (1979), played by John Arnatt. Son of Dracula (1974), played by Ringo Starr. Camelot (1967), played by Laurence Naismith. 7 Faces of Dr Lao (1964), played by Tony Randall. The Sword in the Stone (1963), the Disney animated adaptation of T.H. White's book, voiced by Karl Swenson. Siege of the Saxons (1963), played by John Laurie. Lancelot and Guinevere (1963), played by Mark Dignam. The Wizard of Baghdad (1960); at the film's end, a genie played by Dick Shawn is told his next assignment will be as Merlin. Santa Claus (1959), played Armando Arriola. Faites-moi confiance (1954), played by Pierre Larquey. Knights of the Round Table (1953), played by Felix Aylmer. Adventures of Sir Galahad (1949), played by William Fawcett. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), played by Murvyn Vye. A Connecticut Yankee (1931), played by Brandon Hurst. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1921), played by William V. Mong.
Games
In Age of Wonders II and Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, Merlin is a playable character. In Curses, Merlin is an important figure in the story's history. In Fate/Grand Order, Merlin is playable as a Caster-class servant. Merlin's female 'Prototype' is a playable Caster-class servant debuted in the Arcade version of the game, who later became playable in the original mobile version under the name Lady Avalon. In the arcade game Gauntlet, Merlin is one of the four playable heroes. His role in the game series continued until Gauntlet IV for the Sega Genesis. In Blazing Dragons, Merlin, renamed Mervin, is Sir George's wizard companion, advisor and sidekick of Castle Grim, and antagonist. He is voiced by Rob Paulsen. The Disney version of Merlin appears in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, and Kingdom Hearts III. This Merlin is depicted in the same way as he appeared in Disney's film The Sword in the Stone. Though silent in the original game, he has audible dialogue provided by Jeff Bennett in the sequel. In Magic and Mayhem, Merlin is the game's final antagonist. In Master of Magic, Merlin is one of the predefined wizards. In RuneScape, Merlin is a part of three quests, including Merlin's Crystal (a quest to free Merlin and become one of the Knights of the Round Table), The Holy Grail, and King's Ransom. In Sonic and the Black Knight, the character Merlina is based on Merlin. Merlin is Merlina's grandfather. In the 2013 video game Soul Sacrifice, Merlin was the game's antagonist. In the English version of the game, he is known as the Magusar. Merlin reappeared in the game's sequel, Soul Sacrifice Delta, to conclude the Magusar's story. In Wizard101, the character Merlin (who presents himself as "Merle Ambrose") is the headmaster of Ravenwood School of Magical Arts and assigns players multiple quests. In Young Merlin, the player follows Merlin in his youth. In Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II, Merlin gives the protagonist, Mike, psychic abilities to help him throughout the game. In the Avalon variant of The Resistance, Merlin is given knowledge at the start of every game who the evil players are, but must keep his identity secret or else the evil players can redeem a lost game by correctly guessing which player is Merlin. In SMITE: Battleground of the Gods, Merlin is a playable character. In Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, Merlin is a side mission and a playable character. In Disney Dreamlight Valley, the Disney version of Merlin appears as a villager and guide for the player. In Hogwarts Legacy, players can find puzzles called Trials of Merlin, and solve them for extra inventory space.
Literature
Mark Twain presents Merlin in his 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court as a complete charlatan with no real magical powers. The character seems to stand for (and to satirize) superstition. However, near the end of the book, Merlin seems to possess real magical powers. C.S. Lewis used the figure of Merlin Ambrosius in his 1946 novel That Hideous Strength, the third book in The Space Trilogy. In it, Merlin has supposedly lain asleep for centuries to be awakened for the battle against the materialistic agents of the devil, able to consort with the angelic powers because he came from a time when sorcery was not yet a corrupt art. Lewis' character of Ransom has apparently inherited the title of Pendragon from the Arthurian tradition. Merlin also mentions "Numinor", a nod to J.R.R. Tolkien's Númenor. In John Cowper Powys' novel Porius: A Romance of the Dark Ages (1951), Myrddin Wyllt, or Merlin the Wild, is the Emperor Arthur's counselor, a major character in the story. Powys identifies him with Cronos, or Saturn, the father of Zeus.Powys, John Cowper. " 'Preface' or anything you like to Porius"; "The Characters of the Book". The Powys Newsletter 4, 1974–5, p. 17. Merlin also plays an important part in Powys's A Glastonbury Romance (1934)A Glastonbury Romance. London: Macdonald, 1955, p. 571: and Morwyn (1937).London: Village Press, 1974, p. 87. Merlin Ambrosius and other aspects of Arthurian mythology appear in a semi-science fiction context in Theodore Sturgeon's short story Excalibur and the Atom (1951). In the novel Merlín e Familia (1955) written by the Galician author Álvaro Cunqueiro, Merlin dwells in the Galician forest of Esmelle and is visited by mythical figures seeking magical advice. This story synthesizes Arthurian legend and Galician folktales. Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series (first published between 1965 and 1977) has Merlin as the central character in an Arthurian fantasy series about the battle between "the Dark and the Light". Some of the child characters know him as "Gummerry" (a contraction of Great Uncle Merry). He is also variously known as Professor Merriman Lyon, Merry Lyon, Mer-lion, and Merlin. In T.H. White's 1958 Arthurian retelling, The Once and Future King, "Merlyn" has a curious affliction of living backward in time to everyone else. This affliction also appears in Dan Simmons' Hyperion (1989) as the "Merlin sickness". A related novel to The Once and Future King is The Book of Merlyn (1977). In Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (first published between 1970 and 1979), Myrddin Emrys (Merlin Ambrosius) is the protagonist of the first two novels, The Crystal Cave (1970) and The Hollow Hills (1973), which are based on earlier traditions of the character. The last book of the trilogy, The Last Enchantment, and a related book, The Wicked Day, focus more on Arthur and Mordred, though the former is still told from Merlin's viewpoint. Stewart portrays Aurelius Ambrosius (brother to Uther Pendragon) as his father, and thus makes him Arthur's cousin. In the end, Merlin goes mad due to Morgause's poison. Merlin's Mirror (1975) by Andre Norton, tells the story of the half-human, half-alien Merlin. Merlin (1978) by Robert Nye is a bawdy, anti-Christian version of the Arthurian story, as relived by Merlin after Nimue had trapped him. Though dedicated to Malory, it draws rather from the earlier texts, curiously intertwining references to Kaballah and explicit erotic passages. Merlin plays a modern-day villain in Roger Zelazny's short story The Last Defender of Camelot (1979), which won the 1980 Balrog Award for short fiction and was adapted into an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone in 1986. Cyr Myrddin, the Coming of Age of Merlin (1979) by Michael de Angelo is the story of the early life of Merlin as he searches for his destiny. Merlin, called Aurelianus, is a character in Tim Powers' novel The Drawing of the Dark (1979), which describes the reincarnation of King Arthur as an Irishman named Brian Duffy leading the forces of the West into battle against the forces of the East in 16th century Vienna. Stephen King mentions a character called Maerlyn in The Dark Tower series of novels (the first novel published in 1982), as well as the prequel comic The Gunslinger Born (2007). Although this Maerlyn is an adviser to an alternative Earth's version of King Arthur, he appears to be evil, as he sires the evil sorcerer Marten Broadcloak and creates the soul-corrupting Wizard's Rainbow. Marion Zimmer Bradley's 1983 The Mists of Avalon retells the Arthurian legend with Morgan Le Fay as the protagonist, in the tradition of John Gardner's Grendel. It includes two distinct characters who, in succession, hold the title of "The Merlin of Britain", an office which grants leadership of the Druids in the same way that "The Lady of the Lake" is the title of the high priestess of Avalon. René Barjavel's novel L'Enchanteur (1984) tells the story of the Knights of the Round Table and the quest for the Holy Grail from the perspective of Merlin and his relationship with the Lady of the Lake. Arthurian scholar Nikolai Tolstoy (a distant relative of Leo Tolstoy) wrote two books about Merlin, a non-fiction The Quest For Merlin (1985) and a historical fantasy The Coming of the King (1988), the first of an unfinished trilogy. The latter book's depiction of Merlin may be the most historically accurate of all since he lives after Arthur's death. The hero Beowulf even appears as an invader.