MERLIN

Many believe that Merlin is just a character in the Arthurian sagas, while in reality we find the first traces of him in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written in 1136 AD. Although part of this text is an historical account of the birth of the kingdom of Britain, Merlin was included as a fictitious character (although probably the author wanted to present him as a figure from very ancient and lost texts). He was initially a paradoxical character, on the one hand he was the son of the devil and on the other a devoted servant of God.

Geoffrey was inspired by the prophet and madman Myrddin Wyllt of Welsh mythology, fusing him with the British commander Ambrosius Aurelianus, creating a powerful spellcaster called Merlin Ambrosius. The same monk Nennius in his Historia Brittonum used a character called Ambrosius.

In the Historia Brittonum, the usurper Vortigern wanted to erect a tower, but before being completed, it collapsed inexorably. His diviners told him that to prevent this, he would have to sprinkle the blood of a child born without a father on the foundation. Ambrosius (who had been conceived in a mysterious way and therefore it was believed that he did not have a father) was therefore brought before Vortigern and explained that the tower continued to collapse because two enormous dragons, one white and one red, were dozing beneath it. they represented the Saxons and the Britons. Ambrosius therefore convinced Vortigern that the tower could only be built if he himself had been elected in charge of those lands, and so he took possession of it.

Without forgetting that Merlin is also the guardian of the Holy Grail, the cup that heals from all evil. It was he, in fact, who planned the enterprise when Arthur fell ill and his knights were in league with each other on the verge of civil war. The wise sorcerer, rather than allowing the king to drink directly from the sacred chalice to save him, decided to send the knights to find out where the relic was hidden and, after finding the Grail, he appointed Parsifal guardian of the precious object.

Merlin as well as a great key figure in many events linked to the Round Table and the famous Sword in the Stone, was also a "magician in love" with the beautiful Viviana, whom he met in the forest of Brocèliande, a fascinating place, sacred to the Celts, the wood of the fairies and of mirages which corresponds to the real forest of Paimpont.

Legend has it that Merlin was in Benoico on a mandate from the king and, on his return, crossing the aforementioned forest, he met the wonderful twelve-year-old lady of Lake Viviana at the Fairy spring, with whom he fell in love.

A very strong feeling blossomed between the two and the magician, as a sign of devotion, promised the girl to reveal all his secrets, except one, and to seduce her he gave her proof of some of his charms that conquered her.

Viviana, in love in turn, gave the magician the gift of youth.

When by now Arthur's kingdom seemed lost forever, Merlin decided to reveal even the only secret he kept jealously hidden and it was at that point that she, drawing magic circles around the good sorcerer, made him her prisoner, and she with him, bound by this eternal and indissoluble Love.

Today, it is said that the miraculous water of the Fairy spring, where Viviana and Merlin's strong love resides, boils as the visitor passes as a sign of greeting and good wishes, and would be a good cure for the ailments of the soul and of the mind troubled by sorrows.

Merlin, therefore, ultimately becomes an emblem of healing and a symbol of absolute Love.

A sort of deus ex machina, through which the resolution of problematic events takes place, but also the unexpected that shakes consciences and leads Good to always win against Evil.

It is the victory of the light that inexorably defeats the darkness!