Myrddin—environmentalist and prophet?

https://www.disneyclips.com/images3/swordinstone.html

There are many Merlins. Most readers know him as a wizard in a pointy hat from animated screen depictions such as the Sword in the Stone, or an old-school druidical advisor to King Arthur, or as the young man with medical training who also has the Sight from Mary Stewart’s the Crystal Cave. My own Myrddin, in Spear, is an abusive, power-hungry sorcerer of minor talent who in Early Medieval Wales pimps out his sister, Elen, to the sidhe in exchange for magic objects and influence. But whether druid, prophet, wizard or counsellor Myrddin is almost always portrayed as rather gender nonconforming—much more likely to be wandering about under the trees having visions than blundering about the battlefield having awesome sex after whacking enemies heads off with swords.

But Merlin as an environmentalist, as the authors of a recent paper suggest in the Guardian?1 The Myrddin Poetry Project is a three-year project by Welsh academics to translate over a 100 old Welsh poems about Myrddin. Some of these date to tenth century—though they purport to be about an earlier, ‘Dark Ages’ figure. I haven’t read the translations (not the new ones, anyway) but I wonder if Merlin-as-environmentalist might be pushing things a little too far—though I understand the need for nifty, headline-worthy soundbites. But, well why not? Maybe it’s time to rescue him from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s portrayal and rehabilitate him. I won’t be able to make up my mind until I read all the new translations—which I will.

You can, too. The project is up in beta—and it is very beta—and very definitely worth a look.

Many thanks to Mary in Chicago for pointing this out—I’ve been buried in my own concerns the last couple of weeks and had completely missed it. ︎