Yolen says that she is interested in the father-son relationship between Merlin and King Arthur, and she cites "The Dragon's Boy" as an effort to depict that relationship.

In that story, Merlin is called Linn, and he is much older than Artos (a play on the Celtic for bear; in an early chronicle, the leader of the Britons in their war against the Saxons was referred to as "bear" or "the bear," without being given a name). In Passager, Hobby, and Merlin, Merlin is barely a young adult when he befriends the young Cub (whom Merlin renames "Artus").

264 Passager Passager ends with Merlin at eight years of age, but Hobby, the second novella in the Young Merlin Trilogy, opens with him at twelve years of age and on his own, again.

In both Hobby and Merlin, Merlin learns some harsh lessons about humanity and about his...