SOURCE: "Mary Stewart's Merlin: Word of Power," Arthurian Interpretations, Vol. 1, No. 2, Spring, 1987, pp. 70-83.

In the following essay, Watson examines the ways in which Merlin symbolizes the "word of power" in that he is a visionary who is privy to the knowledge and wisdom of the gods.

The Merlin of Mary Stewart's trilogy—The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment—is a man of many roles: prophet, prince, enchanter, king-maker, teacher, engineer, physician, poet, and singer. But in all of these, he is first and foremost a man of power. Merlin's power is the power of knowledge, knowledge revealed progressively through active preparation and wise waiting. "Power," says Merlin, "is doing and speaking with knowledge; it is bidding without thought, and knowing that one will be obeyed". This kind of knowledge and power is of the spirit, coming from the god, as the god wills...