Who Is Merlin & How Strong Is He? Fate’s GRAND CASTER Merlin Explained!

who is Merlin and how strong is he well aside from being one of a select few servants in the caster class who have had the privilege of holding the title of grand he is also what could very well be the most impactful figure in Arthurian legend without his influence the Pendragon name wouldn't even exist and Sabre would have never been born Britain would have likely fall into the Saxons centuries earlier and there would be no knights of the round table so I think it's safe to say that Merlin is fairly important but what makes someone like him a grand servant well he's an existence greater than that of a regular servant one that classifies him as the greatest heroic spirit of his class which means there can only be a total of seven grand servants at any given time with their purpose being to prevent the extinction of mankind at the hands of the beasts of calamity a type of creature that we've only recently seen summoned forth an episode 15 of bait grant order Babylonian of which Merlin himself mentions that these seven grants are needed to defeat it but the details on those beasts and the seven grants are a topic for another day today we're going to focus on what exactly the mythical figure Merlin did in his life in order to grant him the role as grant caster of fate and mages of flowers let's begin Merlin's historical and mythological story does not have a singular origin his existence is one that draws from numerous different tales and myths that all speak of a similar figure though the one that relates most to the Merlin from fate is the Merlin depicted in Geoffrey of Monmouth's historia regum Brittani written in 11:36 ad it begins with Merlin's birth he was born a mixed breed of Incubus from his father and human from his mother a human who was supposedly thought to be the Princess of Wales but with the blood of a demon flowing through his veins so did the full range of abilities that came with it mainly the ability to change forms through powerful illusion magic which already brings up an interesting characteristic about him although the form that were most familiar with for Merlin is this youthful human-like male that doesn't necessarily mean that it's his true form that like so many other things about him remains mystery similarly the full extent of Merlin's birth and childhood aren't completely known either the story behind his life only becomes more prominent when he re-emerged in legend as a remarkable child prophet with one of the most notable cases dating back to a fateful interaction Merlin would have with the 5th century King of Britain no more dagur to set the stage King more dagger and would bind himself on the retreat against the relentless forces of the Saxons you see after recently losing a battle and falling back into Wales he decides that here would be the best place to set up a defensive stronghold but any progress made towards constructing this castle was bound to be demolished the next day as if the very land it was being built on refused to allow any such building to exist on it unable to solve this perplexing issue more adjourns magicians advise him to seek out a boy with no father kill that boy then mix his blood into the very material that the castle was to be built out of that was supposedly going to prevent it from crumbling again so border Jordans men would travel to the far reaches of the land until finally encountering Merlin and bringing him to the king however rather than just accepting his fate at the hands of some king and his foolish magicians Merlin would instead sculpin even going as far as to mock the king himself were so easily accepting what was quite clearly idiotic advice Merlin would then provide his own advice proceeding to state the exact reason for the strongholds collapse day after day you see Merlin foresaw two beasts living under the land that the king was trying to build on a couple of sleeping dragons one red and one white trapped inside an underground lake so not only was the foundation not sturdy enough to be built on but the ground would also rumble from whenever the Dragons awoke and fought each other as ridiculous as this prophecy was it was soon revealed to be the truth those dragons which emerged from the pit would then serve as the basis for additional prophecies ones more prevalent to the future of Britain as a whole you see the Red Dragons symbolized Britain while they white dragons symbolized to the Saxons and while these dragons spot their struggle displayed events that dictated the future of Britain first Merlin foresaw that Britain would momentarily win against the Saxons through the leadership of none other than the Boer of Cornwall the banner of King Arthur then six descendants of Arthur would continue to rule over the land until the Saxons would return and successfully take it for themselves that was Merlin's prophecy after witnessing firsthand Merlin's power these prophecies would hold a great weight with King Vorta jur so he would choose to keep Merlin alive as a sort of advisor consulting him whatever he was in need of knowing the outcome of a battle or personal event one of which included his own death this placed Merlin into a position where he could continue to advise the future kings of Britain for years to come first was Aurelius Ambrosius assisting Aurelius and his brother Arthur through numerous battles against the Saxons Elias would eventually be assassinated through poison allowing Luther to succeed the throne on the same night of Aurelius his death and other succession Merlin would spot a comet lumen aiding the night sky with a trail that resembled the form of a dragon because a new king had just been crowned Roland saw that comet to be symbolic of Luther's reign he declared the dragon to become luther symbol and from it came the surname Pendragon a legendary name that would be passed down to others child Arthur a child who would not have come to be without the assistance of Merlin you see King Uther fell in love with the Duke of Cornwall wife in green and his lust for her was so insatiable that not only did it cause the Duke to rebel against him but it also made Luther demand the aid of Berlin to win her over in exchange for his help Luther would give Merlin the rights to raise his child who as we know would eventually become King Arthur so while the Duke of Cornwall was away fighting against fooders army Merlin would use his illusion magic to disguise Luther as the Duke the illusion was so well done that not even a grain could tell that it was a Tyrell husband this gave Luther the opportunity to sleep with her resulting in the eventual birth of Arthur now here's where fate starts to insert its own little details not only was Arthur born a girl but with the help of Merlin our Toria would be born infused with a dragon's magical energy similar to Siegfried she pretty much has the blood of dragons flowing through her veins meaning rather than having magic circuits which are more normal amongst humans our Toria possesses a magic core giving her a mana capacity that bar surpasses the limits of any human so with our Toria born as per Reuters Agreement she would be raised and cared for by Merlin the thing is this child was prophesized to be the next great ruler of Britain but given her biological gender it was something that didn't even seem possible she could never officially become the successor of othor that's why when Uther died the whole selection process for the next king was dependent on who could pull Caliban from the stone but until that time would come Merlin and a few others would be responsible for artorias upbringing giving her a proper education and training her in the ways of the sword for much of her early life with his Incubus abilities Merlin was even able to enter artorias dreams and continue teaching her there over time she would grow to become a knight that was worthy of sitting in the king's throne before that would happen though she would first have to go through the famous sort of selection event a challenge crafted by none other than Merlin himself which would work to solidify our tariqas rule over Britain what he did was Forge then seal the sword caliber and deep into a block of stone anyone who could successfully pull the sword from where it lay would immediately be declared the one true king of Britain many tried and just as many failed there were even plants to give up as pulling the sword seemed like an impossible task and perhaps it was or at least it may have been up until our torria approached the stone herself as she had prepared for this moment her entire life she was determined to draw this sword with all her might but first Merlin needed her to know that should she pull this sword and inherit the role of king then only a miserable death would await her at the end of this path going on to show her the pitiful events of her final moments of course our Toria had accepted long ago the fate bestowed upon her at Birth proceeding to draw the sword without hesitation and become a king who under Merlin's guidance would become a benevolent ruler defeating many of Britain's enemies and bringing prosperity to the people now along the way the issue of an heir would become more prominent although our Toria was married to Lady Guinevere she wasn't able to bear a child due to artorias female biology this was where Merlin had to step in using his mage craft he turned our Toria into a pseudo male one capable of producing sperm granting him his newest title of dick wizard extraordinaire however the heir intended to be born by lady Guinevere was instead stolen by artorias sister Morgan with a resulting in the birth of the homunculus Mordred later in life arc Toria would break her trusted sword Caliburn in a battle against king pelinore Merlin was tasked with fighting its replacement so he took our Toria to the Lady of the lake where she would give our Toria both Excalibur and its scabbard Avalon bringing us now to the forefront of our Turia's legend and her inevitable doubtful after birthing the idea of the knights of the round table and providing much guidance throughout many of fronts on Britain Merlin would force see how more tooths rebellion combined with Lance Lots affair would lead to the collapse of our toria's reign but rather than warn her of her impending fate Merlin would instead leave Britain without saying a word essentially abandoning our Toria on her fruitless quest the only thing he could do for her was wish that she may one day have the opportunity to find her own happiness now the reason he left was due to some issues he was having with a particular love affair some claimed it to be with the Lady of the lake while others state that it was with Morgan laughs any either way one of them was a bit too much for Merlin leaving him no choice but to flee to a place known as the reverse side of the world this is a layer of the world where the laws from the age of the gods still exist allowing fantazmo beasts and divine spirits to reside within it in this world there exists an area known as Avalon the land of the eternal spring a perfect utopia completely cut off from the rest of the world and free of the touch of mankind here there is no decay or destruction and it's here that Merlin cannot stop he didn't intend to stay here forever though it was merely to hide from one of his crazy lovers he thought he was in a place where he could not be reached but after stumbling into the confines of Avalon Merlin found himself caught in a trap set by the Lady of the lake he passed through a gate that triggered stone walls of infinite Heights to emerge from the ground around him the structure that formed was pretty much a tower with no roof creating a prison from which Merlin could not escape and because he was in the Utopia of Avalon he couldn't die either this meant that this tower would serve as Merlin's prison for the rest of eternity allowing the Lady of the lake to keep Merlin to herself forever eventually coming to be known as the garden of Avalon the construct from which Merlin cannot leave and cannot die all he can do is simply observe humanity until the end of time such is the fate of Merlin a fitting end for someone who used his power of prophecy to manipulate the fate of a single girl now before we move on to Merlin's powers and abilities there's a couple more fates specific things to note while on his journey from Camelot to the reverse side of the world Merlin would encounter the infant beast Cathal ugh aka ho he would take the opportunity to tame the Beast and keep it as his familiar this meant that both of them would end up trapped within the gate of Avalon after about a thousand years Merlin would witness Sabres final moments in the fifth Holy Grail war it reminded him of how he left her and how he wished for her to find her own happiness when he was finally able to see that she did he felt that bull should do the same so Merlin decides to free the Beast from the garden of Avalon and tells it to seek out that which is beautiful leading foe down a path where it would eventually end up at kebaya which brings us to where we are now in faith Grand order Babylonia another thing to note is that since Merlin has yet to die and be moved to the throne of Heroes he can't technically be summoned as a servant at any point after he was born since he's technically still alive but because Babylonia takes place before that before Merlin had ever arrived at Avalon he's able to arrange something with Gilgamesh that allows him to be summoned as a caster class servant allowing him to temporarily escape from his eternal prison and Avalon aside from that though there's still plenty more behind the myth of Merlin but every depiction of him seems to tell us differently one thing is for sure though Merlin had some significant influence on the fate/stay night and fate of Grand order timelines I mean he is the sole reason for the existence of numerous key servants from Arthurian legend based on his myth without him I don't think that there would be saber or Mordred or any of the Knights the round table so it's pretty clear that he's an important figure but the second question now is how strong is he as a servant as someone who was referred to as a grand caster the pinnacle of the entire caster class he is very proficient at made craft his proficiency is further improved by his incubus heritage but what classifies him as a mage of the highest order is none other than his ability of clairvoyance an ability that up until now we've simply been referring to as his prophecies prophecy is the more tame way of putting it though clairvoyance encapsulate s' much more than simply predicting the future it allows the owner of this ability to observe their surroundings with absolute perfection everything from the location and people to the very events unfolding around them are observed and understood with complete accuracy they're referred to as the eyes which see through the world only mages who possess these eyes are capable of ascending to the status of Grand in history there have been a total of only three who possess these eyes however each functioned a little differently some could observe the future while others could witness the past but Orleans did neither his could only see the present and what he sees while in the present is the absolute truth of everything so those eyes of clairvoyance are one of his more unique abilities another would be his noble phantasm called garden of Avalon the forever sealed utopia though other than the visual effects and buffs that we see applied in the fate Grand order game there's not much on what this noble phantasm actually does if I had to guess I'd say that it's something similar to mash his defence wall in which he can bring forth the illusion of the garden of Avalon and with it buff not only himself but also his allies hopefully it's something that we'll get to see in the anime other than that though the rest of his abilities remain unknown just like his origin and his end the full extent of his power is also shrouded in mist Merlin likes to keep his true power under wraps so it's hard to say if we'll ever get to see what that could entail he even says that he prefers to use a sword over mage craft since he finds it difficult to complete incantations and that's even with his high speed incantation skill but don't get me wrong that doesn't necessarily mean he's weak as the one who trained our torria in swordsmanship it's believable when he says that he can hold his own with a sword what isn't believable is when he says that mage craft isn't his forte reason being Merlin is a naturally lazy individual he prefers to observe / intervene and this combined with his lack of attachment to any one person could mean that he intentionally holds himself back in combat the fact that we rarely ever see any of his spells in action means that we can't properly gauge how strong he is but we can't take into consideration his other skills then go from there alongside high speed incantation which he pretty much never uses he also has territory creation item construction and independent manifestation independent manifestation is the strongest since it allows him to manifest himself into reality as a heroic spirit without the support of the Grail it's what Merlin used to support his existence in Babylonia now in terms of personal skills his influence behind artorias ascent to power birthed what's known as hero creation as the world's most prominent kingmaker it refers to a skill that allows him to artificially give birth to and raise a king in a similar vein Merlin also naturally possesses the skill charisma a skill that refers to his charm as an individual that allows him to unify a group of people finally it should come as no surprise but Merlin has a mastery over what's known as illusionism stemming from his Incubus half it's a type of mage craft that allows him to project illusionary constructs into a person's psyche or onto reality itself meaning he can make nightmares out of dreams or manifest entire villages into the real world and deceives the people around him once again though the limits as to what he can project Stoll aren't known now if we take all of this into consideration even though we don't know any of his spells which likely make him significantly stronger he probably doesn't even need them to get by his natural skills like charisma and hero creation in combination with his mastery of manipulation over other people are key strengths that worked to bring out the utmost potential of the people around him that may not seem like enough to qualify someone as a grant caster but I'm sure that if we ever did get the opportunity to witness him go all out in a battle his grant caster title would be more than bidding until then we'll just have to imagine all the types of spells that Merlin has in his arsenal anyway that's pretty much everything that you need to know about Merlin he's a mythological figure from Arthurian legend whose very being is derived from a complex network of stories there's no single true account of his myths and these sense of mystery that comes from that is also applied onto his fate counterpart but I think having someone like that at the top of the caster class is actually pretty good since it doesn't set in place a sealing as to how powerful a caster could be really we can only speculate as to what Merlin's limits are so if you've got some interesting ideas yourselves then let me know in the comments how strong you think Merlin is now before I go don't forget to vote in the community poll for the next servant that I cover also feel free to check out some of my other videos while you wait for the next fete one but as always thank you so much for watching and if you enjoyed this type of anime content then you already know what to do so until next time ciao

Channel: AniNews

Views: 370,856

Keywords: Merlin, aninews, fate merlin, caster fate, who is merlin, merlin explained, fate grand order, fate grand order merlin, fgo merlin, fgo, fate lore, merlin lore, how strong is merlin, caster merlin, fate grand order babylonia, grand caster, grand caster fate, fate grand caster explained, merlin grand caster, merlin story, what is grand caster, babylonia merlin, fate, fate anime, fate go, fate explained, fate servant profile, fate grand order babylonia episode

Id: TfTOhaP2_WA

Length: 18min 46sec (1126 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 15 2020