I am just going off the movie 'The Sword In The Stone' and not the King Arthur legend itself. All that I claim comes from the movie and no other sources. Also, this is all just a theory. I do not pass this of this off as fact. I'll let you be the judge of that. That being said, let's get started.
This first part is just the general information, merely adding a bit of credence to what I say. When the movie begins and they're flipping through the book, on the third page the narrator sings, "The good King had died." If you read what's in the book it says, exactly, "Beholdeth! King Uther fell sick of such a great malady that no one could cause the cure of it." As we see, later on in the movie, that Merlin has the power to transform into diseases, rare and exotic ones or even just some strain of the flu from the future. He could have easily changed into one and killed the King, we'll get into reasons in a moment. A few seconds later, the sword is summoned into the anvil. However, it doesn't just materialize from nothing, it sparkles into it and that sparkling is suspiciously similar to the effects of Merlin's magic. Also, in that exact same scene, standing in the background in the doorway of the church is a man with a white beard, in blue robes, and wearing a pointed blue hat. Look familiar to anybody? And that is all just at the beginning of the movie.
Now we get into the real speculations and theories. We'll start with the Hero Theory. As Merlin has stated, he has the power to see and travel into the future, hours and even centuries into the future. Uther did not, at the time of his death, have any heirs. Either he had yet to take a wife or he had yet to impregnate her, who knows? But what if he did eventually? What would those children be like? As we've seen in countless stories, both real and fictional, the offspring of good Kings aren't always good Kings themselves. What if Merlin saw into the future, saw a world of evil and hatred that was all brought on by a descendent of Uther Pendragon, maybe even his son. Having such knowledge, he couldn't allow it to happen. So, he hatched a plan to stop it before it happens. It would mean a time of darkness where England had no King, but it wouldn't be a long one and times of hardship can produce great people. In order to keep a worse person from taking the throne, he created the Marvelous Sword and put it in an anvil, claiming it was a miracle from Heaven, until he found a person honest and humble enough to take the throne and lead England. That person was Arthur. A lowly orphan with thoughts of grandeur. He was honest and humble and willing to learn. Over the course of a few months, Merlin taught and molded Arthur so that one day he would be crowned King. Toward the end of the movie, when he finds out that Arthur was Kay's Squire, he pretended to be mad and then traveled to the future to see if his plan worked and, to his joy, it did. When he returned to Arthur after he officially took the throne, he is happy and even does a little dance. He the goes on to say, "You can have it. One big modern mess." Admitting that though the future may not be perfect, it is a lot better than whatever future came from King Uther's deamon spawn. And thus Merlin saved the future from a dark and terrible past. How many Disney Heroes have done that?
Now we move on to the Villain Theory. As has been established, Merlin can see and travel to the future, but what if he can't stay there for long? He enjoys the comforts of indoor plumbing, electricity, flying on planes, riding on trains, and all the other things the future has to offer. If he could stay there, he would. But his powers won't let him, he is stuck in medieval England. So what does he do? He plans to bring the comforts of the future to the past. However, he can't do this on his own and he enlists the help of the only other Witch there, Madame Mim. They killed the King and created the Marvelous Sword, attuning it to his magic so he would be the only one who could pull it out. After that, Mim insisted he proceed with his plan, but he refused. Not enough time had past to where the people would accept a Wizard as their King. Since then, she referred to him as 'The Worlds Most Powerful Bungler' and she left. Though he was glad to have her nagging gone, he had to find someone else to help him carry out his plan. It took a few years, but he found one, Arthur. He was an orphan living with an abusive foster father. He could easily mold this boy into the perfect assistant and he didn't have to tell him a thing about his true intentions. But when Arthur was captured by Madame Mim, he feared that she would spill everything and ruin his plans. But Merlin didn't want to kill her. No. He wanted to prove her wrong and become King. So he used his power to become a germ to incapacitate her. Another thing that would prove to be a problem was this tournament for the crown. It wasn't so much the tournament, but the fact that Arthur would be going. Merlin didn't want him to know that he was King until after it happened. He intentionally tried to stop him from going and when that failed he got mad and traveled to the future. While there, he learned that though his initial plans failed, he would still be a great influence on the man who would become King, Arthur. It wasn't exactly what he hoped for, but he went with it anyway. As a last little bit of information, the reason Arthur was able to pull out the sword was because some of Merlin's magic stuck to him after he changed him into so many things.
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Is Merlin one of Disney's greatest Heroes or one of its most terrible Villains? You be the judge. As I said before, this is just a theory and not fact.
This first part is just the general information, merely adding a bit of credence to what I say. When the movie begins and they're flipping through the book, on the third page the narrator sings, "The good King had died." If you read what's in the book it says, exactly, "Beholdeth! King Uther fell sick of such a great malady that no one could cause the cure of it." As we see, later on in the movie, that Merlin has the power to transform into diseases, rare and exotic ones or even just some strain of the flu from the future. He could have easily changed into one and killed the King, we'll get into reasons in a moment. A few seconds later, the sword is summoned into the anvil. However, it doesn't just materialize from nothing, it sparkles into it and that sparkling is suspiciously similar to the effects of Merlin's magic. Also, in that exact same scene, standing in the background in the doorway of the church is a man with a white beard, in blue robes, and wearing a pointed blue hat. Look familiar to anybody? And that is all just at the beginning of the movie.
Now we get into the real speculations and theories. We'll start with the Hero Theory. As Merlin has stated, he has the power to see and travel into the future, hours and even centuries into the future. Uther did not, at the time of his death, have any heirs. Either he had yet to take a wife or he had yet to impregnate her, who knows? But what if he did eventually? What would those children be like? As we've seen in countless stories, both real and fictional, the offspring of good Kings aren't always good Kings themselves. What if Merlin saw into the future, saw a world of evil and hatred that was all brought on by a descendent of Uther Pendragon, maybe even his son. Having such knowledge, he couldn't allow it to happen. So, he hatched a plan to stop it before it happens. It would mean a time of darkness where England had no King, but it wouldn't be a long one and times of hardship can produce great people. In order to keep a worse person from taking the throne, he created the Marvelous Sword and put it in an anvil, claiming it was a miracle from Heaven, until he found a person honest and humble enough to take the throne and lead England. That person was Arthur. A lowly orphan with thoughts of grandeur. He was honest and humble and willing to learn. Over the course of a few months, Merlin taught and molded Arthur so that one day he would be crowned King. Toward the end of the movie, when he finds out that Arthur was Kay's Squire, he pretended to be mad and then traveled to the future to see if his plan worked and, to his joy, it did. When he returned to Arthur after he officially took the throne, he is happy and even does a little dance. He the goes on to say, "You can have it. One big modern mess." Admitting that though the future may not be perfect, it is a lot better than whatever future came from King Uther's deamon spawn. And thus Merlin saved the future from a dark and terrible past. How many Disney Heroes have done that?
Now we move on to the Villain Theory. As has been established, Merlin can see and travel to the future, but what if he can't stay there for long? He enjoys the comforts of indoor plumbing, electricity, flying on planes, riding on trains, and all the other things the future has to offer. If he could stay there, he would. But his powers won't let him, he is stuck in medieval England. So what does he do? He plans to bring the comforts of the future to the past. However, he can't do this on his own and he enlists the help of the only other Witch there, Madame Mim. They killed the King and created the Marvelous Sword, attuning it to his magic so he would be the only one who could pull it out. After that, Mim insisted he proceed with his plan, but he refused. Not enough time had past to where the people would accept a Wizard as their King. Since then, she referred to him as 'The Worlds Most Powerful Bungler' and she left. Though he was glad to have her nagging gone, he had to find someone else to help him carry out his plan. It took a few years, but he found one, Arthur. He was an orphan living with an abusive foster father. He could easily mold this boy into the perfect assistant and he didn't have to tell him a thing about his true intentions. But when Arthur was captured by Madame Mim, he feared that she would spill everything and ruin his plans. But Merlin didn't want to kill her. No. He wanted to prove her wrong and become King. So he used his power to become a germ to incapacitate her. Another thing that would prove to be a problem was this tournament for the crown. It wasn't so much the tournament, but the fact that Arthur would be going. Merlin didn't want him to know that he was King until after it happened. He intentionally tried to stop him from going and when that failed he got mad and traveled to the future. While there, he learned that though his initial plans failed, he would still be a great influence on the man who would become King, Arthur. It wasn't exactly what he hoped for, but he went with it anyway. As a last little bit of information, the reason Arthur was able to pull out the sword was because some of Merlin's magic stuck to him after he changed him into so many things.
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Is Merlin one of Disney's greatest Heroes or one of its most terrible Villains? You be the judge. As I said before, this is just a theory and not fact.
Last edited:
