Merlin was a Welsh wizard who appears in stories about King Arthur and his round table. It was said he was the child of a demon father and a human mother and when he was a boy he was kidnapped by King Vortigern. The king was trying to build a fort, but every time his workers raised the walls, they fell down. Vortigern intended to kill Merlin and pour his blood on the stones. As the boy was half demon, Vortigern believed this would magically bind the walls together. Merlin talked his way out of this and later became wizard to King Uther Pendragon. Uther died when his son, Arthur, was still a young boy, and Merlin looked after him while he was growing up. He helped Arthur find his magical sword, Excalibur and set up a giant ring of stones at Stonehenge in Wiltshire. When he was getting old, Merlin fell in love with a girl called Vivien (aka Nimue). He taught her all his magic until in the end she was more powerful than he. She imprisoned him in a crystal cave, where he lies to this day.
