Real Name: Merlin
Occupation: Wizard, prophet, advisor to kings
Identity: The general populace of Earth believes Merlin to be a fictional character.
Legal Status: Citizen of Britain
Other Aliases: None known
Place of Birth: Carmarthen, Wales (apparently)
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Canaan (apparently grandfather)
Group Affiliation: Court of King Arthur Pendragon of Britain
Base of Operations: Formerly Camelot, Britain; current base, if any, is unknown
First Appearance: (first modern appearance) STRANGE TALES #134

History: There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the history of the beings who have become known as Merlin. The first of these is the legendary wizard, prophet, and advisor who served King Arthur Pendragon of Camelot in the Sixth Century A.D. This Merlin is said to be the son of a demon and the beautiful virgin daughter of Canaan, King of Dyfed, an area of Wales. (Possibly Canaan derived his name from the legendary Cimmerian warrior king of ages past.) It has been said that Merlin's birth was planned by Satan himself to bring into the world a superhuman, half-demonic, half-human being to menace mankind. The demon took the form of a handsome knight to seduce Canaan's daughter and impregnate her. But when she realized that her seducer might be a demon, she consulted her priest, who blessed her and had her drink holy water. She took a vow of chastity, and, after giving birth to Merlin, became a nun. Thus, it is said, she prevented Merlin from being born with an innate tendency to serve evil.

While Merlin was still a boy, Vortigern, king of Britain, failed repeatedly in his attempts to build a tower stronghold in the Welsh mountains, for the tower's foundations kept sinking. The king was told that in order to succeed, he had to sacrifice a boy with no human father; therefore, his men found Merlin in the Welsh town of Carmarthen and brought the boy to the king. Merlin used his powers to reveal to Vortigern that the true cause of his failure was a pool inhabited by two dragons lying beneath the foundations. Vortigern's men then found the pool and the dragons emerged, one of which killed the other. Merlin saw this as an omen predicting the reign of King Arthur, who was as yet unborn.

Vortigern was killed and was succeeded as king by Aurelius. It has been claimed that the occult stones that now make up Stonehenge once stood in Ireland, and that Merlin advised Aurelius to bring them to their current site in Britain. Merlin's magic enabled a party led by Uther Pendragon, Aurelius's brother, to move the tremendous stones. Modern historians, however, believe that Stonehenge was erected in its present location long before even Merlin's time.

Uther Pendragon became King of Britain upon his brother's death. He warred for many years against Gorlois, Duke of Tintagil in Cornwall, and became greatly attracted to the Duke's beautiful wife Igraine. Merlin, knowing that a great ruler was destined to be the son of Uther and Igraine, agreed to unite Uther with her in return for the care of their firstborn child. Merlin used his magic to give Uther the apearance of Gorlois, and in this form Uther went to Tintagil and made love to her. Earlier that night, before Uther came to Igraine, the real Gorlois was killed in battle. Soon Uther married Igraine, who gave birth to Arthur. Merlin had Arthur brought up in anonymity by a knight named Sir Ector, and Merlin served as Arthur's tutor. Merlin also persuaded Uther to construct the Round Table that Arthur and his knights would later use.

After Uther's death Britain was torn by war over the succession to the throne. Merlin had the nobles of Britain summoned to London for the Christmas season, promising a divine revelation as to the identity of the new king. There appeared a magic sword thrust through a steel anvil, into a marble block. Upon the anvil was inscribed in letters of gold: "Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise King born of all England." Though many nobles unsuccessfully tired to free the sword, it was Arthur, unaware of the inscription, who succeeded, as Merlin had planned. Arthur was then crowned king.

For years Merlin served Arthur as his chief advisor and magical protector. After Arthur broke the magic sword in battle, Merlin took him to the lake where the faerie known as the Lady of the Lake gave Arthur the enchanted sword Excalibur. It was also Merlin who arranged on Arthur's request for the young king to marry Guenevere although Merlin, with his prophetic powers, warned Arthur that this marriage would lead to disasters at Camelot, from which Arthur ruled.

Before his marriage, Arthur made love to Queen Morgause, unaware that she was his half-sister. Merlin warned Arthur that she would bear him a son, Mordred, who would be responsible for the end of Camelot. Arthur tried to have the infant Mordred killed, but he was saved and raised in anonymity.

It was Merlin who taught the magical arts to another of Arthur's half-sisters, Morgan le Fey. Morgan promised to become Merlin's mistress if he taught her magic, but she did not keep her word to him. Instead, she became one of Arthur's greatest foes.

According to most accounts, a short time after Arthur's marriage to Guenevere, Merlin fell in love with Nimue, a faerie sorceress who either was or had served the Lady of the Lake. Merlin revealed many of his magic secrets to Nimue, who, tiring of him, imprisoned him within an enchanted cave where he fell into suspended animation. However, Merlin is known to have lived at Camelot after Mordred became an adult. Hence, either he somehow escaped the cave before Mordred arrived at Camelot, or he was imprisoned by Nimue years after Moralrod's arrival.

The adult Mordred came to live at Camelot, where he was euphemistically called Arthur's "nephew." Merlin realized the great threat that Mordred and Morgan le Fey posed to Arthur, and intended to stave off the end of Camelot as long as possible. Years before, Merlin had the parents of the boy who would become known as Sir Percy of Scandia train Percy in all known forms of combat, Merlin knew he would need a great warrior who could stop Mordred but whose identity would remain a secret, so Mordred could not have him killed.

After the deaths of Percy's parents, Merlin sent a message summoning him to Camelot. At court Percy, who had already become a knight, played the role of a timid fop upon Merlin's instructions, so that no one would suspect how dangerous an opponent Sir Percy could be. Merlin then explained to Percy that he was to become the champion of Camelot in the guise of the Black Knight and presented him with an ebony blade Merlin had created from a meteorite and upon which he had placed enchantments. Over the following years the Black Knight thwarted numerous plots against the king by Mordred and Morgan. After the Black Knight led Arthur's forces in a tremendous battle against the forces of Morgan and of Mordred which ended in Morgan and Mordred's defeat, Merlin cast a spell which prevented Morgan from physically existing in this dimension outside the castle in which she had been entrapped.

Finally, after the revelation of the affair between the king's wife and Sir Lancelot threw England into civil war, Mordred openly gathered armies to lead against Arthur. Merlin directed the Black Knight to ride to Garrett Castle to plan strategy with Arthur for the final battle against Mordred. But due to sorcerous menaces that attacked him along the way, the Black Knight was unable to reach the castle until after that final battle had been fought. Mordred's forces had been aided by the malevolent cosmic entity called the Dragon of the Moon, and it may be assumed that Merlin played a major role in the Dragon's defeat. During the battle Arthur and Mordred mortally wounded each other. Before dying himself, Mordred reached Garrett Castle and slew the Black Knight from behind. Merlin appeared before the dying Black Knight and placed a spell upon him that would enable the Knight's spirit to return to Earth whenever Mordred's spirit returned there to do evil. It is unclear whether Merlin was physically present at this time, or appeared only in astral form, having been trapped by Nimue in her cave. This Merlin's whereabouts and activities after Camelot's fall are unknown.

Height: 6 ft.
Weight: 210 lbs.
Eyes: Grey
Hair: Grey-white

Strength Level: Merlin possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and weight, who engages in little regular exercise.

Known Superhuman Power: Merlin, the wizard of Arthur's court, was one of the greatest sorcerers in Earth's history and possesses extraordinary magical abilities.

The full extent and nature of the powers the wizard Merlin or the alien Merlin (leaving aside the question of whether they are the same being) have in their astral forms, is not known.