All language subtitles for Inside The Pendragon Cycle Rise of the Merlin s01e03.eng

Welcome back to our breakdown and
analysis companion podcast for The

Cycle, Rise of the Merlin. I'm Megan
Basham, culture and entertainment writer

Daily Wire.

We're experiencing the show together,
then digging deeper into each episode.

Spoilers and all. So if you are not
caught up on episode three, hit pause

because we are going to be jumping
straight into the fifth century where

world has now changed.

Rome is gone. Britain is fractured. And
stepping out of the mist to meet us is

an adult Merlin. He's goldenized. He's
ageless. And he's already spoken of in

half whispers and half legends.

Merlin Emrys has returned to the land of
the living.

Now, the first thing I want to note is
that Tom Sharp is absolutely crushing

this role. So this is not the whimsical
wizard of later medieval romance.

I'm Merlin.

But it's also not the doddering old man
of Disney pop culture. What we really

have here is this otherworldly warrior
prophet.

He's someone who's ancient, he's
restrained, and he's very clearly

Fun fact, Sharp snagged this breakout
part after a massive worldwide open

casting call, and obviously he nailed
it. He brings all the mystery, the

gravity, and just... the right touch of
menace. And we immediately see that as

the son of Vortigern brings the wizard
to his father, Vortigern's men all know

Merlin's name. They say Merlin is of the
fearful, my king.

They call him Emrys, immortal.

So his legend has clearly not been
forgotten.

Now, Bede describes him as a king or
warlord whose reign coincided with

Britain's unraveling.

after Rome's withdrawal.

And here, he's confused, because the
Merlin he thought should be ancient.

Instead, Merlin appears young, and we
know that that's Merlin's Atlantean

heritage coming out.

Time has marched on, and Taliesin and
Charis are now names from the fog of

legend. They're figures who are already
slipping into myth.

Taliesin was no mortal. He was an
otherworldly being, as had been used to

mother.

Now, the Druids, bless their hearts,
have apparently never heard of Occam's

Razor because they have decided that the
reason Vortigern's fortress walls keep

collapsing is not because of something
obvious like poor engineering, but

because of a curse requiring human
sacrifice.

And that is extremely on brand for the
fifth century. You can think of it a

little bit like that Parks and
Recreation episode with Fred Armisen as

American general, bread gone moldy.

human sacrifice.

Walls falling down, human sacrifice.

Flu outbreak, believe it or not.

Human sacrifice right away.

So that's their answer to everything.

But Merlin, even as a chained, quote
unquote, prisoner, radiates this calm

authority. And he tells Peleus that
nothing will happen to him that is not

appointed. It's left unstated who does
the appointing, but that echo of Christ

before Pilate is fairly unmistakable.
You would have no authority over me

it had been given to you from above.

And that really brings us to one of my
favorite visual moments in this episode.

As the fight between Peleus and
Vortigern's son, Passion, is happening

Merlin, he just casually keeps working
his pickaxe until he reveals the cause

the construction problem, a hidden
spring collapsing the walls.

So now Vortigern knows that his druidic
counselors are not to be trusted and he

executes them.

Then comes Merlin's confrontation with
Vortigern. And this is where the episode

really sharpens its teeth because Merlin
decries Vortigern for equating peace

with accommodation.

and he charges the king with giving the
Saxons safe harbor to plunder the

British lands.

And again, that dovetails with the
historical record.

Gildas, writing in the 6th century,
blasts a quote -unquote proud tyrant who

widely taken as Vortigern for inviting
Saxon mercenaries to fight Picts and

Scots. only for those Saxons to then
turn on him and begin carving out their

kingdoms as Vortigern fled to North
Wales.

Now, Bede names Vortigern explicitly as
the British king who kicked off the

Saxon incursion around 449.

So Lawhead is masterfully blending myth
and actual historical record here. And I

think what's really intriguing is that
Vortigern is far more of a flawed

pragmatist than, say, a cartoon villain.

Because he's complex.

He's even likable in the way that he has
the self -awareness of his failures.

Though, of course, he's no less
deserving of Merlin's pretty Reagan

chastising here. You traded strength for
peace.

But there'll be no peace without
strength.

True in the 1980s, true in the 5th
century, and true today because that is

rule of nation building and it never
changes.

I had a vision.

Then we get to the vision.

The white dragon and the red dragon,
locked in combat beneath the collapsing

fortress. Now, this is classic Arthurian
imagery, again, pulled straight from

12th century cleric Geoffrey of
Monmouth's History of the Kings of

The white dragon represents the Saxons.
The red dragon represents the Britons.

Merlin prophesies that a high king will
rise, a king who will unite the land,

but he doesn't yet know who that king
is.

I do not know.

We also get another indication of the
passage of time here.

Doffid, the young man who stood with
Taliesin on the day of Merlin's birth,

now old, very old.

Yet we see from Vortigern's reaction to
their appeal to Christ that Britain is

overall still pagan.

Now, in part, that's because petty kings
like Vortigern have kept missionaries

like Dauphid from doing their work. So
the Christian kingdom Taliesin foresaw

has not yet come to pass. That promise
lingers, but it's not yet realized.

We also confront the question of
unrealized promise in this flashback to

Merlin's youth.

Clearly, he was being trained to rule,
and he expected to be a king.

So what happened? Why isn't he?
Hopefully, that's... something that

some answers to soon, and we'll get a
little bit more information about where

he's been and what he's been up to. But
it's certainly an intriguing reference

to whether he will earn the name
Ambrosius, meaning eternal or divine.

Seems like he did live up to that
expectation.

And finally, the end of Vortigern as
Merlin predicted.

Another British tribe that we don't know
yet attacks, and it's a brutal fight

scene. Vortigern proves himself less
than heroic. He hides and abandons his

so that there's an almost poetic irony
when the very child that he ordered to

watch the archers back is the one who
kills him.

But I do hate that that little boy died.

War is cruel.

Hey, Luther.

Son of Constantine. Then we move into
the forest and we hear that name again

that should ring bells for anyone who's
even casually familiar with Arthurian

legend. Uther, the predecessor to
Arthur's throne.

But it's interesting because right now
it's not Uther who's pursuing kingship.

Instead, it's his brother, Aurelius.

Aurelius Ambrosius is another figure who
straddles both history and legend.

Gildas, once again, a 6th century
British cleric, described him as a war

who resisted the Saxons and restored at
least some measure of order.

And then we have later writers who
folded him into Arthurian genealogy, and

Lawhead then follows that tradition.

Now, Aurelius is honorable and
compassionate. He clearly wants to be a

kind of king, the kind of king who works
for the good of all and sees himself as

the protector of his people, not just
their ruler.

But we also know that there will be a
fight over the High Throne, so we have

wonder if his decision to show mercy to
Passant is eventually going to come back

to haunt him. But in the meantime, it's
fascinating that he recognizes Merlin in

some way that we don't understand yet.
It may be that he simply means he's

Merlin from the stories, or it may be
that something more mysterious is going

here.

Then, as promised in our Episode 1
discussion, another sword.

Now, from Merlin's vision, we know the
last time he saw this sword, it was in

the possession of the Roman commander
Magnus Maximus, the Roman general who

declared himself emperor in Britain in
the late 4th century.

Historically, Magnus Maximus was real.
He ruled Britain and Gaul before being

executed in 388 AD.

In Welsh tradition, he becomes a heroic
legend, so it's appropriate that Merlin

calls it the Emperor's Sword.

What we don't know yet is how Magnus
Maximus came to have it, or how it ended

in the hands of Aurelius' father.

We know that Merlin says this sword
represents Britain. And we know the

he had as a child of the sword rusting,
as the kings of the realm argue, is

disquieting. But how does that
differentiate it from the sword that

mother gifted to Taliesin? That we don't
know yet.

But as we move on with the story, we see
that distrustful Uther is not a fan of

Aurelius' plan to bring Merlin in as
counselor. And he doesn't like Merlin's

plan of allowing the southern kings to
desert and go home so they can

what living under Saxon rule will mean.

But Merlin does believe that he can
rally support from the northern and

kingdoms.

Now, Peleus doesn't love Merlin's plan.
We see him many times in this episode

questioning his master's judgment.

But Peleus is also smart. So like Elisha
and Elijah in scripture, this situation

is one where even though he doesn't
understand, he's going to continue to

and follow his master. And to comfort
Merlin, Peleus brings out his harp. And

learned something really important about
him in this moment. He's been carrying

this harp for 50 years.

So even though he looks about 19,
clearly he must have some of that

ancestry.

Next, we move on to a slightly confusing
scene where Uther approaches Merlin's

tent at night.

And it's a little unclear what his
motivation is. Is he trying to rob him?

trying to kill him, wake him up, protect
him? The show leaves that ambiguous.

And personally, I don't mind that
because the overall sense that we're

is that Uther is a man of action, not
introspection. So his intentions may not

always be clear, perhaps not even to
him.

Then we move on to the Saxon raid. And
it is immediately clear that Uther is

lethally effective.

This is not a man destined to be a
philosopher king. This is a man forged

war. And it's a good thing, too, because
finally we meet Hengist, the Saxon war

leader. And there is some debate among
scholars over whether Hengist was merely

a legendary figure or if he was real.
For what it's worth, J .R .R. Tolkien,

did make a great study of these
materials and also, of course, drew on

The Lord of the Rings, believed that he
was historical.

Either way, Lawhead treats him as both a
symbol of invasion and also a man of

flesh and blood.

I'd say we've proven ourselves more than
capable on our own. You slew the

usurper, Hartigan.

Now, Uther may not like Merlin, but he
and Aurelius are going to need some

serious help because time is very
precious now as the Saxons are taking as

of Britain as they want. And after all
the bloodshed and prophecy, we return to

something small, something human and
profoundly grounding, Caris. We find her

prayer in that old humble shrine after
all the kingdoms and swords and dragons.

This is where the heart of the story
still lives.

Britain is broken.

A new man is championed as king, but not
crowned yet.

The Saxons advance. The promised high
king has not yet appeared. But

Merlin walks the land.

And that, more than anything else, tells
us that this story is far from over.

Episode 3 masterfully bridges
generations.

It blends gritty history, things like
Vortigern's doomed pact, Aurelius'

resistance, Hengist's rise, with this
soaring myth.

So what grabbed you most?

Merlin's unflappable cool?

The dragon prophecy chills?

Or the legend of the Sword of Britain?

Hit us with your thoughts and join us
next week as the pieces continue to move

towards Arthur's birth.

Thanks for joining us.

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