Case file RR-0019 · Retrospective Review · Arthurian tradition
Prophecy, shape-shifting and works at a distance, layered on by a dozen later authors. The sources cannot be separated.
Archive verdict
Inconclusive
Merlin is not one figure but several, merged over six centuries of retelling. The early Welsh material is thin, and Geoffrey of Monmouth's twelfth-century account added most of the abilities people now attach to the name. The Archive cannot separate a real core from the later additions, and has not settled on a Class.
MDRI Archive · Series RR Retrospective assessments are provisional. They are made from surviving accounts, not from testing, and the Archive revises them as sources are recovered. A verdict of Consistent describes a pattern in the record. It is not a finding of identity. Issued for public information.