Who was the Woman that Caused Merlins Downfall ?
From ‘The Arthurian Encyclopedia’ (Norris J. Lacy, Editor, published 1986 by Peter Bedrick Books, New York, don’t leave Camelot without it…) LADY OF THE LAKE, a name designating several different women, although the distinction among them is frequently blurred. In additional to being known as the Lady of the Lake, or the Dame du Lac, she most often bears such names as Viviane, Eviene, or Niviene; elsewhere, she is Nimue or (in Wordsworth) Nina. Readers of Malory will recognize her as the being who gives Excalibur to Arthur and later receives it back from him, and some works also identify her as the lady responsible for Lancelot’s upbringing. In Malory, the Vulgate Cycle, and various other settings of the legend (e.g., Apollinaire), she enchants Merlin with spells he had taught her. Some texts in fact tell us that she not only enchants him but kills him. In the ‘Vita di Merlino’, for example, the Lady of the Lake serves as a scribe for Merlin, recording his prophecies, after which she
