Edwin Muirden

"People like us, we have a gift. Do you not think it should be used to make this a better world?"

- Edwin to Merlin Edwin Muirden was a sorcerer and the son of Gregor and Jaden Muirden.

Early Life
As a child, he was instructed in sorcery by his parents. During the Great Purge, his mother and father were both burned at the stake for practicing magic. Edwin attempted to save them by jumping into the flames and was badly burned across his face. His wounds were tended to by Camelot's court physician Gaius, who had once been a friend of Edwin's parents.

Revenge on Uther and Death
Some twenty years later, Edwin returned to Camelot under his mother's maiden name, posing as a physician. He delivered a deadly beetle, by way of anonymous flowers, to Morgana. The insect crawled into Morgana's ear and burrowed into her brain, rendering her unconscious and feverish. When Gaius was unable to treat her, Muirden arrived at the Court to offer his services.

He summarily summoned the beetle out of Morgana's ear, claiming that she had a cranial hemorrhage. Edwin's actions allowed him to gain Uther's trust and Uther offered him a place as Court physician, which Edwin accepted. However, Edwin still harboured a hatred for Uther due to his parents' deaths and tried to kill the King by paralysing him and getting another beetle to crawl into his ear. After leaving the King's bedroom, he was confronted by Gaius, who then tried to attack Muirden with magic. However, he had become unfamiliar with magic due to not using it for two decades, and failed to utter the spell correctly. In response, Muirden slammed him against a pillar with the same spell pronounced correctly before summoning a ring of fire around him. Merlin then burst into the room and Edwin offered him a chance to join him. After Merlin refused, he attacked Merlin by telekinetically controlling an axe; Merlin deflected this with his own magic, causing the axe to fly toward Edwin and kill him (A Remedy to Cure All Ills).

Personality
Edwin Muirden clearly loved his parents, and their deaths during his childhood had caused him to grow into a cunning and embittered man. He was long obsessed with having revenge on Uther for orphaning and causing him to be disfigured. He acted as a loyal and benign servant to the king while gaining his trust then then revealed his true intentions while Uther was weak, paralyzed and helpless. He also displayed a sadistic side to his personality, demonstrated when he told Uther that he longed to hear him scream just like his parents did during their execution. Despite this, Edwin appeared to be fond of Merlin to some extent, though he valued his revenge more, and told Gaius he would reveal Merlin's magic if he had told anyone about his identity and intentions. He also didn't hesitate to try and kill Merlin when he turned against him, showing that he was unhesitatant to kill for what he believed.



Abilities
Edwin was a sorcerer, well accomplished in many of the magical arts, including spell-casting and potion making. He was also able to perform magic non-verbally, a skill that few other magic users have managed to perform. His power was still below Merlin's, as he was bested in a magical duel by the young warlock. Edwin also possessed some knowledge of medicine, but he mainly used his healing Magic, suggesting he didn't know enough to heal someone without it.

Etymology

 * Edwin's name could be a reference to Edwin Muir, a poet on the Orkney Isles in the early to mid 20th Century. The Orkney Isles played a great role in the original Arthurian legends, being the place over which Morgause and her husband King Lot ruled.
 * Muir wrote a poem entitled 'Merlin', which contained the phrase 'the Diamond of the Day', which is speculated to be the origin of the name for the final two episodes of series 5.
 * He is the only other known person other than Morgause to have major scar on the face.