Lamia

''This article is about the creature Lamia. To see the article on the episode: Lamia ''

A Lamia was a creature of magic, created by mingling the blood of a girl and a serpent together by the High Priestesses.

History
In their wars with the Ancient Knights, the High Priestesses of the Old Religion combined the blood of a girl with a serpent's, creating fearsome and powerful monsters, able to kill with a single touch. However, the Lamia proved to be more dangerous than their creators imagined: the High Priestesses lost control of them and the Lamia continued to kill, unwilling to stop.

Centuries later, slave traders caught one Lamia and were transporting her to be sold. However, her influence over them was too great, and fights started. Fearing she had enchanted them, the slave traders tried to kill her. However, the Lamia proved more deadly than its captors were prepared for, and she killed them all, except one.

She went to the village of Longstrong, and began preying on its inhabitants. Three villagers became its victims. Fearing an unknown illness, the wife of the village elder went to Camelot to ask for help. She approached Gwen, who told Arthur. After consulting with Gaius, Arthur sent Merlin as the substitute physician, with Gwen and the Knights of Camelot to fix the problem.

The Lamia was later caught by bandits, and rescued by the Knights when they left the village to go back to Camelot. However, she soon started to exert her power over them, making them aggressive and more violent. Her first victim among them was Sir Elyan.

Instead of going back to Camelot, she forced them to travel to a castle to the East that she knew of. Afterwards, the Lamia picked them off, one by one. First was Gwaine, followed by Percival. Leon saw Percival fall because of the Lamia. He attacked, but Lamia defeated him.

Merlin saw the Lamia after Leon and was able to wound her with his sword. She changed to her true form and attacked again. Merlin ran and made it back to Gwen, who heard the commotion. She used a sword to try to kill the creature. Arthur (who had been following their trail when they were missing) killed the Lamia with a spear to the back (Lamia).

Personality
Bred to kill, the Lamia was sadistic and merciless, seemingly uncaring who became her victims. She seemed to find pleasure in forcing others to fight over her, manipulating the men in order to ensnare them. She was also capable of creating a believable facade of a scared and traumatised girl to gain sympathy, remain undetected and stir up trouble among its chosen targets, though her victims were also under magical influence.

Abilities
Created by a High Priestess, the Lamia was a powerful creature. She was able to control men's minds, and influence them. Her enchantment made male targets aggressive to the point of attacking each other, regardless of prior friendship or loyalty, as shown by the disharmony among the Knights of Camelot. It also evoked possessive, jealous responses among them and bred an irrationality that prevented them from seeing reason. However, the Lamia's influence did not appear to reach to females of any kind or males with magical ability, since neither Gwen nor Merlin were affected by her.

The Lamia's kiss was also shown to be deadly as it drained the life force out of the recipient and its effects did not have an easy remedy since Merlin was unable to cure the victims, even when with the help of magic. When the Lamia absorbed the life force of a man, her eyes would glow green and take a snake-like appearance.

As well as her influence over men, the Lamia was capable of strong offensive magic. She was able to send a man flying through the air without the use of a verbal spell. She also demonstrated awareness of other magical entities, possibly as a defence mechanism, as she was immediately hostile towards Merlin when in close proximity with him.

The Lamia was a shapeshifter as she was able to transform from a humanoid girl into a huge beast with many tentacles. This form possessed immense physical strength making it capable of charging through a pile of boulders, as well as high endurance, being able to survive a sword being impaled through the chest.

Trivia

 * Lamia is one of the few characters with an episode named after her. (Others being Valiant, Lancelot, Guinevere, Gwaine, and Aithusa. Other episodes that mention a character, indirectly or directly are: The Mark of Nimueh (Nimueh), The Curse of Cornelius Sigan (Cornelius Sigan), The Once and Future Queen (Gwen), Le Morte d'Arthur (Arthur), The Witchfinder (Aredian), The Sins of the Father (Uther), The Lady of the Lake (Freya), The Witch's Quickening (Morgana), The Last Dragonlord (Merlin), The Changeling (Princess Elena), Queen of Hearts (Gwen), The Sorcerer's Shadow (Gilli), The Coming of Arthur (also Arthur), His Father's Son (Arthur, Uther's son), The Secret Sharer (Alator of Catha), A Servant of Two Masters (Merlin again), Lancelot du Lac (Lancelot), and The Hunter's Heart (Gwen, Arthur's love).