Ismere

"How can they laugh and joke? Don't they know what we will face in Ismere?"

- Merlin to Arthur

Ismere is a frozen wasteland located in the Northern Plains. It borders the kingdoms of Caerleon and Camelot and was formerly occupied by Morgana and her Saxon army, who inhabited the Fortress of Ismere.

History
At least two years after the Second Fall of Camelot, Morgana, Ruadan, and their Saxon army took up residence in the Fortress of Ismere. They kidnapped people from neighbouring kingdoms and forced them to mine beneath the fortress for the key to all knowledge.

When a Camelot patrol led by Gwaine traveled to Ismere, they were captured by Morgana's wolves and added to her slaves. After several weeks passed with no word, Elyan led a search party to Ismere, but found no trace of them. He did, however, hear rumours that Morgana was occupying the Fortress of Ismere.

Arthur quickly concluded that Morgana had taken his knights and led a patrol to Ismere to rescue them. They planned to take Morgana by surprise by entering from the west, but a spy informed her of their plans and she ambushed them soon after crossing the border.

Merlin and Arthur became separated from the rest of their party and were later captured by slavers. The leader, Radnor, wanted to kill them, but Mordred soon convinced him to take them to Morgana instead. Fortunately, Merlin and Arthur escaped before they reached her and infiltrated the fortress on their own.

Later, after Merlin and Arthur rescued their men and took over the fortress, a badly injured Morgana fled Ismere with the dragon Aithusa (Arthur's Bane).

Etymology

 * "Īsmere" is Anglo-Saxon for "ice-lake".

Trivia

 * "Ismere" (Izmir) is the name of a city in Turkey.