Elemental Magic

Merlin combines the element Air with the fire of Arthur's torch.

The elements are the four most basic aspects of the natural world: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire (in increasing order of power).

When manipulated by a sorcerer, the elements can be used to perform powerful magic. Generally, magic performed through the manipulation of individual elements can be counteracted with magic invoking opposing elements.

Fire

Fire is the most powerful and dangerous of all the elements. The fire spells and the heat spells are enchantments that control the element of Fire. The ability to summon a guiding light and other forms of magical sources of illumination is also related to this element.

Merlin, disguised as Old Emrys with an ageing spell, used the sword Excalibur, forged in a dragon's fiery breath, to threaten and wound the Dochraid, a creature of the earth. This indicates that, although the Dochraid believed that he couldn't kill her, the element of Fire the sword represented was more powerful than her magic (With All My Heart).

A dragon's fire can, in fact, give great power to a sword, if it is begotten in its fiery breath or burnished by it. Such a weapon can kill everything, alive or dead. To save Arthur from a wraith, Merlin asked the Great Dragon Kilgharrah to burn a blade made by Gwen's father, the blacksmith Tom. The sword was later thrown by the young warlock in the depths of the Lake of Avalon, to prevent it from falling into the hands of evil (Excalibur). Excalibur was then returned to Arthur when he pulled it from the rock in which Emrys had put it (The Sword in the Stone: Part Two), after the Lady of the Lake had given it to him (The Coming of Arthur: Part Two). Merlin also used Excalibur to slain Morgana, who, because of her powers as a High Priestess, couldn't be killed by any mortal weapon (The Diamond of the Day: Part Two).

Morgana Pendragon, High Priestess of the Triple Goddess and last of her kind, also had her companion dragoness Aithusa burned a sword for Mordred, her ally in the war against Camelot, making a blade whose touch nothing could survive (The Diamond of the Day: Part One). With it, Mordred fatally injured Arthur and left a fragment of sword embedded in his chest. The blade's point travelling inexorably toward his heart caused Arthur to suffer a slow and painful death; not even Emrys could hope to negate the dragons' magic. Although the warlock tried to take the king to the Lake of Avalon, hoping that the Sidhe magic, ancient as the dragons themselves, could have saved his friend, Arthur's passed away (The Diamond of the Day: Part Two).

Gallery

• A sword begotten in a dragon's fire.
• Emrys uses Excalibur to threaten the Dochraid.
• Aithusa gives powerful magic to Morgana's sword.
• Morgana holding a sword in Aithusa's fire.
• Mordred admires his new blade.
• The piece of Mordred's sword that remained in Arthur's chest.

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Air

The spells that involve Wind and Air are forms of very powerful magic. Air magic is said to be as unpredictable as the winds it controls. One of the most effective is the whirlwind spell, but also other spells related to this element have been shown:

• Lyft sy þe in bǽlwylm ac forhienan se wiðere, used by Merlin to defeat the Afanc by creating a powerful air current that blew the flames of Arthur's torch into the monster, incinerating it. This enchantment combines the elements of Fire and Air (The Mark of Nimueh).

• Bene læg gesweorc, cast by the young warlock to summon the mist; this may indicate that this incantation is related to both Air and Water (The Nightmare Begins).

• Þrosm tohweorfe. Merlin cast this spell to dissipate the poisonous smoke that had been released by a trap in the Tomb of Ashkanar (Aithusa).
• Acwence þa bælblyse, cast by Gaius while he was being mentally tortured by Alator of the Catha. This spell (which can also be considered a fire spell) created an air current that allowed the physician to temporarily extinguish the flames around him (The Secret Sharer).
• The element of Air may have been involved in the spell Morgana used to strangle Merlin. The young warlock had discovered that the High Priestess had infiltrated Cemelot and then Arthur's rescuing party by using an ageing spell, but before he could warn the King, Morgana stunned him and made him hit his head against a tree. She then cast a spell ("Gesweorc, hine beclyppe") on the weakened warlock to prevent him from breathing. Merlin was left unconscious and on the brink of death, but he was saved by Gaius' healing magic (Another's Sorrow).
• Færblæd wawe, used by Emrys to blow all the torches that the Knights of Camelot were using to find him in the darkness of the Courtyard out. Merlin had been framed of having poisoned the King by Guinevere, who had been brainwashed by Morgana and become her ally. He had been put in the dungeons but managed to escape with the help of his "Dragoon the Great" persona. After having reassumed his young aspect, he had been chased by the Knights in the Courtyard; by casting this spell the young warlock was able to leave everyone in the dark and climb the castle wall up to Arthur's rooms (A Lesson in Vengeance).
• Forþ fleoge, cast by the sorcerer Ari to create an air current and put out, under Morgana's command, the flames in four nearby braziers (The Diamond of the Day: Part One).
• Morgana, while taunting the powerless Merlin in the Crystal Cave, blew his torch out with a non-verbal air spell (The Diamond of the Day: Part One).
• Morgana, in an outburst of rage when her men told her they could find Arthur, cast a non-verbal spell by clenching her fist and strangled a Saxon warriors, killing him in a few seconds (The Diamond of the Day: Part Two).
• Non-verbally, by Merlin to make smoke rise in the distance, so that he could have tried to fool Morgana's warriors into believing that the men they were chasing where somewhere else (The Diamond of the Day: Part Two).
• Andslyht, used by Merlin to make the wind blow and cover his and Arthur's tracks with some leaves (The Diamond of the Day: Part Two).

Another extremely powerful application of this element is summoning a lightning. Merlin was able to master the power over life and death and did this to strike Nimueh and restore the balance of the world through her defeat (Le Morte d'Arthur). During the Battle of Camlann, both Morgana and Emrys used this lightning spell (The Diamond of the Day: Part Two).

Under an elemental aspect, stunning spells can be considered to be spells that involve the element of Air, for when they're cast, the sorcerer creates a very powerful air current that strikes his opponent.

Gallery

• Merlin combines the elements of Fire and Air.
• Merlin strikes Nimueh with a lightning.
• Merlin summons the mist.
• Emrys controls the elements of Air and Water.
• Merlin disperses the poisonous smoke.
• Gaius creates a breeze to extinguish the flames.
• Morgana casts a spell to strangle Merlin.
• Merlin is prevented from breathing.
• Ari demonstrates his powers by putting out the flames.
• Morgana blows out Merlin's torch with magic.
• Morgana casts a non-verbal deadly spell.
• One of the Saxons is killed by the Priestess' wrath.
• Merlin conjures some smoke.
• Blown leaves cover Merlin and Arthur's tracks.

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Water

Water is the element of purification, regeneration and of healing. The Vilia, spirits of the brooks and streams, possess healing powers and used the properties of this element to save Merlin from the Dorocha's cold and deadly touch (The Darkest Hour: Part Two).

Water is also the element of intuition, emotions and divination. One of the most important branches of scrying is hydromancy, with which sorcerers are able to See things in a water medium.

Water can be manipulated with the use of magic; there are spells that have power over this element alone or that combine it with others. An Afanc, a beast born of clay, for example, is conjured using Earth and Water, and can only be destroyed using Wind and Fire, as accomplished by Merlin and Arthur.

Nimueh, on the Isle of the Blessed summoned the power of Air and Water and gathered the clouds to rain with the spell "Tídrénas" (Le Morte d'Arthur). Merlin, when he tried free Gaius from Morgause's sleeping enchantment, created a jet of water to wake the physician up with the spell "Brimstréam" (The Fires of Idirsholas).

When Cornelius Sigan was alive, he was said to possess great control over the element of Water, as, according to Gaius, he was be able to control the tides themselves (The Curse of Cornelius Sigan). The druid Ruadan used water to perform a particular non-verbal spell: before exhling his last breath, he asked his daughter Sefa for a cup of water, in which he dipped a small white quill. He used it to write a brief message for Morgana and then, with a golden flash of his eyes, made the writing visible, just as if it had been done with black ink (Arthur's Bane: Part Two).

Gallery

• Nimueh uses water to perform hydromancy.
• The High Priestess combines Water and Earth to create an Afanc.
• Nimueh gathers the clouds and makes it rain.
• Merlin conjures a jet of water.
• Water possesses the magical power of healing.

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Earth

The spells that regard this element are used to control rocks, trees, roots or plants in general. According to Gaius, the magic that binds the Earth is delicate and can be easily undone (A Herald of the New Age).

Spells that are related to this element are:

• Eorðe, lyft, fyr, wæter, hiersumaþ me. Eorðe ac stanas hiersumaþ me. Ic can stanas tobrytan. Hiersumaþ me, used by the High Priestess Nimueh to control the Earth in order to make the rock on which Arthur was standing collapse. Considering the translation of this enchantment (Earth, air, fire, water, obey me. Earth and stones, obey me. I have the knowledge to break the stones into pieces. Obey me), it's interesting to notice how Nimueh was at first invoking all the elements and then focused her attention on the rocks and stones (The Poisoned Chalice).

• Gehæftan, chanted by Anhora when he had some roots of the Labyrinth of Gedref tie Merlin up (The Labyrinth of Gedref).

• Ic ábíetee þæt stánhol, by Merlin when he tried to break the stones of the prison in which Catrina had trapped him. The troll was able to command magic of such power that even Merlin spent the entire night trying to make his own powers prevail on Catrina's (Beauty and the Beast: Part One).
• Blóstmá, cast by Emrys to create a flower and offer it to Freya (The Lady of the Lake).
• Non-verbally, by Merlin to magically make a branch grow and trip Mordred, as he was running away (The Witch's Quickening).
• Ic þe bebiede þæt þu abifest nu, by Merlin to make the ground shake, creating an earthquake. The sorcerer performed this spell, reciting its words and then hitting the rocky floor of the ancient tomb of King Lothar with his palms, to prevent Odin from chopping Arthur's head off and to save him, along with Mithian and King Rodor from Morgana's clutches (Another's Sorrow).
• Wanne nædran, fram þæs foldan bosme astigaþ ge. With this spell, Morgana enchanted the ground itself and created a faint mist. Out of it ("from the womb of the earth", as the spell says) rose two magical and poisonous snakes that attacked the Knights of Camelot. These creatures were made of dark magic, just like the poison they injected into Sir Leon's and Percival's veins. Thanks to the magical substance coursing with their blood, the sorceress was able to implant horrible visions of the Dark Tower into Leon's and Percival's minds (The Dark Tower).
• A possible spell related to plants had been cast by Morgana to grow a brown vine along a tree trunk in the woods outside Camelot, possibly to indicate the place where she was going to meet Guinevere. When Merlin and Gaius went to the woods in search of some evidence, the young warlock noticed the vine and Gaius said "It's certainly not natural" at which Merlin replied "It was Morgana, I'm sure of it" (A Lesson in Vengeance).
• After having seriously been wounded by the fiery power of Excalibur, the Dochraid, a creature of the earth, cast a spell in her cave to take strength and energy from the rocks and the ground, curing herself. With a fierce and wicked tone of voice, she chanted these words while leaning against a rock: "Ge hæle þisne lichaman. Gestrenge me nu þæt ic beo swiþe mihtig hie to forwiernan; yfel is on ofost!" (With All My Heart).
• Stanas ahreosaþ, cast by Morgana to cause a rock fall and trap Merlin, who had been stripped of his magic, in the Crystal Cave, creating an impenetrable wall of stones (The Diamond of the Day: Part One).
• (Apparently) non-verbally by Merlin, in his aged form, to blow Morgana's magical wall up and free the passage out of the Crystal Cave (The Diamond of the Day: Part One).

Some spells used by the young warlock to make the ceiling collapse on the Knights of Medhir (The Fires of Idirsholas, "Ahríes þæc!"), on Morgana (The Tears of Uther Pendragon: Part Two, "Feoll bu brand"), or on Lamia (Lamia, "Feall hushefen") could be other incantations that control the element of Earth.

Merlin once more displayed his powerful magic when he controlled this element again and caused, with the incantation "Gewican ge stanas", some rocks to fall, blocking the path between King Arthur and a group of bandits in the Valley of the Fallen Kings (A Servant of Two Masters).

Gallery

• Nimueh uses her magic on the element of Earth.
• Anhora ties Merlin up with some vines.
• Emrys uses powerful elemental magic.
• Merlin creates a rose for Freya.
• Merlin saves Arthur by blocking the path with stones.
• A faint mist arises from the ground enchanted by the Witch.
• Merlin notices a magical vine grown by Morgana.
• The Dochraid takes strength from the earth.
• Merlin is trapped in the Crystal Cave by Morgana's magic.
• Old Emrys escapes from the Priestess' trap.

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