The Last Enchantment

The Last Enchantment follows the story of Merlin, the enchanter and prophet who has guided the young Arthur to the throne of Britain. Narrated by Merlin, the novel traces the consolidation of Arthur's kingdom, the building of Camelot, and Merlin's gradual relinquishing of power to a successor.

The novel opens in the aftermath of Arthur's claiming the High Kingship. He drew the sword of Macsen (the Roman Emperor Maximus) from a stone altar in the Perilous Chapel, a sacred site where divine fire confirmed his right to rule. But a shadow lies across his reign: before learning his true parentage, Arthur lay with Morgause, his own half-sister and King Uther Pendragon's illegitimate daughter, who seduced him deliberately in a bid for power. Merlin banished Morgause from court, but she conceived a child, a boy Merlin has prophesied will one day threaten Arthur's kingdom.

After Uther's death, Arthur proves himself as soldier and king, pursuing the Saxon leader Colgrim north while Merlin escorts Uther's body to burial at the Giants' Dance, the great stone monument at Amesbury. There, Merlin facilitates Arthur's first meeting with his mother, Queen Ygraine, a formal but moving encounter. Merlin privately recognizes that Ygraine is mortally ill but keeps this from Arthur. At Caerleon, Arthur's new headquarters, Morgause marries King Lot of Lothian, the powerful northern lord who once opposed Arthur's claim. The marriage binds Lot as an ally, and Arthur arranges for his sister Morgan to marry Urbgen of Rheged, strengthening his northern alliances. Merlin confides that the divine prophetic power that once flowed through him has burned itself out, though he retains his skills as engineer and physician.

The question of Morgause's child, Mordred, becomes urgent. Arthur demands the baby be killed, but Merlin refuses, insisting they must trust in the will of the god. He travels north in disguise to watch Morgause, inspecting fortifications along the way. On the road to Dunpeldyr, Lot's stronghold, Merlin encounters Beltane, a garrulous goldsmith, and Beltane's slave Ninian, a quiet boy in whom Merlin senses a kindred spirit with the capacity for deeper learning. When Ninian drowns in a river, Merlin is devastated.

At Dunpeldyr, Merlin deduces that Morgause has exchanged Arthur's child for a changeling, substituting a baby fathered by Lot on a local woman, to protect the real Mordred. When Lot storms home, Morgause goads him into rage. Lot kills the changeling, then orders every newborn in the town seized. The children are placed in a boat and set adrift. Morgause manipulates Lot into attributing the massacre to Arthur's orders, blackening the High King's name.

Merlin stays north for months, finding no trace of Mordred. Returning to Arthur at Caerleon, he describes a flat-topped hill called Caer Camel as the ideal site for a new stronghold. He designs fortifications combining Roman stone and native timber, overseeing the building of what will become Camelot. Arthur marries his first wife, Guenever of Cornwall, in a garrison wedding. Shortly after, Merlin is poisoned. He suspects Morgause drugged his wine at Morgan's wedding feast, and a poisoned flask later drives him into months of delirium in the Wild Forest. Found by Arthur's troops, he is brought to the castle of Count Ector, Arthur's foster-father, at Galava to recover. Arthur tells him that during his absence, Ygraine died and the young Queen Guinevere miscarried and died in great pain. Arthur also reveals he had Saxon hostages killed when a truce was broken, the first act he acknowledges as evil, confiding that he might have acted differently had Merlin been there to counsel him. Yet Arthur offers unexpected comfort, telling Merlin the god is still with him. This marks a turning point: Arthur now gives strength to Merlin rather than drawing from it.

Camelot rises on Caer Camel. At a council meeting, a second marriage is proposed to Guinevere of Northgalis, a princess of royal lineage. As the council celebrates, Merlin is seized by a sudden return of prophetic power and commands Arthur to ride to Badon, where Saxons are slaughtering the undefended population. Arthur obeys, and the resulting victory proves the decisive final battle of the campaign.

After Badon, Merlin builds a retreat called Applegarth near Camelot. Arthur marries the second Guinevere, and years of peace follow, though the Queen does not conceive. When King Melwas of the Summer Country abducts Guinevere, Merlin receives a vision and guides Bedwyr, Arthur's closest companion, to rescue her. Merlin constructs a public legend casting the abduction as a mythic journey, protecting the Queen's honor. Melwas challenges Arthur to single combat and is defeated but spared.

A figure appears who reshapes Merlin's remaining years. On a misty night by a lake, he encounters someone he mistakes for the drowned Ninian. Months later, a youth arrives at Applegarth and proves extraordinarily gifted, demonstrating true prophetic vision that Arthur acts on to defeat the pirate Heuil. Arthur, however, discovers what Merlin's affection has blinded him to: the apprentice is a young woman named Nimuë, formerly a priestess at the shrine on Ynys Witrin, an island sacred to the Goddess. Merlin accepts both the revelation and his love for her. Before departing, Nimuë offers her first unsolicited prophecy, warning Arthur to guard his sword against treachery from his sister Morgan. Merlin and Arthur also confront a harder truth: Bedwyr and Guinevere love one another. Arthur reveals he has known since the Melwas affair and has chosen to accept it, reasoning that the love is better placed with his trusted friend.

Merlin and Nimuë become lovers, and he transfers his remaining knowledge to her during a long journey across Britain. At Galava, he shares his last secret: the location of Macsen's treasure, a golden grail, a jeweled lance, and a gemmed dish, hidden beneath a ruined temple at Segontium in the west. His memories grow confused during episodes of a mysterious falling sickness. Nimuë, believing him dead after a prolonged collapse, has him entombed in the cave at Bryn Myrddin, Merlin's lifelong place of power. He wakes alone in darkness. For weeks he survives on stored provisions until Stilicho, his former servant who keeps a nearby mill, hears a grave-robber's tavern tale about a living corpse and rescues him.

While recovering, Merlin is stranded at Segontium and sees Morgause boarding a ship with all five of her sons, including the dark-haired Mordred, unmistakably Arthur's child. He sends word to Arthur. At a river ford, outlaws attack the unarmed Merlin; Arthur arrives at a gallop and kills them, only afterward realizing the old man he saved is Merlin. Arthur lays his head on Merlin's knee in silence.

At Caerleon, Nimuë comes to Merlin in tears, consumed with guilt for draining his power and failing to realize he was alive. Merlin comforts her with a gentle lie. She reveals that she retrieved Macsen's treasure from Segontium and confesses she has married Pelleas, a young prince. Merlin accepts this with grace. Arthur receives the treasures, but Merlin tells him they are for those who come after. Nimuë takes the grail to hide until someone worthy seeks it.

Morgause is sent to a nunnery. Morgan is put away by Urbgen after her treachery involving the theft of Caliburn, Arthur's great sword, which she replaced with a brittle counterfeit and gave to her lover Accolon. Arthur keeps all five boys, including Mordred, whom he promises to raise honorably despite the prophecies. Merlin returns to Bryn Myrddin, tending local people and composing songs. Arthur visits regularly. In the final scene, Arthur rides into the winter dusk, calling back his habitual farewell. Merlin stands listening as the hoofbeats fade and hears, for the first time, a faint, sweet music in the still air, before turning back to the firelit cave, the empty chair, and the unstrung harp.