Author Note

To my dear readers,

Welcome to this new fanfiction of mine! This Merlin fanfiction has been inspired to use characters from werewolf stories I studied during my Master's thesis. I hope you enjoy the story but given how some of these characters are relatively unknown in the vast array of Arthuriana that is extant, I feel it is only appropriate that you are given some quick background on some of the major characters in this story.

Gadiena

In Geoffrey of Monmouth's Vita Merlini, Gadiena was the sister of Merlin and was the wife of King Rodarch of Cumbria. She was blessed with powers of a Seeress and after her brother fled to live in the wilderness for a while, she made the decision to join him. There she built a house with seventy doors and seventy windows for them to live in. The legendary bard Taliesin later came to live with them for a bit. Gadiena's visions were often rather violent, centred around death and destruction in Albion.

Marrok

Sir Marrok is a lesser known Knight of the Round Table, mentioned twice in Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur, and acted as a bodyguard to King Arthur in the King's war with Emperor Lucius. Marrok is amongst the knights who attempt to heal Sir Urre of Hungary after he is cursed by a Spanish duchess for killing her son. Mallory describes Marrok as "the good knight, that was betrayed by his wife, for she made him a werewolf for seven years". This was because the wife had stolen his clothes and hidden them for seven years; like a lot chivalric werewolves of the time, Marrok could only turn back into human form if he donned his human clothing.

Biclarel

Like Sir Marrok, Sir Biclarel is a lesser known Knight of the Round Table who also acted as bodyguard to King Arthur during his war with Emperor Lucius and appears even more sporadically in the Arthuriana than Marrok. Sir Biclarel underwent a similar fate to Sir Marrok; he was a werewolf who was imprisoned in his wolf form because his clothes were stolen.

Melion

The Breton Lai de Melion is written in Old French by an anonymous author between 1190-1204. Leslie Sconduto theorises that the author was likely a wandering minstrel from the Picard region in northern France, since the Lais was written in that dialect. The Lai de Melion follows the eponymous character and his life at the court of King Arthur as one of the king's knights.

Like every knight of Camelot, Melion had to make a vow and the vow he chose was: "I would never love a maiden no matter how nice or beautiful she is that has loved another man, or has spoken of another man." This vow facilitates his exile from Camelot, during which time he meets his wife, an Irish princess. For a few years there were no issues in the marriage until the pair came across a giant stag on a hunting trip. The wife was desperate to taste the flesh of the stag, which prompted Melion to confess to her his lupine secret. Using a magic ring, Melion transforms and kills the stag.

However, his wife becomes afraid and takes the ring, the clothes he removed and Melion's squire as her lover, and flees to Ireland. Enraged, Melion follows her, obtains a wolf pack and wages war against the people of Ireland until his pack gets killed. Soon after, King Arthur visits Ireland and Melion ingratiates himself with his liege lord while still in wolf form. As Melion predicted, Arthur takes him along to the Court of the Irish princess's family where Melion tries to attack the princess and his squire but fails. It is because of this act that the truth comes out, the King of Ireland orders his daughter to return the ring and Melion regains his human form. He wants to turn his former wife into a werewolf using the ring but Arthur vetoes that immediately.

Long story short, Melion's pride still blinds him at the end of the story.

Gorlagon

Gorlagon was a werewolf from an anonymously written tale, codified probably in the late fourteenth century in Latin. The tale, generally translated into Latin as Arthur et Gorlagon, is part of a small collection of works and is not as much studied as other Latin Arthurian romances. It survives in a single Insular fourteenth century manuscript; Rawlinson MS. B. 149 at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

The story begins during a feast, held by Arthur during Pentecost, when King Arthur kissed his queen in front of the whole court, rather exuberantly. Shocked, Guinevere demanded Arthur explain why he would kiss her in such a manner and so publicly. Arthur's answer, "because nothing of my treasure delights me more, and of all my pleasures nothing is sweeter than you", did not please Guinevere. During the ensuing conversation, Arthur believed he knew Guinevere's heart, but she stated, "you reveal that you have never understood the nature or the mind of a woman."

Because of this, Arthur swore that he would not eat as long as he did not know the heart, nature and thinking of women. Together with Kay and Gwaine, two Knights of the Round Table, Arthur saddled a horse in order to visit King Gorgol, who was famous for his wisdom. However, Gorgol immediately referred Arthur to his older and wiser brother, Gorleil, who in turn referred Arthur to their oldest brother, Gorlagon, as of the three brothers, Gorlagon had experience with the nature and mind of a woman. Gorlagon convinces Arthur to eat with him while he tells his story: the story of the Werewolf King.

How he had been betrayed by his wife, turned into a wolf with a magic sapling that had been tied to him from birth, and had sought revenge against her. Gorlagon, in wolf form, eventually arrives at his brother Gorleil's kingdom and lives there for a bit. Like Gorlagon, Gorleil's queen is unfaithful and Gorlagon witnesses her affair. He attacks her lover and in order to try and get him into trouble, the queen hides her son and pretends that the wolf has also killed her son when Gorleil returns. Gorleil though smells something fishy and Gorlagon proves his innocence by taking his brother to his child. From here, Gorleil realises the wolf isn't normal and helps Gorlagon get his human form back. Once Gorlagon does, he takes his kingdom back from his former wife, executes her lover, marries another woman and still keeps his ex around. He forces her to kiss the decapitated head of her lover every time he kisses his new wife – no, this is not a joke!

I have a few actors in mind for each of the characters already. Gadiena I can see being played by Georgie Henley. Marrok I had in my mind being played by Joseph Morgan. Biclarel's actor I struggled with but I settled on William Moseley. Melion was another one I struggled with but I eventually thought that perhaps Alex Høgh Andersen could be a good for the more vengeful werewolf. King Gorlagon I had several ideas but I thought Ralph Fiennes would be a good fit.

If you wish to know more about my research, you can send me a private message and I will answer any and all questions. I really am disappointed that not many people know about these werewolves and Gadiena; I really think they deserve to be known by more people.

OK, let's get on with the story!

Kingmaker'sUmbreon