Merlina the Wizard

"Why do flowers bloom knowing they are destined to wither?"

- Merlina's primary conflict and driving motivation in the game

Merlina the Wizard (魔導師マリーナ) is a young wizard from the World of Camelot who appears in Sonic and the Black Knight for the Wii. She is an unusually tall member of the long-eared Arthurian folk, the Royal Wizard of Camelot, and the one who initially summons Sonic to the Arthurian storybook realm. She is also the granddaughter of the famous wizard Merlin. She initially serves as Sonic's principal ally, but later reveals herself as the game's principal antagonist.

History
During the game's opening sequence, Merlina is being pursued by King Arthur and the Knights of the Underworld. The sorceress uses a summoning ritual to warp a "brave knight, swift as the wind" into the Arthurian world&mdash;and Sonic promptly falls out of the portal, chili dogs in hand. After the hedgehog dispatches the demon knights, Merlina stops him from attacking King Arthur immediately, and instead conjures a magical cyclone to teleport them away to the shores of Misty Lake.

After Sonic acquires Caliburn, Merlina explains that she cannot accompany them on their journey; as the Royal Wizard, she would attract unwanted attention from the residents of the Kingdom. Merlina instead remains in hiding for much of the first half of the game, while Sonic completes quests for Nimue, Lady of the Lake. When the hedgehog goes to battle King Arthur for the final time in Faraway Avalon, Merlina is finally tracked down by the Knights of the Round Table in Castle Camelot. The Blue Blur arrives back just in time to intervene and gave Merlina the Scabbard of Excalibur&mdash;which then enables the wizard to play her true hand.

Merlina reveals that she had, all this time, been planning a double-cross. Summoning Sonic to the Kingdom was not a scheme to defeat King Arthur and bring peace and liberty to the land, but rather to take the power of Excalibur's Scabbard for herself. Having foreseen the future of the storybook realm, Merlina realized that the Grand Kingdom was doomed to end in ruin and warfare&mdash;and is determined to stop these events from coming to pass, interpreting her grandfather's dream of a kingdom that lasts forever literally. The wizard intends to apply the scabbard's power of immortality to the realm itself by placing Grand Kingdom under a kind of magical stasis. As the castle falls apart around them, Sonic and the Knights flee through Knight's Passage. In order to save the Kingdom, the former lieutenants of King Arthur agree to work with Sonic and Nimue to halt the Dark Queen's magic by activating four sacred stones. Sir Lancelot rushes to Shrouded Forest, Sir Gawain to Great Megalith, Sir Percival to The Cauldron, and Sonic to Dragon's Lair.

Nimue's plan is, however, ineffective in halting the spread of Merlina's magic. Sonic and Caliburn head back to the castle to face the wizard in Dark Hollow, where Merlina explains her intentions. Enraged and disgusted, Sonic turns a deaf ear to Merlina's words and attacks her, but only suffers a severe beating. After being bisected by the crazed sorceress, Caliburn fuses with the other Sacred Swords of the Knights of the Round Table to become Excalibur–simultaneously encasing Sonic in a suit of gold armor: Excalibur Sonic. In response, Merlina uses the power of the Scabbard to transform into the giant Dark Queen, the game's final boss.

After her defeat, Merlina returns to normal, but continues to lament the fate of her world. Sonic hands her a flower and comforts her, proclaiming the anarchic wisdom that, while every world has to come to an end, they just have to live their lives to the fullest until that day comes. Reminiscing about her grandfather, Merlina takes the Blue Blur's words to heart. Though we don't see her reaction, she is also present when Caliburn reveals that Sonic is the one and true King Arthur.

Merlina has two songs, a slow piano theme for when Sonic speaks with her, and "With Me" when she is the Dark Queen (shared as the theme for Excalibur Sonic).

Trivia

 * Merlina bears a strong resemblance to Shahra except she has a lighter skin color, purple hair, a tiara with a red jewel in the middle, and a longer braided ponytail.
 * Many have commented that Merlina bears a very close resemblance to Princess Zelda, of the Legend of Zelda games. It could be possible since both she and Zelda have similar hairstyles, ears, eye shapes, and even use magic powers to aid the hero. Both have also battled the hero at least once.
 * When Merlina first summons Sonic[1], she uses the same incantation[2] Erazor Djinn used to summon the Ifrit Golem in Sonic and the Secret Rings: "Ifalas zaras I e zaraq".
 * It is mentioned by Lancelot after beating Shrouded Forest's Beat the Clock level that Merlina has done something bad before with the line "Dark Hollow? What is Merlina up to this time?"
 * As the Dark Queen, Merlina is the first villain that Sonic faced who wanted to do good instead of evil. Unlike Erazor Djinn who wanted to destroy the story world, Merlina wanted to protect it.
 * Merlina would be considered neutral for the following reasons:
 * 1) She wanted to stop King Arthur and protect her world.
 * 2) However, later in the game, she takes the scabbard and uses its dark powers to create a kingdom that lasts forever and sacrificing others in the process (which would mean she was not a sorceress, but indeed a witch), which was why Sonic had to stop her.
 * 3) After being defeated, she takes Sonic's advice to the live the life to the fullest with the time they have.
 * By the same token, some fans can speculate that Merlina is the true Black Knight of the title, due to her dark ambitions and her magic being, in fact, witchcraft.
 * Merlina is one of those few villains who changed their outlook on life and became Sonic's friend instead of his enemy. Another example is Chaos.
 * In the 3D cutscene, (The opening of the game) Merlina's hair and dress are purple, but in the 2D (The rest of the cutscenes), her hair and dress are magenta. Also, in the 2D cutscenes, the Dark Queen has purple hair (though this was to match her overall darker appearance).
 * Merlina's motives are similar to that of Maria and Tikal, which was to save their world from destruction, but Merlina's ambitions corrupted her, unlike Tikal or Maria.
 * It's possible the reason she was being chased by King Arthur at the start of the game is because she tried to steal the scabbard.
 * Merlina's favorite flowers seems to be Carnations, for every time she had a flower in her hand, it was always a Carnation.
 * In the opening sequence of Sonic and Black Knight, when Merlina is running from King Arthur, a symbol on the bottom of her dress proves to have an extremely close resemblance to the guild seal in "Fable".
 * When Merlina changes into the Dark Queen, a purple leaf or feather is visible on her cheek.
 * Merlina mentions her grandfather, Merlin, more than twice in the game. This suggests that she has or had a strong connection with her grandfather, much like a daughter to her father.
 * Merlin's status is left unknown throughout the story. However, because Merlina mentions that her grandfather "made a mistake", it is assumed that he is most likely dead.

Family

 * Merlin (Grandfather)

Friends/Allies

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Caliburn the Sword
 * Nimue
 * Sir Lancelot
 * Sir Gawain
 * Sir Percival
 * Sir Galahad
 * Sir Lamorak

Enemies

 * King Arthur
 * Excalibur Sonic (as Dark Queen)

Quotes

 * "Ifaras zaras yezaras, Ifaris zaris yezarik. O brave knight, swift as the wind! heed my call." - Merlina summoning Sonic.
 * "Being from a distant world! Forgive my abrupt summons!" - Merlina greets Sonic.
 * "No, you mustn't!" -Merlina trying to stop Sonic from attacking King Arthur.
 * "You do not understand. He cannot be wounded."
 * "He bears the scabbard of excalibur."
 * "Excalibur is King Arthur's sword."
 * "Let me introduce myself, I am Merlina the Wizard." - Merlina introduces herself to Sonic
 * "Yes. Nimue, the Lady of the Lake gave him Excalibur. He was bewitched by the power of immortality its scabbard bestowed. He became immortal, summoning legends from the underworld. He is plunging his kingdon into a world of horror and chaos." - Merlina answer Sonic's question "...He got a little sidetracked?"
 * "The fate of our kingdom rests in your hands, do not fail us." - Merlina trusts Sonic with the fate of the Kingdom.
 * "You can swing your sword, even now." - During the tutorial level you are taught that you can still fight while grinding on a rail.
 * "Are all creatures from your world as coordinated as you?" -Merlina is amazed by Sonic's speed and co-ordination.
 * "Watch out! Defend yourself!" - Sonic is being taught to block.
 * "Now, Sonic, swing your sword!" - Sonic is taught to attack.
 * "T-That was amazing! Defeating the Mist Dragon like it was nothing. The mark of a true knight..." - Merlina after witnessing Sonic's defeat over the Mist Dragon.
 * "Keep swinging!"
 * "If you remove that sword and defeat King Arthur with it, you shall forever be the worst of knights, slayer of Kings."
 * "Why do flowers bloom knowing they are destined to wither? Their time of beauty is so short-lived." - Merlina's conflict in the game.
 * "Your king was nothing more than an illusion my grandfather conjured up" - Merlina reveals who King Arthur really is to the Knights of the Round table.
 * "There was never a King Arthur."
 * "Well done and thank you, Sonic." - Merlina upon acquiring Excalibur's Scabbard from Sonic.
 * "With this scabbard, I can erase my grandfather's greatest mistake." - Merlina reveals her intentions for the scabbard.
 * "I shall make this kingdom eternal..." - Merlina, upon becoming the Dark Queen.
 * "Grandfather..." - Merlina remembers her Grandfather, Merlin.