Merlin [WAS-Origins of the Founders (British Geography input needed) ]

[Kirstini]

No: HPFGUIDX 67381

Nina wrote: > I've always greatly preferred the Cornish idea for 
Gryffindor (BTW 
spent my last 2 holidays there and it's wonderful).  I'm also 
attracted to this location because of it's deep seated connections 
with Camelot, King Arthur and the Round Table legends (Tintagel is a 
magical place - very highly recommended).  Although Merlin is never 
actually mentioned as a character in canon, some characters (peple 
will have to provide evidence!) do say 'Merlin's beard!' and such.
 As the four founders are timelined back to ?Norman conquest - 
approx 11th century, it's feasible that the Camelot legend which 
dates from around 6th/7th century is a further link back to the 
origin of magic in Britain.  I like the idea of Merlin being the 
origin of all magical people in Britain and Griffindor a direct 
decendent of him.>

Me (Kirstini): Merlin *is* a canonical character (sort of), isn't 
he? I think (no PS so can't check) that he's on one of the Chocolate 
Frog cards that Harry gets on the first train journey to Hogwarts. 
So yes, there's potential for him to have been an ancestor of 
Gryffindor, but not necessarily the origin of all magical Brits. 
Also on the Chocolate Frog cards was Morgana, and I think there was 
some debate about her in a pre-OoP post recently. She was King 
Arthur's half-sister, also his lover, and a very Dark witch. She was 
also a near-contemporary of Merlin's, and I don't think there is any 
mention in any of the versions of the legend (don't have any source 
to refer to here, so could be wrong) that she was even related to 
Merlin. Ancestress of Salazar, perhaps?
Kirstini