e factor, such as the loss and destruction of manuscripts by invading armies; the character of the early material, oral rather than written; the decline of learning and even literacy among the Welsh monks who might have kept reliable records. The whole period is plunged in obscurity from the same causes. People who were certainly real and important are no better attested.? There may have been a real Merlin. Nikolai Tolstoy describes such a man in Quest for Merlin:...Merlin was indeed an historical figure, living in what are now the lowlands of Scotland at the end of the sixth century A.D...an authentic prophet, most likely a surviving in a enclave of the north.? A Merlin prototype may have been the Celtic (Lailoken) who gained second sight after he went mad and escaped society to live in the forest. A poem from 600 AD describes a Welsh prophet named Myrddin. Such an establishment is important. Before we can tear apart a story to find it's beginnings, we must first realize that perhaps the main character, the hero, did in fact exist.
             Much of the Arthurian tales stem from the writings of a ninth century Wel
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