The sidhe (pronounced she), are creatures that live in Avalon, the land of eternal youth.
They are Master's of enchantment, and they possess fearsome magic. I'm going to go through all I know about the sidhe in detail - something I haven't done before!
Avalon and the isle of the sidhe
|
The lake of Avalon |
Avalon is the land of eternal youth, and it is where the sidhe live. Mortals are only meant to glimpse Avalon the moment before death, but if you were to go to the lake of Avalon, you could summon the sidhe using powerful magic, and then the lake
becomes Avalon.
The Isle of the sidhe
is a different place from the lake of Avalon - you would be surprised how many people I've met who didn't know.
The Isle of the sidhe is a place of immense power and magic.
|
the isle of the sidhe |
This may be another destination where you can summon the sidhe and Avalon. I wouldn't be surprised as in the last episode of Merlin (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!), Arthur's last hope was the isle of the sidhe, where Merlin would either summon and command the sidhe to use there impossibly strong magic to heal Arthur, or harness their magic and cure Arthur himself.
The Sidhe Elder
The sidhe elder is exactly who he/she sounds like; the leader/ruler/king/queen who has power over the lesser sidhe, and has the right to cast judgement over them.
|
The sidhe elder series 1-3 |
The reason that I put he/she or king/queen is because the first sidhe elder (look above) was killed by Merlin in series 3 when
he was trying to kill Merlin! So now the sidhe elder could be male or female, but we don't know -and we never will because the series has ended (NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)
The sidhe staff
These mystical staffs are beautifully constructed: A blue crystal surrounded by a cage of wood, and on the staff, there is writing in an ancient script (Gaius told Merlin it was called Ogham - which in actual fact it the first written Celtic language!). And each one carries immense power.
When I say immense power, I mean you could harness it's magic and use the staff to shoot out a powerful beam towards someone that could severely injure or kill someone. definitely powerful, but it can't do anything else but shoot out powerful deadly beams, or at least, we don't have any proof of what else it might be able to do.
Prices to Pay
Lets say you wanted to become a sidhe and live in Avalon, or you are already a sidhe, but have been banished from Avalon, but now wish to return. You summon the sidhe using magic (obviously if you didn't have magic you would just give up) and tell them your request. They would tell you that you will never win your passage to Avalon... unless you pay their price!
They will demand the soul of a prince to be offered up to them.
There are probably a number of ways to do this, but the way Aulfric and Sophia Tiwmaw did this was by enchanting a prince (Arthur) and by trying to drown him in the lake of Avalon whilst chanting some spell (spell 34).
|
Sophia leading Arthur to his doom - or so she thought! |
Pixies
|
Grunhilder in pixie form! |
Pixies are servants of the sidhe, and help them in anyway they can, because if they are not useful to the sidhe, something terrible will happen to them (maybe they are banished from Avalon - if they live there- and are doomed to live a mortal life in a human body... or maybe they are killed)
Pixies have one weakness which is (as Gaius puts it) for more ... distinguished gentlemen!
This was Grunhilder's undoing, as she was tricked into being captured, then killed by Merlin when she escaped.
So now I have gone through all that, I will finish off with the one thing the sidhe want more than anything - a sidhe as Camelot's Queen! And as they are patient and live for more than a thousand years, they are prepared to wait all their lives for this to happen!
They have tried once before, and they might try again - so Camelot and Merlin, BE PREPARED!
See other Magical Creatures Posts
Spells
38. spell: k-eye-an
what it does: blasts someone backwards.
performed by: Cerdan (the druid who first arrived with Mordred)
39. spell: kur-spa-nan-t-eye!
what it does: Slowly closes heavy double doors.
performed by: Cerdan
40. spell: Bestaep sceos
pronounced: bes-tep-see-oss
what it does: makes a pair of boots walk forward.
performed by: Merlin
41. spell: Gestile sceos.
pronounced: Ge-stell see-oss.
what it does: makes a pair of boots walk backwards.
performed by: Merlin
42. spell: Astyre sceos
pronounced: A-star see-os
what it does: makes a pair of boots walk forward
performed by: Merlin
43. spell: Onbinde cume mec.
pronounced: on-bin-day coo-may meck
what it does: slides a set of keys off a belt and lets you move them through the air with you mind.
performed: Merlin
PS: I realise this is totaly un-Merlin related, but have you heard about the petition against a coal mine being build on the edge of the iMfolozi wilderness in South Africa? Find out more here. Once the petition is over, I will remove this text.