Le pas de Merlin focuses on the origin story of Merlin. In the heart of Sixth century Scotland, Rhydderch Hael, King of the Sthrathclyde, welcomes the Briton kings at Dumbarton. Newly converted to the Christian faith by Bishop Kentigern, King Rhydderch hopes to build an alliance between all the Briton kings and put an end to clan feuds as well as resist against the Gaels, Picts, and Saxons invaders. However, Queen Aldan of the Dyfed, widow of rhiotamus Ambrosius Aurelianus, also known as King Arthur, and mother to none other than Prince Emrys Myrddin (Merlin), chooses King Guendoleu of Cumbria to become the next King of kings of Britain much to Rhydderch's dismay. When Guendoleu is ambushed and killed, it is onto Merlin, royal bard and Prince of the Dyfed, that befalls the torque of Ambrosius as well as the heavy task to bring peace in the country. From that moment on, Merlin is thrown into a whirlwind of blood, religious beliefs, and magic.
In most of Arthurian legends and stories, Merlin is always depicted as an old druid providing guidance, support, and friendship to a young King Arthur in his quest for the Grail. However, Jean-Louis Fetjaine's duology Le pas de Merlin, gives both Ambrosius Aurelianus (King Arthur) and Emrys Myrddin (Merlin) their historical dimensions back, the former having been dead for many years when the story begins while the latter is a seventeen-year-old boy occupying the function of royal bard to King Guendoleu of Cumbria, which leads this tale to distance itself from Arthurian fantasy and become a historical fiction with some fantasy elements in it.
And though the author chose to tell Merlin's journey through an historical lens, it did not remove the fairy tale like atmosphere present within the story as it translated brilliantly Merlin's struggle and search for identity by showing this oscillation between the real and the unreal, between the seen and the unseen, between the sacred and the profane as well as between humanity and otherness.
Fetjaine, Jean-Louis. Le Pas de Merlin, tome 1, Paris, Pocket, 2004.
Fetjaine, Jean-Louis. Brocéliande: Le Pas de Merlin, tome 2, Paris, Pocket, 2006.