Nicol Williamson nel ruolo di...
Merlin
- Merlin: STAND BACK! Be silent! Be still!... That's it... and look upon this moment. Savor it! Rejoice with great gladness! Great gladness! Remember it always, for you are joined by it. You are One, under the stars. Remember it well, then... this night, this great victory. So that in the years ahead, you can say, 'I was there that night, with Arthur, the King!' For it is the doom of men that they forget.
- Arthur: Swear faith to me, and you shall have mercy! I need battle lords such as you!
- Uryenes: [scornfully] A noble knight swear faith to a squire?
- Mador: NEVER... NEVER!
- Arthur: You're right... I'm not yet a knight.
- Arthur: [Hands Excalibur to Uryenes and kneels]
- Arthur: You, Uryenes, will knight me. Then as knight to knight... I can offer you mercy.
- Merlin: [Alarmed] What's this? What's this?
- Mador: Keep it, Uryenes!
- Uryenes: [hesitates and then touches Excalibur to Arthur's shoulder] In the name of God, St Michael and St George, I give you the right to bear arms and the power to mete justice!
- Arthur: That duty I will solemnly obey, as knight and king.
- Merlin: I never saw this.
- Uryenes: Rise... King Arthur.
- Uryenes: [Uryenes kneels before Arthur] I am your humble knight, and I swear allegiance to the courage in your veins. So strong it is, its source must be Uther Pendragon. I doubt you no more!
- [Arthur has broken Excalibur on Lancelot's chest]
- Arthur: Merlin! What have I done?
- Merlin: You have broken what could not be broken! Now, hope is broken.
- Arthur: My pride broke it. My rage broke it! This excellent knight, who fought with fairness and grace, was meant to win. I used Excalibur to change that verdict. I've lost, for all time, the ancient sword of my fathers, whose power was meant to unite all men... not to serve the vanity of a single man. I am... nothing.
- Merlin: Now look, I once stood exposed to the Dragon's Breath so that a man could lie one night with a woman. It took me nine moons to recover. And all for this lunacy called, "love", this mad distemper that strikes down both beggar and king. Never again. Never.
- Arthur: [of Lancelot] Will he live?
- Merlin: Oh, yes.
- Arthur: Will Guinevere...?
- Merlin: Yes.
- Arthur: Merlin, will I ever have a son?
- Merlin: Yes.
- Arthur: No riddles? Nothing but a simple "yes"? That frightens me.
- Merlin: But a King should be afraid, Arthur, always... of the enemy. Waiting, everywhere. In the corridors of his castle, on the deer-paths of his forests, or in a more tangled forest... in here.
- [taps his head with his finger]
- Uther: Where have you been?
- Merlin: I have walked my way since the beginning of time. Sometimes I give, sometimes I take, it is mine to know which and when!
- Uther: You must help me, Merlin!
- Merlin: Must I?
- Uther: I am your King!
- Merlin: So! You need me again now that my truce is wrecked! Years to build and moments to ruin! And all for lust!
- Uther: For Igrayne! One night with her. You don't understand, you're not a man. Use the magic. Do it!
- Merlin: [considering] Igrayne... You will swear by your true Kingship... to grant me what I wish, then you shall have it.
- Uther: [kneeling] By Excalibur, I swear it!
- Merlin: What issues from your lust, shall be mine. Swear it again!
- Uther: I SWEAR IT!
- Merlin: What are you afraid of?
- Arthur: I don't know.
- Merlin: Shall I tell you what's out there?
- Arthur: Yes, please.
- Merlin: The Dragon. A beast of such power that if you were to see it whole and all complete in a single glance, it would burn you to cinders.
- Arthur: Where is it?
- Merlin: It is everywhere! It is everything! Its scales glisten in the bark of trees, its roar is heard in the wind! And its forked tongue strikes like... like...
- [lightning strikes near their feet]
- Merlin: Whoa! Like lightning! Yes, that's it.
- Arthur: How can I...? What should I...? Must I...?
- Merlin: Do nothing. Be still. Sleep. Rest in the arms of the Dragon. Dream.
- Arthur: Rise, Father, please. I was your son before I became your king; if I am King.
- Sir Ector: You are king, Arthur; the more so because you are not my son, and I am not your father.
- Arthur: Not my father? Then Kay is not my brother?
- Sir Ector: Merlin the magician brought you to me when you were newly born, and bade me raise you as my own. At first, I did so because I feared Merlin, but later because I loved you.
- Arthur: Who is my true father?
- Sir Ector: Only Merlin can tell you that.
- Arthur: And who is Merlin?
- Merlin: [enters suddenly from the forest] I... am the Merlin.
- Arthur: Whose son am I?
- Merlin: You are the son of Uther and Igrayne. You are King Arthur!
- Arthur: Where hides evil in my kingdom, then?
- Merlin: Always... where you never expect it. Always.
- Gawain: I know where.
- Arthur: Where, Sir Gawain?
- Gawain: I cannot say.
- Arthur: You must speak your heart. You sit at the Round Table. Where is this evil?
- Gawain: He's our best... and our bravest... why, then, is he never here? Without Lancelot, this table is nothing! Is there anyone here who doesn't think him a god? And now to be driven from us
- [points to Guenevere]
- Gawain: by a woman's desire!
- Guenevere: In the idleness that comes with peace, I see that gossip has bred its own evil! I will forgive your hasty words. Come... drink from Lancelot's cup, and partake of his 'goodness'.
- [the cup is passed to Gawain, who proceeds to slam it upside-down on the table in defiance of Guenevere]
- Arthur: You DARE accuse the Queen, Gawain?
- Gawain: I do!
- Guenevere: I protest my innocence!
- Arthur: [standing up and drawing Excalibur threateningly] WERE I NOT KING, I WOULD MAKE YOU PAY WITH YOUR LIFE FOR WHAT YOU'VE SAID!
- Guenevere: Will you not champion me?
- Arthur: I cannot! I am your King, and I must be your judge in this. Lancelot must do it. He also stands accused. I decree - that at sunrise, two days from now, the champions will meet, and the truth shall be known. For by the law of God, no knight who is false can win in combat with one who is true.
- Arthur: Merlin, where are you going?
- Merlin: Where do you think? You have a kingdom to rule.
- Arthur: But how? I don't know how.
- Merlin: You knew how to draw the sword from the stone.
- Arthur: That was easy.
- Merlin: Was it? I couldn't have done it.
- Arthur: You couldn't?
- Merlin: You are the King. Not I.
- Arthur: But where to start?
- Merlin: Well what do think happened since you ran off?
- Arthur: Sir Ector and Kay. They must be waiting all this time. Most of the Great Knights were against me, except Leondegrance of Camelyard. But if he supports me, the others will turn against him.
- Merlin: Even now they lay siege to his castle.
- Arthur: I need him. We must help him.
- Merlin: There you are. That was easy too. Wasn't it?