The Archmage, Noel

Hey everyone and welcome back to The Realm! Today's article is dedicated to the most powerful warlock in history, The Dragonlord, Merlin...and no, not the Sin of Gluttony. Oh yeah, you read that right, but you're probably wondering about the title of this article. I will explain that momentarily. For now it is introduction time!

Second Commander of the Shield Corps, The Archmage of the Blood Guard, The Dragonlord. He is Noel of the Prism Guard and he is her wisdom.

Now to answer the questions that are undoubtedly burning in your mind...or is that just me? First question...his name. Noel is the name of a character that starred in the Final Fantasy franchise, his debut being Final Fantasy 13-2. He continued his role in Final Fantasy: Lightning Returns as the mysterious Shadow Hunter. Now what does this character have to do with the greatest warlock that has ever lived?

In both of the previously mentioned Final Fantasy games is a character known as Yuel. She was a young teenage girl cursed with the Eyes of Etro. In the Final Fantasy 13 universe, Etro is known as the Goddess of Death and her realm, untouched by time, is Valhalla. Yuel was a seeress that existed in every era of history, each one having a soul of their own yet almost completely identical. Their visions of the future were not without a price. Each new future they saw, the more they were drained of their life force. None of them made it to adulthood and always died in their early teen years.

Again what does this have to do with our beloved Archmage?

This is Noel, a hunter that lived in the distant future and was one of the few remaining survivors of the human race after Cocoon had fallen onto Gran Pulse. He was drawn into Valhalla through a time gate, was given the moogle named Mog, then sent into the past to retrieve Serah, Lightning's younger sister to aid her in her battle against Caius, a man hell bent on warping the timeline to prevent the deaths of all the Yuel's throughout time. 

Noel had grown up with Caius and the last seeress to bear the name and visage of Yuel. Caius became the Guardian of Chaos and companion to all of the Yuel's in the past, leaving Noel as the only protector of the last seeress. She died in Noel's arms, neither having told the other about what was in their hearts for one another.

Their story was so brief yet so heartfelt, so when I gave Morgana her name within the Guard, Yuel...I made Merlin's name, Noel. In the TV series, I always sensed some underlying connection between Morgana and Merlin, honestly believing that they would pair up and get married. This never occurred and instead Morgana was twisted and warped into her darkest form, very much like the timeline in Final Fantasy 13-2 that depicted such a bleak and hopeless future.

I had always intended for Morgana and Merlin to be an item almost straight out of the gate with Mordred being their biological son because seriously, this kid looked so much like a mix of the two that I thought some weird, funky magic had given birth to him or they had a super secret affair no one knew about before Merlin's actual arrival in Camelot...unlikely but fun to think about sometimes.

Now then, moving right along to his profile. His origin story, like his beloved Yuel's, is a heavily revamped version of the TV series from whence he came; however, there are some deviations...specifically his childhood in Ealdor. This small village just beyond the borders of the Kingdom of Camelot was far more prosperous than its appearance would have you believe. In the show, it held the appearance of a poor farming village trying to scrape by a living and keep their children from starving.

The true visage of the town was concealed within the forest, beneath ground as well, and the village normally seen is a well crafted facade. Why because Ealdor was one of the places that swore loyalty and under the protection of the Blood Guard. Many so called villages, camps and towns were also aligned with the Blood Guard, these places becoming temporary sanctuaries for those deemed unnatural or evil by the surrounding kingdoms.

Merlin was not actually born in Ealdor, but within a crystal cavern because his mother had fled with her husband, Balinor. He was the last Dragonlord and father to the Archmage and Druid King. The King of Camelot, Uther Pendragon, had given orders for the man to be executed on site and any that aided him, their lives were forfeit. In an attempt to conceal the knowledge of his wife, neither knowing that she was already with child, he took her to the crystal cavern that lay just within the Valley of the Fallen Kings.

Balinor placed his wife into an enchanted sleep, knowing she would follow him otherwise, and laid her to rest deep within the cave, knowing its magic would protect her. He left the cave to lead the hunting parties away, not knowing that the very essence of life itself was reacting to the shifting of fate itself. When Balinor returned, he discovered that his wife was gone. 

He had not expected her to wait for he had been gone for almost three and a half weeks, but he did discover something very unusual contained within one of the crystals. Contained within was the image of two small children bearing a remarkable resemblance to both himself and his beloved wife, Hunith. He looked into the surrounding crystals and saw many more images, all out of order but filling him with such a profound hope that it could not be contained.

The children, a boy and a girl, were to be born with magic. The boy was a defender, a healer, a conveyor of wisdom and an unwavering kindness. The girl was a fighter, she was a powerful combat mage, a natural born leader, and possessed a deep respect and reverence for life in all its forms. He knew who they were, both had been prophesied long ago...The Archmage and The Druid King.

The destiny of the Archmage was to protect the Once and Future King that would unite the lands and bring forth a lasting piece, but that was only the first segment of his multifaceted destiny. His sister was destined to become the leader of the Druids, uniting the magical kingdom under a single ruler, the High Priestess of the Old Religion. There was a problem, a great evil was trying to revert the path of the world back to its original course. A course that led to the destruction of Albion, the death of Arthur Pendragon, and magic itself would disappear, the balance forever broken.

The Dragonlord sent word to his friend, the physician of Camelot's royal court, and Gaius sent a courier to the northernmost kingdom of Rozarria, requesting assistance from his former mentor and long time friend, the Star Child. She set a plan into motion, using her gift of probability mapping to successfully counteract every attempt to sway the timeline. It was not an easy task and had taken a great deal of effort and planning in order to retain the current balance and insure the best possible future.

The so called devastation caused by magic users to the kingdom was actually the work of her Illusionist working in tandem with other divisions and the result was remarkably accurate and very believable, especially once Emma put things into motion. The First Mage de-aged herself so that she could pretty much super glue herself to the terrified child that was Morgana that was coming into her gift of prophecy. 

As for the twins of Balinor and Hunith, their parents having returned to the crystal cave for the duration of her pregnancy, were constantly surrounded by the pure essence of life, untainted and thus making them quite powerful...especially when they were together, acting as natural amplifiers for each other. Thus the reason why the twins had to be kept apart, neither knowing of the other's existence but still feeling the connection they shared as twins.

The boy was given the name, Merlin, in honor of his godmother...which turned out to be Mystic of all people and this caused quite a lot of hysterical laughter from most of the Prismata in later years. The infant Archmage was to remain with his mother in Ealdor. His twin sister and future King of the Druids was granted the name of Emrys in honor of the Star Child's sister and truest believer...the irony was not lost them in the slightest.

Eventually the siblings would cross paths when Arthur and Merlin begin their search for the last Dragonlord, Balinor, because the Great Dragon, Kilgharrah, was attacking Camelot but in the Blood Guard universe, Kilgharrah is not in control of his actions and actually begging the young warlock to stop him. As it turned out, the blade needed to free Kilgharrah from the mystical chains that bound him in the underground cavern beneath the city...was enchanted. 

When the blade struck the chain, the enchantment activated, forcing the Great Dragon to react violently and by violently, I mean he was in utter agony. He could barely discern anything and he just wanted the pain to stop and because of this enchantment, it allowed a powerful sorceress to take control of his body and used him to wreak havoc on Camelot, the very kingdom that he had promised a young Arthur to protect. So when Arthur and Merlin finally find Balinor, he initially refuses, claiming to have a greater obligation that could not be neglected.

Arthur was more than a little angry and the power he had kept hidden for so long erupted from his body, his eyes flashing a molten gold and sent a blast wave of magic towards the man. A young woman with similar features to Merlin appeared in front of Balinor and sent a greater wave of magic to rebound Arthur's which forced Merlin's hand and he projected a magical barrier around him and Arthur, but also around Balinor and the woman, forcing the clashing magicks to cancel each other out.

The barriers disappeared and the Crown Prince of Camelot immediately apologized to the Dragonlord for his magic reacting so violently. Balinor demanded to know why the son of Utter Pendragon would use magic at all and Arthur admitted that he had asked Kilgharrah, actually mentioning the Great Dragon by name, to teach him everything about magic, about the Old Religion, and about the enormous amount of history that the dragon had lived through in the hopes of not repeating past mistakes...that he honestly wanted to build a kingdom that respected the Old Ways, embraced the new, and protected the balance between the life of creation and the destruction of man.

To say that the Dragonlord was surprised would be a very big understatement and the young woman with him said that the prat was speaking the truth which had Merlin laughing because he always referred to the prince as a prat, a clotpole, or a royal ass. This drew the woman's attention to him and the moment their gazes met...they knew. Both Balinor and Arthur were taken off guard when their companions ran toward each other and hugged one another tightly, relief and joy being heard in their laughter.

Balinor was the first to understand why and cleared his throat, both siblings looking at him instantly...thus ensued a three way hug and a somewhat lengthy explanation for Prince Prat since he had no idea what the hell was going on. The group of four started their journey to Camelot and just like in the show, Balinor took a hit meant for his son which resulted in three forms of magic being directed at the one responsible. Emrys stayed behind to keep their father a proper burial and told her twin brother what he needed to do about the Great Dragon.

Imagine Merlin's surprise when he visits his mother after he rescued Kilgharrah and finds his father at the dinner table, having supper with Hunith. When asked how, his father simply pulled out a fob watch emblazoned with the mark of the Dragonlord and gave it to his son, saying that the watch was to passed on until it came to rest in the hands of its proper owner...Merlin...and not answering His son's question at all. His father then explained that the Dragonlords were members of an ancient civilization that spanned countless eons. 

The first to receive the ability to command dragons was given that watch and was passed down through the ages, absorbing all the knowledge and wisdom of each bearer to better aid the true owner in the future. The Archmage asked him why he believed that he was the owner of the watch and not Emrys. Balinor told him that only three people were capable of opening that watch; The Archmage, The Truest Believer and The Star Child. 

Merlin knew that Artz was the Star Child, her sister Yuna was the Truest Believer, which left only the Archmage, but that wasn't him. Kilgharrah had said that he was the most powerful warlock that had ever existed, but the Archmage was supposed to possess a power far greater than the combined might of his magic. What that something was, he had no idea so he just placed the watch on the table in front of his father and began to leave, only to be nearly toppled over by the woman that he could never stop thinking about, that was always in his dreams, and made his heart feel like it was about to burst out of his chest...the Lady Morgana.

When their eyes met, she smiled at him and he kind of forgot how to breathe. She was absolutely beautiful and he was so grateful that his friend, Artz, had been so pushy about him spending more time the Seeress. There was something there, something connecting them, and it was so strong. He didn't even notice his father getting up and handing the fob watch to the new arrival and nodded in his son's direction. Morgana asked him to open it for her so she could see what was inside and he did so without realizing what he was actually doing until a melody reached his ears, making him look down.

The watch that he had been so sure that it would remain closed to him forever...it was open. It wasn't a watch at all but a musical watch, playing a familiar melody and he looked up from the watch in his hand to the woman that made his life both heaven and hell simply by breathing. It was in that moment that the young warlock finally understood what the Great Dragon had tried to tell him. The power that possessed a force far greater than anything magic could ever produce...it was love. 

He loved Morgana and that revelation rendered him entirely speechless. Fortunately for him, the Seeress knew exactly what she wanted and was quite stubborn as well and one day, the First Oracle and the Archmage... with a little bit of help from two gingers, a blonde, and a rather nosy prince...finally got their act together and agreed to get married, sadly the official wedding couldn't occur until after Arthur became king, considering that Uther would have executed him for even touching her in the first place, but thanks to a certain Druid King, they did at least have a soul binding ceremony, tying them together forever and always.

It would take several more years and one more visit to a certain crystal cavern for Merlin to actually accept the fact that he was indeed The Archmage spoken of in countless legends and prophecies. When Merlin finally joined the battle at Camlann, his true potential unleashed by the restoration of his magic...the tide of battle swiftly turned, for with his arrival came the dragons, Kilgharrah and Aithusa...not to mention that his twin sister got one hell of a power boost and literally started blowing shit up while cackling like a maniacal witch.

The Archmage sought out his brother-in-law and best friend, Arthur, only to freeze in shock upon seeing the Star Child use herself as a shield to save the Once and Future King. Merlin tried to reach them, that perhaps maybe his magic could save her, only to be deflected by a powerful barrier. His sister, along with a woman with eyes of the purest amethyst, approached him and he was forced to wait, the new arrival telling him of the vision his wife in the future had.

He watched helplessly as his closest and dearest friend died in Arthur's arms. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks as his brother-in-law let out a soul wrenching scream of agony, losing himself completely within the raw power and might that was the life force of the world, the core essence of all magic both light and dark. The two women each took one of his hands and he didn't have to look at them to know that they were crying too. Their hands tightened as they watched the King of Camelot forcibly rip out the corrupted life force of the sorceress, Morgause, and then willed it into the Star Child's body which had dire consequences.

When his friend tried to attack the man that had just saved her life, both he and his sister channeled the entirety of their combined powers into the amethyst eyed woman while she created a reflective barrier strong enough to keep the Lady of the Blood Guard contained. So much sorrow and pain followed, along with countless other emotions...then one day, she was gone. The Star Child had disappeared not long after the corrupted life force had been fully extracted and with her departure, the bright colors that had once been so vivid and vibrant became dull and muted.

For months it had remained this way until Lancelot and the other elite knights sought him out. Why because strange crests had emerged on their hands and they asked him if he knew what it meant. Sir Leon also informed the Archmage that a similar crest had appeared on their King's hand as well. He was about to answer them when an explosion of glass occurred, the sound originating close to where his and Morgana's personal chambers were. 

He immediately transported himself to his wife who was gripping a piece of furniture with one hand and holding her swollen stomach, a puddle of fluid on the floor around her. Her water had just broken and judging by the high intensity bursts of magic comijg from every time she experienced a new wave of pain...well it meant only one thing...he was about to be a father. All hell broke loose as several people helped prepare for the birthing, dashing about all over the place and people barking orders.

The Archmage would have remained with his wife had it not been for the vision that flooded his mind...Artz was in danger and and she was alone. He was forced into making a choice; his wife or his friend. He called out to Morgana within their minds but she couldn't hear him, the pain from the contractions preventing a stable connection. He was surprised when another answered his call and in his mind's eye, there was a vision of a young boy, no older than ten years of age.

His physical features resembled both he and his wife...was this their child, their son, the one that his wife was trying so desperately to bring into this world? The boy told him that he needed to leave, to rescue the currently powerless Star Child, and if he didn't then the entirety of the past and future would be unwritten. Merlin was blindsided by the sudden surge of images, a timeline without the Star Child, without the Blood Guard, without Emma...his wife would have been his enemy; the darkness to his light, the hatred to his love.

Morgana would have been converted to evil by the vile Morgause, twisting and warping her into most darkest and purest evil form, becoming the instrument that would lead Albion to ruin, destroying magic, killing Arthur...she would have died by his hand, holding her in his arms as she took her final breath and leaving a gaping a hole within his heart. Without Artz, her daughter would never be born. Without Emma, Morgana would have grown up believing herself to be a monster, so lost and confused and afraid. 

Without them, Arthur would never have befriended the Great Dragon. Without them, Merlin would have lived a life that was nothing but lies, always wanting to tell Arthur about himself and about his magic, barely managing to reveal it at the end and have Arthur die in his arms too. If he didn't leave right now then that very future would come to pass and with it, the deaths of his father, his love, his best friend, and his sister would never be born at all either.

He turned and left and was stopped by Arthur. Once the words Artz is in trouble left his mouth, the King of Camelot and the elite knights bearing their new crests joined the Archmage in rescuing the Star Child, but she held no memory of being the Lady of the Blood Guard, her mind having temporarily reset itself... roughly nine months ago and the only reason why she had been anywhere near Camelot at all was because she had been following the image of a boy matching the one that Merlin had seen.

His son's essence had been calling to her, guiding her home, and she had been instinctively following that instinct. They managed to convince her to come with them to Camelot, that she would be safe there, but as they tried to leave, they were ambushed by the remnants of Morgause's fake Blood Guard and one of them managed to latch a silver band around her neck, making her crumple like a rag doll and her eyes fogging over, essentially rendering her blind and whatever power she might have had access to was now locked within by the magical device.

I'm gonna stop it there for that part of his story...why...because I haven't written it out yet. You're probably wondering what all of this has to do with the most recent chapter of Stardust on fanfiction.net and if not then you might want to go read it first then come back.

As I was saying, within the chapters of Book One are two references to everyone's favorite warlock. The first is when Anna meets a strange man bearing a remarkable resemblance to the Archmage. The second instance is in regard to the most addition to the Zimmerman family.

This cute little guy is found by Doctor William Zimmerman and ends up picking up the cat, fully intending on taking their furry new friend home with them, but there is something rather odd with the suspiciously intelligent feline. This fact is proven true when Will witnessed an unusual event...fortunately his sister had been preoccupied at the time so she hadn't noticed. Will had been zapped by electricity and was still dealing with the pain, when all of a sudden...

The kitten's eyes flashed gold for a moment and the lingering pain in his hand had instantly disappeared. He did not have a chance to tell his sister because she had distracted him with new information about the items they had been searching. These items were procured separately; one the previous night by Will and the other today by Anna. The items in question...fob watches...more specifically, music boxes in the shape of a fob watch, each containing a specific song acting as the bearer's personal theme tune. I'm gonna list off the ones mentioned in the story...though Light's is still undetermined at this time so you'll be getting the list of candidates. I'll start off with the confirmed theme tunes.

The Third Captain, Poseidon Jones - Song: Blackheart aka Pirate Love Song

The Fourth Captain, James Hook - Song: The Davy Jones theme (with lyrics)

The Profiler, Durga Zimmerman - Song: Ain't No Rest For The Wicked

The Punisher, Preacher - Song: Thrown Away

The Star Child, Artz Lanaria - Song: Shot In The Dark

Did you know that the Blood Guard as a whole has their own theme as well?

The Blood Guard - Song: Hair Up

Seriously, this song inspired an entire performance scene. A group of members predominantly from the Prism Guard are dressed in dark suits, wearing dark fedoras, some with black sunglasses and the leader of the Guard, the First Captain has a cane. He just stands in the middle of the group, looking like a total badass, while the other captains and a few others do the main vocals and doing a dance routine around the First Captain. He does sing, mainly the deeper vocals. Anyways, the chorus is done by the rest of the group and most of the dancing and clapping. Off to the side is the sound mixer that takes care of the instrumental parts and moving spotlights above and a light fog floating along the floor. Sweet Menti Celesti, I wish I could take the scene out of my head and make it into its own music video because I am so not doing justice to what's in my head right now.

That being said, Yuna's theme tune is entirely up to her. I am personally leaning towards this song; The Daughter of the Moon.

Now comes the mother of all ice cream headaches that is this guy's theme.

The Second Captain, Light Zimmerman - Song(s): Sabotage, Immigrant, The Wanderer's Lullaby, The 12th Doctor's guitar solo, I See The Light, Powerful Magic, and recently thought of...I Think it's Called Clara.

The 12th Doctor's Guitar Solo is the very first one in Suite. Sorry couldn't find one with just the first part.

In several scenes, Light is seen reclining on a couch in Henry's workshop. He has his electric guitar in his hands and he plays this song almost absent-mindedly. I think it puts him at ease, calming his lightning fast mind, it's one of Artz's favorites, and so it kind of ended up as his 'thinking song'.

I know this turned into quite the spectacle and let me assure you that there will be more articles that will undoubtedly follow this trend. Also there are other themes already set in stone, but I also have some songs that I want to use as theme tunes but I haven't found the right characters for them. Then there are the characters that are supposed to have very recognizable theme tunes but I keep coming up with a great big blank.

Hook: Translation - she hasn't found one for the very person this article was about...The Archmage, Noel.

Artz: *whines* Captain!

Hook: *chuckles* Quit your belly aching, wench. I was only teasing. I'm perfectly aware of how busy you've been lately; posted several chapters for His Guiding Star, completely overhauled some of your older posts, literally made up this article on the spot, spent several hours a day for the last month scouring the internet for both images and transcripts, started a new blog called ouatscripts.blogspot.com just so Anna could read them since she usually doesn't have time to actually watch the episodes, and on top of all that, you've got your job and the ridiculous amount of work to do at home.

Poseidon: it's a bloody miracle that she hasn't collapsed from exhaustion.

Light: It's called burning the candle at both ends.

Hook: Something has got to give, Sparky.

Poseidon: Yeah...her.

Noel: Umm...would now be a bad time to mention that...*twenty minutes later*...I was going to say fall asleep but she stopped typing and took a short nap instead.

Artz: *groggy* Sorry, everyone but it's time for some shut eye. Goodnight. *is carried away by her Captain*