© 2005 Amy Zhang
Amy Z
p.5 10/30/05
The Merlin Conspiracy 25pts.
By Dianna Wynne Jones
Note: The Merlin Conspiracy is written from two different first-person points of view: Roddy’s (Arinrhod Hyde), and Nick’s (Nichothodes).
1. Roddy: Sybil enchanted
the waters. She invited the King and
the Court to the Inner Garden and invited them to drink from the enchanted
fountain. Now, she has control over all
of them. No one ever suspected a
thing. Roddy and Grundo didn’t drink
though. Grundo (Ambrose Temple) knew
that his mother had “doctored the water.”
They find that the new Merlin, Sir James Spencer, and Sybil are
conspiring together to overthrow all magic on Bless. Roddy is in a panic. She
can’t turn to her parents, they dunk the water too; she can’t turn to the King,
he was the first to drink the waters.
She can’t turn to Granddad Hyde, the Magid, because she does not know
his speaker code. Before she can do
anything, she and Grundo are sent to her Grandfather Gwyn (mother’s side).
Nick: The meeting is boring. Nick’s dad, who is really an adopted dad,
makes him go. Ted Mallory is a
horror-story writer. He is looking
forward to meeting Maxwell Hyde, a detective storywriter. Nick is constantly
trying to get around the mass of people.
While his father is shaking hands, someone intentionally bumps Nick into
another world. There is a group of
mages waiting for a late novice from the Academy. They, mistaking him for the novice, hustle him into the bus and
set off somewhere. Nick does not
believe this is really happening. It is
all a dream to him, just another dream of his ideal job, a Magid.
2. Roddy: Roddy becomes a
powerful magic user. While at the ruins
of some lost city, she goes into the past and is given a bundle of knowledge
from an upset woman. This knowledge of
plants is very useful when added to what she already knows. The Lady of Governance, Merlin’s
counterpart, picks her as her heir during the denouement. She is, as Nick described, ”eaten up inside
with magic.”
Nick: Nick, also, is and
will become a powerful magic user. He
is more thoughtful and understands how a chain reaction can occur from
seemingly unimportant things. He feels
somewhat guilty for indirectly causing the events of the entire book. He learns he can have a Magid’s power and
still be a free operator like Romamov; this is his desired occupation. He also met his “ideal girl,” Roddy.
3. Roddy & Nick: They
must raise the land. It will rework all
magic, but it must be done. The False
Merlin and the Conspirators must not be allowed to do it first. They are stuck in a car driving to
Stonehenge. Yet that proves
useful. Grundo explodes the box of
salamanders causing the first problem in their plan. Roddy must do the actual raising. All of magic is chaos in her vortex. Then Nick summons the legendary White dragon to help. This
frightens the entire crowd, many of which start praying. Sybil again summons Grandfather Gwyn, Gwyn
ap Nud, a form of death, who isn’t a person but a Power. This time, being the fourth, he has power
over her. When all this magic meets, it undoes itself, all contributing to the
raising of the land.
4. Roddy: Romanov explained
how to raise the land; she must do it. She can’t hope for Grundo’s help now
that she knows about the glamour charm.
Then she softens slightly when she sees Grundo working hard on a spell
to help. She can’t get help from Nick;
she might be the only one who can save him.
Romanov isn’t here now; he’s freeing all the magic users that might help
them. She must take everything and feed
it into the vortex to destroy it. What
Roddy doesn’t know of is all the help she is getting while she is concentrating
too hard to notice.
Nick: “I was scared spitless.” While driving to Stonehenge, Nick summoned the White Dragon. “People are going to get hurt,” it said. That was true for every time it was summoned. Sometimes things must be done though. Nick had little choice over the rest of the climax. He was being tortured by the screams of dying salamanders.