The Lost Years of Merlin

This story takes place on the mysterious isle of Fincayra. Fincayra is overrun by a great evil brought forth by the enormous wild boar Rhita Gawr. Rhita Gawr is the arch nemesis of the great stag Dogda who is fighting for the side of good. The land now lay in shackles under the crushing relentlessness of king Stangmar who was ruler of the land. Only but a small portion of the isle of Fincayra called Drumawood had yet to be tainted by the evil that was rapidly spreading throughout the trees and killing off the natural beauty of the area. Before the evil of Rhita Gawr had made its way to the isle of Fincayra, it had been a plentiful as well as beautiful place. There were living streams running through the area, fruit laden trees strewn about the land, old trees that had the ability to talk in their own language as well as saplings only begging to mature that bordered the isle from one coast to the other. Much of this natural beauty had long disappeared from the small isle of Fincayra; a never-ending shadow enveloped it, as the evil of Rhita Gawr grew steadily stronger. Many of the once ancient trees in the area died of the long loss of rain and lack of sun and were cut down to mere stumps of wood lining the area. The small isle of Fincayra is situated in the middle of an ocean with no other large landmasses that surround it. This story takes place throughout several weeks and is written in the olden days. The weather and landscape surrounding the main character starts to change from vast shores, flat land and mild weather to the rocky mounds that create the “Dark Hills” to the east of the isle of Fincayra with more extreme weather.

The protagonist of the story is a young boy named Emrys. At the beginning of the book, he cannot remember his name for he has some sort of amnesia. He wears a leather tunic with a high collar as well as a pouch slung over his back. In his hand, he carries a walking stick shaven of its bark, which was given to him by a tree. Around his neck, he wears a pendant called the Galator, which protects him throughout his journey. Emrys is a very courageous young boy and can find it within him to defeat many foes during the story. What make’s Emrys truly unique is the special abilities he comes to posses throughout the story. As he develops as a character, trying to find his past, he finds that he has the unique ability to use magic, yet fears to use it as it has caused death in his past. In one of his rages against another boy who treated his mother as though he was to kill her, he had accidentally burned his eyes and could no longer see. Yet miraculously a second sight using his mind granted him the ability to see. After this event, he had sworn never again to use magic.

This story begins when the young boy Emrys, washes ashore not knowing his name and without any memory of his past. A woman by the name of Branwen takes the young boy in and cares for him for many years. As Emrys ages he realizes he has an extraordinary power to be able to communicate with nature and is more open to his environment. Branwen who cared for young Emrys throughout his years was a healer and the townsfolk ridiculed her for this special ability. Emrys lost his sight when a group of the town boys tried to burn Branwen and Emrys had saved her using his newfound abilities to set fire to trees by the boys. He had killed one of the boys and while trying to save him he had burnt his eyes. As he recovered from burns to his eyes, he discovered that although he was blind, he could see with his mind. Yet after fully recovering, he still did not know his identity and set off for the ocean so that he could find out who he really was. After