Merlin

Biodata

Background / History

Original life and repeated reincarnations

Merlin was born in China and took the surname Mei from Merlin’s mother. The given name Lin came from the bamboo grove where she was resting around the time of the birth; its resemblance to the legendary British wizard’s name was coincidental. After discovering Harry Potter, Merlin died suddenly during a late-night reading session and awakened in the world of Harry’s parents’ generation 1.

Death repeatedly returned Merlin to that generation under different identities, including Peter Pettigrew, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Black, and Bertha Jorkins. Sorting followed Merlin’s own personality rather than the original character’s house, and the current life is Merlin’s first placement in Gryffindor 1 6.

Attempts to avert the characters’ deaths repeatedly failed. As the Potters’ Secret Keeper, Merlin refused to betray them and died, only to learn through the system’s ending replay that the Potters had still been killed. Another attempt to remain uninvolved and eventually adopt Harry ended in an accidental fatal fall downstairs 1.

Successive failures led to increasingly extreme methods. During the seventh run, Merlin carried out a killing spree with a kitchen knife, but the world introduced another transmigrator to preserve the plot. That woman was bound to a Romance System that forced her to act as a malicious supporting character, including attempting to poison her favorite character, Dumbledore 1.

Return to Hogwarts in 1971

At the beginning of the eighth Hogwarts run, the Romance System restored Merlin’s original identity, appearance, and initial emotional state. It then introduced A Hogwarts Romance: 1971, interrupting events with compulsory choices at key moments 1 12.

Merlin chose Gryffindor, befriended Lily, and immediately clashed with Sirius over his hostile reaction to Merlin’s resemblance to the Black family. An invitation to explore the Forbidden Forest drew James into Merlin’s first evening-adventure storyline. Their attempted excursion ended when James misunderstood directions and ran into Filch; McGonagall deducted five points from each student 1 2 3.

The conflict with Sirius escalated into physical violence. After both were hospitalized with broken legs, Sirius grabbed Merlin by the throat, and Merlin retaliated by twisting his arm. Despite this, Merlin refused to disclose Sirius’s private affairs to Lily and assured James that Sirius’s behavior would not end their friendship 5 6.

Friendships and efforts to change events

James formally befriended Merlin after recognizing their shared interests and adventurousness. Their friendship survived several arguments, including his neglect of Merlin during an illness and a dangerous expedition that left Merlin severely injured while saving him. James eventually offered a public, sincere apology on his birthday, when Merlin presented him with a hand-drawn map of Hogwarts’s secret passages 12 19 34 35 37.

Merlin also worked to ease Remus’s isolation and suffering, researching potions for his scars and encouraging him to trust his friends. These efforts did not produce a successful scar-fading potion in the documented attempts 18 35 38.

During Christmas, Merlin returned to China to search for traces of the original life. Tianjin offered nothing familiar, and Merlin found no evidence of a personal existence in either the ordinary or magical world. After returning to Britain on Christmas Eve, an encounter with Regulus outside Grimmauld Place unlocked part of his romance route 24.

The Evans sisters and Spinner’s End

Merlin used a Two-Way Mirror to involve Petunia in visits around Hogwarts, then arranged a birthday reunion between the Evans sisters through the mirror. Petunia’s birthday wishes moved Lily to tears, and Merlin gave Lily the mirror so they could remain in contact 26 30.

During a later visit to the Evans home, Merlin went searching when Lily failed to return from checking on Snape. At Spinner’s End, Merlin attempted to shield Lily from Eileen’s uncontrolled magic, but the Shield Charm broke under the attack. Despite serious injuries and blood loss, Merlin urged Eileen to divorce Tobias rather than continue their destructive marriage, then collapsed into Lily’s arms before Eileen could give a clear answer 46 47.

Appearance

• Hair: Long and black; sometimes tied into a small ponytail 8 35.
• Eyes: Black, with a resilient, stubborn expression that particularly attracts Sirius’s attention 14 17.
• Features: Delicate and strikingly attractive; James considers Merlin one of the best-looking people he has seen 3.
• Resemblance to the Black family: Sirius associates Merlin’s coloring and facial features with his relatives, especially the stubbornness he recognizes in Walburga. No family connection is established 1 3 14.

Personality

Merlin is sarcastic, confrontational, and fond of provoking Sirius, often using his jealousy over James as material for jokes. Repeatedly declining affection scores become a source of irritation rather than a reason to stop. Merlin also enjoys exploration and rule-breaking, regularly leaving the common room at night and sharing James’s enthusiasm for Hogwarts’s hidden passages 1 12 24 26.

Beneath that irreverence is a persistent desire to protect people whose endings Merlin already knows. Seeing the future victims alive and carefree transformed a reader’s regret into a personal commitment to save them. Repeated bereavement and torture eventually produced emotional numbness and a willingness to override others’ wishes, justified by the belief that saving them mattered more than their consent 5.

That protectiveness is often expressed through practical acts: safeguarding Sirius’s privacy, helping Peter anonymously, arranging Lily’s reunion with Petunia, and trying to treat Remus’s scars. It also becomes self-destructive; Merlin repeatedly works to exhaustion or places an already weakened body between friends and danger 6 18 21 30 47.

Abilities & Skills

Retained knowledge and foreknowledge

Merlin remembers previous lives and knows the original Harry Potter story, but cannot freely communicate its future events 1 5.

• Uses accumulated knowledge to recognize characters, understand private circumstances, and anticipate dangers 1 14 46.
• Knows Hogwarts’s secret passages well enough to guide James and produce a hand-drawn map 3 37.
• Is prevented from speaking about the future: attempted disclosures cause Merlin’s voice to cut off 5.
• Has repeatedly failed to secure the intended outcomes despite changing events 1 5 34.

Spellcasting

Merlin retains magical knowledge, but the system sharply restricts the power available in the current body 4 7.

Potion brewing

Merlin brews advanced potions and experiments with treatments beyond ordinary classroom work 18 26 38.

• Researches a potion to fade Remus’s scars, with repeated failures 38.
• Brews a potion for Petunia while showing the process through a Two-Way Mirror; the session includes a cauldron explosion 26.
• Uses wakefulness and Wit-Sharpening potions to manage fatigue, although the system can disable their benefits 11 31.
• Finds advanced brewing physically exhausting under the current restrictions 18.

Limitations and vulnerabilities

• Restricted reserves: Even basic spells can consume most of Merlin’s available magic 4 7.
• Enforced energy ceiling: The system disables Wit-Sharpening Potion when Merlin reaches the energy limit 31.
• Fear of heights: Merlin attributes severe height-related trauma to the first death and cannot get airborne in Flying Class 32.
• Avoidance behavior: Walks on the inside of corridors, avoids standing by windows, and refuses James’s offer of a broom ride 35 50.

Romance System

The system freezes events to present choices at key plot points. Although selecting an option is compulsory, Merlin retains some freedom over the exact words and actions used afterward; an apparently correct choice can still lower affection 1 2.

Route mechanics

• Completing one character’s romance events can open an individual route, provided affection is sufficient; otherwise, the result is the normal route 1.
• Completing all main romance storylines without pursuing an individual route opens the hidden route, after which normal options disappear 1.
• Earning a character’s Love at first sight achievement without pursuing that character creates a risk of the character turning dark 1.
• Story fragments reveal Merlin’s previous lives and are unlocked through main-story progression 5.

Documented milestones

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Wand — Used for spellcasting and kept concealed in a sleeve during the tense encounter with Sirius in the rain 14 47.
• Two-Way Mirror — Used to show Petunia Hogwarts and later given to Lily as a birthday present 26 30.
• Hand-drawn secret-passage map — Created from Merlin’s knowledge of Hogwarts and given to James for his birthday 37.
• Wakefulness and Wit-Sharpening potions — Used to counter tiredness, subject to the system’s restrictions 11 31.

Relationships

• Lily Evans — Merlin’s closest and most consistent friend across different lives. Lily identifies Lin as her best friend; Merlin promises to protect her, helps repair her relationship with Petunia, and shields her at Spinner’s End 12 17 30 46 47.
• James Potter — Adventure companion and close friend in the current run, despite being only a casual acquaintance in earlier lives. Their friendship develops through arguments, apologies, shared nighttime outings, and Merlin’s rescue of him 12 19 34 37.
• Sirius Black — Antagonistic classmate whose hostility conceals love at first sight and distress over Merlin’s resemblance to his family. In a previous life, Sirius comforted Merlin while both were imprisoned and tortured in Azkaban 5 14.
• Remus Lupin — Trusted friend whom Merlin encourages to accept others’ care. Merlin researches treatment for his scars; Remus helps Merlin during illness and rescues Merlin from the Black Lake 17 35 38.
• Severus Snape — Lily’s friend and a strained ally. Merlin warns him against dangerous Dark Magic and confronts him with photographs of Lily’s attack, demanding that he restrain Avery and the others 18 29 46.
• Petunia Evans — Friend and intermediary in Merlin’s efforts to reconnect the Evans sisters. Merlin shares views of Hogwarts through the mirror and later visits with gifts and Chinese food 26 30 46.
• Regulus Black — Hidden-route encounter. Merlin silently promises to keep his Christmas Eve presence outside Grimmauld Place secret 24.
• Peter Pettigrew — Recipient of anonymous kindness during Halloween; Merlin cleans his cloak and gives him candy before leaving unseen 21.
• Eileen Prince — Merlin challenges her acceptance of her marriage and urges her to divorce Tobias after her uncontrolled magic injures everyone present 47.

Notable Quotes

“I’m definitely going to Gryffindor. I’ve never met anyone braver than me!” 1

“I want to change their endings.” 5

“Even if we become friends, Black and I still won’t get along. He was the one who started picking on me.” 12

“You dare face magical creatures, but you don’t dare face your mistakes. Mr Potter’s courage really does come and go.” 37

“It can’t get any worse than it is now. Get a divorce. It’ll be better for everyone.” 47