He followed it to the dungeons beneath the castle, where he discovered the Great Dragon. That night, Merlin was awakened by a voice calling his name. Without magic he was a nobody and always would be, and he would rather die than not be able to use it. Merlin, however, angrily protested that he didn't want to. After one of their altercations escalated into a mace fight that Merlin tried to win with his magic, Gaius grew impatient with his carelessness and advised him to control himself. He soon found a new friend in the Lady Morgana's maidservant, Guinevere, and an enemy in Prince Arthur Pendragon. Merlin spent his first few days in Camelot helping Gaius while the physician tried to find some paid work for him.
The king, Uther Pendragon, had outlawed all forms of magic twenty years ago, and anyone caught breaking this law was sentenced to death. The physician was intrigued by his instinctive use of magic, at one point declaring it to be impossible, but nevertheless discouraged him from using it.
Soon after he arrived in Camelot, Merlin saved Gaius from a fatal fall from a balcony in his chambers. She hoped that the elderly physician would be able to teach him to control his magic and help him find a purpose for his gifts. When Merlin was in his late teens, Hunith grew worried by how at odds he was with the people of Ealdor and decided to send him to live with Gaius in Camelot. At some point in their childhood, he used his magic to fell a tree, a stunt which nearly flattened Old Man Simmons ( The Moment of Truth). Merlin had one friend growing up, William, who knew about his magic. Food was scarce and everyone was expected to pitch in and help with the harvest. Life could be difficult in a village as small and isolated as Ealdor. The Druids, for example, referred to him as "Emrys" ( The Beginning of the End). According to the Great Dragon, Merlin's birth had been prophesied by many cultures. Unlike most sorcerers, Merlin was born with the ability to use magic. Balinor was forced to flee Ealdor and leave Hunith behind, unaware that she was pregnant with his child ( The Last Dragonlord). The two fell in love, but Uther eventually discovered Balinor's whereabouts and sent men to arrest him. Near the end of the Great Purge, Gaius had helped Balinor, a Dragonlord, escape the slaughter of his people and arranged for him to stay with Hunith. Merlin was born to Hunith and Balinor in Ealdor, a small outlying village in the kingdom of Essetir.