Q&A: In the 1981 movie Excalibur, where does the “charm of making” incantation used by Merlin come from?
Question by Svartalf: In the 1981 movie Excalibur, where does the “charm of making” incantation used by Merlin come from?
You probably know that spell, sound like “Anall nathrach, oorfas bethud, dorhiel dienvay”… I’d like to know if John Boorman found it somewhere and put it in the film, or if it was made up for the film.
Answers found from independent research and pointing to a text in “old Irish” seem contrived and wrong, not to mention that the pronunciation in the film is not compatible with the Irish language.
Oh, yeah, the Everson solution is what I meant when I said “contrived and wrong”.
Best answer:
Answer by answerator
I don’t think anyone outside of those involved in the film production actually knows for sure, but my best guess is that Boorman wrote something in Old Irish and then changed it to sound better (or perhaps make it more pronounceable.)
The charm of making fits in perfectly with the motifs in the rest of the film. If he had just found it somewhere, then I would venture to guess the only way for it to fit so perfectly would be to change the story to suit it. Happening to find some obscure text that coincidentally fit so well seems unlikely. That would make the said text pretty much the basis for his unique take on the legend of Merlin, so I think the source would be more well-known if it existed.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
