Merrin Meredith is the former apprentice of DomDaniel, antagonist of Darke and is known as arch enemy of Septimus Heap.
Merrin Meredith was once the apprentice of DomDaniel. He had been known as Septimus Heap because Septimus was the seventh son of a seventh son, and DomDaniel wanted him to be his apprentice. But when he was taken to the Young Army by the midwife, she set him down and picked up her own son, Merrin Meredith, and as a woman came in, she thought that the midwife was holding Septimus. She tried to stop the woman, but this just made her pull even harder. She took Merrin to DomDaniel and has been called Septimus Heap until Boy 412 discovered his parentage. He then lived with Aunt Zelda after she saved him after being Consumed by DomDaniel. He was then the charge of Simon Heap, and once the Master of Sleuth, until Simon retained posession. His least favorite thing is being told he is stupid.
He so far has been known by three names: Septimus Heap (as DomDaniel's apprentice), Merrin Meredith (his birth name), and Daniel Hunter (a cross between the names of DomDaniel and the Hunter, the two scariest people he has known in his life).
Early Life
Merrin Meredith was captured by one of DomDaniels minions when he was mistaken for Septimus Heap. After that he was sent to live with some unkown family until he was brought to be trained by the ex-ExtraOrdinary Wizard, DomDaniel. As he isn't really Septimus Heap, it is hopeless that Merrin would ever become as powerful as Septimus.
Books
Magyk
Merrin appears, when the Hunter is chasing Jenna, Nicko, and Boy 412 (Septimus). He is also the one who discovers that Muriel, they were chasing in river was a Projection.
He later returns to Draggen Island with the Hunter. Merrin is captured by Nicko who takes him to Aunt Zelda. Merrin says he is Septimus Heap, shocking everyone by telling it and Nicko denies, that he is his dead brother. After Aunt Zelda has shown what happened to Septimus Heap, Merrin interrupts the spell and escapes.
He then reveals to DomDaniel, where Jenna is and his master chooses to travel into the Marram Marshes by his ship, the 'Vengeance. After DomDaniel's ship had sunk in the Marram Marshes, his body is Consumed by Dom Daniel, leaving only his skin lying on the ground. Aunt Zelda however, Restores his body.
Flyte
After DomDaniel Consumed Merrin, Aunt Zelda saves him and until he gets better, he stays on Draggen Island. There he has a lot of screaming fights with Aunt Zelda. On the day after Jenna escapes from Simon, Simon gets Merrin from Aunt Zelda with the Flyte Charm and from that day onwards he is Simon's servant.
Physik
Merrin doesnt make any appearances in this book, but he is working in Simons observatory the whole time.
Queste
In Queste, Merrin escapes from Simon when he and Lucy go to the Port (Lucy wanted a diamond ring and Simon wanted to check out Drago Mills Stock Clearance Sale which Stanley had never stopped talking about). When they left, Merrin, who was doing a Darkening the Destiny of Another spell, accidentally Summoned 26 Things, and got them to get DomDaniel's old bones. From the bones Merrin gets the Two-Faced Ring. He then decides to go to the Castle to finish the spell (taking Sleuth and his favorite possesions with him), but is always being followed by 26 Things ,so, to get rid of all the Things, he tells them to fetch his cloak from inside the Wurm Burrow (it was a lie really, he was wearing his cloak), and get it for him. When they go in Merrin quickly closes the door and locks it, but the one Thing he had S'ummoned backwards did not obey him and followed him. Merrin was unaware of that. The Thing had also been carrying the sack of DomDaniel's bones with him.
When Merrin reaches the Castle, he sneaked into the Palace. He then realized that the Thing had followed him and had brought DomDaniel's bones with him. Furious, he ordered the Thing to dump the bones in the well of the Castle garden. He then finds an old governess's room in the attic and decides to set up camp there (he is not aware of the fact that the governess' ghost never left the room and was quite annoyed to find him). He applied to be a front office clerk in the Manuscriptorium, for he developed a taste for the licorice snakes from Ma Custard's and needs to finance his food supply.
He met Tertius Fume (the author of The Darke Index) at the Manuscriptorium and strikes a Contract with him to finish the Darkening the Destiny of Another spell. To perform the deal, he gladly transfers the Thing to him and gives him his last licorice snake which he Enlarges and ties it in a knot to form a ring. Therefore, the Contract was complete.
Syren
Merrin steals the Live SafeCharm from Barney Pot. He sets the jinnee free, and when he asked what the jinnee was, he misheard it saying "Jim Knee", and that became the jinnee's name.
Darke
In this book, Merrin is featured as the (surprisingly) main antagonist of the novel. He generally hides out in the palace attic, starting a Darke Domaine with the Two-Faced Ring, and seeming to catch a cold in the proccess. He later causes it to spread throughout the Castle, later Engendering a Darke dragon, which Septimus and Spit Fyre defeat. He then has the Two-Faced Ring (and his left thumb) taken by Marcellus Pye to keep him from doing any more damage. Marcia Overstrand then sends him off with Nurse Meredith, his birth mother.
Fyre
Meredith is now living with Nurse Meredith and has come to accept her somewhat, but is still rather nasty. Following the escape of Darke wizards Shamandrigger Saarn and Dramindonner Naarn, Merrin is considered to be in great danger. Marcia and the others, however, decide that it might be possible to use him as bait to attract the two Darke wizards if they can lure Meredith to the Stranger Chamber at the Wizard Tower. Septimus and Simon Heap attempt to do so with the help of Septimus's jinni, Jim Knee, who pretends to be DomDaniel. The plan fails spectacularly when Nurse Meredith assaults Jim Knee, pretending to be DomDaniel, but the ghost of Alther Mella smooths things over by explaining some details of the situation and agreeing to her request to accompany Merrin to the Wizard Tower. Merrin and Nurse Meredith ultimately do not work as bait, because Saarn and Naarn detect the Magykal Fyre that is being concocted by Marcellus Pye and head for the Chamber of Fyre. While in the Stranger Chamber, Merrin unwittingly pulls a lever that sends Nurse Meredith plummeting into the Wizard Tower's Moat, then dives in after her. Afterwards, he is very remorseful, and relations between the two further improve.
Characterization
Physical Appearance
In Magyk, Merrin's hair is very short and spiky. He is a small, wiry boy with pale skin.
In Queste, Merrin's appearance has changed, his hair had grown to shoulder length. His skin has turned unhealthily pale and he has grown much thinner.
Abilities and Interests
Darke Magyk, annoying people out of their wits, labeling his ant collection, and counting things.
Posessions
- the Two-Faced Ring
- a stock of licorice snakes and banana bears
Personality
Merrin is a mean, nasty, obnoxious and rude boy of fifteen who only thinks about himself. He has been known to make a habit of thinking too much of himself and always trying to prove others wrong. He is quite hare-brained and does everything too fast and barely worked on.