When young King Arthur's sword breaks in battle, Merlin leads him to an enchanted lake. There, from waters as still as a mirror, the mysterious Lady of the Lake offers him Excalibur, the most famous sword in all of legend.

From his mysterious birth to his great part in the making of Camelot, this is the story of Merlin, the greatest wizard of legend. He could see the whole of the future, yet all his wisdom could not free him from his own fate.

Arthur's half-sister, Merlin's student, keeper of the old magic. Morgana le Fay was both Camelot's ally and its enemy, and her story asks a difficult question: is anyone ever only good or only bad?