Coming Soon Welcome To Merlin Academy

This came up in the March Preorder Catalog for comics. It's a novel connected to Disney's Descendants franchise featuring the children of classic Disney characters. Amazon has 12 May 2026 for a release day. You can preorder the book from them at https://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Merlin-Academy-Descendants-Mystery/dp/1368081460/. 

 

The book would be specifically linked to the 2024 telefilm Descendants: The Rise of Red, which introduced Merlin Academy as a setting, versions of Merlin and Archimedes (from Sword in the Stone), and debuted Morgie, the son of Morgan le Fay. 

Welcome To Merlin Academy Hc

Published by Disney - RHCB

(W) Melissa de la Cruz 

Brimming with mystery and magic, this new stand-alone prequel to the Descendants series stars the original class of Disney’s best-loved Villain Kids. 

Before their Descendants rocked the world, the baddest villains made waves in the classroom. It’s the first day at Merlin Academy, and the new students have no idea what to expect. Hook hopes he’ll get closer to the legacy he was destined for. Hades is determined to impress the already-infamous Maleficent. Uliana recruits Morgie to do some hands-on spellwork so they’re not stuck at a desk all day. And Ella’s not sure where she fits in to all this magical royalty and villainy. Luckily, her new friend Bridget’s got her back. The one thing they have in common? They’re all intrigued when headmaster Merlin transforms the school’s fountain into the Sword in the Stone. A challenge is issued: pull Excalibur from the rock and a life-changing prize awaits. But when Merlin and the famed Sword in the Stone vanish, all eyes narrow in on the Villains. Typical. It doesn’t help their image when classes are constantly interrupted by wayward magic and a powerful, ancient spell book goes missing. Amidst secrets and accusations, will the students find Merlin and have a chance at that life-changing prize? Or will their time at Merlin Academy be over before it's even begun?

Coming Soon: Woller's From Camelot to Spamalot

From Camelot to Spamalot:Musical Retellings of Arthurian Legend on Stage and Screen

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/from-camelot-to-spamalot-9780197511039?q=arthurian&lang=en&cc=us#

 

Megan Woller 

A new look at the Arthurian legend
First book that groups significant works of Arthurian musical adaptations together
Includes discussion of archival material

Paperback, $35.00 (also available as hardcover and ebook)

This item is not yet published. It is available for pre-orders and will ship on 22 March 2021. 

248 Pages

6 1/8 x 9 1/4 inches

ISBN: 9780197511039

 

Description

For centuries, Arthurian legend has captured imaginations throughout Europe and the Americas with its tales of Camelot, romance, and chivalry. The ever-shifting, age-old tale of King Arthur and his world is one which depends on retellings for its endurance in the cultural imagination. Using adaptation theory as a framework, From Camelot to Spamalot foregrounds the role of music in selected Arthurian adaptations, examining six stage and film musicals. The book considers how musical versions in twentieth and twenty-first century popular culture interpret the legend of King Arthur, contending that music guides the audience to understand this well-known tale and its characters in new and unexpected ways. All of the productions considered include an overtly modern perspective on the legend, intruding and even commenting on the tale of King Arthur. Shifting from an idealistic utopia to a silly place, the myriad notions of Camelot offer a look at the importance of myth in American popular culture. Author Megan Woller's approach, rooted in the literary theory of scholars like Linda Hutcheon, highlights the intertextual connections between chosen works and Arthurian legend. In so doing, From Camelot to Spamalot intersects with and provides a timely contribution to several different fields of study, from adaptation studies and musical theater studies to film studies and Arthurian studies.

 

 

Table of Contents


Acknowledgements 

Introduction 

Part 1: Adapting Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Prelude: Twain as Adapter
Chapter 1: Musical Storytelling and Revision in Rodgers and Hart's A Connecticut Yankee
Chapter 2: Bing Crosby's Stardom and Legend in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 

Part 2: Adapting T.H. White's The Once and Future King
Chapter 3: Interpretation and Characterization in Lerner and Loewe's Camelot
Chapter 4: Naiveté and the Depiction of Arthur's Childhood in Disney's The Sword in the Stone

Part 3: Monty Python as Adapters
Chapter 5: Parody and the Role of Song in Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Chapter 6: Notions of Place, Legend, and Broadway in Monty Python's Spamalot 

Conclusion

Archival Collections
Bibliography
Index 

 

 

Author Information


Megan Woller is Director of Liberal Studies and Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Gannon University. Her research interests include film music, musical theater, popular music, and music and gender. She is the author of articles on film musical adaptations in The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Adaptations, Music and the Moving Image, and Studies in Musical Theatre. 

 

 

Unworthy Knights in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Guest Post by Scott Manning

Zelda games are full of medievalisms, typically of the Arthurian variety. The basics of tedious side quests, pontificating hermits, damsels in distress, and a sword in the stone are all there.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for the Nintendo 3DS is no exception.

The first part of the game features a mysterious sorcerer named Yuga who invades the Kingdom of Hyrule. Yuga erects a mysterious energy barrier around the kingdom’s castle, trapping Princess Zelda. Link learns from a Merlin-like sage that the only thing capable of breaking the barrier is the Master Sword. To gain this sword, our hero must hold the pendants of Courage, Power, and Wisdom, which can only be acquired through defeating monsters at the end of dungeons. These are physical manifestations of traits whereas Galahad and other Arthurian knights sought to prove themselves brave and chaste, among other things, through adventures, not physical possessions.

Even after trekking throughout the kingdom and defeating all sorts of enemies and monsters, Link still must take his newfound courage, power, and wisdom into the Lost Woods. There, our hero must make it through a shifting maze where ghost-like creatures try to confuse him. They do a decent job, as it took me nearly a dozen attempts and break to figure out the trick.

Finally, when Link makes it through the Lost Woods, he finds the Master Sword, which he pulls from a literal stone. Then Link’s real adventure begins.

Link’s pendants put a twist on Arthurian legend. If a knight can physically hold courage, power, and wisdom, can the knight also misplace them? In fact, before Link begins his quest, Princess Zelda gave him the Pendant of Courage. At that early stage in the game, there was virtually no feat of note and Link was unaware of the pendant’s value until a hermit explained it to him. Thus, in this world, instead of knights proving themselves, they just must collect all the necessary physical items to prove themselves worthy of the Master Sword. If the pendants can be gifted, could they also be stolen, lost, traded, or gambled away?

Of course, one possible answer is in the Lost Woods, which required more than bruit strength. Although Link physically had the pendants, he still had to best the maze and misleading spirits. Perhaps this final adventure is the answer to protecting the sword from unworthy knights. Could a fierce, but unworthy knight possessing the necessary pendants forever wander the Lost Woods? Or perhaps the knight could only glimpse the sword and never touch it, reminiscent of Lancelot and the Grail.

- Scott Manning (@warpath, scottmanning.com)

Trollhunters

The streaming video series Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (Netflix, 2016-2018), produced by DreamWorks TV, includes a number of Arthurian elements and features both Merlin and Morgan le Fay as major characters. The following videos introduce the series, illustrate Merlin's initial influence (and allude to another iconic element of the Matter of Britain, and (lastly) preview the third and final season where Merlin returns and Morgana (looking a bit like DC Comics' version) is revealed.