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- Merriman has had a role in the human world of every age. In the thirteenth century, he was a lord, with Hawkin as his liegeman.
- In the modern world, he is a professor at Oxford - "Brilliant brain, but I guess you'd call him kind of odd," says Bill Stanton. The archaelogist at Caerleon knows of him, and is honoured to meet him. "Merriman Lyon is a name much honoured in my country," says a scholar at the British Museum.
- He ups and vanishes into distant countries, and returns with new that he has found a lost valley in South America, a Roman fortress in France, or a burned Viking ship on the south coast of England. At least some of these trips might well be fake. The Drews think he's been in Greece ever since they last saw him, but we know that he was in Buckinghamshire for at least some of that time.
- When he visits the Drews, he tends to vanish without warning, sometimes overnight. They have a family rule never to ask him anything about himself.
- Bill Stanton says that Merriman is a "shy character." Hawkin says that Old Ones always manage to keep their name out of the limelight.
- Bill Stanton met Merriman in Jamaica, when he was supposedly there on some government survey. In the autumn before The Dark is Rising, he visited them in Ohio, while over in America giving a lecture at Yale.
- In Over Sea, Under Stone he is driving a car he's rented from a farmer - a "vast battered estate car, with rusing mudguards and peeling paint." It roars and thunders and lurches. In Greenwitch, he drives an "enormous elderly Daimler"
In General:
- Merriman is the first of the Old Ones. He says he has existed in every age of men. It is stated that the Circle of the Old Ones has been growing for 4000 years. So does this mean that Merriman is 4000 years old? It could do. Equally, it could mean that Merriman existed alone for a long time before that, and the Circle only started growing when a second Old One appeared.
And, of course, if Merriman was "born" 4000 years ago, this only means that he was born into his human form then. He exists outside Time, and existed before his human birth, just as he will exist after he leaves the earth and his current mortal form.
- Merriman has had a role in the human world of every age. In the thirteenth century, he was a lord, with Hawkin as his liegeman.
- In the modern world, he is a professor at Oxford - "Brilliant brain, but I guess you'd call him kind of odd," says Bill Stanton. The archaelogist at Caerleon knows of him, and is honoured to meet him. "Merriman Lyon is a name much honoured in my country," says a scholar at the British Museum.
- He ups and vanishes into distant countries, and returns with new that he has found a lost valley in South America, a Roman fortress in France, or a burned Viking ship on the south coast of England. At least some of these trips might well be fake. The Drews think he's been in Greece ever since they last saw him, but we know that he was in Buckinghamshire for at least some of that time.
- When he visits the Drews, he tends to vanish without warning, sometimes overnight. They have a family rule never to ask him anything about himself.
- Bill Stanton says that Merriman is a "shy character." Hawkin says that Old Ones always manage to keep their name out of the limelight.
- Bill Stanton met Merriman in Jamaica, when he was supposedly there on some government survey. In the autumn before The Dark is Rising, he visited them in Ohio, while over in America giving a lecture at Yale.
- In Over Sea, Under Stone he is driving a car he's rented from a farmer - a "vast battered estate car, with rusing mudguards and peeling paint." It roars and thunders and lurches. In Greenwitch, he drives an "enormous elderly Daimler"
In General:
- Merriman is the first of the Old Ones. He says he has existed in every age of men. It is stated that the Circle of the Old Ones has been growing for 4000 years. So does this mean that Merriman is 4000 years old? It could do. Equally, it could mean that Merriman existed alone for a long time before that, and the Circle only started growing when a second Old One appeared.
And, of course, if Merriman was "born" 4000 years ago, this only means that he was born into his human form then. He exists outside Time, and existed before his human birth, just as he will exist after he leaves the earth and his current mortal form.
