When I think of Camelot, I think of the castle in France where we

“When I think of Camelot, I think of the castle in France where we film, but I think it’s wrong to lock it down to one place because it’s all part of our imagination. They are legends for a reason. Their stories have endured for hundreds of years and, hopefully, they will for hundreds of years to come.” Thus spoke Colin Morgan, the actor who brought life to the young wizard Merlin in the beloved tales of Camelot. Yet beneath his simple reflection lies a truth far older than any film or performance — a truth about imagination, legend, and the enduring power of story. For he reminds us that the greatest realms are not bound by stone or soil, but by the spirit that lives within human hearts. Camelot does not exist on any map; it dwells in the boundless landscape of the soul.

The origin of this quote comes from Morgan’s reflections on portraying Merlin, the enchanter of myth who guided King Arthur and helped build the dream of Camelot — a kingdom of justice, courage, and light. Yet even as he stood among the towers of a French castle, Morgan understood that the real Camelot was not the set before him. It was something larger, eternal — a place born of imagination, sustained by belief, and renewed with every retelling. For legends do not survive through geography or architecture; they survive because they awaken something eternal in humankind — the yearning for nobility, for wonder, for destiny.

In his words, Morgan echoes the wisdom of the ancients: that myths are not lies, but truths clothed in story. The bards of old did not create Camelot to record history, but to express the ideal — the world as it could be. The knights of the Round Table, the wizard’s wisdom, the king’s justice — these were not the possessions of Britain alone, nor of any one time or place. They were mirrors for the soul of humanity. As Morgan says, to “lock it down to one place” would be to confine the infinite. The true Camelot exists wherever people believe in courage, friendship, and hope.

Consider how the legend itself has endured. From the chronicles of Geoffrey of Monmouth to Tennyson’s Idylls, from medieval tapestry to modern cinema, each generation has remade Camelot in its own image. The castle shifts, the faces change, but the essence remains — the dream of a kingdom where honor and magic dwell side by side. Even in times of darkness, this vision returns, reminding humanity of what it longs for. Legends endure, not because they are fixed, but because they evolve. They live through the imagination, transforming to meet the needs of each new age.

Indeed, this is the paradox of imagination — it is both timeless and ever-changing. The more it is shared, the more it grows. The Camelot of Arthur and Merlin may have risen from Britain’s mists, but its spirit shines wherever people fight for what is right and believe in what is unseen. So it is with all enduring myths — from Troy to Atlantis, from El Dorado to the Shire of Tolkien’s creation — they are not bound to any geography, but live within the creative fire of the human spirit. When Morgan speaks of imagination, he speaks not merely of fantasy, but of the divine faculty that allows us to see beyond the limits of what is, into the promise of what could be.

Let us look to history for its echo. When Thomas Malory wrote Le Morte d’Arthur during the turbulence of fifteenth-century England, he was surrounded by war and betrayal. Yet he dreamed of Camelot — a realm where knights sought justice, kings ruled with honor, and the land itself flourished under peace. His imagination did not deny his world’s cruelty; it defied it. Through story, he offered his generation — and all generations after — a glimpse of redemption. That is the sacred purpose of imagination: not to flee reality, but to renew it through vision.

So, O listener, take this wisdom to heart: do not confine the great stories of the world to a single place or age. The true Camelot is wherever faith in goodness abides. The real Merlin is the spark of imagination within you — that power to dream, to create, to bring forth light from the unseen. When you read, when you tell stories, when you act with courage and kindness, you build your own castle of the soul. For the legends live only as long as we embody them.

Thus, Colin Morgan’s reflection becomes not merely about a film or a myth, but about the immortality of imagination itself. Camelot endures because the human heart still dares to dream of it. And so long as there are dreamers — poets, artists, believers — who refuse to let wonder die, the towers of Camelot shall never crumble. They will stand beyond time, gleaming in the eternal dawn, reminding the world that imagination is not escape from life — it is its highest expression.