Merillian

Merillian's debut appearance

**Merillian** is a supporting character in Season 2 of *Winter Moon*. He is a cunning, utilitarian Sorcerer with a grudge against Florence.

## Personality

Merillian's most notable trait is his mindset in the game; he views things in an analytical form that prioritizes identifying and seizing advantages over others. He's usually stoic and calculating externally.

Merillian also has a charismatic, almost manipulative side; his words have heavy sway on the people around him and it is easy for him to get people to work with him.

## Appearance

Merillian's in-game Avatar is a long-haired pretty boy similar to Florence; being a Sorcerer, he even has the same outfit as him. His hair is a slightly more milky golden shade and has more curls than Florence.

## Plot

At some point offscreen, Merillian was scammed by Risa and conned out of his in-game gold. However, he does not appear in Season 1.

At the beginning of Season 2, Merillian is part of the crowd of players distressed about losing their progress. He laughs at them, commenting that they don't see "the big picture": that the new game is a clean slate - an opportunity to get ahead - and everyone can start up from scratch again.

Merillian teams up with Barrett to level up and eventually runs into Eliasto and Risa; Risa immediately defects to their side and Merillian kills Eliasto. Soon after, Merillian takes Risa hostage, remarking that the playerbase hates her for ruining the game, and he and Barrett toss her to an angry crowd.

Risa, however, convinces Landor and the crowd to turn on Merillian and Barrett. Barrett dies in the struggle; Merillian tries to run but is taken down as well, losing the gold he had amassed from player-killing.

Later, Merillian rallies a group of players to hunt down Florence and develops ice magic to counter Florence's fire. He confronts Florence, stating that he ruined the game for the entire playerbase and remarks that everyone hates him. Florence, apathetic of others' opinions, ignites the surrounding forest, making the environment too hot for Merillian to cast spells. After smugly kills one player, Florence saunters through the crowd and blasts a frustrated Merillian, instantly killing his avatar.

After he respawns, Merillian rejoins his followers and starts a new plan: to stakeout in the ruins of Shinotobira Town and force new players to pay a small toll of 15 gold to pass. He sets up an effective system barring new players from continuing; it is implied that his followers killed Easen and Bob for trying to pass without paying multiple times.

When Landor's new avatar Lancel arrives at the gate, he cuts down the player asking for a toll and attacks Merillian. He manages to take down five of Merillian's followers before Merillian decides to just let him pass.

## Relationships

### Risa

Merillian, having been conned by Risa in the past, initially saw her as a sweet and presumably nice girl; however, after getting conned, he held a grudge that he kept in the Magnolia reboot.

### Florence

Merillian outright dislikes Florence, mainly because it was thanks to Florence that the original Magnolia Online shut down. He's disgusted by Florence's self-centered behavior and tendency to kill people at a whim, and sees him as a menace that needs to be taken down.

## Abilities

Merillian was presumably a wealthy and powerful player in the original Magnolia, though this is never shown in detail.

In the reboot of Magnolia, Merillian uses ice magic strong enough to counter Florence's basic fire spells.

## Trivia

* Merillian is the only ice-magic user shown in Winter Moon so far.
* Risa ends up taking a page from Merillian's book and pulls a "big-picture, opportunity to get ahead" speech to convince a crowd of players to take down the sand worm in S2 - Ep 86.
* In S2 - Ep14, he is seen with Barrett doing a quest.