What happens at the end of the The Crystal Cave? Let's do a quick recap:
- Uther and Ygraine hook up, but Gorlois is killed.
- Merlin barely escapes death, but Cadal doesn't.
- Uther chews out Merlin for the fiasco.
- Merlin doesn't care, because he gets his Super King.
While the ending of this book looks like a total disaster, it's really a whole lotta win for Merlin and his god (whoever or whatever that is—we still don't know). The whole point of Merlin's life has been to get Arthur into the world, and it looks like this is exactly what's going to happen.
It's not clear, however, how Merlin's going to keep himself and the awesome princeling alive long enough to fulfill those prophecies of greatness.
Make sure you check out the next book in the trilogy, The Hollow Hills, to find out how it all comes together.