Hey, what's up gamers! I'm back with more of my Hogwarts Legacy adventure, and things keep getting better and better the deeper I go into this game. If you've been following along, you already know that my time at Hogwarts has been nothing short of incredible. But this time around, something truly special happened — I ran into the legendary Merlin Trials, and let me tell you, they've completely changed how I look at exploration in this game.
Now, Merlin isn't exactly a stranger in Hogwarts Legacy. From the very beginning of the game, you get a sense of how important this legendary wizard is to the lore of the whole adventure. Percival Rackham references Merlin almost from the jump, and as a Slytherin himself, Merlin left his mark all over the wizarding world in a very specific way — through puzzles. The guy was obsessed with challenges and mysteries, and it shows. So when I started picking up on hints that there were Merlin Trials scattered across the open world, I was genuinely curious about what I was going to find.
Meet Nora Treadwell — The Explorer in Trouble
So here's how it all went down. After wrapping up some time with Natty near Lower Hogsfield during The Girl from Uagadou quest, I started hearing some shouting in the distance. And sure enough, I find this explorer named Nora Treadwell who's clearly in a very bad spot. She's a researcher, a historian of sorts, someone who's been dedicating her time to deciphering what the Merlin Trials actually are and how they work. She's out in the field doing her thing, and obviously, that makes her a target.
Because of course, she's not out here alone. The world of Hogwarts Legacy is full of dangerous people, and Nora had attracted exactly the wrong kind of attention. Victor Rookwood's gang, the Ashwinders, had shown up and were making her life very difficult. The Ashwinders are basically one of the main villain factions in the game — dangerous dark wizards who work alongside Rookwood and his dark ambitions. And here they were, attacking a lone explorer who just wanted to study some ancient stones. Typical.
Taking on the Ashwinders
I wasn't going to just stand there and watch, so obviously I jumped in. And let me tell you, the fight against the Ashwinders in this section is genuinely solid. These guys aren't your average grunts — they're aggressive, they use a variety of spells, and they come at you from multiple angles. The combat in Hogwarts Legacy continues to impress me every time there's a real confrontation. You've got to stay on your toes, keep your shield up, dodge the incoming spells, and counter with your own magic.
I was mixing up Expelliarmus, Stupefy, and a little Accio action to pull enemies off balance. The combat loop in this game is honestly just fun. There's something deeply satisfying about flinging a dark wizard through the air with a well-timed Wingardium Leviosa and then hitting them before they land. Once I cleared out the Ashwinders and made sure Nora was safe, she was incredibly grateful and immediately started explaining everything about the Merlin Trials to me.
Deciphering the First Trial
So here's the deal with the Merlin Trials, and Nora breaks it down pretty well. These aren't just random puzzles — they're intentional tests that Merlin himself designed, scattered all across the highlands surrounding Hogwarts. To even activate one, you need Mallowsweet Leaves. You place the Mallowsweet on the altar at the center of the trial, and the challenge begins. Without the leaves, nothing happens, so stocking up on them is genuinely important. You can grow them in the Room of Requirement or buy them from vendors in Hogsmeade, which is something to keep in mind as you explore further.
The first trial Nora walked me through was one of the more straightforward ones — lighting braziers. Three of them, scattered around the trial area, and you have to light all of them before they sink into the ground. As soon as you light the first one, the clock is ticking. It's not brutally difficult, but it's got just enough pressure to keep you on edge. I had Incendio ready, scouted the positions of all three braziers first, and then went to work lighting them in order from hardest to reach down to the closest. Once all three were lit, the trial completed and I felt that satisfying sense of accomplishment that this game delivers so consistently.
What I really appreciated was how Nora explained the deeper meaning behind all of this. These trials aren't just obstacles — they're a way to prove yourself, to show that you're worthy of expanding your capabilities. And mechanically, that's exactly what they do: completing Merlin Trials unlocks additional gear slots in your inventory. If you've played the game for any amount of time, you already know that inventory space becomes precious fast. There's so much gear dropping from enemies and chests that you're constantly juggling what to keep and what to sell. More slots means more flexibility, and that's always a good thing.
A World Full of Hidden Challenges
What really blew my mind after completing that first trial is realizing just how many of them are out there. We're talking 95 Merlin Trials scattered across the entire map of Hogwarts Legacy. Ninety-five. Across every region — Hogwarts Valley, the Forbidden Forest, the South Hogwarts Region, North Hogwarts, and beyond. Each region has its own cluster of trials, and they're not all the same. There are nine different types of puzzles in total. Some involve lighting torches, others require you to repair crumbling statues with Reparo, or guide clusters of glowing moths using Lumos, or even complete platforming challenges by jumping across stone pillars without touching the ground. Each one demands a different spell or approach, which means you genuinely need to have a decent arsenal of magic unlocked before you can tackle them all.
Using Revelio is going to be your best friend when it comes to these trials. A lot of the puzzle elements are scattered around the area and aren't immediately obvious. The butterflies hiding in bushes, the stone balls buried under brambles — you'd miss half of them if you weren't actively scanning your surroundings. It really adds to that feeling of being an actual explorer in this world, not just following a waypoint from point A to point B.
Ready for More
After everything that went down with Nora and completing that first trial, I'm genuinely hooked on hunting these things down. There's something addictive about stumbling across that circular stone pattern in the middle of the wilderness, throwing down some Mallowsweet, and figuring out what Merlin had in mind when he designed it. Some of them are quick and clean, others are clearly going to push me more when I get to the timed brazier variants with torches spread far apart, or those platforming challenges that leave zero room for error.
The world of Hogwarts Legacy keeps pulling me in deeper, and the Merlin Trials are a huge part of that. They're not just filler content — they reward exploration, they require real use of your spell kit, and they tie into the lore of one of the most iconic wizards in the entire franchise. So hey, gamers, I'm not stopping here. The adventure continues, and I'll be hunting down every single one of these trials across the highlands. See you in the next post!