Merrow is the founder of Miromara, Serafina's ancestor and the first leader of the merpeople and the founder of the Merrovingia Dynasty.
Appearance
Merrow has blue eyes, black hair and after she became a mermaid, silver scales.
History
Pre-Series
Merrow was born in Iberia, in what is now modern-day Spain. She is one of the Six Who Ruled- the six rulers of Atlantis. Her talisman was a blue diamond and when Orfeo unleashed Abbadon, she did all she could to protect people and managed to kill Orfeo (in spite of her reluctance to kill a firm friend) and gather the rest of her fellow mages and their talismans to drive Abbadon to the Carceron, Atlantis' prison, which could only be opened by the mages' talismans.To save her people, she called upon the goddess Neria to give the people of Atlantis fins and tails. After transforming into a mermaid herself, she and Sycorax trapped Abbadon in the Southern Sea, where Sycorax died. Merrow then founded Miromara and went on a journey called Merrow's progress where she hid the talismans so mer could never find and forced the Opafago, cannibal creatures, into the ruins of Atlantis. As the first regina, or queen, she created several decrees to protect Miromarans, though they were never fully explained.
In order to explain an unexplainable reason, Miromarans would often quote the Latin phrase: "Quia Merrow Decrevit!" meaning, 'Because Merrow decreed it.'
To honour her fellow mages, even Orfeo for the man he had once been, Merrow took their talismans and went on a journey throughout the seas, oceans and freshwaters. Although she said that she was simply looking for new places for the mer to safely settle in, she was also seeking to place their talismans, each in the waters near their owners' birthplaces to keep them safe. In spite of Orfeo's betrayal, and her killing him, she remembered him as he once was, before his madness, and sought to protect and honour his memory. Merrow placed Navi's moonstone in the breeding grounds of the Razormouth dragons in the Indian Ocean, Sycorax's puzzle ball in the Great Abyss in the Pacific Ocean, near China, Orfeo's black pearl in the Qanikkaaq, a maelstrom off the coast of Greenland, Pyrrha's coin with in the lair of the Williwaws off Cape Horn and Nyx's ruby ring in the lair of the Okwa Naholo, in the Mississippi. Her own blue diamond she gave to the royal family of Spain, which was passed down to Infanta Maria Theresa. She forced the cannibalistic Opafago to the ruins of Atlantis which also held the Carceron containing Abbadon in order to prevent anyone from entering and disturbing the monster and setting it free. After which, the secret of Orfeo's betrayal and Atlantis' destruction was entrusted only to the Iele.
When she was close to death, she asked the gods to forge Alithea, a venomous sea-spider, to ensure no pretenders ruled Miromara and that only her female descendants could, for fear of Orfeo's possession to any future successor. However, this proved to be futile.
Deep Blue
Merrow is mentioned as being the mage who was responsible for saving the people of Atlantis. As such, merpeople, particularly those of Miromara, hold her in esteemed respect and revere he nearly as much as they do Neria. Her descendants are the dynasty of Merrovingia, and they are predominantly black-haired and blue-eyed with silver scales, except for Serafina, heiress of Miromara, and her older brother Desiderio. Merrow is mentioned as having several enemies, including Kalumnus, a member of the Volnero family, who tried to overthrow her. Because of this, the members of the Volnero family are shunned as traitors, and a number of them have attempted rebellion.
In the first chapter Serafina explains to her mother that she has been researching Merrow's Progress: a journey Merrow made throughout the seas, oceans and freshwaters to scout for safe places for the mer to live. Regina Isabella, her mother, retorts that one of the professors that Sera relied on was 'an armchair commander' and his information, 'total bilge' for claiming that the Opafago could be negotiated with. Merrow, she said, had sent a messenger to them and instead they had eaten him. During the Dokimí, the second trial was to perform a diabollically complex songspell that retells the story of how Merrow saved the people of Atlantis and how they became Mer and founded Miromara.
When Miromara is invaded by the Death Riders (secretly under the orders of Orfeo, Portia Volnero and two of Merrow's own descendants Vallerio and Lucia) and the Death Riders' commander Traho seeks the blue diamond. When Serafina and Neela escape to Duca Armando's palazzo, Serafina sees and admires a painting of Infanta Maria Theresa wearing the blue diamond which Duca Armando states is magnificent. He explains that the infanta had sailed to become the bride of a French prince, but her ship, the Demeter, had sunk after being attacked by Arramefe Mei Foo, a pirate captain. Serafina does not yet realise that the blue diamond belonged to Merrow and Mei Foo was Orfeo in disguise.
In the Iele's Cave, Merrow's descendant Serafina, along with the other descendants of the Six Who Ruled, learns about the truth about Atlantis' destruction, the monster Abbadon and Orfeo's unexplained, illogical betrayal. Baba Vrăja explains that Merrow herself founded the Iele or River Witches and showed them a bloodsong which had been handed to the first leader of the Iele who passed it down. Merrow's bloodsong showed her memories amidst Atlantis' destruction, running to meet Nyx and realising that they needed to kill Orfeo in order to take his talisman which they would use to seal the monster inside the Carceron with. Baba Vrăja explains how the other mages had died, and how only Merrow alone had survived. Serafina is quick to discover the talismans had been hidden during Merrow's Progress, for she found it too risky to hide them in Miromara where everyone was always watching. The Carceron and the ruins of Atlantis (which secretly held Abbadon) had been purposely guarded by the Opafago, while everyone else believed Merrow only forced them there because the ruins of Atlantis were considered useless.
Rogue Wave
Serafina despairs at finding what and where Merrow's talisman is. After returning to Cerulea and the ruins of the Ostrokon, she discovers the majority of the conches about Merrow's Progress had been missing. However, after Fossegrim and Coco rescue her and take her to their hideout, Coco points her to the right direction and she manages to find a conch which was recorded by Baltazaar, Merrow's first minister of finance, whose conches were not shelved on level five where others Early Merrovingian History was placed. They were instead placed on level three with Governmental Records. Baltazaar had complained about Merrow's courage, which he also perceived as recklessness. She had explored kelp forests, shallows filled with plankton, abyssal plains, seamounts, crevasses and hazards without the slightest regard for her own safety in order to 'warn her people away from them'. Baltazaar listed every cup, bowl, tent and weapon brought on the expedition and the costs of Merrow's hippokamps who are killed. Through the information on the fates of the animals Merrow brought on her journey throughout the realms, Serafina discovers the various locations of the mages' talismans and informs the other merls who set out to retrieve them, and she realises that the blue diamond she had seen in Infanta Maria Theresa's portrait was Merrow's talisman.
Unable to see the painting for herself, she sets out for the wreckage of the Demeter, meeting the ghost of the infanta who explained that the diamond was called La Sirena Lácrima, the Mermaid's Tear and the legend was that it had been given to the Spanish royal family by a mermaid- Merrrow. Hearing that the diamond was a part of her dowry, the pirate Amarrefe Mei Foo sailed on his ship, the Shayú and attacked it. Realising that they could not win, and would either be killed or enslaved, the infanta threw a decoy necklace to her hawk, Miha who was attacked and fell into the sea, and in revenge Mei Foo sank her ship, killing her- with the real diamond still inside. She agrees to give it to Sera- if Serafina would take her back to Spain, which she did.
Much to Sera's shock and horror, however, she learned that Lucia Volnero has been crowned as Miromara's regina in the deaths of Regina Isabella, and the presumed death of Serafina herself. She is able to pass Alítheia because she has Merrow's blood in her veins and Vallerio, Sera's uncle is her father as he had fallen in love with Portia Volnero and secretly fathered her, in spite of Regina Artemisia's mistrust of the Volnero family who had traitors. She also notes that Lucia resembles a Merrovingia- and Merrow- with her black hair, blue eyes and silver scales, more than Sera herself, having copper scales, copper-brown hair and green eyes.
At the end of the book, it is shockingly revealed that in spite of Merrow killing him, Orfeo still lives- as Rafe Mfeme.
Dark Tide
Astrid and Desiderio, who had been imprisoned by the Ondalinians' second-in-command Rylka and her son, Tauno, escape Ondalina and attempt to retrieve the black pearl from the Qanikkaaq. The maelstrom informs them that they are too late: a mermaid- Merrow- had once thrown a black pearl into the Qanikkaaq but a fish had eaten it and someone caught the fish. Ling discovers that not even Merrow and the Iele knew that Orfeo's talisman contained his soul, and they guess the truth: that Orfeo's soul had survived and possessed various terragoggs throughout the millennia, meaning Merrow's deeds as well as her decrees to protect the Miromarans and mer had been in vain.
Sea Spell
After going to confront her ancestor Orfeo, Astrid is told that Abbadon was not forced into the Carceron by the other mages as Merrow believed, it was too powerful for that. Instead, Orfeo simply tells her that he had been the one to tell the monster to retreat and rest, as they could not win. Merrow had kept the truth about his betrayal a secret to honour the man he once was, but that proved to be a mistake.
Her numerous decrees, including the creation of Alítheia to ensure that only the female descendants of Merrow sat on the Merrovingian throne and no male possessed by Orfeo was also in vain, as Lucia, both the daughter of an enemy family and a descendant of Merrow herself, through her father, was able to pass the Dokimí and be crowned. Serafina is able to realise why the monster cannot be killed, and the six descendants are able to gather their forces, kill Orfeo and release the souls trapped within the monster. After the conflict, Serafina decrees that the history which Merrow had tried to keep secret had to be learned in order to avoid such mistakes, and the blue diamond is sealed in the now-empty Carceron with the remaining talismans, minus the black pearl.
Personality
Merrow was a great leader, brave and just.