As in previous conversations, the one between Merlyn and the Wart at the beginning of the chapter reveals Merlyn's plans for the Wart's education. Merlyn explains that he will eventually turn the Wart into "everything in the world" for the sake of his education. In the same conversation, Merlyn states that "the way to learn" is "by listening to the experts." The wizard's allowing the Wart to become a hawk, therefore, is more than an act of kindness: Understanding the hawks will become another factor in the boy's expanding awareness of different ways of life.
Merlyn compares the mews to a "kind of Spartan military mess" and this description is proved true in a number of ways. The hawks place great emphasis on ancestry (the Wart is asked to name the "branch" of merlins from which he hails); decorum (Cully is routinely reprimanded for talking out of turn and using the word "damned"); and rank (the peregrine must be addressed as "Madam," Balan tells her that the Wart's family must be descended from a "cadet branch," and Cully suffers from the "constant strain" of having to live up to "his ladyship's standard"). The hawks are also compared to knights, standing "gravely in their plumed helmets, spurred and armed." Merlyn's reason for wanting the Wart to learn about this way of life lies in his desire for the Wart to see real honor and discipline, as opposed to the parody of these qualities witnessed in the tilting match between Pellinore and Grummore in Chapter 7. Exposure to such a strident yet noble way of life cannot but help to make the Wart an honorable King when he is called to be.
