Merwin - Real princess or false idol?

Merwin, often protagonist of the Valiant, sometimes co-protagonist, is a strong character. Never a precise description is given of her, but many versions agree on her minute stature, paleness and lightness of feet. Her hair varies from version to version, being sometimes blonde, sometimes red, sometimes dark or black; later versions, with sicilian puppets, tend to be more consistent in using a silver wig.
This last detail gives the reader an idea of Merwin's praeternatural nature. The historical references surrounding her are extremely scarce, with almost all of the sources not reporting her existence - the first ones doing so are dated after the 11th century, more than three-hundred years after Merwin's supposed **** and when the story was already starting to pick up traction.

The etymology of the name Merwin is also discussed still today. Uncertainty is especially found in the fact that it is traditionally a male given name, of Celtic origin, assigned to a female Frankish (Germanic) princess. For this reason many scholars doubt of Merwin's real existence, attributing the name's problem to it being a later introduction; regarding its origin in general, almost every scholar of the time came up with individual theories ranging from plausible to outlandish.

The most well-known of these theories is Merwin being a speaking name, originally something akin to Mervina or even Mervinga, to signify her status as princess of a Merovingian dynasty. Others assume the name is simply a bygone Germanic name, from mere (sea) and winnan (conqueror), possibly Norman - perhaps an epithet or derivation of Minerva, mortal enemy of Neptune. Another popular theory, the latest to surface, states that the historical figure of Merwin is to identify with an Indian Malwani traveler, not better identified - from there the name, becoming a deformation of 'Malvi'.
A fourth interesting theory poses the interesting question for Merwin to have originally been, in fact, a man - making his relationship with Sigmund among the earliest documented homosexual relationship in the Middle Ages. This would also explain some of the backlash and censorship from the church, as the picture we have of the story doesn't stray too far from the usual for chansons de geste, posing an interesting answer as to why it was so harshly repressed.

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