Nick Merritt

 is a fictional business owner and a supporting character featured in the Wishmaster film series. Played by actor Chris Lemmon, he appeared in the first installment of the series, Wishmaster in 1997.

Biography
Nick Merritt was the owner and operator of Regal Auctioneers in California. It was was considered a "very prestigious" auction house according to Nick's mother. Shannon Amberson worked there as a receptionist and Shannon's older sister, Alexandra Amberson was the business' top appraiser.

In 1997, a pawn shop broker named Doug Clegg came in to sell them a red fire opal that he had purchased from a construction worker for a few hundred dollars. Clegg knew that the gem possessed a value far greater than what he had paid for it. Merritt was only too eager to purchase the item from him and did so for an undisclosed amount of money. He immediately had Alexandra called in to examine in.

Upon a cursory analysis and measurement of the stone, Amberson concluded that it was definitely "unique" - a word that filled Merritt with great joy. As she examined it further alone, she discovered an odd imperfection in the center - one that she could not describe. Alex had no way of knowing that the fire opal in her possession was actually the Stone of the Secret Fire - a Persian relic more than 800-years-old that contained the trapped essence of a Djinn.

Sometime later, the Djinn escaped from the stone and manifested in the guise of a human named Nathaniel Demerest. Demerest sought to find Alex Amberson. As she was the one who had awakened the Djinn, it was she who was owed three wishes which the Djinn was obligated to grant.

As Demerest, the Djinn entered Regal Auctioneers and tried to get Nick to give up Alex's home address. Merritt didn't feel comfortable with giving out the personal info of his employees, but the Djinn captured the greedy auctioneer's attention when he turned an auction item into solid gold right before his eyes. Goading him into making a wish, he asked Merritt what it was he desired most. Merritt feigned modesty, saying that he did not want to seem greedy and that a million dollars would be more than sufficient to satisfy him.

The Djinn granted this request, but not in the way that Merritt would have expected. He manipulated events so that Merritt's mother would take out a one million dollar life insurance policy before boarding an airplane, naming Nick as the sole beneficiary. The plane crashed soon after.

Notes & Trivia



 * Chris Lemmon is the son of film actor Jack Lemmon.