diff --git a/wikibaseintegrator/wbi_helpers.py b/wikibaseintegrator/wbi_helpers.py
index f6741407..1c7e1348 100644
--- a/wikibaseintegrator/wbi_helpers.py
+++ b/wikibaseintegrator/wbi_helpers.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 import logging
 import re
 from time import sleep
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Union
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
 import requests
@@ -338,33 +338,94 @@ def edit_entity(data: dict, id: str | None = None, type: str | None = None, base
 
     return mediawiki_api_call_helper(data=params, is_bot=is_bot, **kwargs)
 
+def create_redirect(from_id: str, to_id: str, login: _Login | None = None) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """
+    Create a MediaWiki redirect from `from_id` to `to_id`.
+    """
+    log.info(f"Creating redirect from {from_id} → {to_id}")
+
+    data = {
+        "action": "wbcreateredirect",
+        "from": from_id,
+        "to": to_id,
+        "format": "json"
+    }
 
-def merge_items(from_id: str, to_id: str, login: _Login | None = None, ignore_conflicts: list[str] | None = None, is_bot: bool = False, **kwargs: Any) -> dict:
+    try:
+        response = mediawiki_api_call_helper(data=data, login=login, is_bot=True)
+        if "error" in response:
+            log.error(f"Failed to create redirect {from_id} → {to_id}: {response['error']}")
+        else:
+            log.info(f"Redirect created successfully: {from_id} → {to_id}")
+        return response
+    except Exception as e:
+        log.error(f"Exception when creating redirect {from_id} → {to_id}: {e}")
+        return {"error": str(e)}
+
+def merge_items_and_create_redirect(
+    qids: list[str],
+    login: _Login | None = None,
+    ignore_conflicts: Union[str, list[str]] | None = "description",
+    is_bot: bool = False,
+    tags: Union[str, list[str]] | None = None,
+    **kwargs: Any
+) -> str:
     """
-    A static method to merge two items
+    Merge multiple Wikibase items into the lowest QID.
 
-    :param from_id: The ID to merge from. This parameter is required.
-    :param to_id: The ID to merge to. This parameter is required.
+    :param qids: List of item QIDs to merge. The lowest QID will be kept.
     :param login: A wbi_login.Login instance
-    :param ignore_conflicts: List of elements of the item to ignore conflicts for. Can only contain values of "description", "sitelink" and "statement"
-    :param is_bot: Mark this edit as bot.
+    :param ignore_conflicts: List of elements to ignore conflicts for. Can contain "description", "sitelink", "statement". Defaults to "description" for merge to work at all.
+    :param is_bot: Mark this edit as bot
+    :param tags: Single tag string or list of tags to attach to the edit
+    :param kwargs: Additional parameters to pass to mediawiki_api_call_helper
+
+    :return: Final QID after merge.
     """
+    if not qids or len(qids) < 2:
+        raise ValueError("You must provide at least two QIDs to merge")
 
-    params = {
-        'action': 'wbmergeitems',
-        'fromid': from_id,
-        'toid': to_id,
-        'format': 'json'
-    }
+    # Sort QIDs numerically to keep the lowest
+    sorted_qids = sorted(qids, key=lambda x: int(x.lstrip('Q')))
+    to_id = sorted_qids[0]          # keep the lowest QID
+    from_ids = sorted_qids[1:]      # merge all other QIDs into to_id
 
-    if ignore_conflicts is not None:
-        params.update({'ignoreconflicts': '|'.join(ignore_conflicts)})
+    # Prepare tags string if provided
+    tags_str = None
+    if tags:
+        if isinstance(tags, list):
+            tags_str = '|'.join(tags)
+        else:
+            tags_str = str(tags)
 
-    if is_bot:
-        params.update({'bot': ''})
+    for from_id in from_ids:
+        params = {
+            'action': 'wbmergeitems',
+            'fromid': from_id,
+            'toid': to_id,
+            'format': 'json'
+        }
 
-    return mediawiki_api_call_helper(data=params, login=login, is_bot=is_bot, **kwargs)
+        if ignore_conflicts is not None:
+            params['ignoreconflicts'] = '|'.join(ignore_conflicts)
+
+        if is_bot:
+            params['bot'] = ''
 
+        if tags_str:
+            params['tags'] = tags_str
+
+        try:
+            mediawiki_api_call_helper(data=params, login=login, is_bot=is_bot, **kwargs)
+            print(f"Merged {from_id} into {to_id}")
+            create_redirect(from_id=from_id, to_id=to_id, login=login)
+            return to_id
+        except Exception as e:
+            print(f"Error merging {from_id} into {to_id}: {e}. "
+                  f"Note: sometimes the real cause does not get propagated because of a bug in Wikibase. "
+                  f"See https://github.com/dpriskorn/DanceDatabase/issues/2")
+            return ""
+    return ""
 
 def merge_lexemes(source: str, target: str, login: _Login | None = None, summary: str | None = None, is_bot: bool = False, **kwargs: Any) -> dict:
     """