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[merthurogies]

@timetopanicandorcry legally if i am asked to draw merlin i cannot refuse. he is my favourite.

[id: two bust drawings of merlin from the show bbc merlin. in both, he is wrapped in a brownish grey blanket. the first is captioned "just had a vision," and he looks tired and upset. he is clutching a cup between his hands. in the second drawing, his eyes are barely open and he looks like he just woke up seconds ago. it is captioned, "eepy." end id.]

[merthurogies]

they were so happy

[merthurogies]

A few days weeks ago I came across this post redrawing the wardrobe of historical and fantasy movie and tv characters in period accurate (insofar as that is possible) clothing. Because I'm an art historian/ archaeologist/illustrator and have terminal campy fantasy show brainrot, here I am hours of research and drawing later to answer the question "What if the wardrobe in BBC Merlin was historically accurate?" (but like also based on my taste *cough*)

Disclaimer: Though I am a professional art historian I am not an expert in Sub-Roman Britain or Arthuriana. I cite my sources, but I wasn't about to spend several months on this, so please be kind. Also I used Clip Studio Paint so sorry if the text is wonky or misspelled, their text tool is awful as is my spelling.

Individual designs after the jump...

As it turns out, it is incredibly hard to know what they would have worn with any certainty. After a cursory search and a good deal of frustration with the unreliability of the internet's sources on the subject, I sat back and had to ask myself: there's a fucking dragon in this show, why should we care?

The answer, of course, is because it's fun and while I don't believe TV shows and movies (particularly high fantasy ones) need to be historically accurate (what reads to an audience, symbolism, faithfulness to a character, and even budget are all arguably far more important for crafting a good story) I'm always in support of picking apart popular culture's, and therefore our society's, view of history. It can also generate some new and creative visions of the same story. So here I am, bibliography in hand and illustrations done.

Problems:

Before I even began researching or drawing, I hit the typical roadblocks with Arthurian stories: When, Where, and Who. Already I was forced to make some subjective choices. I've laid them out below:

When: Arthur and his stories are generally placed in the 5th to 6th century. This places these characters directly between the end of the Roman Era and the beginning of Saxon control of the region. There are certain through-lines in clothing between what we know was worn in Roman Britain and in Germanic/Saxon Britain. These things I've confidently included, like tablet woven trim on garments, glass beads, and dyes that would have been locally available.

Where: The show places Camelot in modern day Wales, while Gloucester is another popular location in modern scholarship. I've looked at grave goods and archaeological objects found in this area during the 5th to 6th century (mostly metal objects), but most extant hints at what clothing of the era looked like exist farther afield. Each outfit retains slightly different geographical references, and, as it seems scholars often do for this era, I am operating on the principal of averages: This is what people around the area were wearing, and there's only so much deviation, so all four of them together might get closer to accuracy.

Who: I mean this historically, as in "Who is Arthur Pendragon based on?" Obviously there is no actual answer to this question, so I've taken some liberties with characters to fit into this particular version of the story and what wardrobe choices might make sense thematically as well as historically. based on what we know of the characters, rather than one historical figure. These outfits jump around a bit, so again, hopefully at least one of them gets somewhere close.

Arthur:

Merlin:

Guinevere:

Morgana:

Additional notes:

I took some liberties based on my inability to find almost anything on what shoes would have been like, aside from "leather".

The column of decoration running up Arthur's tunic might also be inaccurate, but I felt the red needed to be broken up and its not impossible such a style existed. Realistically, the cuffs of the garment would probably have the most elaborate design, and the rest of the woven bands would be simpler. He is a prince/king though, so if anyone is going to be over the top why not him!

I may have gotten a little gold-happy with Morgana's second outfit. I just really like drawing metallics. Gold thread didn't enter the scene until later for the saxons, so just pretend its really over the top brocade like in Morgana's first outfit (which would have been strips of thin gold plate inserted into the band, rather than a solid ribbon of woven gold.)

If I were designing outfits with fantasy rather than history in mind, I would have designed veeery different outfits.

Sources (Most used bolded):

Brown, Katharine Reynolds. Migration art: A.D. 300-800. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995.

Carroll, Maureen, Lucy Creighton, Patrick Gibbs, and James Osborn. “Rediscovering the Dead of Roman York.” YouTube, June 12, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ23upbKBHU.

Dean, Jenny. “Anglo-Saxon Dye Experiments - Part 1.” Jenny Dean’s Wild Colour, February 25, 2013. https://www.jennydean.co.uk/anglo-saxon-dye-experiments-part-1/.

“Disk Brooch: Anglo-Saxon.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/466157.

“Getting Dressed in Roman Britain.” YouTube, August 23, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeqdgZ0QpZE.

Jarrett, Jonathan. “Seminar CLXVII: What about the Women of Post-Roman Britain?” A Corner of Tenth-Century Europe, June 13, 2014. https://tenthmedieval.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/seminar-clxvii-what-about-the-women-of-post-roman-britain/.

Kent, Shane. “How the Irish Dress in the 4th-6th Century.” YouTube, April 27, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njADJ_Jd8Qw.

Klein, Janice B. “The Life and Times of King Arthur.” Expedition Magazine, 1987. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-life-and-times-of-king-arthur/.

Loven, Nicole. “Getting Dressed in 7th Century Britain.” YouTube, July 29, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q877Z5eePVg.

“Merovingian Architectural Ring: French.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed March 26, 2024. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/661705.

“Rare Merovingian Gold Ring Found in Jutland.” The history blog, February 20, 2024. https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/69517.

Rogers, Penelope Walt. Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-saxon England: AD 450-700. York: Council for British Archaeology, 2007.

Roberts, Mike. “Articles Dyed with Woad.” Woad dyed, December 23, 2023. http://www.woad.org.uk/html/woad_dyed.html.

Siddall, Ruth. “Red Pigments in Roman Britain.” The Pigment Timeline Project Red Pigments in Roman Britain Comments, October 31, 2018. https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/pigment-timeline/2018/10/31/red-pigments-in-roman-britain/.

Snyder, Christopher A. “A Gazetteer of Sub-Roman Britain (AD 400-600): The British Sites.” Internet Archaeology, September 3, 1997. https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue3/snyder/part1.html.

Wild, J. P. “The Textile Industries of Roman Britain.” Britannia 33 (2002): 1–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/1558851.

Marzinzik, Sonja, "Expressions of Power – Luxury textiles from early medieval northern Europe" (2008). Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings. 237. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/237

“Fabrics.” Oxford University Historical Reenactment Society. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://users.ox.ac.uk/~wychwood/costumefabrics.shtml.

“Quoit Brooch: British Museum.” The British Museum. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1893-0601-219.

“Weapons - Antiquity and Early Middle Age.” TEMPL. Accessed April 9, 2024. http://www.templ.net/english/weapons-antiquity_and_early_middle_age.php.

Makin, Alexandra. “Early Medieval (Mostly) Textiles #7.” Dr Alexandra Makin, January 1, 2021. https://alexandramakin.com/2021/01/01/early-medieval-mostly-textiles-7/.

“Belt Buckle with a Griffin: Frankish.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464928?pos=5.

“Celebrating Ivory Bangle Lady .” York Museums Trust. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/blog/celebrating-ivory-bangle-lady/.

Ashby, Steven P. “Grooming the Face in the Early Middle Ages.” Internet Archaeology. Accessed April 9, 2024. https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue42/6/9.cfm.

[merthurogies]

Every time every single time I forget how Arthurs voice sounds when he speaks to Merlin for the last time, the effort to get everything out that he wants to say to him, the way his 'no' is so definitive and strong when Merlin says 'you're not going to say goodbye.'

[merthurogies]

Colin: Did you actually fall asleep in that log in the background? 

Bradley: I think I might have done. It wouldn’t surprise me. I was trying to create the image that basically you’ve got this dashing knight in the form of Lancelot, and then you’ve got an oaf inthe background, who’s asleep, snoring, mouth wide open, just looking incredibly unappealing. 

Because I think, essentially, Lancelot is the better choice for Guinevere. I think, if anything, it’s just Lancelot’s absence that’s the only thing that keeps them apart. 

Arthur’s main focus is Camelot.

[merthurogies]

S1 Merlin is so nonchalant about killing people. Like...wouldn't an emotional teen like Merlin be more distraught after committing murder for the first time??? Unless he's already killed someone before???? Did he have a death toll in Ealdor???????????

[merthurogies]

This is how BBC Merlin ended and they lived happily ever after

Also they're both idiots. This situation can work just as well reversed

[merthurogies]

you're gonna be okay, kid. / we're gonna be okay.

9-1-1: 3.01 • Kids Today | 3.04 • Triggers

[merthurogies]

i hear a good lyric and start mentally holding up blorbos like im in the home depot paint aisle comparing swatches

[merthurogies]

Arthur + the name enunciation thing

[merthurogies]

idk something like this

[merthurogies]

gwen sketch

[merthurogies]

it’s always “poor little meow meow” or “evil bastard” or “I could make him worse” what about men who are normal 🙄what about men who pay taxes and are well adjusted individuals and not at all insane

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