#also I was about to tear into the writers for using morgana as a plot device

[whataboutthreateninganass]

“morgana was failed by the writers.” NO. at least our girl GOT a character arc. (albeit one that was ultimately unsatisfactory and not even NEARLY fulfilling its potential)

meanwhile, arthur and merlin had an approximate total of two (2) episodes of character arc.

episode 1 merlin: me no likey the arrogant prince.

episode 1 arthur: me no likey the arrogant peasant.

episode 4 merthur onwards: i will die for you. you are mine. i am yours. you have my solemn promise i will cherish you until my final breath. my every waking hour is devoted to you. there are no lines i will not cross to ensure your protection.

and then they just proved that for 5 seasons.

[forsakenmissives]

💞 and 💌 for the fic writer asks <33

💞 what’s the most important part of a story for you?

honestly i like an exciting story as much as the next person, but i think the characters and the writing are what stand out to me the most. i don't need a super plot-driven story if the characters are interesting and the writing is good/reflects the characters' personalities :P

💌 share something with us about an up-and-coming work (wip) that has you excited!

you already know i gotta talk about my football au 😏 but something im really excited for in it is just. the entirety of Gwaine's storyline. the fic is from merlin's pov but u'll see the change in his relationships with the other players and i rly like the convo merlin has with balinor when it's announced gwaine's left gwynedd fc (under the read more if u wanna check it out 👀) and i love the interview gwaine has at the end of the season i just. oh my god this fic is just so fun to me 😭😭😭

let's get ((real)) fic writer asks :3

It’s on the front page of all news sites, and also the newspaper that Balinor has his head buried in, and Merlin reads it with feigned disinterest, though it’s transposed against memories of soft hair and a tight grip on his waist and sunlight glinting off reflective boots and shouts of derision across the pitch. Gwaine Orkney of Gwynedd FC has announced his leave from, well, Gwynedd FC — and everyone is holding their breath to see where the fuck he’ll go instead. Or who will make the highest bid.

“Are we eyeing him?” he finally asks after popping a few grapes in his mouth.

“Orkney?” Balinor barks out a laugh. “Fuck no.” He flips the paper back over to the front, studies the page with disinterest. “We already have Pendragon, don’t need any other drama queens.”

Which, fair enough. But Camelot could use another striker. [...] If they can afford it. And Merlin knows that they can, even if every season seems to bring CFC closer to relegation.

“You really mean to say Uther’s not in negotiations about it right now? [...] Seems like this is something he won’t be able to walk away from. [...] And if Aredian feels the slightest bit of interest, you know Uther will jump.”

“Spineless,” Balinor replies.

“So I’m right.” Merlin huffs a laugh, finally going back to eating. “Let’s see if they’ll know what to do with him once they get him.”

“We’ll see if he and Arthur can stand each other first.” Balinor flicks the paper, straightening it out, and goes back to reading, face now hidden. Merlin hums, spears a slice of apple. 

They’ll tear each other apart, is what’ll happen. And Merlin will watch it all, unable to do a thing about it. Two brilliant players, and they’ll die under Aredian’s tutelage. Amazing. Balinor is once again fully invested in other football news, [...] but Merlin still says his thoughts aloud:

“I thought Uther likes football. He likes Arthur, doesn’t he?” He presses the toes of his trainers against the legs of the table. Balinor turns the page. “He did fix Camelot up. I can’t and I won’t deny that. But what happened? Aredian’s been too lucky.”

Balinor clears his throat. The paper flutters.

“He must’ve been good at one point,” and Merlin does pretend that he’s never watched a match while hidden behind the couch, “but where that gaffer went, I’ll never know. And his dick certainly isn’t so good that Uther absolutely must stay on it.”

“Merlin,” Balinor finally snaps, but he doesn’t disagree. Merlin considers it a win.

[...]

If it were any other club, he’d think it might be Gwaine’s attitude. Where Arthur is bad, Gwaine is somehow worse. Well, not ‘somehow’. Arthur is unintentionally dramatic. Gawine is completely, totally intentionally dramatic, and he doesn’t care how that comes across. The more drama he can spark the better.

Merlin thinks of Gwen, her integrity and insight, and he thinks of Morgana, her intimidation and her intelligence, and he wonders if there’s a publicist in the world who could manage him. Probably not. Maybe he shouldn’t be wishing for Gwaine so bad, if only for Moragna’s sake.

[fishoutofcamelot]

I'd like to preface this by saying that I love your blog and all the analysis that you've done on various characters, scenes and ships. You are one of my online heroes. I'm not sure if you're still doing the ship asks, but if you are, what are your thoughts on frelin?

Dude tysm! I’m not sure ‘online hero’ is a great way to describe someone who once made a post comparing dragonlords to furries, but I’ll take the compliment nonetheless!! Your kind words have given me enough dopamine to last until my next paycheck <3

Freylin is a decent ship - conceptually. They're two kindred spirits who found solace and intimacy with each other, drawn together by their mutual sense of otherness (possessing magic). However, I think Freylin does fall into some obvious trappings of Insta-Love, Heteronormativity, and Not Giving Female Love Interests Any Discernible Personality Traits.

For some people, that's not a problem. They like watching Merlin and Freya be cute and sappy with each other, and I'll agree that it was a treat to see such a fun side of Merlin. If that's the kinda ship you like, then great! Ship away. But personally, Freylin makes me feel bad for Freya. 

Not because of the death thing - lord knows I've done far worse to beloved characters without even a hint of remorse. But I feel bad for her because of her role in the ship. As mentioned above, her main purpose in the narrative and in Merlin's life is to give him some angst, then come back later in season 3 to give him some helpful advice as a sort of Freya Ex Machina. Her personality has no depth beyond what was necessary for the story. And even in fanon interpretations of her, she's essentially just a more shy/introverted carbon-copy of Gwen. 

And, okay, as a writer I can admit that there are some characters who don't need a lot of depth. Some characters are plot devices, and that's okay. Freya only appears in like two episodes, so under normal circumstances I'd begrudge that level of shallow characterization. But the rules are different for characters who have a close emotional connection with the MC, especially love interests - even episodic dalliances like Freya! 

Take Balinor, Will, and Daegal, for example. They were all important to Merlin, and all had distinct personalities. Balinor is cantankerous and reclusive. Will is pragmatic and confrontational. Daegal is earnest and youthfully naive. And we as the audience liked them too, because they felt like actual people, even though their main purpose in the story is mainly to serve Merlin's arc. They are, fundamentally, plot devices, but they don’t feel like plot devices because of how organically they’ve been written. 

Freya is a harder sell, because she doesn't have as much of a personality with which to endear us. I'm not saying we need to know Freya's favourite colour and her fondest childhood memory, nor do we need to witness her go through a seasons-long character arc. Not every background character needs their personality painstakingly detailed, least of all background characters. If well-written main characters are chicago deep-dish pizzas, then well-written background characters are hot pockets - easy to make, easy to love, easy to remember. Characters like Gilli and Elena and the love of my life Sophia are good hot pockets. But Freya as she currently is, she's not even that. She's like if we were told there was a hot pocket in the microwave, only to open it up and find it's just a lump of half-melted cheese. 

And it's sad, because Freya had the potential to be interesting. She could've had a distinct personality that made us fall in love with her right alongside Merlin - which would have made her death even more painful for both the characters and the audience alike. But even if you don't give her a personality, at the very least let her fulfill her purpose of furthering Merlin's character arc instead of just making him sad for a few minutes. 

While I'm by no means an expert writer, here's how I would've taken a crack at having Freya’s impact on Merlin's arc. 

So Merlin sees Freya again, but she's not some helpful water spirit. She's emotional and volatile and vengeful and deeply, profoundly traumatized by the nature of her death. And maybe it's his job to finally lay her soul to rest once and for all.

She gets upset at Merlin. She cries and shouts and weeps about her death, about the pain and injustice of it. How could he continue protecting her killer? How could he befriend the man who literally murdered her? Freya didn't want to die, she didn't want to be a monster, she didn't want to be alone (cue implications that she has been trapped inside the lake all this time, maddened by isolation). She just wanted to be left in peace. To be loved. Merlin naturally defends Arthur, saying that he is destined to be a good king, destined to free magic and bring about the golden age of Albion. But she insists that destiny must be wrong, because what has Arthur done for the magic community besides perpetuate his father's company line? He killed her, killed several others like her, and even to this day he condones the oppression of their people - what makes him think a man like that could ever change, could ever set them free? And even if he does, why should any of them be expected to forgive him for his war crimes? 

She tells him that deep down, Merlin knows this. Deep down, Merlin fears Arthur just as much as the rest of them. If he truly believed in Arthur's inherent goodness, in his destiny, then Merlin would not have kept his magic hidden for so long. 

Thus sparks a seed of doubt in Merlin's mind, and scenes like Morgana's speech in Tears Of Uther Pendragon Part 2, Arthur's drive to destroy the dragon egg in Aithusa, Kara's execution in Drawing in the Dark, and the confession in Herald of a New Age would only cause that seed to grow. 

Not only is this a natural and logical progression of his character, but it would also be compelling to see Merlin's unwavering loyalty to Arthur do exactly that - waver. It grants depth to his character, empathizes us to his cause and the cause of his people, and lets us see Merlin in a unique perspective. It also puts a new light on Arthur's actions, foreshadowing an eventual moment of reckoning where Arthur will have to face the consequences of his harmful rhetoric - thereby creating a subtle layer of tension as we wait for that moment to finally arrive. And there's yet another layer of tension that arises from Merlin's repressed yet growing doubts: will he finally admit that Arthur isn't the shining saviour Kilgharrah had promised he'd be? Will he snap like Freya did? Will he and Arthur drift apart? And if they do, what will bring them back together, if such a thing is even possible? How will they make amends? How will Arthur learn from his mistakes and earn back Merlin’s trust?

I could go on and on about how this would impact the story as a whole, but I'm not here to talk about my rewrite ideas. I'm here to talk about Freylin.

At the end of the day, while it's a good ship, Freya doesn't have much personality, which affects their overall chemistry, and I don't think they have enough going on between them to be an endgame pairing. My personal opinion is that Freya has less narrative potential as a romantic partner, and more narrative potential as a supplementary background character whose closeness to Merlin combined with her own trauma forces him to develop and grow in certain ways. She's less of a Gwen (long-standing love interest), and more of a Balinor (one-off character with emotional importance), and that's perfectly fine. But because of her lack of personality and overall narrative relevance, I have a hard time believing or shipping Freylin beyond the scope of her debut episode.

Thanks for the ask! <3

[ruffiorocks]

Supergirl Season 5 premiere review!

Ok!! So there's a lot to process here but first off WOW! Bravo! 👏👏 as season premieres go that was probably one of if not the best.

Ok... So opening scene, you could so tell that was a simulation from the way Kara talked. I should also like to give a big 🖕🖕 to all those that were dragging Lena saying she either:

1. Gave herself super powers

2. Used Kryptonite

3. Punched Kara in front of some school kids.

Is it just me, or does Hope the AI give off an "I'm going to become sentient and be a massive pain in the ass?" Vibe? 🤔🤔

My poor baby Lena, how awful must it be to believe that everyone you know has betrayed you, that you can't trust them and you have no one to talk to? So you create your own personal AI that won't (probably will ) betray you, oh and you bring someone (Andrea ) back into your life when clearly things haven't always been smooth sailing? Poor Lena!

Ugh..Must they throw out politics less that 3 minutes into the show? We have Kara talking about registering to vote?

Ok, so everyone is praising Kara, she's talking about having her work recognised, Baker and Lex being taken down, but yet again there is NO mention of the fact that it was Lena who figured out where Lex was, Lena who helped Kara/Supergirl etc. Oh that's right I forgot, the show doesn't like to acknowledge when things couldn't have been done without Lena 😤😤

Naww Alex and Kelly are so cute.

Kara suddenly has a dislike for technology?? Random and purely there for plot convenience.

Not going to lie but Jonn is kind of boring this episode.

Ok... So here we go again, Kara using stupid excuses to not tell Lena. Ugh.... this is getting so old and cliche to the point it isn't even funny anymore.

Yes!! They have Kara acknowledging that lying to Lena for so long while being all about 'truth' wasn't fair.

Yes Alex the voice of reason Danvers!! She can tell Kara off essentially while still praising her and letting her know she is good. I'm loving how it's ALEX who is saying Lena needs to know!

😂 Miranda Priestly, yes Brainy I quite agree! Id rather face Hannibal Lector than her. Oh bring back Cat Grant!!

😂😂 omg that handshake! I'm willing to bet that Alex's laugh was just Chyler not being able to keep a straight face and they kept it.

James is boring.

Strangely turned on by the way Andrea says her name 😅

James is boring.

Not going to lie, I know Lena wanted Andrea to keep the sale of Cat Co a secret, but I'm actually glad we got to see Kara's shock at not being kept in the loop. Humble pie much??

Ok the exhibit is funny.

Did they have a casting call for a creepy kid?

Dinosaur!!

Katie is so good at the whole pretending to be happy and friendly whilst plotting face 🤣. Morgana much?

Oh.... Kara is being indignant Lena did something without telling them all?? Another bite of pie Kara?

Hahahaha 🖕 to all those that said Lena didn't buy Cat Co for Kara. (I know she might be saying that to explain the sale away, but it's been said so it's canon!)

Oooh Lena is really making it obvious she knows 🤣🤣 awkward much lol

Dinosaur!!

Karas cape is more important than a bomb to Brainy 😂

Ooh here that's scene at Cat Co. I stand by my last post, James and Kara are incredibly rude to their new boss and have zero right to speak to her that way. James and Kara used all of the staff to gang up on Andrea and it's just not on! I love how Andrea roasted James though!!

Does anyone here ever read a contract before signing it?

Am I the only one thought Andrea was Lenas ex when she said "relationship"?? 😅😅 false alarm lol

Why is Kara still flying with a crap cape? She doesn't need one to fly.

trap!!

Midnight isn't all that exciting.

Oh so Jonn remembers Manchester Black, but i take it no one wants to acknowledge his blatant MURDER Of the disarmed non powered human? Ok writers you can forget it all you want, but I'm not going to!

😂 Brainy! It is great fun to watch Jonn shift into Kara!

Oh Alex you angel and voice of reason.

Yay Kelly!! Lovely advice, love how she's the one who convinced James to leave! Kelly just got a massive boost in my eyes!

William is hilariously obnoxious!!

Erm... Did Kara just FULL ON verbally attack her new boss? Threatening to fight her boss on everything? Dictating what Andrea can and can not do? Giving out demands? Jesus Christ, Andrea I know you said you're not going to fire her but man I would have on the spot!! Kara is waaaay out of order and getting way to big for her super boots!

I don't think William and Kara are going to be a couple, that's the exact same story as Mon El and Kara. No one wants to watch that again.

Ok so now Kara is bragging to Alex that she verbally attacked her new boss, telling her what SHE will and will not tolerate? Omg Kara get a grip!

Alex?? You're encouraging this? You were supposed to be the voice of reason!

Naww Alex and Kelly are cute!

Ooh Brainy is so funny! "To small to be perceived". He made her a new suit!

Holy s**t!! Kara just out right came out to Lena!! I really thought she would drag this out start rambling and not actually do it So Lena sees her change instead. But good for her, about bloody time!!

Lena genuinely looks shocked! She didn't expect Kara to come clean! Puts a spanner in Lena's revenge plot there lol

Jesus the acting of these two!! The facial expressions and the tears! Mel is really selling it! Bravo 👏👏

I'm loving how Kara is acknowledging all the things we've been saying, how her reasons for keeping the secret were dumb!

Oh I don't trust this Hope AI at all! She's encouraging Lena to hate on Kara.

Oh the speech, and Alex's awkward look!

No way was Lena going to immediately forgive Kara, I know we wanted to think it but Nooo! Far to soon lol

Omg!! It was Lena Kara activated her new suit infront of!! I'm living for that!

PANTS!!!

HOLY SH*T MUSE!!! Yesssss!!! What a sound track to use!!

Alex "how do you guys change so fast?!" 🤣🤣

Oh.. ... look...... Guardian is there.....Hopefully for his last appearance

Fight itself isn't all that exciting, and I feel like we didn't even get to know Midnight, that was way to quick.

James quit, good! Leave!! Seems a bit stupid he doesn't care about never being a journalist again though. But I won't dwell, because I genuinely don't care.

Alex and Kelly! Oh my heart!

Oh so Brainy has had A LOT of romantic experience then? 😏

Aww he loves her!!

I'm glad they had Brainy acknowledge his feeling at having been dark for that short time.

Nawwww a kiss!

That little girl is way creepy!

Oh so Jonn doesn't know he has a brother? 🤔 interesting.

Oh look Lena gets a super watch, ABOUT BLOODY TIME!! That could have prevented so many problems! Straight out of a fan fic lol

Oh yes, I don't trust this AI Hope!!

Lena no! You are NOT a Luthor!

Ok... so all in all a fab episode, nothing was dragged out thank RAO! I don't hate Lena for wanting to expose Kara, it makes sense from a comic point of view and from the pain she feels. The important thing is she didn't do it. People are allowed to feel like they are going to lash out when they are hurt.

I quite like Andrea, she's a breath of fresh air! Plus she isn't wrong in her ideas, just because it's something Kara, Nia and James don't like doesn't mean it's wrong. I think she was treated horribly and despicably by Kara and James though. Especially Kara! That was way to much and she should have been sacked. I'm really happy someone is at Cat Co now that is challenging her and not doing whatever she says, I think the days of Karaolsen magazine and Kara running out whatever she wants are done. But this is good!

Nia is adorable but didn't get to do much.

Jonn was pretty boring this ep considering the villain was out to get him.

James sucks!

Brainy is sooo cute and funny!

Alex and Kelly are the best!

Alex being the voice of reason is what I'm here for, now I want her to go see Lena.

Hahaha Kelly is the one to thank for ridding me of James.

The acting between Mel and Katie here was brilliant, the emotions the tears, the deception? Wonderfully done.

Lena didn't create any VR tech so take that haters!!

Kara's war on tech sounds like it's going to be for boring reasons.

I don't trust this Hope AI!

Lena isn't done for yet, "a fight for Lena's soul!" We can all find our way back to the light!

[thegeminisage]

i have deep and conflicting thots about the gilli episode (3.11)

they’re long (they’re LONG!!!) so here’s a cut. you’re welcome

good things:

this is the ANTITHESIS to everything i was complaining about last night. this is what i was CRAVING. this show did me so good (and yet, so bad - more on that in a sec)

there was a touch of outside pov here (my weakness) since we got to see who merlin was from gilli’s point of view

and when i say we got to see who merlin was i mean we really for real got to SEE WHO HE WAS oh babey

something gilli said in this episode was that merlin has been pretending so long he forgot who he was and i think similarly he pretends so well that we the audience (me anyway) also kind of forget who he is because we see it SO rarely

but we saw it here! in this episode merlin was SMART?? those aren’t two words i’d normally use in the same sentence without sticking a “is not” between them but he WAS - he cottoned on right away that gilli was using magic, he confronted him immediately and in a way that didn’t invoke hostility (and what a nice little flip, what a TREAT to see someone else freaking out and covering their ass while merlin is keeping his cool), (some of) his normal little jabs at arthur were a tad wryer/slyer on the delivery, and he figured out, ON HIS OWN, how to save both gilli and uther, and used his magic in front of ALL THOSE PEOPLE without getting caught

and speaking of that, merlin being like “he’s braver than me, using magic in front of all those people” and gaisu going “brave or stupid” like... ok, at first my reaction was: come on, merlin uses magic in front of people ALL THE TIME...but when i think about it, my very own self was complaining just yesterday that he was keeping his shit buttoned up way too tightly. and i did notice merlin himself waiting until backs were turned more often, incantating aloud less often...he ACTUALLY HAS gotten less stupid, JUST a smidgen. i didn’t even realize

merlin seemed more grown-up and serious in this episode than he has in the entire series. maybe it’s the fact that he had someone younger and dumber to play off of (and i don’t think gilli was a strong enough character to carry an episode, but maybe it was enough to give us an excuse to develop merlin so much) but he did in fact seem WISE, and he seemed TIRED, which is a thing grownups usually are... the way he talked to the other characters seemed different too - he spoke to the dragon as an equal (last dragon & last dragonlord), not as some dumbass in over his head asking for help (very nice also that he didn’t go to gaius for advice but someone more on “his level”). he gave arthur clear and frank advice on how to go about fighting his dad, he STUCK UP FOR GILLI AGAINST GAIUS (backbone! compassion!) and then STUCK UP FOR HIMSELF against gilli!!!!!

(i like a slightly more serious merlin because while quirky dumbass country hick merlin IS charming and endearing that charm can only carry him so far without more meat involved, especially after some of the terrible things we’ve seen him suffer through and all the experiences he’s had to grow and change)

i have mixed feelings about merlin showing his magic to this particular person at this particular time, but i do also like that he was willing to open up about WHO HE IS if it could potentially save a life. that shows backbone. and it shows integrity. two things i was sorely missing from merlin before now

speaking of merlin’s integrity, we finally got to cover why he keeps saving uther, who he should hate and despise and want dead, which i have been DYING for

merlin and gilli have a sort of professor x/magneto stance about uther, by which i mean one of them argues that they should change things from within the system to court goodwill and avoid violence because acting violently would just make their detractors’ point for them, and the other argues that the system should be destroyed entirely through any means necessary because violence is the only language the oppressor understands

on a rewatch what really stands out to me is merlin chastising gilli at the end by saying “you’re better than that.” it makes me think of season 1 when merlin had the chance to let morgana’s allies assassinate uther and he asks gwen what he should do - gwen, who also has every reason to hate and despise uther, tells merlin that to allow him to die through inaction would be just as bad as murdering him directly, and that that would make merlin as bad uther is

i don’t want to give the people who fucked morgana over so thoroughly too much credit but it makes me wonder if that wasn’t when merlin decided that he was going to be the bigger man

he says it himself in this episode, near tears - it is LONELY, being what he is, and doing what he does. he could kill a man with a thought and he spends all his time mucking stables and polishing armor and when he gets a break from that it’s to save someone’s life without endangering his own. it is dangerous, tireless work for which he believes he will NEVER get any thanks. and what i was so frustrated about before was not understanding WHY - did he care THAT much about arthur’s feelings, that he couldn’t stand to watch arthur lose a father? was he just THAT afraid of uther and what uther would do to him if he found out?

but i get it now - it’s because he CHOOSES to. not to protect arthur or to protect himself but because he wholly believes that he’s playing the long game and he’s on the correct path to seeing a future where what he is is no longer outlawed - god, his FACE when he says “when that day arrives, we WILL be free” 

again not to overcredit the writers bc i DON’T think they were smart enough to do this on purpose but like in my heart he decided all the way back in season 1 that he wasn’t going to take the easy way out and just let uther die because THAT’S NOT WHAT MAGIC IS FOR. he’s stronger than everyone else around him and HE CHOOSES to keep his head down and wait it out because in his OWN WORDS “magic is not meant to bring you glory.” even gilli agrees - when used for personal gain, it is very easy for the power of the magic to corrupt. i thought merlin was weak, to have saved uther’s life so many times - but to resist that kind of temptation and corruption over and over, he’s actually the opposite. he doesn’t try so hard to protect the monarchy because he lacks self-respect or integrity, he protects the monarchy BECAUSE OF his self-respect and integrity. all along, he’s been fighting for a better future too - just in his way, not the way gilli or morgana would

and speaking of morgana...here’s the bad:

i. am. LIVID!!!!!

that merlin would tell this boy he BARELY KNOWS his secret in order to maybe possibly save this kid’s life and NOT TELL MORGANA in her worst hour of need when she most needed a friend

merlin got a whole lot more respect from me today but the fact remains that he’s a LYING LIAR WHO LIES and he has tried to kill morgana two and a half times (the poison, the bump on the head, knocking her off her horse) and as of the end of season 3 also MURDERED HER SISTER THAT IS APPARENTLY ALSO LOWKEY HER GIRLFRIEND (i know)

which really clashes with his whole deal that i just described above, of using his magic for good and not evil purposes, for trying to win over hearts instead of win battles. and it’s funny that it’s ONLY morgana that merlin acts out of character for...i think it’s because! and this is a crazy concept! the writers hate morgana!

morgana in season 1 and most of season 2 was a kind and loving person. she was a true ally to gwen and often used her status as the king’s ward to stand up for gwen when gwen was in trouble. the first time she tried to have uther killed it was because of what happened to gwen’s father. she was more than capable of feeling love and knowing right from wrong and doing what she believed was right at any cost as evidenced by her helping to sneak the little druid kid out of the castle at risk to herself

morgana in season 3 does nothing but smirk evilly. and while it’s a good look on her and she’s MORE than valid in wanting to fuck up merlin and uther and maybe even arthur too from a certain viewpoint her aggression against gwen is ENTIRELY unwarranted

even trying my BEST to be sympathetic towards her and remember what she’s gone through and that her bad characterization is the fault of the writers and not morgana herself it is VERY hard not to hate her when you see her delighting in gwen’s misery and watching her PANIC about gwen’s future as the queen was FAR more satisfying than it should have been because i was then delighting in MORGANA’S misery and that is NOT a feeling im comfy with

in fact! im furious! the fact that this gilli kid got a more sympathetic portrayal than morgana ever will makes me SEE RED!!! imagine if the professor x/magneto vibe had been played out with merlin and morgana throughout the entirety of season 3! imagine morgana still had feelings other than ~edgy evulz~ and kept trying to kill uther BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED IT WAS RIGHT but had no quarrel with people like gwen who had always loved her! imagine her being conflicted when there was every chance that gwen would die during the takeover! imagine how her feelings could have become even more complicated when she found out she had living family - a father and brother, one of whom she is plotting to kill! imagine her NOT wanting harm to come to gwen or arthur and trying to persuade them to her side with good yet flawed arguments! imagine uther having to face the fact that the daughter he dotes on is also the thing he hates! people talk about arthur’s conflict if he realizes merlin is magic, but he’s known merlin a lot less time than he’s known morgana and merlin’s not his sister, imagine arthur had to deal with that conflict of interests! we could have HAD IT ALL in season 3 and instead season 3 MOSTLY SUCKS

what if morgana had remembered how fucked up arthur was about learning about the true circumstances of his birth? what if she had persuaded him that uther’s stance against magic was wrong? what if she knew merlin had magic but she hated him so she blackmailed him with it? he could have told her and then spent the ENTIRETY of season 3 shitting himself about it and it would have TOTALLY JUSTIFIED how shifty he got later after gaius taught him how to lie.what if he had SEEN what choosing to hurt other people had wrought in morgana and truly felt remorse and it informed his character for the rest of the show and that’s why he’s always choosing the moral high ground! there were SO MANY possibilities that could have opened up by having morgana be even just a little bit 3-dimensional!!!

which brings me to my next complaint: as good as this episode was, as much as i loved it, as glad as i am to finally understand merlin or at the very least have an interpretation of him i’m happy with, i should not have had to wait ALL SEASON to get there. i know what kind of show this is but they could have slipped some of this stuff in WAY EARLIER so i didn’t have to spent the entirety of season 3 and quite a lot of season 2 thinking merlin was just some spineless fuckup

also i will say it again, gilli was NOT strong enough to have carried this episode. the work on merlin’s character was INCREDIBLE and it was fun enough to see gilli mirror who he was in early season 1 but imagine how much better it could have been if he’d gotten to play off of someone like morgana - gilli’s a one-off character, and he has to tell us about his history and struggles, but morgana’s struggle is something we’ve witnessed firsthand. when she makes her own arguments about how hard it is to be magic under uther’s rule it comes from a place of deep pain that could have and should have resonated with merlin just as deeply as gilli’s.

morgana works MUCH better as a foil to merlin because all the way back in season 1 when they were both angry on gwen’s behalf and both wanted uther to pay for what he’d done so that no more innocent people would die it was MORGANA who chose the magneto route and merlin who decided to go professor x. they had the potential to make something REALLY COOL out of that AND THEY DIDN’T and what makes me so mad about this episode is that the sheer CONCEPT of this was good enough to have carried the entire season and yet they crammed it into a single 45-minute block

here end my thots i guess, in conclusion morgana deserved better

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

Hi, how do you feel about the animation of Spiderverse? If you worked on Trollhunters and you could write Claire anyway you want, how would you? And finally, what would prompt Trollhunter!Claire to take the Troll potion, since she doesn't kneel to Merlin in Unbecoming, and does he get called out on being such a smug, arrogant, hypocritical, selfish asshole, and redeem himself?

Spiderverse looked like the animation team was having a lot of fun exploring the medium. The integration of text into images would not have been so appealing if they’d done live action or attempted photorealism. Using slight variations in animation styles also helped visually emphasize how characters came from different worlds, which, again, wouldn’t have worked as well in live action. I did not have any moments where I mixed up one character with another person, which is something I struggle with in live action films. 

If I could rewrite Claire … there are a number of her actions I would change and scenes that I would add. 

For one thing, after she sees Draal in Jim’s basement (and then gets knocked out and presumably Jim takes her back to her house or something), she would (after waking up) call Mary and Darci and tell them what she saw, to get them involved in the main plot early and keep Claire from being the only girl in the core cast.

I don’t think I would win an argument with the rest of the show writers to cut Jlaire from the script entirely, and Claire and Jim having mutual crushes was one of the less “AAAHHH WHY?!” aspects of their early relationship, so I would not take away her interest in Jim. 

We’d hear her speaking trollish more often, practicing with Not Enrique and making small talk around Trollmarket. 

She would remember she has a teleportation device whenever Jim locks the team on the other side of a door to do something noble and stupid alone.

She would express guilt over pressuring Jim to go into the Darklands and rescue Enrique, and would actually interact with Enrique after Jim got him back from the Darklands for her. 

Also it would be fun if, like Barbara, Claire carried pepper spray. We know it works on trolls!

In a Trollhunter!Claire ‘verse, she would not be taking any potion Merlin offers her. 

Luckily, Angor Rot is on the team by this point, and Toby got possessed by Morgana (because Shadow Staff) and now has some of her memories, so Toby would be getting some serious magic lessons. 

When a creepy old dude hands Claire a list and says she and her friends need to get these ingredients for reasons which are “none of your concern, for now”, her first instinct is to nope out of there and shred the list and burn the shreds, but instead she takes it to their resident Sorcerer and Apprentice and asks, “What would this do?” 

Claire can acknowledge the potential benefit of having troll strength when facing Gunmar in hand-to-hand combat, especially if she’s cut off from backup, but she doesn’t want to be stuck that way forever. Toby has Morgana’s memories of how Changelings are made (it’s … pretty bad, he has nightmares) and Angor has centuries of magical experience including the magical properties of living stone (my headcanon, the totems for the golems only work if carved from troll flesh voluntarily sacrificed for that purpose), and between them Angor and Toby alter Merlin’s potion recipe so that it should turn Claire into something like a Changeling - creating a troll form she can switch to at will, but also switch back from into her natural human shape, and without trapping a troll whelp in the Darklands forever.

She does hesitate, because it’s a heck of a risk, but she goes through with it.

Merlin is super pissy that Claire didn’t do as he said - he doesn’t even get to brew his potion, he finds out about all this after Claire is transformed - but Claire still isn’t listening to him and by now Blinky’s about ready to tear the wizard’s head off. Undecided on the redemption arc but he does get called out, a lot.

[elrondsscribe]

OK, so I just finished BBC’s Merlin . . .

. . . and I’m feeling fairly let down, if I may say so. Big spoilers ahead for all 5 seasons of Merlin, by the way.

Let me say, straight off the bat - Arthur’s death is not what I’m unsatisfied with. Obviously Arthur was going to die. That’s tradition, and I’d be perfectly happy to cry my obligatory tears without protest. But much of Season 5 was unfulfilling at best and a disaster at worst.

First off (this is a relatively minor quibble) why couldn’t they have had the Dead-Uther confrontation in Season 4? There was plenty of time then, and Season 5 was really the time when the story needed to be cohesive and all the episodes needed to count for something. It wasn’t as if anything of lasting consequence came of Dead-Uther vs. Arthur/Merlin.

And then Brainwashed!Guinevere. I mean, it did serve to illustrate very nicely the really twisted kind of evil Morgana was capable of, but again, nothing of consequence came of it. Brainwashed!Gwen made a couple of attempts on Arthur’s life, both foiled by Merlin, and then she was cured and everything was fine. Again, Season 3 or 4 was the time for an experiment like that, not Season 5 when things were wrapping up. I hate to say it this way, but if you’re going to warp the character of Guinevere like that, don’t be half-assed about it.

[And I can’t help it, I’m black and I’m human - I also resent Elyan’s pointless early death. I mean, really, if you’re going to have a black Guinevere and a black Knight of Camelot, is there any reason we can’t hang onto them both for as long as we’d hang on to the white characters?]

And then - what was Gwaine’s oh-so-special heritage? I’m assuming this is the same Knight in the Arthurian legend as takes up Sir Bertilak’s challenge in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Was all that mystery about the Unknown Identity of Gwaine’s Father and Gwaine being the third in the trio of the Courage, Magic, and Strength and Old Merlin saying to him “You are not what you seem” all just a bunch of hot air that the writers tossed in, with no intention of ever doing anything with it? Why couldn’t we have had that instead of Dead Uther?

And did we ever actually see the future that the prophecies were going on about actually come to fruition? The one where a united Albion was supposed to see magic liberated and Merlin would work openly alongside the Once and Future King? No, we did not. I’m honestly not sure whether to hope that this entirely dishonest bit of storytelling was intentional or not. If you’re going to have predictions like that all throughout a 5-season series, you really ought to follow through with them and give us at least a glimpse of this destined future before “going true to the legend” and killing Arthur off.

But the greatest sin of all was Mordred. From the first episode when we met him they were setting him up as Arthur’s Bane and Camelot’s Doom and all-around Bad News; but after the beginning of Season 5 he was presented as a likable, honorable, capable character - one who turned on Morgana because he believed Arthur and Arthur’s cause were more worth his devotion, and who covered for Merlin to help keep his secret. And Merlin behaved like an ass to him entirely without reason - because Mordred genuinely liked, respected, and trusted Arthur just as much as Arthur liked, respected, and trusted him.

Until Brunette Plot Device - er, sorry, Kara - turned up. In the episode before the finale. With absolutely no backstory, and no previous mention in word, memory, vision, or prophecy. With every word and action clearly crafted to kickstart the plot. With, somehow, no capacity or willingness to break herself out of prison or really do anything other than get herself executed. (Honestly, the Merlin-verse equivalent of an Alohomora and a few Stupefy’s or Petrificus Totalus’s would have done the trick just fine. And don’t tell me they don’t have spells like that - we’ve seen them in action. Unless she simply has no magic, because apart from her mind-speech with Mordred we never saw her use any.)

And within the confines of the series, whoever heard of a warlike druid anyway? Why is she so anti-Pendragon that does she doesn’t seem to know or care that her death will cause her “beloved” Mordred pain? In my view, she is either the worst kind of Badly Constructed Plot Device or she obviously doesn’t love Mordred nearly as much as he loves her.

Bottom line: If you’re going to have a traitorous-but-sympathetic Mordred, for heaven’s sake don’t do it like this.

Honestly, I’d be much happier to accept Mordred’s ‘treachery’ if they’d made it the least bit credible. If, for example, we could’ve met Kara alongside Mordred in Arthur’s Bane (or maybe the episode after) and built up her relationship with Mordred over the course of the season. Maybe we could have seen Mordred struggling with whether to betray her to Arthur or Arthur to her. (Not to mention Kara herself would feel like an actual character and not just a flimsy device.)

Or, we could have gone the more traditional route and had Mordred faithful to Morgana all along, sent by her to Camelot to inform her of Arthur’s (and Merlin’s) doings and generally spy on the kingdom. Which would have been a great alternative to Brainwashed!Guinevere, if you ask me, though in fairness it might also have come off as a repeat of the Agravaine storyline from Season 4. Maybe a redo of Season 4 would be in order too, if we preferred this option.

Either way, when Mordred ultimately does betray Arthur, it wouldn’t feel so avoidable and cheap and cliche. And I wouldn’t have gone through Season 5 wanting to slap Merlin in the face quite so much. And Merlin is not a character that you want to feel compelled to slap in the face.