#high priestess morgana

[justaz]

god!merlin

druids can NOT speak in people’s minds. when they are before a high priestess, they can pray to her directly and she can hear them (hence the scene between morgana and mordred when he spoke in her mind).

merlin who constantly has this buzzing in the back of his head that he can never understand besides the occasional odd word which makes no sense. but when he’s closer to a druid or when their prayer is super strong, then he can make out what they’re saying.

merlin who brings up the fact that druids can speak into peoples minds to gaius who casually unfurls a scroll containing his ongoing list of reasons why merlin is/evidence of merlin being a god of the old religion.

[twistedshipper]

high priestesses + fire

[drunkonluv]

what a shame                                                                                                  we all became                                                                                                such fragile                                                                                                      broken things

Merlin 

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[emrys-merlin]

So, I just randomly realized that Merlin killed all the High Priestesses of the show (Nimueh, Morgause and Morgana).

Morgause may have sacrificed herself a year later, but Merlin had crippled her so much with his magic, he basically ended her life long before she physically did.

You messed with the wrong sorcerer 😭

[emlynphoenix]

It’s Women’s Day.

In response I chose to present these strong women. I chose Hunith, Kara, Princess Mithian, Morgause, Nimueh and Morgana to celebrate. Each one of these women stuck to their beliefs. They are strong minded people. Nimueh will always have a special place in my heart. The true High Priestess

[shades-of-lucidity]

i support women's rights but most importantly women's wrongs

[fratricideknight]

top 5 merlin characters go !

AHHHH I LOVE THEM ALL I CAN'TTTTTT. bc i adore them all, i'll name them in no particular order depending on how compelling i think they are.

i can say that lancelot is my favourite in every way. listen. he's just so lovely and cool and softly spoken. and i just. i make jokes about him being perfect, but i honestly don't think he is. i might not like him if he was. he's sad and overly devoted to the point of self-ruin, and his humility and endless pursuit of nobility sometimes do more harm than good. e.g. when he left gwen bc arthur liked her without asking how she felt. he's "everything the knight's code stands for" so he's also something of an examination of the knight's code and its ethics?? where those ethics fail, where the rules must be bent for the sake of goodness (for instance, lance keeping merlin's secret even though he hates lying). which, of course, i want to see when watching a medieval chivalry show. he's just so compelling to me. he's just like me fr. i, in no way, shape or form, self-insert as sir lancelot. absolutely none. he was so underutilised. i was robbed of self-insert content. i am normal about him. not to mention his dynamic with every character he interacted with was gold. he deserved to spend time with more characters. e.g. morgana. i would KILL to have an arc about his response to the oppression of magic users and morgana's ideology. he trusts in systems of power and wants so desperately to be a knight of camelot - how would he respond when that quite possibly contradicts the righteous course of action?? which is more important to him?? would he be swayed by the allegiances of the people he loves, thereby showing a major chink in his nobility?? please. i need this to be explored more in fanon.

okay listen. gaius. it's widely acknowledged that his dynamic with uther is almost the grown-up version of merlin and arthur's. by the time season 5 rolls around, merlin has been groomed very well into becoming the next gaius. he would watch his kin burn at the stake for the sake of a "promised kingdom" "a better future" which he is convinced will be brought about by arthur even if he hates magic. literally what gaius did. he was kept alive despite practicing magic bc he was uther's friend and confidant. but he isn't just loyal to uther in the way that merlin becomes doggedly loyal to arthur. he also adores merlin. it's super interesting to think about where the hope for the chosen one who will help arthur unite albion ends and his devotion to his surrogate son begins. if he had to choose between merlin and arthur, who would he choose? has he been utterly sucked in by the prophecy like merlin eventually is or does he retain enough love for merlin that he would toss it aside? i need answers

morgana was done so, so unbelievably dirty. but she's so fucking interesting. i'm just gonna toss aside botched canon characterisation for a sec and talk about her arc like it was done well. she was uther's beloved ward, valued but (bc she didn't know she was his daughter) dispensable, unlike arthur. maybe uther would never execute his son, the crown prince and sole heir, but her? uther is so mad with hatred and emotionally withdrawn that she can't possibly know where she stands. she's plagued by haunting dreams which she swears show the future but can't discuss openly, with absolutely no one to turn to. her attempt to connect with the druids ends in their being slaughtered. when she finally knows she has magic, she is forced to watch her own father figure execute people like her, alone and scared. no one tells her anything, she is in the dark and utterly alone. she clings to the first person who tries to connect with her, who also happens to be her sister - a family relation who isn't, at least outwardly, pro murdering sorcerers. then her own friend, who tells her nothing, fucking poisons her. no explanation. the only one she receives is no doubt a twisted one from morgause. before, she was conflicted by her love for uther to the point that she couldn't go through with killing him, but when she finally reaches a stage where she must resolve to murder her own surrogate father because he's a horrible tyrant, she's the villain. she's told that it's not right to kill him, that she should stand by and watch him kill. by people she considered allies. then she learns that this bastard is actually her father ;_; and then the whole "mOrGanA wANtS tHe ThRonE" "sHe'S jUsT lIkE uThEr" arc begins and it all goes downhill. (it is absolute bullshit that morgana coveted power that badly 💀 she wanted to live in the woods with the druids before they were all murdered before her eyes. if she wants power, it's so she can change things, not for selfish reasons.) the writers had to make her do drastic, ooc things like shooting innocent citizens of camelot to turn her into a villain, bc she simply wasn't wrong lmaoooo. the girl who handed out food to the poor and rode out to defend a village outside of camelot's borders for her friend's sake suddenly despises both the people and her friends. feelings do not suddenly change that drastically, i'm afraid. if they added in something about morgause brainwashing her, it would make so much more sense, but if they did that then morgana would be a tragic antagonist and WE CAN'T HAVE THAT!!! SHE MUST MAKE POTIONS WITH BABIES' GUTS JUST BECAUSE!!!

nimueh was only around for one season but she was so interesting. she's kind of a mix between gaius and morgana. used to be uther's friend, but after being betrayed by him became vindictive. she, too, was labelled a villain for attempting to strike out at a nasty tyrant 💀 young women on this show are either arthur's love interests or villains, istg. instead of playing the "why did she go about hurting uther in an evil way?" card like i did with morgana, bc we never saw her before she turned "evil" and therefore cannot speak on the legitimacy of her characterisation, i'm just going to accept that she's willing to make innocent people suffer to hurt uther. in that way, the writers could have drawn a contrast between her and morgana; nimueh goes about bringing uther down in an immoral way, whereas morgana is righteous in her actions. but ofc. we can't have that. speaking again about her relationship with uther: she gives some level of insight into the person he was and the person he became. he wasn't brought up to hate magic but rather came to that - utterly illogical - conclusion on his own and was willing to toss aside a loyal friend and an entire group of people bc he could not bear the consequences of his own actions.

everything seems to come back to uther. he's at the centre of it all, the main driving force. without him the plot simply would not exist. he's irredeemable, literally a genocidal murderer. not to mention a man who betrays his friends and unfairly pressures his son and to an extent values his pride above his people. there is no redemption arc for him. which makes these little glimpses of something else so interesting. a broken husband mourning his wife, a father worried for his son, a man haunted by visions of what he did. the concept that he built camelot from the ground up commends him as a good ruler, and to an extent he is. he's jaded, and makes heartless but practical decisions, unlike arthur in the early seasons, but ultimately he cares for the kingdom over his own son. as time goes on and arthur's burden increases, even he - our lovable hero - becomes more like uther. how did uther's rise to power change him like arthur's did? i wonder if uther built camelot with magic and what tearing out that essential pillar of his kingdom felt like. if he feels lost without its support, if he regretted his decision but his pride and the weight of what he'd already done just caused him to double down harder to avoid holding himself accountable. again, he's irredeemable, but he deserves good faith character analysis which many people don't afford him in favour of calling him profanities. understandable - but still.

it genuinely caused me great amounts of pain to choose. i mean it when i say i love all of them, and could wax poetic about them as characters. i think the reason 3 of the core 4 aren't on the list is bc they were around for so long that the writers had plenty of time to botch their arcs and it was just so much more pronounced with them. the way arthur wasn't allowed to hold an intelligent thought for more than 2 seconds?? the way gwen was gradually reduced to just "star-crossed love interest"?? it frustrates me so much that i'm not naming them just to be petty tbh. morgana suffered the worst, imo. they did her so dirty that i just want to toss aside canon and talk about her potential.

anyway. apologies for that essay. thanks for asking!!!

[iwillgodownwithmerthur]

Because all I need is Morgana’s dagger

[men-in-knights]

[the-king-and-the-druidess]

Morgana's cave

Just imagine sitting here amongst the ancient woods, feeling the power of heaven awaken in your hands and plotting against your evil brother...

[justaz]

court sorcerer merlin and high priestess morgana being The Dynamic Duo in which with them both at arthur’s side, no one would dare cross him or anyone in camelot bc who wants to go against two of the most powerful sorcerers in the world AND the once and future king???? that’s suicide. a literal death sentence. hell no.

[faygana]

tag dump.

𝐢. morgana ✦ the high priestess 𝐢𝐢. meme ✦ send the thing 𝐢𝐢𝐢. answered ask ✦ a raven has been received 𝐢𝐯. starter call ✦ hit the heart 𝐯. character study 𝐯𝐢. damn the consequences 𝐯𝐢. no one is unscathed 𝐯𝐢𝐢. aesthetics 𝐯𝐢𝐢𝐢. headcanon 𝐢𝐱. musings 𝐱. desires 𝐱𝐢. wishlist ✦ a dream is a wish your heart makes 𝐱𝐢𝐢𝐢. promo ✦ spread the love ✦ self promo ✦ ooc 𝐱𝐢𝐯. thread 𝐱𝐯. otp ✦ mergana 𝐱𝐯. otp ✦ armor 𝐱𝐯. otp ✦ morgwen

[shadowshole]

Day 5: Flame

this one took the longest, but I really like it

[groundbreakingdot872]

The Hag

Note: I’m leaving our lady Dolma out of this since I wanted to look into dark magic used for aging spells

The Hag is a disguise used first by Morgause, and then Morgana, to draw their support in close under the guise of a helpless old beggar woman.

It seems to be an old witch’s trick, or some a form favored by High Priestesses, as Morgause was the first to use it on Morgana. Nimueh, the first High Priestess, preferred using a ‘younger’ version as Kara, but I’m guessing she was skilled in these transformations too.

On a side note: I wonder if it takes more or less skill to become younger or older? I’m guessing it takes more skill to remain young, since Nimueh was the age as Uther when she was defeated, and Morgana/Morgause only have the wisdom of short lineage of Priestesses to go off on

Morgause’s ‘beggar woman’ disguise

Morgause first appears to Morgana with this guise in ‘Eye of the Pheonix’, and it’s apparently the first time she’s used it, since Morgana is justifiably shocked at her appearance.

This disguise is really only useful for quick meetings, if your face is recognizable by the general public or guards. But it’s very effective, completely molding Morgause’s face.

However, the downside is how vulnerable to exposure the disguise is, it most likely weakens the user, gives them a frail appearance, and their true face can be seen in mirrors or reflective surfaces (just as Mary Collins’ was exposed in ‘Dragon’s Call’).

I’m guessing both disguises work with dark magic, which has some source of power (like the amulets with blood in ‘Gwaine’ or straw doll/dead body combo in ‘Dragon’s Call’), unlike Merlin’s aging spell using a combination of good magic and a potion in ‘Queen of Hearts’.

Interestingly, the spell seems to have one advantage, which is some persuading power or spell that is tethered to the person the guise is meeting with. I only say this because of the emphasis on Morgana gripping Morgause’s hand to consent to her meeting, and then the same repeated when Morgana returns as a hag for Gwen.

Morgana’s Hag guise to meet with the Queen

In a blatant parallel of her relationship with Morgause, Morgana disguised herself as the Hag to meet with an enchanted Gwen in ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’. Another brainwashed young woman, led away by the High Priestess for the prime motive of assassinating Arthur.

This time, there is no maidservant or friend on the side to express concern for Gwen being led away, even Merlin is absent. But Gwen mirrors the movements of Morgana from years ago, Morgana taken on the same disguise when she meets with a brainwashed Gwen in season 5.

I think it’s a very tragic line Gwen is being led on, you could argue the amount of brainwashing or type that was inflicted on Morgana, but it very much reminds me of old folk tales, where the witch leads the damsel away to bargain away her youth or pretty face.

In this case, Gwen bargains away the love of her life, with no conscious decision-making on her own part, merely following the steps Morgana took long ago. This also makes me believe that Morgana was intent on using Gwen, not only as her ally, but as her partner and future lineage of High Priestess.

Think of the words she uses when she met with Gwen earlier, “Only with their allegiance will your path to the throne be clear” Her path to the throne? You might think Morgana is bluffing here, but I believe she has genuine trust and belief in this new version of Gwen, that they will sit on the throne of Camelot together, as co-rulers of a new legacy. A Pendragon for a Pendragon.

Her uncompromising tone, and vague words are also very reminiscent of Morgause’s tone when she used to smuggle magical items to Morgana to use against Arthur.

They even repeat this ‘hand consent’ thing I mentioned earlier, which might be an added persuasion spell, for these risky situations where knights of villagers could spot the mole.

It’s unfortunately clear that Morgana had intent to continue on the lineage of High Priestesses no matter the cost, and what better ally and friend to carry on the burden than her best friend?

I can’t imagine what would’ve befallen Gwen if they hadn’t broken the spell, if on Camlaan’s eve two traitors of Arthur’s circle would’ve stood by Morgana’s side, if the possibility of victory bene made nil by the Queen’s stance.

Morgana and Mithian - a damsel a penny

Morgana’s use of her Hag costume (then Hilda lmao) is interesting to note because this was in ‘Another’s Sorrow’ just one episode before the Dark Tower.

The writers obviously introduced Morgana’s form as an old woman here, and might have drawn the parallel to Gwen’s allyship later.

I am surprised that Morgana doesn’t attempt to use Mithian beyond this plot to lure Arthur to a trap, or think of her as an excellent candidate as a brainwashed High Priestess.

She has all the Queenly capabilities as Gwen, she’s well-educated and in a situation where her father had already tried to to marry her off to Camelot. Their castle is not so well-defended, as Morgana is able to slip in and take advantage of the father and daughter.

The only explanation would be that Gwen was not only the perfect candidate for Morgana’s partner, but the only one; which must correlate to their long-standing history of betrayal, love and friendship.

And here’s a picture of dolma as my favorite senior sorceress! (Sorry Alice)

———————

pics from my own screenshots and Pinterest 💕

[arthurslesbian]

the dochraid telling merlin that he is no friend of the old religion, but he isn't, is he

[lovebotomy]

I will always go crazy over merlin being a creature of magic like he's not just a sorcerer he's something else. thinking about freya and how even in bastet form she recognized him, was it just because of their relationship or was she just not compelled to hurt him because he's no man. he's just like her. we know lamia recognized him as not human omg what if they could actually live together >_> cute big cat gf