#merlin thoughts

[pippin-katz]

Merlin Was Truly Willing To Die For Arthur From The Start

Okay, I know we talk about The Poisoned Chalice all the time, and how gay it is, but I don’t think any of us truly acknowledges how fucking insane Merlin is. Please consider this.

Merlin drinks the poison not knowing:

what kind of poison it is

how lethal it is

how fast acting it is

if it has a cure

if the cure is something Gaius can make

if the cure is something Gaius can make fast enough to save him

What the hell was Merlin's plan?

He would have died. It's arguable that he does die, but his immortality brought him back.

Gaius couldn't make the cure the key ingredient was in a dangerous location and difficult to get to

the poison was magically enhanced it was enhanced by Nimueh to act faster than normal, effectively cutting their timetable in half

Arthur could've been prevented from going after his fight with Uther, he only decides to go possibly hours later, after talking to Morgana

Arthur would've died without Merlin's aid, he would have died in that cave and the cure never would've made it back

it was already too late Arthur gets the flower back, but he gets arrested and locked up, the flower gets crushed, and only gets to Merlin after Guinevere sneaks in and Arthur hides it in the food

the cure required magic Gaius had to use magic to activate the cure, so if he couldn't have gotten Guinevere out of the room, he couldn't have used it, and there was a strong possibility that he wouldn't have had the strength to do it because of the lack of practice

Merlin possibly died anyway he's immortal, and his breathing and heartbeat stop for a significant amount of time before he wakes up; I've written about it being possible that he's able to die and come back to life

So if Merlin was mortal, he would have died, and there was no way for him to know that they would be able to cure him prior to drinking the poison.

He had known Arthur for maybe a month if we're being generous. They were still on rough, getting-to-know-each-other terms. Merlin was still adamantly opposed to the whole "destiny" thing. Despite all of that, he willingly drank that poison without any hesitation.

That is fucking insane.

[angelynmoon]

Imagine if Arthur recognized Merlin's mannerisms in the Dolma and Dragoon as Merlin mannerism and had to tell Merlin that Arthur put his grandparents on the Camelot's Most Wanted Sorcerer's list, imagine him telling Merlin that his grandfather is wanted for killing the king as well.

And poor Merlin, whose grandparents on both sides have been dead for several decades trying to figure out who the heck Arthur is talking about. He does not even consider the Dolma and Dragoon.

[gaiussleechtank]

It was one of those nights: the peaceful ones where both King and Court Warlock could shed their titles and just exist as two friends sharing cups of wine beside a fire. Both were silent as they nursed their drinks and basked in the dim lighting the fire provided Arthur’s dark chambers.

Merlin was lying across the floor on top of countless pillows and blankets, parallel to the hearth of the fireplace. His feet were bare as he had kicked off his boots hours earlier and the cords of his tunic were pulled extremely loose. Merlin’s legs were crossed one over the other as one hand played with a lock of his own hair as the other blindly traced the engravings of his goblet.

Arthur was sat his chair above Merlin, facing the fire and looking down at the peaceful man. He was glad that Merlin’s eyes were closed because it allowed the King to openly stare. For someone who was regarded to be so aware of everything all of the time - Merlin has not once ever cottoned on to Arthur’s gaze on him. In a way, it was reassuring that Arthur didn’t have to fear being caught by the very man he was observing. But it another way it was far too frustrating: Arthur nearly wanted to be caught and then in turn be forced to admit his reasons for staring.

For the Goddess’ sake, how could Arthur not look anywhere but Merlin with the man lying so enchantingly in front of him, doused in the golden light of the flames?

How could he lay his eyes elsewhere when nothing and no one else brought him nearly as much happiness and fulfilment in his heart than Merlin?

How could he when Merlin was everything that he loved?

The nearly empty goblet rested on his lap with his hands encircling the rim, it would be stupid to say it.

“Merlin?” Arthur broke their silence.

Merlin hummed in response, he didn’t move nor open his eye, but the tone of his voice easily told Arthur that he was listening.

“I’m in love with you.” Oh, fuck.

The body in front of him stilled. Merlin’s hand retracted from his hair as he slowly sat up. Arthur couldn’t tell you when the Warlock’s eyes had opened but he could give you a thousand words at least on what it felt like to be under their unending gaze. Merlin didn’t look away from Arthur as he got to his feet and came to stand in front of his King.

Merlin might not have ever been aware of when Arthur’s eyes were on him - but Arthur was far too aware of Merlin’s piercing stare. The King averted his eyes and stared down at the lingering mouthful of wine in his cup, listening to Merlin’s few footsteps.

A hand slid underneath Arthur’s jaw and half cupped the side of his face: hesitantly, Arthur let himself be guided to look up at Merlin. Had it been anyone else, this would have been so dangerous - to willing put his heart and mind at risk by giving someone else so much control over him would have been a death wish if it were anyone else.

Yet this was Merlin, the one person in his life that he would faithfully trust the world with to the ends of time.

It was sad eyes that Arthur saw. Not angry. Not disgusted. Not hurt, or even happy. Sad, sad, eyes that Arthur would nearly say were brokenhearted.

Merlin sighed with a pained and defeated expression. “Not again.”

“What?” Arthur felt his breath catch in his throat.

Merlin smiled with a soft pain, his thumb stroked over Arthur cheek as he said, “You don’t love me, Arthur.”

“I- I do.” Arthur stammered, he hadn’t anticipated out right refusal, denial and disbelief as an outcome. “I do love you, Merlin.”

Merlin swallows and seemed to choke back tears.

“No, Arthur, you don’t.” He repeated. “This is a love enchantment, this has happened before. You aren’t in love with me.”

The words were far too rehearsed, Merlin’s expression too knowing and understanding. Arthur felt like a petulant child being gently corrected on the truth. Had this really happened before? Had Arthur been enchanted to be in love with Merlin before?

“Merlin, I know my feelings, please believe me.” Arthur begged in futile.

“I don’t think you realise how badly I want to, but I can’t.”

Arthur’s eyes widened at Merlin’s confession - even though the feelings were reciprocated, Arthur was still being rejected - but he saw it. He saw all of the held back and restrained love Merlin held in his eyes for Arthur. He finally was bearing witness to Merlin’s affection, only because the Warlock was allowing him to.

“Is it really so unbelievable that I love you that you are convinced my mind is under the control of a spell of potion?”

“I know you love me - in the way friends love one another, brothers even.” Merlin stressed, his words clearly hurting himself. “But you don’t love me the way I want you to, you never have and you never will.”

“You do want me to love you like this?” Arthur countered.

Merlin closed his eyes and shakily let out a sob, his hands ran from Arthur’s jaw and face, around the King’s neck and weakly grasped at the back of Arthur’s head. He pressed his face into Arthur’s hair, Arthur pulled Merlin in closer and strung his arms around the Warlock’s waist and back: he could feel Merlin weep.

“You won’t remember this conversation, you never have, so why not?” Merlin muttered with a bitterness that surprised the King. “I have loved you for years, Arthur, what I feel for you goes beyond the devotion of prophecy and bond of friendship. I’ve always known that you will never feel the same.”

How his heart ached on the verge of breaking: Merlin loved him. He was in love with Arthur. He felt the same as Arthur but clearly awful past experiences that Arthur cannot remember are preventing him from acting on the truth.

Arthur tried to speak but was cut off before he could even utter a syllable.

“No, Arthur, please stop.” Merlin said, slipping out of Arthur embrace. He looked so guilty.

Merlin believed Arthur not to be in control of his mind and actions, he believed Arthur to be susceptible to anything. Though Merlin was nowhere near the kind of person to take advantage of someone under the influence of something mind altering. Even though this ‘supposed potion or enchantment’ was giving him what the Warlock wanted, Merlin still held back and refused.

Even such a simple embrace, the kind of embrace that was becoming more commonly between them as the years progressed seemed to wreck so much regret through the man - Arthur wanted to shake him and scream at how wrong Merlin was: that he could and was consenting to any any hold or touch Merlin could or would give him.

Arthur stood up and met Merlin far too closely. Their faces were mere inches apart, dangerously so. The King saw how badly Merlin wanted to give in, he could see the arguments and thought process that Merlin was going through.

His hand hovered over the side of Merlin’s face as leaned in closer.

“Don’t.”

He froze.

“You’re not in the right state of mind.” Merlin breathed out, more for his own sake than Arthur’s.

Arthur hand fell to his side but he didn’t move away.

“Please tell me how I can prove my honesty.” He asked.

Merlin looked down with resignation and then turned away to the doors.

“Come, Sire, follow me.” Merlin murmured as he left.

He hadn’t called Arthur ‘Sire’ in years, not even in heated arguments did Merlin enforce that distance between them. It spoke tales to Arthur on how hurt his best friend was. He dashed after Merlin, it wasn’t hard to follow the sound of weary footsteps.

They were heading for Merlin’s laboratory. Arthur caught up with broken hearted Warlock and joined their hands together - Merlin allowed it.

Met with the smell of dodgy potions, old books, strong herbs, ash and numerous other smells that Arthur had grown familiar with associating with Merlin’s experiments, Arthur saw and felt Merlin relax slightly. They were on his ground now, they followed his rules.

Arthur let go of Merlin’s hand and took his chair that he always sat in when observing Merlin work.

“You stare a lot.” Merlin said as he leafed through shelves of bottles - no doubt searching for a cure-all potion that he had concocted in earlier years.

“I always have, you’ve just never noticed.” Arthur replied honestly.

Merlin sighed for the thousandth time that hour and stood up straight and returned to Arthur, bottle in hand. It was a small vial with opaque pink liquid filling less than a third of the bottle. He stood on the other side of the work bench and handed over the vial of anti-serum.

Wordlessly and without hesitation Arthur uncorked the bottle and drank his mouthful. Setting down the bottle, he leaned closer to Merlin, head propped up by his elbow, hand under chin, staring at Merlin patiently.

The Warlock also leaned closer, gold creeping into his eyes without a single incantation as he analysed Arthur’s reaction to the potion. The world seemed to hold its breath as it waited for the two men to get onto the same page.

“Well, am I really under an enchantment?” Arthur asked after a very long pause.

Merlin’s mouth fell open as his brow and eyes once again creased into tears.

“No… You aren’t.” Merlin managed to say, covering his face as he cried.

Arthur stood up and joined Merlin on the other side of the workbench. He pulled the shocked and relieved and sobbing Warlock into another hug. Both holding onto each other equally tight.

“I love you, Merlin.” Arthur promised his Warlock firmly.

[merlinjoyer]

Imagine Merlin reading all the Arthurian books, watching every movie, TV show, animated series etc about Arthurian mythology, because he wants to feel at least something that reminds him home

One day he'll stop doing it alone. And for the first time he will laugh about how goofy some of those movies are. There will be a person who will laugh with him.

Because the world will never know their little truth.

[regulusrules]

You know what's so special about this scene aside from its destructive irony?

It's that Arthur is addressing Merlin as if he was his knight for real, acknowledging all the times Merlin stood by his side so fearlessly (something we rarely got: thanks bbc writers). At this point, Arthur began to see Merlin as his 𝘬𝘪𝘯 not just his servant, and for a prince who grew up never knowing how to express admiration, he could only voice it in terms of honour.

Which takes us to another point actually; why did Arthur never really knight him? In 3×12? Or when he became king?

At first I shrugged it as the writers' fault (as with everything) because they were always so inconsistent specifically with Arthur's characterization. But while writing to you I swear my solemn oaths, a different lense just popped in front of my eyes and nested in my soul and brain.

Arthur wanted to protect Merlin from himself.

Let's be real; these two had zero point zero self-saving instincts. They blatantly expressed how they would live and die for each other. They fought on who to do it literally every episode when Arthur was not robbed of making that choice. But elevating Merlin's status would've strained their relationship. How?

Because it labels their unwavering loyalty to each other. It solidifies that they were merely just master-servant, not the earthshaking combination they were. It threatens to erase how Arthur always viewed Merlin as his pillar of strength, because if he knights Merlin he could no longer favour him and his companionship over the rest.

Also, knighting Merlin would have required for Arthur to first accept the fact that it's Merlin's duty to be there with Arthur, not because Merlin wants that any longer. Being given everything on a silver platter from the start only for Merlin to be the only one who denied him this narrative and was real with him, this is something Arthur could never let go of.

Lastly, knighting Merlin would have involved Arthur making peace with the fact that Merlin is OBLIGATED to die for him, and I don't think he could've ever accepted that. Even if he always took Merlin with him everywhere, he did it because he always believed he had Merlin's back and that he'll be there to protect him. This reciprocation of loyalty is so important to Arthur that if he ever knighted Merlin it would completely overthrow their little status quo they created for the two of them only.

So there is no denying the fact that Arthur really always saw strength and bravery in Merlin that surpasses any knight, but he never acted on knighting Merlin because he never wanted to put him in that position.

[cynthia39100]

How can Arthur looked even younger in season 5 ?? His haircut in early season5 was so cute…

[closetsof-backlogged-dreams]

HI QUEEN!!!! thoughts on the vision morgause showed to arthur and her motivations/was she lying/ should Arthur have killed uther?

AHHHHHH IVE BEEN WANTED TO BE ASKED THIS AND I DIDNT EVEN KNOW IT

alright so i think the first thing that needs to be considered is what her intentions were when she showed him the vision. i think the main consensus is that she wanted Arthur to kill Uther, and while i agree, i think Morgause deserves a few more layers than that. i genuinely think Morgause wanted the truth to be known.

imo, from what we've seen, Morgause is extremely similar to Morgana. in the early seasons, Morgana is justice with kindness. Morgause is justice without. Later, we watch Morgause slowly "corrupt" Morgana and watch her lose her kindness, turning her into the heartless villain she is by season five.

i think Morgause, while not out of the deep goodness of her heart, saw the injustice, and wanted it to be corrected. this manifested mostly in the form of Uther's death, but i do believe a small part of her just wanted the truth to be known :)

whether or not she was lying is something we will never truly know, but she could have been lying about two different things, and i want to attack them separately.

i 100% believe she wasn't lying about Uther using magic for Arthur's birth. i've wondered A LOT how the fuck she knew though, because sorry, who told her?? and merlin is the show it is, so it doesn't tell you these things, but there are enough breadcrumbs left behind so that we can assume she was a pupil of Nimueh's and learned of it from her.

but whether it was actually a vision of Ygraine? i really don't know. i'm not going to lie, the first time i saw the scene, it gave me all the wrong vibes. the ghost of Ygraine is able to meet her son for >5 minutes and one of the maybe two things she says to him is about how Uther used magic to birth Arthur and it killed her?? i don't know. it's strange.

but we also have to remember that we actually don't know anything about Ygraine! honestly, the fandom and fics tend to mention her x10 more than the actual show does. Arthur hardly speaks of her, as well as Uther, and we have to remember that this is the man who essentially killed his wife and is forced to live with that every goddamn day and is 100% romanticizing the woman she was—and then all Arthur has ever heard of her is this romanticized version from his father, and this is the dead mother he's never met. he's going to do some embellishing of her own.

so, for all we know, Ygraine was a terrible person. we really don't know. so i have no conclusive answer to whether or not Morgause was lying about it being a vision, and i think the show actually intended it that way. because that doesn't actually matter. what Ygraine said—that's the truth. the cold, honest truth. whether it actually came from his mother or from a false mimicry of her doesn't actually matter.

another thing i find really interesting is that while Morgause was obviously trying to provoke Arthur with this information and was clearly manipulating him, she really didn't take any extreme steps to ensure he killed Uther. this was also her first step to bring down Uther. it's almost like she tried to find the most moral option she could that dealt the fairest form of justice, and only when it failed was she forced to resort to more gruesome, hands-on approaches.

it also really doesn't seem like she has anything against Arthur in the beginning, which is so fascinating to me, but moving on lol.

now for the BIG one:

should Arthur have killed Uther in The Sins of the Father?

god, this one is hard, because you have to consider it from all angles.

from an objective, justice-based standpoint, you could say that Morgause was absolutely in the right in all of this, and that after learning this information, it was Arthur's duty to kill his father. his father killed his own wife due to his desperation for an heir, and then spent half a lifetime destroying an entire culture and group of people in an attempt to stem his guilt.

so, yes. Arthur should have killed his father, if we're viewing this from the eyes of pure justice.

but for Arthur's own conscious? from a political standpoint? absolutely the fuck not. it would have destroyed Arthur. even when Uther died season four, he was a wreck, so imagine if it has been Arthur. dear god.

and then imagine being an average citizen of Camelot, for whom Uther was probably an alright to not great king, but no one who deserves death, and learning that your beloved Prince Arthur committed patricide and his now king? jesus. that's not how you establish good subject-monarch relations.

and if enemy kingdoms heard about it? god, all the knights must be horribly divided, because most of them swore themselves to Camelot and its royalty, but who the hell do you stand with when your two royals tried to kill each other and one of them was successful? enemy kingdoms would attack, and with their armies as divided as they'd be, who knows how that'd go.

so overall, no. i genuinely believe Arthur shouldn't have killed his father. but that doesn't mean that Uther didn't deserve death.

anyways, i think that's all! this was a lot of fun, and tysm for the ask once again <3

[snazzy-jas-z-is-a-fan-of]

a merlin thought:

what if merlin put enchantments/blessings on his tools/cleaning supplies (to make sure they don’t break and get the job done right on the first go?)

everyone is wondering (aka the other servants are) how merlin is doing everything so efficiently

then one day, gwen’s something or other breaks, so she asks merlin if she can borrow his, and he trusts her (and forgot about the blessings) so he says: here keep it, I’ll make his royal pratness get me a new one

all of a sudden gwen is becoming really really efficient at that one chore. she thinks nothing of it at first until someone else asks to borrow that tool, and suddenly that someone else is more efficient and she isn’t as anymore

and then it happens again

and again

until eventually some of the other servants put it together that these tools came from merlin and are somehow, magically curiously better tools and think maybe he just has like very very minimal hedge witch skills?

and someone brave enough goes up to merlin

and merlin now used to everyone asking to borrow some tool or other from him asks what he needs lent

but is surprised when Anne from the kitchens asks:

Actually, and I promise I won’t say anything about this! I was wondering if you could,,,, just ench- bless! bless! my tools too? I feel bad borrowing your tools all the time because well I’m sure you need them too! and I know everyone is borrowing from you all the time but I really really would like to have that extra time in the day that comes when I use your tools and again I promise, I swear on my little isaiah’s and my live’s that I won’t turn you over to the king! I’ll even sneak you extra sweets on your meal trays!! just could you maybe perhaps uhhh upgrade my tools?

and merlin, who has just gone through the five stages of grief, created some new ones, and had his life flash before his eyes can’t help but say yes, to help out where he can

and soon he’s “blessed” the tools of half the castles staff and even some of the tools in the lower town shops

anyway tl:dr what if all the servants thought merlin was a hedge witch who specialized in quality tools?

[knightofmordred]

i noticed that gwen's throne/chair is smaller and simpler than arthur's, and i can't help but wonder why ??

gwen is seen as arthur's equal and there's no indication that she has less powers or authority than him so it makes little sense to me why her chair is smaller/simpler indicating that her rank is less (like queen consort etc) or that arthur is 'really' the one in charge.

their actual thrones are of course the same, but these were only used at their wedding/coronation and aren't used for everyday use or for addressing matters

i understand that arthur is the direct king and has a direct link to the throne and generally has a higher rank than gwen who of course was raised in a working class family and was a servant girl. but one of the main things about their relationship is that rank didn't matter to arthur, and gwen was on an equal level with him.

and although arthur had more responsibility for the kingdom, gwen was still part of the discussions and the decisions made and had as much of a role as arthur did.

when arthur was away and gwen was left as the sole monarch in charge of the kingdom, she also used arthur's chair which lowkey indicates that the person in the 'bigger' chair was the only truly in charge and/or had more power/authority.

also in the first pic, gwen has (what i think is) the same chair as mithian who was a princess. again i know that rank clearly doesn't matter in camelot but then why the different chairs? why does gwen have the same chair which potentially undermines her authority and she's seen on the same level as as princess?

i know its all a bit wishy-washy because on the one hand there's the indication rank doesn't matter, i mean thats literally where the round table comes from too, and camelot is gwen's kingdom as much as its arthur but then of course in the last episode he gives his seal to gwen to indicate her being the next heir after him. so there's the implications certain formalities don't matter, yet they still perform them?

i also know its probably just something stupid like the props they had. after all, those chairs had been used since the beginning of the show during uther's reign, and im sure gwen's chair is the same that morgana used to sit in when she was uther's ward.

[scionofguineverependragon]

for some reason i can’t find my morgana post anymore so it might’ve gotten deleted…idk how to tumblr…but since i had the text saved imma repost it 🤷🏾

ok so i saw the "morgana never turned evil, morgause did to her what morgana did to gwen" theory again and i just felt like laying down my thoughts on this

like, i understand i really do (once upon a time i wanted this too). but i dislike this theory be it is a thing used to victimise morgana and absolve her of her wrongdoings, especially towards gwen.

morgana's treatment of gwen is so cruel that people want to find a reason to excuse her of it. but morgana is a big girl, she knew what she was doing; which was apparent in the stuff she said. eg. "evil" gwen says she never loved arthur that it was all a trick, when there's evidence of the contrary because she is brainwashed asf. morgana when confronted with "i thought we were friends" says "so did i", and "you were so kind what happened" says "i grew up" that shows that she KNOWS herself and the choices she made. she confronts merlin in the hand he played in hurting her. she says "uther taught me well", she never denies her past. she is not magically brainwashed, she is a woman who got hurt and decided to turn against everyone, even those who cherished her. she decided to not care who she hurt to acces the power she deemed was right fully hers. those are her choices.

it can also feel like a disservice to morgana bc she has always made her own choices and stood by it since s1. while living under tyrannical uther, unlike many others, morgana always felt like she could talk back to him and she did.

saying that morgana for three seasons until her deadly end was not herself—when truly apart from a moral change, she sure spoke like the outspoken morgana with strong opinions and a sense of self-justice she always was—is doing her a disservice.

[pippin-katz]

Arthur’s Love Confession

The word choice for Arthur’s confession is really… interesting. As many people have pointed out, if you remove the pronouns from the conversation, everything Arthur says can be true for Merlin as much as Gwen.

Here’s the thing: I’m a writer. I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it when it comes to posts like this.

If I was writing a love confession from one of my characters, I wouldn’t have what they say be so vague that it would be unclear who they were referring to when taken out of context.

If you showed this conversation to someone who had no idea who these characters were other than a knight and a servant, it would be completely believable that the knight is talking about the servant he’s with.

Hell, Merlin’s reaction to Arthur being unable to say he’s in love and how certain he is that nothing could happen seems a bit strong considering the conversation is about Gwen, not him. He’s her friend and would understandably try to convince Arthur that they could be together, but the dialogue does it in such a round about, vague way before they get to the point. There’s no reason for them to be vague. They both know full well who they’re talking about.

I suppose I have to say this is an opinion of the writing because I can’t claim that the writers did anything with underlying intentions. It’s just seems strange to me how perfectly the description aligns. Even the lines not here could easily have the pronouns swapped and still make sense.

“How can I admit that I think about her (him/you) all the time? Or that I care about her (him/you) more than anyone? How can I admit that I don’t know what I’ll do if any harm comes to her (him/you)?”

It still works. We can’t prove that Arthur thinks about Merlin all the time, but there’s a damn huge amount of evidence that he cares for him deeply and can’t handle him being hurt. Anyone wanting to argue with me on this, go watch The Poisoned Chalice again, which is the FOURTH EPISODE by the way.

Other than that iconic episode, there’s plenty of other things. He doesn’t let Merlin drink the “poison” during the test at the labyrinth. He denies any accusations of him having magic whenever they come up, which is because he genuinely doesn’t believe he has any, but it also has to do with the fact that he would be executed. He always protects him in dangerous situations and tells him to run when things get too dicey. We all know how he acted when Merlin was believed to be dead.

Like I said, it’s weird how well the lines match up. And Arthur looks at him like this before the conversation:

And like this after this conversation:

Maybe I’ve just never had a “true bestie” because I have never looked at someone or had someone look at me like that. Arthur looks so flirtatious in that second gif man.

But anyway! That’s just some thoughts I was having about the love confession!

[moo-oon]

I started rewatching Merlin months ago and I have been sitting on the last episode. I just cannot do it. They are sad and they are gay and they are my favorite sad gays and I cannot fathom :(

(I have watched 6 previous times. It is always a struggle)

[lightasthesun]

I've been having many sad thoughts about an AU in which Merlin died only a few years into Arthur's service.

And so just now I had the thought of arthur wearing all dark clothes as a silent protest because there won't be an official funeral for merlin with him being a servant but Arthur still wants to be seen mourning him. But because Uther is still king and well, Uther, there won't even be any acknowledgement of Merlins death and Arthur can't do anything about it except wear all black.

[merlinjoyer]

What if Uther is not actually Arthur's father...

Arthur is nothing like Uther. The only thing they share is that they both are good fighters (at least Uther used to be when he was younger) but it can be easily explained by the fact that Arthur had best teachers and 'been train to kill since he was born'

Arthur is more like his mother tho. At least they look alike.

What if Arthur was never supposed to have father since Nimueh used magic to help Ygraine and Uther. Like... the problem was never about Uther since Uther had Morgana. So it's about Ygraine, Arthur's mother.

Well... what if Nimueh just put a part of her magic or whatever magical is so that Ygraine would be able to have a child. In this matter of fact there is actually no need of Uther as the ritual itself is like a trading coin — a life for a life.

What I'm saying is that Arthur could also be somehow related to Nimueh more than to Uther.

he has two mothers he was born gay

[bellamyblakru]

three thoughts while writing this incredibly lonely merlin fic: (1) why didnt kilibitch the large lizard offer himself to close the veil and fix his redemption arc? (2) why didn’t they shove morgana in since she opened it and then we could’ve had two seasons of magic reveal (3) why not force the Callieach into the veil? (i mean, if merlin couldve gone in and he is magic bitch boy himself, then that mf could’ve been forced in, too)

[cynthia39100]

Always love the relationship of Merlin and Arthur in season 2 the most. The friendship felt pure and young and easy. And they had so many good scenes together.

Season 3 was good as well. It was closest to my ideal Merlin & Arthur as future advisor and king. They were respectful of each other’s opinion and didn’t push too much. Their friendship was more mature as well. They could speak with less pretense of their status.

In season 1 Arthur was still a prat, and usually had more power over Merlin. He grew quickly though.

In season4 (and 5) I think all the secrecy started to take its toll. Merlin was too used to go behind Arthur’s back and too obsessed with destiny, that he gradually lose sight of the real person. He became manipulative and made decisions in Arthur’s behalf. I hate it.